I have a job! Starting on June 11th, I'll be working at the library of NYU's Courant Institute. Now I just need to find an apartment... Well, that and graduate, but there's not much more I can do about that - all of my work is done and handed in.

My very last radio show playlist ever...

The Walkmen - The Rat
Cat Power - He War
Beulah - Silver Lining
Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun
The Postal Service - Nothing Better
Bloc Party - Banquet
Sleater-Kinney - You’re No Rock n’ Roll Fun
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Chemical, Chemical
Ted Leo/Pharmacists - The High Party
The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Elliott Smith - The Enemy is You
Sufjan Stevens - The Dress Looks Nice on You
Stars - Calendar Girl
Mates of State - Nature and the Wreck
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
The Mountain Goats - Dilaudid
Weezer - Only in Dreams

Julia Stiles is starring in and producing an adaptation of The Bell Jar. I came upon this news this morning at Pajiba.com, and I also saw it on Gawker.com. When I read it on Pajiba, I was hopeful - I like Stiles, mostly because I still enjoy Ten Things I Hate About You, and I'm a fan of Sylvia Plath's work. The Gawker post made me a bit worried, but it's really the item in Variety that made me lose hope: "Book has many dark overtones, but Rattray said the project will emphasize some of the more uplifting elements. "Esther Greenwood has a strong outlook on life, and we're really looking to bring out the humor in the character," she said. "We don't want to do a depressing descent into the world of suicide."

It's THE BELL JAR, people! There's more than one suicide attempt, electro-shock therapy, and a very bloody deflowering. It's been a while since I've read it, but according to Wikipedia, the end is very open-ended. I imagine that will change - they're probably going to tack on a happy ending where she returns to society all better. Yes, there is some humor, and Esther is strong in some ways, but it's hard to say someone "has a strong outlook on life" when they worry about their future, see no desirable options available to them, and try to kill themselves.

Anyway, this is just another instance of my inability to escape Sylvia Plath. I'm working on my senior English essay (topic: biography in the interpretation of poetry, focusing on Plath as an example), and I was sketching out my plan for my final book arts project today (a flexagon book featuring Plath's 'Lady Lazarus').

Tonight was my best of the semester show; next week should be my last show and will be the best of all 4 years.

The playlist:

The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light
Tralala - Yellow Taxi
Amy Winehouse - Rehab
Feist - When I Was a Young Girl
Cat Power - Living Proof
M. Ward - Right in the Head
Sufjan Stevens - Bushwick Junkie
The Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
John Vanderslice - Exodus Damage
Neko Case - Look for Me (I’ll Be Around)
Eels - Not Ready Yet
Beulah - Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand
Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough
Cold War Kids - We Used to Vacation
TV on the Radio - Hours

The playlist for this week's show:

The Arcade Fire - Windowsill
Cat Power - Love and Communication
Neko Case - Pretty Girls
The Mountain Goats - Dance Music
Pedro the Lion - Big Trucks
Sufjan Stevens - The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)
Wilco - Pot Kettle Black
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Built to Spill - Goin’ Against Your Mind
* Tralala - We’re Coming Out
Beulah - Cruel Minor Change
* Of Montreal - Gronlandic Edit
* Feist - Mushaboom
* Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Tori Amos - Talula (The Tornado Mix)

The webcast was down (probably due to the lovely weather and subsequent power outage), so we were only broadcasting locally. Which means I probably had a grand total of maybe one listener. Maybe. Ah well.

In other news, I applied to three more jobs this weekend, bringing the grand total up to eight. Whee.

And now I'm off to bed, but first: Happy birthday, Mom!

The playlist for my special “The Future is Scary, Eep!” show:

Eels - Not Ready Yet
John Vanderslice - Ambition
# Skating Club - Panic and Doubt
Blur - The Debt Collector
The Cure - Subway Song
The Gothic Archies - The World is a Very Scary Place
Desaparecidos - Survival of the Fittest/It’s a Jungle Out There
Operation Ivy - Big City
Le Tigre - My My Metrocard
Enon - Normal is Happening
The Fitness - Day Job
# New Order - Working Overtime
Sleater-Kinney - By the Time You’re 25
Regina Spektor - The Ghost of Corporate Future
# Trembling Blue Stars - Hurry Home Through the Crowds
Harvey Danger - Pike St./Park Slope
The Walkmen - 138th Street
The Mountain Goats - This Year

When you start mapping out apartment locations (thank heavens for Goggle Map, btw), interesting things happen. For instance, I just had a group of 5 promising apartments turn into a set of 2 apartments - because 4 of the listings were for the exact same place, by the same realty company. Different brokers, though, so different text/descriptions - and, oddly enough, different prices. $1800, $1875, $2000, $2000.

Usually this sort of overlap is frustrating, but there has been one exception - 2 listings for the same Kensington apartment, both by the owner, both that sounded like really promising apartments. The descriptions actually emphasized different things, though - so when you put the 2 together, the place sounds even better. And it's affordable. I'm sure something is wrong with it, but I don't know what yet.

Playlist for the week:

Rouge Wave - Are You on My Side
* Arcade Fire - (Antichrist Television Blues)
Sufjan Stevens - Bushwick Junkie
Fiona Apple - Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)
Steven Burns - Mighty Little Man
Visine - PJ Olsson
* Amy Winehouse - You Know I’m No Good
TV on the Radio - The Wrong Way
Driver of the Year - Volume Switch
Spoon - The Way We Get By
* The Hold Steady - Massive Nights
Friends Like These - Karen
Sleater-Kinney - Step Aside
* Tralala - One Hard Turn Deserves Another
* Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Yankee Go Home

Playlist:

M. Ward - Paul’s Song
* Feist - When I Was a Young Girl
Neko Case - Look For Me (I’ll Be Around)
* Amy Winehouse - Rehab
* Tralala - Are You Gonna Dance (With Me)?
* Arcade Fire - No Cars Go
* The Western States Motel - Powerlines
Wilco - Jesus, Etc.
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy - Bed is for Sleeping
Jeff Buckley - Dream Brother
My Brightest Diamond - The Robin’s Jar
Regina Spektor - Carbon Monoxide
* Of Montreal - She’s a Rejecter
* Matt and Kim - Yea Yeah

And now I go to bed. Yay bed!

A rather disjointed radio show tonight, thanks to sleep deprivation and not feeling drawn to any one genre in particular:

* Tralala - Early Tonight
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Phenomena
Enon - Shave
DJ Shadow - Organ Donor (Extended Overhaul)
The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
Shark Quest - The Rosetta Barrage
Sleater-Kinney - Entertain
Bif Naked - Leader
My Brightest Diamond - Workhorse
The Go Find - What I Want
* Junior Boys - Caught in a Wave
Pretty Girls Make Graves - This is Our Emergency
Metric - Glass Ceiling
* The Hold Steady - Chips Ahoy!

