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Well, it's September now, and I'm back in school again. The first two weeks of school were very busy, with an intensive seminar on the Right to Self-Defense that was very interesting. Now that that's over, I'm only going to school half as much, which has made this week seem downright relaxing. Trial Advocacy has been a really useful class. The professor is driving me insane with the massive disorganization and disregard for students that has characterized every class I've had with him, but I've learned a lot. We have classes on Wednesday night in the courthouse, and actually practice trial skills like direct and cross examination, making arguments, and raising objections. I'm getting better at making objections, one thing I kind of sucked at this summer. (In fairness, I also felt kind of bad objecting to the pro se defendants, like I was taking potshots at the unarmed.) Being the only woman in my section is interesting, but now that I've rescued my pantsuit from an unfortunate laundry disaster, I can comfort myself with the fact that my suit is more like pajamas than anyone else's.
I got online here to say something specific, but I've forgotten. I'll keep going, and maybe I'll remember later. Last night I stayed up very late, talking to an online friend from high school and reading the old stories we wrote together, back when I was first getting into roleplaying. It's funny to read my stuff from back then, and remember that I went through all the weird roleplaying and characterization stages that everyone went through. I also found some of Mike's old character sheets and showed them to him. He laughed and said that his character creation method was to think up as many character quirks as he possibly could, and then put a name at the top of the sheet. There is some truth in that assessment, but it was sort of the style of our group at the time. We had crazy adventures.
Which reminds me of what I was thinking about! Storable food! I don't know why that made me remember, either. I have this strange desire to get one of those "year worth of food" packages, the ones that are supposed to keep for 15 years until you need them, then feed you for a year with little or no supplementation. I may have mentioned this a few months ago as well, but the urge is on me again. It's strange, because I don't really foresee a major food-needing disaster (unless we move to Hattiesburg) any time in the near future. But you never know. And running out of food would suck. We'd have to eat the neighbors. I guess I just appreciate the sense of security one would have from knowing that if giant radioactive monkeys attack, you can hide in your basement for a year in perfect safety until the monkeys have gotten bored and gone to eat Cleveland. Many of these website also sell good things like water stills and emergency toilets, so you don't have to leave the basement to go potty or get a drink. Very convenient! Maybe once we get an actual house, I will lay in 15-year supplies in the basement. There is no possible way that I would move 1500 pounds of canned food up into this apartment and back out again.
We certainly have enough soap for an emergency. I had to clean out the cupboard under the sink because the drawers wouldn't close anymore, and extracted thirty bars of soap I bought on sale earlier this year. Six bars of Dial for a dollar was too good to pass up. It would've been the perfect bulk buy for the Women's Law Society soap drive, except that it all happens to be Dial for Men, with appropriately pseudo-manly smells, and buying that for the woman's shelter seems only marginally politic at best. But I like the smell of it, and we won't need to buy a bar of deodorant soap for the next two years. I have to admit that at this point I'm not using it at all, I'm using the soap we bought at the Bristol Renn Faire. It's green apple scented, and one bar sitting in the shower makes the whole bathroom smell great.
Hey, that reminds me, we went to the Renn Faire this past weekend. Mike and I had never been to one, so it was quite an experience. We went with Reid and Wes and Lauren, and stayed Friday night at Lauren's dad's house. He fed us and showed us all his swords. I tried to use his computer to check my email, and was put to shame by his Dvorak keyboard. It was like being back in second grade again, the way I had to hunt and peck. Sending a five-line message took almost fifteen minutes. We headed up to the Faire on Saturday morning, but didn't get there till midafternoon thanks to a spectacular blowout of Reid's leaky tire and a less-spectacular blowout of his underinflated spare. We sat in the car for awhile and played Munchkin-Cthulhu, and finally got off to the Faire, packed in like sardines but with undampened spirits. We were wearing garb, so people honked at us from time to time as we stood on the side of the road and wandered around in the culvert. Because it was the last weekend, we even got in at discount price. Score!
The Faire was fun, even if the things there were, oooh, a wee bit expensive. Mike was happy because he got a pastie, one thing he really missed since leaving Marquette. I had a portabella mushroom banger that was exquisite, and we drank sassafras drinks that smelled like licorice and tasted like root beer. It was hot, but not unbearable, and I got to wear my swordchucks around. We also saw Kat and Bill, which was nice. I hadn't seen them in ages. Kat, as usual, had a gorgeous dress for the occasion. Lauren's dress was also very pretty, she finished it just in time for us to go to the faire, and I helped to lace her into it. I'm helpful! I'd like to go back next year, we had a good time, and it's really not horribly far away. Lauren took a picture of us in our garb, I'll see if I can get a copy of it.
I found out today that Steve Farris died, which is really too bad. He was a nice guy, and a good boss. He was always friendly to me in the four years I worked in the Knox kitchens. He wasn't that old, either, but he'd been at Knox for a long time. I left a message on the funeral home guest book offering my condolences. I don't know, maybe I didn't know him well enough to really do that, but I hope they take it in the spirit it was intended. I think we learn a lot of work ethic from our first boss, and that's something you take with you for your whole life. I feel bad that I haven't gotten back to see my friends from Dining Services for so long, but most of them probably don't remember me anymore anyway. Students come and go so quickly, and everything changes. I wish I could find my friend JT's address, but I'm afraid she's someone I might never talk to again. Good memories, though. Lots of good memories.