Yesterday the temperature got up to 79 degrees. Right now it's 67, and there's a good chance of rain this evening. Tomorrow, the high is 35, with snow likely. That's an impressive weather change right there. I guess the flip-flops are going back into my closet again.

Oh man, any possibility of productivity tonight just went out the window for me. Whole first issues of DC Vertigo comics online, for free. And at least 3 or 4 that I really must read, plus another 10 or so that look very interesting. Yum.

Playlist:

Driver of the Year - Even the Devil Has Friends
Death Cab for Cutie - The Face That Launched 1,000 Ships
Tegan and Sara - Where Does the Good Go?
Stars - Reunion
Beulah - Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand
Cold War Kids - We Used to Vacation
John Vanderslice - Letter to the East Coast
M. Ward - Chinese Translation
Neko Case - John Saw That Number
TV on the Radio - Ambulance
Cat Power - Lived in Bars
* Feist - Secret Heart
The Mountain Goats - Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod
Elliott Smith - Pictures of Me
* Tralala - Tallmansville, W. Va.

I've swapped time slots on WSRN, so now my show will be from 9-10 pm on Mondays.

I'm sick. Blarg. My throat hurts, especially when I swallow. I think it's just a cold, but it's still not much fun. Anyway, I'm skipping my radio show tonight (I've found a sub); I've decided to minimize talking and do as much sleeping as I can. Whee.

Playlist:

Barry McGuire - Eve of Destruction
John Vanderslice - Heated Pool and Bar
The Decemberists - The Legionnaire’s Lament
The Mountain Goats - Lion’s Teeth
* TV on the Radio - Hours
Sleater-Kinney - Get Up
Cat Power - Good Clean Fun
Wolf Parade - Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Mysteries
Stars - What I’m Trying to Say
Built to Spill - Traces
Interpol - Obstacle 2
Head Like a Kite - Injecting 10ccs of Temptation
Fischerspooner - Cloud
* Tralala - Yellow Taxi

Playlist for last night's radio show:

Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disko
Sneaker Pimps - Tesko Suicide
Ladytron - True Mathematics
Fischerspooner - Emerge (Junkie XL remix)
Arab Strap - If There’s No Hope for Us
The Hold Steady - First Night
Cat Power - Crossbones Style
Portishead - It’s a Fire
Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong
The Go Find - Modern Times
Bloc Party - Blue Light
Architecture in Helsinki - Souvenirs
Asobi Seksu - Walk on the Moon
Massive Attack and Portishead - Teardrop

My first radio show of the semester had a small issue: the aux wasn't working, so I couldn't use my laptop. Which meant that most of the show was spent scurrying back and forth between the studio and the music library.

The playlist from the all CD show:

The Hold Steady - Hot Soft Light
The Music Lovers - A Hell of a Kid
Spoon - All the Pretty Girls Go to the City
Cat Power - Living Proof
Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough
Belle & Sebastian - Sukie in the Graveyard
John Vanderslice - Exodus Damage
Wolf Parade - It's a Curse
The Wrens - This Boy is Exhausted
Broken Social Scene - Fire Eye'd Boy
Stars - Elevator Love Letter
Akron/Family - No Space in This Realm
Wilco - Can't Stand It
M. Ward - Right in the Head
M. Ward - Four Hours in Washington
TV on the Radio - Staring at the Sun

My radio show this semester (my last one on WSRN ever) is Monday, 8-9 pm EST.

This has been a very draining 24 hours, both emotionally and physically. Found out about 2 engagements, had a long day of classes, pondered god and existence and such while doing my religion class reading, stressed about my future, and comforted/helped a friend whose grandfather died today. The last one, on top of everything else, led me to sort of go into confessional/emotional purging mode, which was probably good for me... But also -- (Note: This posting was interrupted by yet another deep emotional talk. I am now freshly drained of tears) -- very, very exhausting. Which is why I really need to go to bed now.

Too many people from my high school are getting or have gotten married. It's starting to freak me out - it seems like every time I log into Facebook there are new wedding pictures.

On a pleasanter and unrelated note, I am officially done with my work for the semester, so now winter break can begin in earnest. Yay!

My last radio show of the semester (and the main reason I actually bothered to get out of bed today):

Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
* Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis
* Beirut - Rhineland (Heartland)
Beulah - Calm Go the Wild Seas
* Cat Power - Could We
* The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
* M. Ward - Requiem
TV on the Radio - Hours
* The Gothic Archies - Dreary, Dreary
Wolf Parade - It’s a Curse
Belle & Sebastian - The Blues are Still Blue
John Vanderslice - Coming and Going on Easy Terms
Voxtrot - Rise Up in the Dird
* Built to Spill - Traces
* Boy Least Likely To - Monsters
Mates of State - Think Long
Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
My Brightest Diamond - Something of an End
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
The Dresden Dolls - Shores of California
* Exit Clov - MK Ultra
The New Pornographers - Use It
* The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
* The Futureheads - Skip to the End
Junior Boys - In the Morning
The Go Find - Igloo
* The Music Lovers - A Hell of a Kid
* Yo La Tengo - Black Flowers
Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Weezer - Only in Dreams

Tonight on WSRN there will be a special 2 hour Tuesday edition of my radio show! Phrasing it that way makes it sound much more special than it is, of course - my show is today because we're on a Tuesday=Thursday class schedule to make up for Thanksgiving, and I have 2 hours because the people with the show after mine can't make it. But still!

Anyway, it's my last show of the semester; it starts at 5 pm EST.

I'm 22. It doesn't feel very different.

This week's playlist:

Wolf Parade - We Built Another World
Of Montreal - Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
The Go Find - City Dreamer
The Cardigans - Fine
Broken Social Scene - Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl
Sufjan Stevens - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
Sufjan Stevens - Angels We Have Heard On High
Sufjan Stevens - Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!
The Muppet Show - Mahna Mahna
Thurl Ravenscroft - You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
* The Shins - Phantom Limb
Beulah - A Good Man is Easy to Kill
* ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Naked Sun
Dandy Warhols - I Am Over It
* Califone - Spiders House
* The Futureheads - Worry About It Later
*Klaxons - Gravity’s Rainbow
* Exit Clov - DIY

I have one more radio show this semester; due to weird class schedules to make up for Thanksgiving break, it will be on Tuesday. Still 5-6 pm, though. So you should listen. Yes, you.

Quiz time:











And now I sleep.

This week's playlist, brought to you before the end of the show thanks to advance planning (ooh!):

* Joanna Newsom - Monkey & Bear
My Brightest Diamond - Dragonfly
Neko Case - Margaret vs. Pauline
* The Gothic Archies - This Abyss
Jens Lekman - The Wrong Hands
* Yo La Tengo - The Weakest Part
Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives
* Beirut - Rhineland (Heartland)
Bright Eyes - The Calendar Hung Itself
Broken Social Scene - Fire Eye’d Boy
* Cat Power - I Don’t Blame You
Beth Orton - Couldn’t Cause Me Harm
Pedro the Lion - Bad Diary Days
Elliott Smith - Pictures of Me
* The Mountain Goats - New Monster Avenue

I think next week is my last show of the semester, but 5 (6 when this show gets put up) of my shows are up on the WSRN website in podcast form. Spiffy, huh?

I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear the clanging and gurgling of the pipes before. Still no actual heat, but it sounds promising.

It's cold outside. My radiator is also cold, meaning that I too am cold. For some reason, the heat is on the fritz, and I am not pleased. I'm huddled up in a sweatshirt, fleecy pants, thick socks, hand warmers (I finally finished knitting them!), and a blanket. And still, I am cold. Grr. And brr.

Good news: Vanya is over, and a received compliments on the costumes. Yay. Bad news: Now I get to write the papers I've been putting off. At least I have a firm thesis and decent outline for the Shakespeare one... It makes things slightly less bad.

Playlist:

Sigur Ros - Saeglopur
* The Gothic Archies - Dreary, Dreary
Bright Eyes - Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh
Wilco - How to Fight Loneliness
Low - Broadway (So Many People)
John Vanderslice - Trance Manual
Stars - Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Tori Amos - Cloud My Tongue
Sufjan Stevens - All the Trees of the Field Will Clap Their Hands
* The Mountain Goats - Wild Sage
Iron and Wine - Cinder and Smoke
* M. Ward - Requiem
* Neko Case - Dirty Knife

Vanya costumes are done! I no longer have to live in the costume shop! I'll need to go back for some visits (I know there's a hem I need to fix, and socks to find), but the major work is complete, so there will be no more long hours and late nights in the shop. Whee!

I think I'm running solely on adrenaline and sugar right now. I have work to do, but I don't think I could actually focus on anything. I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that I'm not sewing, and it's harder than you might think.

This week's playlist:

* Neko Case - The Needle Has Landed
Belle & Sebastian - Judy and the Dream of Horses
* The Gothic Archies - Smile! No One Cares How You Feel
Cat Power - Speak For Me
Broken Social Scene - It’s All Gonna Break
John Vanderslice - Promising Actress
Low - Just Stand Back
The New Pornographers - The Body Says No
* The Futureheads - Skip to the End
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Parade
TV on the Radio - Dirtywhirl
* The Music Lovers - Alan Lake
* The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
The Unicorns - 2014
* Built to Spill - Goin’ Against Your Mind

The Gothic Archies include Stephin Merritt (the guy from Magnetic Fields) and Lemony Snicket (the author of A Series of Unfortunate Events). The album is actually based around the books, and apparently some of the songs are on the audio books. You have no idea how much this delights me. :)

I was in Target this evening, shopping with Allison, when we came across this: the FurReal Pony. It's kind of terrifying. It's over 3 feet tall, moves its tail and head (in a rather twitchy manner), and makes noise. In some ways, it's ingenious - lots of little girls ask for ponies, and this is significantly cheaper than buying, feeding, and boarding a real horse. At the same time, it's also very disturbing.

I went to the FurReal website and was looking at their other products, which include a variety of "newborn" animals - chimps, lions, tigers, bears (oh my!), puppies, kittens, and bunnies. By the way, what the heck are "baby bunny sounds"? Because apparently these bunnies make them, but the only noises I've heard out of any baby bunnies are squeaks of pain/fear when Katie finds a nest. And I highly doubt that those are the kind of noises they're talking about - otherwise, there are going to be a lot of little traumatized kids.

On a somewhat related note: I was watching cartoons on Saturday (Which, btw, are not as cool as the cartoons I remember as a kid - a sign of lower standards on the entertainment companies' part, or the beginnings of nostalgic longings on my part? You decide.), and a Barbie commercial played a few times. Featured in this commercial was the coolest version of the Barbie Dream House that I've seen in quite a while - 3 stories with a winding staircase, and spiffy furnishings.

Finally, as this post demonstrates, I am apparently dealing with my impending graduation by regressing back to childhood. Ah well.

This week's playlist:

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Number
My Brightest Diamond - The Robin’s Jar
John Vanderslice - Pale Horse
* Built to Spill - Wherever You Go
Spoon - No You’re Not
OK Go - It’s a Disaster
* Pas/Cal - Little Red Radio
Sufjan Stevens - Super Sexy Woman
* Yo La Tengo - Mr. Tough
Mates of State - Think Long
The New Pornographers - Sing Me Spanish Techno
Broken Social Scene - Windsurfing Nation
Primal Scream - Rocks
TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me
* His Name Is Alive - Seven Minutes
Enon - Disposable Parts
* The Music Lovers - A Hell of a Kid
* Gertie Fox - Modern Love

Play list for this week:

TV on the Radio - Hours
My Brightest Diamond - Disappear
The Wrens - Boys, You Won’t
The Arcade Fire - Headlights
* The Mountain Goats - Woke Up New
* Broken Social Scene - Handjobs for the Holidays
Mates of State - Running Out
* Boy Least Likely To - Monsters
Beulah - Hello Resolven
* Built to Spill - Liar
* Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman’s Farewell Song to Rocky Dennis
Sufjan Stevens - Vito’s Ordination Song (Acoustic)
* M. Ward - Post-War
* Yo La Tengo - Black Flowers

The world would be a much better place if papers wrote themselves.

Instead of doing my work, I'm busy being productive in other ways. Like poking around the internet for useful information on cool libraries and possible publishing jobs for me and/or a friend.

Among the things I've discovered is Ugly Duckling Presse, a tiny, volunteer-run publisher that works with poetry and artist books, among other things. I now desperately want to volunteer there, because, well, they sound damn cool. Sure, there's no money to be made in it, but it would be an interesting experience and teach me a lot more about artist books (they of the sometimes strange design and high cost, and generally of extreme awesomeness). Actually, the UDP artist books are pretty cheap - the limited facsimile edition of one book is only $250. Granted, that's with 100 copies available, but still: compare it with one of the artist books at Granary Books - 35 pages, 45 copies available... $2,500 each. (Of course, the Granary book sounds pretty impressive - accordion-style, so it can be unfolded and turned into more traditional art to be hung on the wall; each has 15 bits of archival material from the artist's studio, etc.)

Anyways, my point is that I'm much more interested in digging up this relatively random information than working on a paper for theatre class. Maybe I would make a good reference librarian after all.

The chances that I'll be moving to NYC after I graduate have just gone up. See, I want to work with pretty books. Rare books. Special collections. The cool things that are usually kept in rooms with special temperature control. Art books that are so strange you're not even sure they should be classified as books.

But where does one go to learn about working with such books? Library school? Yes, but apparently not just any library school. I've now browsed through the websites of most of the ALA-accredited library schools. If I wanted to be a school media specialist and deal with kids, I could go just about anywhere. If I wanted to be an archivist and file away old letters, I would have many options. And most of the schools offer classes on rare books or in preservation. But if I want to actually specialize in rare books/special collections, my best options are in the New York area.