Okay, now I'm going to have to go back and slap an LJ-cut on this monster, lest it break everyone's pages. I went to Lowe's last week for bug traps and ended up buying a big ol' pot of blooming mums for only six dollars (and bug traps). I'm enormously pleased with the way it's holding up. It looks great, and the flowers are voluminous and purple. Between that and the violet that's finally reblooming in the bathroom, the house is full of flowers, and substantially emptier of bugs than before. The peace lily even has one big white flower spearing up. All this plant goodness makes me happy, and if I can just keep on top of my homework, I may get through this semester with blood pressure in an acceptable range.
I got online here to say something specific, but I've forgotten. I'll keep going, and maybe I'll remember later. Last night I stayed up very late, talking to an online friend from high school and reading the old stories we wrote together, back when I was first getting into roleplaying. It's funny to read my stuff from back then, and remember that I went through all the weird roleplaying and characterization stages that everyone went through. I also found some of Mike's old character sheets and showed them to him. He laughed and said that his character creation method was to think up as many character quirks as he possibly could, and then put a name at the top of the sheet. There is some truth in that assessment, but it was sort of the style of our group at the time. We had crazy adventures.
Which reminds me of what I was thinking about! Storable food! I don't know why that made me remember, either. I have this strange desire to get one of those "year worth of food" packages, the ones that are supposed to keep for 15 years until you need them, then feed you for a year with little or no supplementation. I may have mentioned this a few months ago as well, but the urge is on me again. It's strange, because I don't really foresee a major food-needing disaster (unless we move to Hattiesburg) any time in the near future. But you never know. And running out of food would suck. We'd have to eat the neighbors. I guess I just appreciate the sense of security one would have from knowing that if giant radioactive monkeys attack, you can hide in your basement for a year in perfect safety until the monkeys have gotten bored and gone to eat Cleveland. Many of these website also sell good things like water stills and emergency toilets, so you don't have to leave the basement to go potty or get a drink. Very convenient! Maybe once we get an actual house, I will lay in 15-year supplies in the basement. There is no possible way that I would move 1500 pounds of canned food up into this apartment and back out again.
We certainly have enough soap for an emergency. I had to clean out the cupboard under the sink because the drawers wouldn't close anymore, and extracted thirty bars of soap I bought on sale earlier this year. Six bars of Dial for a dollar was too good to pass up. It would've been the perfect bulk buy for the Women's Law Society soap drive, except that it all happens to be Dial for Men, with appropriately pseudo-manly smells, and buying that for the woman's shelter seems only marginally politic at best. But I like the smell of it, and we won't need to buy a bar of deodorant soap for the next two years. I have to admit that at this point I'm not using it at all, I'm using the soap we bought at the Bristol Renn Faire. It's green apple scented, and one bar sitting in the shower makes the whole bathroom smell great.
Hey, that reminds me, we went to the Renn Faire this past weekend. Mike and I had never been to one, so it was quite an experience. We went with Reid and Wes and Lauren, and stayed Friday night at Lauren's dad's house. He fed us and showed us all his swords. I tried to use his computer to check my email, and was put to shame by his Dvorak keyboard. It was like being back in second grade again, the way I had to hunt and peck. Sending a five-line message took almost fifteen minutes. We headed up to the Faire on Saturday morning, but didn't get there till midafternoon thanks to a spectacular blowout of Reid's leaky tire and a less-spectacular blowout of his underinflated spare. We sat in the car for awhile and played Munchkin-Cthulhu, and finally got off to the Faire, packed in like sardines but with undampened spirits. We were wearing garb, so people honked at us from time to time as we stood on the side of the road and wandered around in the culvert. Because it was the last weekend, we even got in at discount price. Score!
The Faire was fun, even if the things there were, oooh, a wee bit expensive. Mike was happy because he got a pastie, one thing he really missed since leaving Marquette. I had a portabella mushroom banger that was exquisite, and we drank sassafras drinks that smelled like licorice and tasted like root beer. It was hot, but not unbearable, and I got to wear my swordchucks around. We also saw Kat and Bill, which was nice. I hadn't seen them in ages. Kat, as usual, had a gorgeous dress for the occasion. Lauren's dress was also very pretty, she finished it just in time for us to go to the faire, and I helped to lace her into it. I'm helpful! I'd like to go back next year, we had a good time, and it's really not horribly far away. Lauren took a picture of us in our garb, I'll see if I can get a copy of it.
I found out today that Steve Farris died, which is really too bad. He was a nice guy, and a good boss. He was always friendly to me in the four years I worked in the Knox kitchens. He wasn't that old, either, but he'd been at Knox for a long time. I left a message on the funeral home guest book offering my condolences. I don't know, maybe I didn't know him well enough to really do that, but I hope they take it in the spirit it was intended. I think we learn a lot of work ethic from our first boss, and that's something you take with you for your whole life. I feel bad that I haven't gotten back to see my friends from Dining Services for so long, but most of them probably don't remember me anymore anyway. Students come and go so quickly, and everything changes. I wish I could find my friend JT's address, but I'm afraid she's someone I might never talk to again. Good memories, though. Lots of good memories.
Okay, now I'm going to have to go back and slap an LJ-cut on this monster, lest it break everyone's pages. I went to Lowe's last week for bug traps and ended up buying a big ol' pot of blooming mums for only six dollars (and bug traps). I'm enormously pleased with the way it's holding up. It looks great, and the flowers are voluminous and purple. Between that and the violet that's finally reblooming in the bathroom, the house is full of flowers, and substantially emptier of bugs than before. The peace lily even has one big white flower spearing up. All this plant goodness makes me happy, and if I can just keep on top of my homework, I may get through this semester with blood pressure in an acceptable range.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-07 12:21 pm (UTC)glad to hear you're doin okay. give my best to mike.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-07 12:38 pm (UTC)It shocked me, when I read that. He was really nice--they all were when I worked there.