Option 1: School of Information and Library Science at the Pratt Institute. They offer a concentration called Art and Humanities Library Services/Cultural Informatics. It's a mouthful, but "Career opportunities in this area include research and academic libraries, museums and library research, archives and special collections, art and performing arts librarianship, digital libraries and archives." In other words, my sort of thing.

Option 2: Palmer School of Library and Information Science at Long Island University. They actual offer a concentration in Rare Books and Special Collections. And: "Students will develop proficiency in rare book curatorship, archival techniques, the history of the book, rare book cataloging, preservation, and exhibition planning. They will become acquainted with major collections through field trips and internships, and will have opportunity to meet experts in this area." Also, a lot of the classes for the concentration (though probably not for the core requirements) are offered in Manhattan. And they're associated with the University of Virginia's Rare Book School, which is nifty. (The Rare Book School offers 5-day, non-credit classes in various cities on cool topics like Book Illustration Processes to 1900 (Woodcuts! Lithography! General prettiness!) and Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts.)

Happily, NYC has lots of libraries and bookstores where I can work while working on my degree. Because eating is helpful, and I don't actually want to live in a cardboard box.

No DC this weekend after all - last night I cancelled my reservations after realizing what I had left to do (Shakespeare midterm, packing, etc), how tired I was, and how early I would have to get up. Maybe next weekend, assuming I get things done this week.

This week's playlist:

My Brightest Diamond - Something of an End
The Dresden Dolls - Shores of California
Sneaker Pimps - Lightning Field
* Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s - Vampires in Blue Dresses
Sufjan Stevens - Joy! Joy! Joy!
Junior Boys - In the Morning
The Go Find - Igloo
The New Pornographers - Use It
* The Hold Steady - Massive Nights
* Yo La Tengo - The Room Got Heavy
* Beirut - Brandenburg
* Built to Spill - Traces
Stars - What I’m Trying to Say
* Broken Social Scene - 7/4 (Shoreline)
Metric - Monster Hospital

This post is brought to you by my inner geek and my intense need to procrastinate:

Stikfas are some of the coolest toys ever. My brother got me the red dragon and warrior woman combo last year, and it's fantastic. And the other sets they have are also great. Beta Female Demoness? Very cool. Mechana Segmented Robot (in the yellow and blue, of course)? Adorable - the robot has a little bear friend! So cute! Explorer and jungle cat? Nifty. The phantom? So versatile! The scythe for the Grim Reaper, the pumpkin for the headless horseman, chains for the stereotypical ghost, see-through body for the Invisible Man, and a crown for a Stikfas recreation of the beginning of Hamlet! Because these toys call out the need to be used in stop animation videos, and people have done so - skateboarding, fight scenes, even a bit of Star Wars.

Which brings me to some other nifty toys, courtesy of =http://www.thinkgeek.com/">ThinkGeek. I had already come across Darth Tater, a Mr. Potatohead version of Vader, but there's apparently also a Spud Trooper and Artoo Patatoo (complete with a little Princess Tater 'hologram'!). And then there's the plush Yoda backpack, made to look like you're giving Yoda a piggyback ride, a la Luke's training in The Empire Strikes Back. So geeky, but so very neat.

Okay. Time to sleep. Shakespeare midterm in about 8 hours, whee!

I have a train ticket to DC for this weekend. Whee!

This week's playlist (before the show is actually done, since the Decemberists' song still has about 6 minutes left):

* Yo La Tengo - The Race Is On Again
John Vanderslice - White Plains
* Cat Power - Could We
* Jens Lekman - F-Word
* Neko Case - Star Witness
Sufjan Stevens - For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
* Beirut - The Gulag Orkestar
My Brightest Diamond - Workhorse
The Dresden Dolls - My Alcoholic Friends
* Exit Clov - Beast Simone
* Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill
* Built to Spill - The Wait
* The Decemberists - The Island: Come and See - The Landlord’s Daughter - You’ll Not Feel the Drowning

Really heavy on the rock department playlist stuff this week, but that's because there's good stuff on the playlist. Most of the show was played off of *gasp* actual CDs instead of my computer! Amazing!

So I picked up my Shakespeare book today and flipped to 12th Night. At least, I tried to. 12th Night starts on page 333. My book jumps from 320 to 369 - cutting off As You Like It mid-scene and giving me only the last page of 12th Night. It then proceeds as normal for a bit, with the entirety of All's Well That End's Well. Then there's the intro for Measure for Measure - or the intro to the intro. That gets cut off mid-way as well, giving me another copy of 12th Night's last page, then another full copy of All's Well That End's Well. Then, finally, it proceeds as it should.

So my complete works of Shakespeare has only part of As You Like It, two All's Well That End's Well, and no 12th Night. Lovely. This is going to lead to an interesting discussion at the bookstore...

The Sufjan Stevens concert was excellent; the opening band, My Brightest Diamond, was fantastic. Yay good music!

Playlist from my radio show this week:

* Exit Clov - MK Ultra
John Vanderslice - Coming and Going on Easy Terms
Mike Doughty - I Hear the Bells
Rouge Wave - Are You On My Side
* Beirut - Mount Wroclai (Idle Days)
* Sufjan Stevens - The Henney Buggy Band
Bright Eyes and Neva Dinova - I’ll Be Your Friend
Elliott Smith - In the Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost
Belle & Sebastian - Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
Cat Power - The Greatest
* Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Mates of State - Nature and the Wreck
Stars - Calendar Girl
* Jens Lekman - At the Dept. of Forgotten Songs
Final Fantasy - The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead
* Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I’m Ready to Be Heartbroken
* Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s - Paper Kitten Nightmare
* Sufjan Stevens - The Mistress Witch from McClure (or, The Mind That Knows Itself)

And now I sleep, because sleep is good.

I am stressed and unhappy and hating work and feeling unproductive, but at least I have a stomach full of tasty milkshake and quality company for my moping.

The first radio show of the semester went decently well, I think. It was kind of weird doing just an hour, though I'm sure I'll get used to it.

The playlist:

Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Beulah - Calm Go the Wild Seas
* Beirut - Postcards From Italy
* Voxtrot - Rise Up in the Dird
Mates of State - Fraud in the ‘80s
* Exit Clov - Communist BBQ
Stars - Look Up
Wolf Parade - It’s a Curse
* Be Your Own Pet - Bicycle, Bicycle
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
Sleater-Kinney - Combat Rock
The New Pornagraphers - Twin Cinema
Belle & Sebastian - The Blues Are Still Blue
Pavement - Date With Ikea
* Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s - Talking in Code
* Jeff Hanson - Now We Know

I just received a letter about my culminating essay for English - the requirement for me to graduate with an English major. My impending graduation now seems much more real. Gah.

Off to do my first radio show of the semester now - let's hope we break the tradition of having a bad first show, shall we? *knocks on wood*

The large scale event for this semester has been announced: The New Pornographers. Yay! Also, while I haven't heard of any of the bands coming to Olde Club this semester, it seems like an interesting mix - the usually indie rock, but also some jazz. And a week from now I get to see Sufjan Stevens.

*is encompassed by waves of musical delight*

Evidently I'm no longer capable of sleeping more than about 6 hours in one stretch. I'm not well-rested after these 6 hours, mind you, but I am awake. Last night I went to bed around 1:30; this morning I was awake around 7:30 even though my alarm was set for 9. A similar thing happened yesterday, too... But yesterday, after being up for an hour or so, I went back to bed for another hour, hour and a half of sleep. But I can't go back to sleep right away - after all these years of sleep deprivation and napping to catch up, I seem to have trained my body not to expect anything more than 6 hours. In some ways, this is useful - when I can only get 6 hours, it's nice that my body is reasonably alert. It's bad in other ways, though - namely when I could get more than 6 hours, I can't. At least not without an hour of reading or something before crashing again, anyway.

It seems WSRN loves me more than I love it. I applied for a one hour time slot this semester - I want to do a show, but I already have enough time commitments - and they gave me a two hour show. I almost went with it, but decided not against it. Some rearranging was done, and I got my hour: Thursdays, 5-6 pm EST time. Whee.

Last night I and 3 others took advantage of Restaurant Week (meals at great restaurants for $30 - appetizer, entree, and dessert) and went to Estia. Getting dressed up was fun, getting out of the Bubble was nice, and the food was amazing. So, so wonderful. Especially the lamb we all had for the entree - so tasty! Alas, Sharples today is going to be a bit of a let-down.

I think it may also be about time that I bid adieu to my social life for the semester. This morning I was thinking about what I need to get done this weekend, and it's not a pretty list. Eek.

Facebook's new newsfeed thing creeps me out. Yes, technically it is all information that was there before - which is why Facebook is the best stalking tool this side of MySpace - but you had to look for it before. You had to go to your friends page, look at who had recently updated their profiles, and then figure out what those updates were. Effort had to be made; now all you have to do is log in. If I even so much as glance at the newsfeed, I feel sketchy. And it's impossible to not look at it, since it's right there, smack dab in the middle, with no way to opt out or avoid it.

Here's what I don't really get. Facebook is free for users, therefore it must make money through advertisers. The advertisers get more bang for their buck the longer a user is on the site, since that way the user will see more ads. The newsfeed compiles all sorts of info you had to dig for before - i.e. it can drastically reduce the amount of time a user spends on the site. Which means it decreases the amount of exposure ads get. This seems like a bad business move on Facebook's part, and that's even before you factor in the number of users who are leaving the site because they're creeped out. So... Why? What's the rationale?

Today is the first day of classes - the first day of my last year in college. Eep.

I deem my hall theme a success! Even (perhaps especially) the Quad of Evil is pleased. Yay!

Long day today - early start, followed by a 1.5 hour bus ride, followed by a few hours rafting on the river, followed by another bus ride... So now I'm going to crash. Hopefully my body will let me sleep longer for 6 hours tonight.

Public service announcement: I have way too many clothes. This message brought to you by the lack of closet space in my new room.

I'm back at Swat after a week at home. RA training starts tomorrow, and right now I'm working on unpacking. My new room is nice - the bed is comfy (I tested it by napping this afternoon - in my defense, I got up at 6 am today, which is unheard of for me), I have my own bathroom, and the room itself is rather large. And it's not in the basement, which is saying something, since I lived in the basement for 2 full years - calendar years, too, not just academic, since I spent 2 summers down there as well. Having to climb stairs is kind of weird, and I miss having the water fountain fairly close by. More exercise for me, I guess.

Time to unpack a bit more before my brain shuts down completely.

Because I'm doing just about anything instead of the work I should be doing, I bring you this tidbit of information from a CNN.com article on the horrible heat: "...zookeepers are feeding lions frozen blood to cool off." That's right, the lions at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston are getting treated to blood smoothies. No word on whether the polar bears are getting the same sorts of perks.

Okay, back to procrastination.

I have procured myself a pretty boy.

There's a heat advisory for the area for the next few days. Today - high in lower 90s with heat index in upper 90s. Tuesday and Wednesday? High around 100 with heat index around 110. Whee!

At least I'll be in the air conditioned library for most of those 2 days...

I have really amazing and intricate henna on me entire left arm, stretching from my shoulder to my hand and covering my ring finger; I also have a smaller pattern on the top/side of my right foot. It's nifty - yay for Allison! Of course, now I have to let it sit and not pick at it, which gets hard as it dries, since it starts itching.

Right now I'm the best kind of tired - happy tired from swinging, sliding, laughing, climbing, running... Yay for friends and acting like a kid.

Food for a barbecue for 40+ people = expensive. And leads to a very, very full grocery cart. Whee.

A rather up and down day, overall. Get to work early - up. Feel crappy and leave after an hour - down. Sleep - up. Still feel nauseous - down. Deal with people - down, then up. Boo to stupid people, but yay for friends. Especially friends who cheer me up by staying up late with me and making brownies.

The downside of no longer having a niche: when I'm bored, there's no one I can go to and say "I'm bored, let's do something." Actually, there are more downsides than that, but that's the one that's currently bugging me. The boredom and desire for people to do things with is heightened by the fact that I actually have been doing things the past few nights - hanging out and talking until the wee hours, playing a board game here and there, etc. But the people I'm closest to this summer have all gone away for the weekend, and while there are people still here that I'm getting to know better, they're not yet the sort of friends I feel comfortable bothering uninvited. Even with close friends I've always preferred to be the one that got called, rather than the one that does the inviting. I don't know - I have rejection issues or something, I guess.

I could (and should) do research stuff and whatnot. But it's Saturday night! And also, I just don't feel like it. I'd consider wandering outside and into the woods or over to the playground to swing, but it's still raining. And while walking and moping is something I'm fine with doing, walking and moping in the rain is a bit too much.

Bush vetoed a bill to increase funding for embryonic stem cell research. I'm doing research for my internship and reading about lovely things like people publishing white supremacist newspapers and defacing tombstones in a Jewish cemetery by painting them with swastikas. I don't even want to glance at the headlines of the NYTimes. All in all, I'm just swimming in happy, uplifting news. Excuse me while I attempt to distract myself by... oh, hell, I don't even know. Grr to the world.

I think I may be a horrible person. I am, at the very least, a very large chicken. *mope*

And now to deal with the leak in the bathroom ceiling.

Problem guy outdid himself this morning. Around 3:30 am, I hear a knock on my door. Still half-asleep, I don't respond right away, hoping I'm dreaming or something. More knocking. I stumble out of bed, open the door. And there's problem guy. He asks me where he can find a vending machine. Yes, he woke me up (when my door sign said "Sleeping - disturb for emergencies only") to ask me where he could get a snack. Sadly, I was too bewildered and groggy to make any sort of witty retort about how having the munchies is really only an emergency if a) you haven't eaten in days and are quite literally starving or b) you're diabetic and going into shock. Instead, I just asked him to repeat himself and then mumbled that there were vending machines in the bike room... I didn't add that the dorm isn't that big and that he could have found them by wandering around for about 15 minutes, tops.

I don't think he even apologized for waking me up. Usually people apologize profusely for waking me during a nap or even just knocking when my door says "busy" - and they generally have real issues, like being locked out or having a smoke detector going off or something. I like those people so much more.

Swimming didn't happen, because the pool wasn't open. Then I was supposed to go to the gym on Monday, but didn't - I couldn't convince myself to go back out after walking home from work in the pouring rain. The weather has been sucky for the past 3 or so days - rain off and on, humidity, greyness, etc. It was sunny for a bit this afternoon, I think, but I only saw it through the window as I was shifting books. Whee.

Good news: the Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins in the Ville is now open, so I can procure ice cream. Yay ice cream. Also, in about 20 minutes I'm getting my hair chopped off - not all of it but still more than a trim.

This evening has actually been pretty nice. I had a good, balanced meal for once - salad and ravioli - and then hung out with people, only a few of which I actually know well. But they were all very nice, and we played Apples to Apples, and I did well and acquired adjectives that basically added up to being a sexy secret agent. I also got to eat lots of fresh butterscotch cookies. Too many, I think, but they just kept appearing.

Tomorrow: swimming. Now: lazy lounging.

Today was the trip to the Mütter Museum. The museum was interesting enough - though Body Worlds was much cooler - and I learned why Legionnaire's Disease is called that (It first appeared among people staying at a Philadelphia hotel; many of the guests were there for an American Legion convention, hence the disease was named for that). The boy was nice, and I will probably see him again at some point, even if it is just as friends. Because friends are good things to have.

I got back to Swat around 5:50, and it was starting to drizzle. I was torn between going home and picking up groceries; the groceries won, mostly because I'm running low on things to eat. By the time I was done at the store, the drizzle had become actually rain. So I got to make my way back to ML with my messenger bag on one side, two paper bags of groceries in one hand, and my umbrella held in the other. It was not a fun trip, but at least the bags didn't fall apart in the middle of the walk.

Now to cook dinner using my newly purchased food. Yum.

Today I woke up feeling horrible, so after emailing in sick to work, I went back to bed. I didn't go grocery shopping like I needed to; I didn't even make it over to Mary's for dinner and a movie. No, I just slept and loafed, ate grilled cheese for dinner, and have begun to read Eats, Shoots & Leaves (which is now making me rather paranoid about my punctuation, I must admit). Blarg to sickness. Grr to summer sickness, especially. Things like soup and snuggling in bed are not the same when it's massively humid out.

Today has not been a good day. It hasn't exactly been a bad day, either... just... blah, for the most part. I don't know. I think I need to take a break from reading plays for work; most of them aren't exactly happy. The last one I read was really good, but also really sad.

I need to go buy groceries (though it's too late today, unless I want to hike over to Geunardi's). I need to get a hair cut. I need to do research/dramaturgy stuff. I need to make phone calls.

I don't want to do any of it.

Today I took a crowbar to a ceiling.

My main summer jobs don't seem like they should be very heavy when it comes to manual labor. And yet... Yesterday I spent most of my morning hauling metal shelves around at the library; today at the theatre we began the process of refurbishing the room next door that we're taking over. This involved moving things and tearing out the old ceiling. It was kind of fun, though getting coated with plaster and dust wasn't great - especially because it didn't want to come off very easily, which meant I got to remain partially dust-coated on my walk back to the train. Fun fun.

At this point, I don't feel very guilty about not making it to the gym. Between the ceiling destroying, shelf moving, book shifting, and all the walking I'm doing, I feel like I'm getting plenty of exercise. It's exhausting, at the very least.

Sign number one zillion that I have issues: I think going to the Mütter Museum is a swell plan for a first date.

I really need to stop shifting books for the entirety of my work day... Today I spent the morning working on periodicals, then spent the afternoon in the rare book room. So now my arms and back are less than happy, and I crashed when I got home... Which, of course, has led to me not having a real dinner. Because once 8 pm rolls around, it becomes hard for me to convince myself to actually cook... Which is no good, since I really should eat more substantial dinners than I have been. (Well, Saturday I had a very substantial meal - cider, lamb, and cake at a restaurant - but that's the exception rather than the rule lately.)

Tomorrow: probably more book shifting (hopefully with some other stuff mixed in) and then a gym date with Mary.

Megan stopped by today on her drive homewards and took it me out to lunch. It was fantastic and fun and made me very happy. Then I headed into the city to do a bit of work - i.e. sit in the office, read plays, and pet Gomez. I managed to get to the office and back to the station without getting turned around or lost once - a major accomplishment for me, giving my horrible sense of direction.

It's beautiful out right now. I just got back from Philly, so part of me wants to crash, just like I always do. Another part of me thinks I need to take advantage of the weather... I haven't been into the Crum for a while now. And I need to break out of this napping habit, I think. I mean, it works, but it's got me on a weird schedule. So stroll in the woods it is, after a quick snack.

Swarthmore now has a mascot: the phoenix. Not really a surprising outcome, given that it's the name of our newspaper and all. I was kind of rooting for the griffin, though, because Garnet Griffins is rather catchy - alliteration is just nice. So now the question is - are we the Garnet Phoenixes? Is phoenixes even the correct pluralization of phoenix? You usually don't hear about multiple phoenixes, so...

You wouldn't think that working in the library would really count as exercise, but after spending 6 hours stack shifting today, my muscles feel otherwise. Ow. On the plus side, there is something very satisfying about stack shifting and seeing how nice and orderly everything is.

Also, today I got to see one of the library's prized possessions - a first edition copy of Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue. It doesn't look like much, but I silently geeked out over it anyway.

I'm on my second mug of hot chocolate of the day. The first one, this morning, was to help myself warm up after a cold shower -- the hot water has been out for almost 24 hours now. This one is just to warm me up in general. I've been cold lately, at least in my room. Outside, things are fine. In my room, it can be a bit chilly. I suppose it's better than being miserably hot, but still...

I hate people.

The latest: two guys are living in a room that they're not supposed to be in - they've both been assigned to other rooms. In fact, someone else is suppose to move in there, only she can't, because all their shit is in there. In addition, they have an AC unit (not allowed), the smoke detector covered (really, really not allowed) and they have a hookah (technically, possibly allowed, but not if they're using it in the room). They also haven't picked up their keys to their real rooms, so the only way they can get into the dorm is through less than legal means.

Which brings me to my second reason for hating people: propped doors. I just got back from checking every door I could think of, and I think all of them were propped open. I understand wanting to let the breeze in, I really do. And I'm fine with the front door being open during the day as long as someone is around. But every door in the dorm? Of a dorm that's in a residential area, where anyone could easily walk in? Swat's not exactly a crime-laden area, but thefts in ML do tend to increase in the summer, and it's partially due to stuff like this.

So now all the doors have been closed (except ones that have been broken - thanks people!). And I really want to talk (ie, berate) the two guys, only they're not home. At least I got to turn off their AC and uncover the smoke detector. Perhaps a bit bitchy, but sometimes, it's got to be done.

After many hours at the computer, I can tell you the following:

There are 56 ALA-accredited LIS programs (American Library Association, Library and Information Science). The breakdown, by location:

1 Alabama, 1 Arizona, 2 California, 1 Colorado, 1 Connecticut, 1 D.C., 2 Florida, 1 Hawaii, 2 Illinois, 1 Indiana, 1 Iowa, 1 Kansas, 1 Kentucky, 1 Louisiana, 1 Maryland, 1 Massachusetts, 2 Michigan, 1 Mississippi, 1 Missouri, 1 New Jersey, 7 New York, 3 North Carolina, 1 Ohio, 1 Oklahoma, 3 Pennsylvania, 1 Puerto Rico, 1 Rhode Island, 1 South Carolina, 1 Tennessee, 3 Texas, 1 Washington, 2 Wisconsin, 7 Canada.

So 7 are in Canada, which is appealing, but only to a point. 23 are in states that I cannot, at the moment, see myself moving to voluntarily. 2 are on islands (Puerto Rico and Hawaii), which, while nice, seem a bit unrealistic. 24 are in states I could actually consider moving to after I graduate.

As far as dramaturgy goes... I haven't found very many graduate-level theatre programs that allow you to focus on it. The ones I have found: University of Iowa, Virginia Commonwealth University, UMass at Amherst, Stony Brook University, Brooklyn College of CUNY (City University of NY), Yale, and Columbia. UMKC (U of Missouri, Kansas City), WashU, Miami University of Ohio, and Hunter College of CUNY seem to have general M.A. programs that at least mention dramaturgy specifically.

No matter what, I'm not going to grad school right away. The idea of theatre apprenticeships - namely ones focused on literary management - is leading the pack of possible post-grad plans, along with a possible post-bacculaurate position at the library here at Swat.

However, the possibility of becoming a hermit and living in a hut in the Crum also sounds pretty appealing. It wouldn't require me to take the GRE or become fluent in another language, at the very least.

The power is back on. Finally. It's been out since about 4 in the afternoon, thanks to the big storm we had. At least the rain cooled things down so being without my fan wasn't too miserable... But I was bored. In the 8 hours without electricity, I read two plays, did some crossword puzzles, played on my laptop until the battery ran down, talked to my mom, ate the melting ice cream from my fridge, attempted to sleep (and failed, sadly), played the music quiz on my iPod, played solitaire on my iPod, stared into space, and eventually sat in the hall and played with a bouncy ball until Mary came back. And just as I was going to try sleeping again, the power came back on. Now, of course, I won't sleep - I have to revel in the light.

Congratulations class of 2006!

I got choked up a few times during commencement itself and managed to fight back tears through most of the pictures. Then I sobbed, but only a little bit.

Since about 9 or so Friday night, I have been in hiding. I left the cookout and went home. I've shut myself up in my room and tried to disengage with reality. I have watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy (Thanks for the new addiction, Mary!). A lot. I have let myself become wrapped up in the lives of fictional characters for hours on end... because right now it hurts too much to be wrapped up in my own life. Commencement is in less than 6 hours at this point. No one is abandoning me, but everyone is still leaving. Part of me knows I should have hung out with people tonight, but all of me knows that I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I'm a wreck right now. The crying has started, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop soon.

To all my senior friends - I'm sorry I didn't see you tonight (Er, last night, whatever - staying up into the wee hours of the morning screws up time). It's not that I don't love you. It's that right now, I love you all too much. At this point I could either glom onto everyone or detach myself; I can either care too much or try not to feel at all. I want a happy medium. I don't want to deal with the inevitable changes. But I guess I don't have much of a choice.

Everyone is sending out their updated contact info. It's nice in some ways, as it's helpful and useful and all that. But almost every email starts out with some variation of "As you may know, I will be graduating from Swarthmore on Sunday..." and each time I read it I get a little sad. After reading it a lot of times, I'm a lot sad. And now I'm heading over to campus for a cookout with a bunch of my senior friends and their families. We were talking about it last night, and it was decided that name tags would be extremely helpful. "Hello, my name is ---. I am with -----." Possibilities suggested for my name tag were "Jen the Junior" and "with all of the seniors."

I'm going to cry so much on Sunday.

It's been a busy and long day... But also a lot of fun. The Six Flags trip got off to a late start (big surprise there), but things were fine once we got going. Mary, Megan, and I broke off from the larger group when we got there. We ended up meeting up with various people on and off, but it was nice to have a smaller core group to wander with.

The rides:

Batman and Robin: The Chiller - A long, long wait, which sucked. And the ride is really short. But it's also tremendously intense, especially as it was the first roller coaster I've been on in a while. Shot off at like 60 mph, loops and twists -- and then everything backwards.

Ferris Wheel - Because sometimes you just need to let your heart return to a normal pace.

Skull Mountain - A pretty basic smaller roller coaster - some twists, but no upside down loops. It's in the dark, though, so you don't know what's coming. The ride was made less pleasant by the presence of annoying, loud, obnoxious, immature teenage boys.

Superman Ultimate Flight - A roller coaster that you ride on your stomach. It's basically the normal harness thing - no floor but your feet are locked in - and then they flip it. Very cool, kinda freaky on one of the loops where you end up on your back.

Log Flume - Basic and refreshing.

Skull Mountain - Much better without the annoying teenage boys. This ride also had no line, which was an added benefit.

Musik Express - It spins and you smash whoever is on the outside of the cart. I rode a very similar ride all the time at Kennywood before I got over my fear of roller coasters. It was nice to relive a bit of my childhood.

Medusa - There was no line for this by late afternoon, so we got right on. It was fantastic - many loops, harness seats with no floor. Probably my favorite.

Runaway Mine Train - A traditional non-looping roller coaster. Fun and made more interesting by riding with someone who's not big on roller coasters.

Sky Ride - A gondola to the other side of the park. Yay for not having to walk.

Skull Mountain - Because there was no line, and at that point I was with someone who hadn't gone on it. This time I actually heard the "spooky" sound effects - ghoulish laughter and screams - and was entertained.

Nitro - No loops, but lots of hills, including some camel backs/double dips. A good way to end the day.

In other news: The Wilma finally got back to me to set up a meeting. However, by this point, InterAct has managed to respond to me, interview me, and offer me a spot, which I accepted. It also seems like the InterAct one will be more fun - more actual work, less clerical stuff. So yay. But it's still nice to hear back from them and feel wanted.

Now I crash.

There are times when I hate people. When I'm washing a bunch of dishes that aren't mine because I'm sick of having them piled in the sink is one of those times. Grr to people who don't have the decency to clean up after themselves! Grr to people who clog up sinks! Grr to people who just dump their dishes in the sink! Double grr to people who dump their large knives in the sink! (Seriously, there was a 5 inch knife just sitting there. I could have seriously cut myself)

It really just boggles my mind, though. I know that I'm a little on the obsessive side (though my room is currently rather messy, especially my desk). I can understand messy rooms, though. It's just when it spreads into public spaces - empty (or even worse, half empty) Chinese food containers from last night in the lounge, laundry that sits there for a week, dishes that are just left... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Hate hate hate.

There are also times when I love people, of course. Right now is just not one of those times.

EDIT: Oh my god, do I ever hate people. Hate hate hate hate. I was just up in the breakfast room kitchen. The sink/dishes situation isn't as bad, but the counters are nasty, and... SOMEONE LEFT THE GAS STOVE ON. Yeah. Apparently someone got "Low" and "Off" confused.

I hate people.

I have spent nearly the entire day in bed. Boo to summer sickness.

On a happier note: going into Philly yesterday was a lot of fun. My main goal was to get a dress for the wedding I'll be going to this summer, but... Well, I got two dresses. One is far too formal (floor-length black sheath dress for $12... I love thrift shops), and the other might work (knee-length black strapless with white designs), but I'm not sure. Part of me has issues with wearing either white or black to a wedding. Weird, but hey, so am I.

Also good: various activities with friends through graduation. Six Flags tomorrow, general hanging out, and a cookout with family and friends. The bad part of this: graduation itself, where I am likely to cry like you wouldn't believe.

Despite the super-stress of this past year, this semester my grades are actually pretty damn good. A- for both my costume design project and dramaturgy, and credit for my playwriting class. The only thing I'm still waiting for is ToN. I'm hoping for a B; I don't expect anything higher.

Off to finally shower and get ready for the day (or what's left of it).

I have very easily and quickly fallen into a routine of sleeping, reading, and watching movies. While nice, I needed a bit of a change tonight. Thankfully, an opportunity presented itself in the form of an 80's dance party. I went with a few of the girls, and we had a blast. And in about 12 hours, I'll be heading into Philly with most of them to go shopping. Yay!

Now, however, I'm going to collapse. 2 hours of dancing is pretty damn tiring.

Dear Junior Year-

It's been real (real-ly stressful, I mean). Have fun torturing people next year; I'll be hanging out with your pal Senior.

-Jen

Yeah. I'm done. Woot, I guess?

Speaking of torture - Of all the books I checked out for my dramaturgy (most of which I didn't end up using), I've decided to hang onto one to read for the hell of it. The book? The History of Torture. Yes folks, I'm reading about torture. For fun. I suppose that says something about me. And probably nothing good.

Off to eat cake and celebrate now.

83 pages. Man. Granted, 63 of those are the script and footnotes, but still. And most of it's single spaced, too. And there's a lot more I want to look into if we end up doing this for Senior Company, too. There are a handful of books I checked out of the library that I didn't actually use.

Now I just have to finish my play. *sigh* Maybe I'll learn from this and start super-early on all my work next semester. But that seems pretty unlikely.

Sometimes, spell checker is weird. In a very related note, my spell checker would like to change "hegemonically" into "hegemonic ally." Which makes me think of little warrior hedgehogs lining up to help out their friends in need. Have I mentioned I've been on a strange sleep schedule? Because I have. Man, I'm looking forward to the laziness overload that is Tuesday.

ToN paper done.
Casebook started.
Play... Well, that's tomorrow's task.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the paper I'm writing is not exactly the paper my prof wants. I also have a rather certain feeling that I don't really care at this point.

12 hours left until it's due.

The great thing about ML - just because the power's out on campus doesn't mean that it's out here. My condolences to campus folk who are trying to write papers or study at all. Hopefully the power will come up soon.

I did not actually do any more work last night... Big surprise there. However, I have achieved the summer triumvirate! (Where my use of "triumvirate" is incredibly improper and bastardized) It hasn't been finalized yet, but I was offered the theatre internship, so yay!

So, for this summer I have secured:

1) Housing (Free, as I am the summer RA)
2) Income (Working part-time at the library)
3) Resume fodder (Jobs from 1 and 2, plus the internship)

I have also ensured that I'll have only a little more free time than I do during the school year, but whatever. I get to spend time in an office that has a cat, which trumps all.

It is oddly comforting to discover that life is just as awkward for other people. Also, long talks with nice people are good, even if they extend my supposedly 2 hour or so study break into a good 5 hours. (Brain shut down at 9, play festival at 10, long talk from 11 until 12:30 or so, walk home).

On the plus side, I feel kind of invigorated again, so I may get a bit more work done before sleeping. It's not like I have a normal sleeping schedule anyway...

"Ow," says my aching head. "Ouch," says my sunburned back. "Suck it up," says the inner voice of productivity.

I'm holed up in McCabe, doing research for my d'turgy casebook. It's the project I don't mind so much, so it's getting done first. I'd rather work on it than my English paper or my play... Anyway, research, research, research. Mostly of the Google variety, but in this case it's completely acceptable. I've been trying to figure out a production history of the play I'm working on (Ellen McLaughlin's Days and Nights Within), and I've reached a couple of conclusions. 1) There needs to be a website that just lists productions of plays en masse. Perhaps when rights are granted for a performance it could be added to the list? 2) People need to put dates on their resumes. I'm glad you played Elsa, Ms. X, but would you mind giving me a clue as to where and when? No? Damn you.

Whenever I get done with this, I may go over to Wikipedia and expand on Ellen McLaughlin's stub. They have next to nothing on her, and after this, I'm going to have a list of just about every play she's written, what awards she's won, and so forth.

Back to work... Damn sunny day taunting me through the window...

The internship interview went okay (the place has an office cat and a dog that comes to work regularly!)... I should find out tomorrow or so. Other than that, my feet hate me (stupid heels), Jamboree was good, free massages rock, and I really need to get work done.

For a group of friends that doesn't drink all that much, we certainly managed to produce a lot of alcohol for tonight... Everyone just brought what was in their rooms, and well, it was quite a bit.

Sleep now, because sleep is good. ML barbecue tomorrow (today), internship interview on Wednesday.

Zoo Story is done, meaning 1/4 of my credits this semester is done. Woot. Now I just have to do massive amounts of research and writing...

There is a nice playground about 4 blocks away from ML that I and some others discovered today. It has swings - good ones, even, with chains and rubber seats. Very cool discovery.