The Question isn't "what are we going to do?"

Thanksgiving break is wonderful. I have not had this much of a break from structured activities (school, fencing, camping) since August. If you don't count the short recuperation between China and Chapel Hill, I really haven't had a break since May.

And it is a break! All I have done today is lay around in bed read The Hours. And knit The Afghan of Dreams*. And watch terrible shows on television.

I also went to the mall with the sisters + the foreign exchange student. Wan Rui and I went to Build A Bear together to get Sister A's birthday present, and that was quite the culture shock. ("We have these kinds of toys in China," she told me, "But you do not need to make them yourself!")

There has been no flute practice, no exercise, and no homework of any kind. As Wan Rui says when she is pleased (for example when she heard about the Twilight co-stars' offstage romance), "So good! So good!"

Speaking of things that are so good: ( The Thanksgiving Meme )




*Which, until this weekend, had been so pitifully short that Jay mistook it for a scarf

Turkey day is imminent. So is my media law "mini"* exam (yeah, I know the first amendment this time) and my flute studio listening exam. Surprisingly enough, I do not feel unprepared for either of those, although only time will tell.

My final column runs tomorrow. It is neither related to the arts nor very nice (both editors I talked to said to expect hate mail), so watch out for that!

Hm, what else? I ransacked my room today looking for my keys only to discover hours later that Jay G had put them in his backpack in his sleep last night. A likely story. I am dating a key thief!

I am also supposed to get up early to go to weight lifting tomorrow. Gross.


*HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So in spite of missing out on Penn State, I've had fun this weekend.

Today was just so ridiculously productive. I haven't felt prepared/on top of things coming off a weekend since . . . well, maybe since last semester. I woke up this morning and got so many things done: media law, listening test preparation, flute practice, column, scholarship application, a whole host of e-mails. I guess this sounds mundane but it's been great.

Interspersed between the academia, I've hung out a lot with Jay S and Matthew. The three of us went to the gym, then Jay and I did some homework together and had dinner. We rounded out the day with a few episodes of Better of Ted (it reminds me a whole lot of Arrested Development).

If I were a responsible human being, I'd go to bed now and get up early tomorrow to study some more. But since my first class is canceled, I have instead decided to stay up until the bus gets in so Jay G and I can gossip about various teammates until the wee hours.

Well, I still wish I were at Penn State. This is the first trip I've missed in over a year, and I want to fence tomorrow.

Nevertheless, I've been having a good time in Chapel Hill. Matthew, Reed, and I skipped class today to go look at houses for next year, then we went with Jay S to the library booksale in Raleigh. I bought The Hours (which I may or may not have already purchased at a previous library booksale), The Bonesetter's Daughter (oh, Amy Tan), a book Matthew recommended called The Woman Who Walked Into Walls, My Antonia, and a Dave Barry collection. Jay S and I had delicious Asia Cafe for dinner but now she has left and I am sitting in my room drinking bubble tea and contemplating studying for Media Law. ALONE. ON A FRIDAY. HOW SAD.

Well, cry me a river, &etc.

Why am I stuck in Chapel Hill this weekend while the whole team goes to Penn State? Why, why, why?!


I mean, I know why, and I am very thankful for getting such a nice scholarship to go to China this summer, and isn't it sweet of them to have a super-mandatory (as in "we won't give you the balance of your money" mandatory) retreat this weekend where they lock all of the recipiants in the basement of Graham Memorial for a day to talk about socioeconomic issues, but Jesus, could it have been any other weekend? I guess I'd rather miss this tournament than a real dual meet, but that doesn't preclude me from being angry and disruptive.

Really Loud Guy from the third floor dropped by the room across from the kitchen while I was doing dishes. He has some . . . interesting ideas:

Really Loud Guy: So I've thought of a really good idea for a new sport.
Uninterested Girl: Oh?
RLG: It's like a game only for two guys. Like, guy on guy.
UG: Are they gay?
RLG: No! But so, to start out with, they're naked. And they've both got massive erections. They're really, really hard.
UG: ...
RLG: Hm, wait, I guess they'd have to be gay.
UG: Maybe.
RLG: Anyway, the point is they've both got wood. Lots of it. And they stand there facing each other and the goal of the game is to poke the other guy in the balls without getting poked himself.
UG: How does that even work?
RLG: There's a lot of strategy, like thumb-wars.
UG: Oh.
RLG: Like, you'd probably have to drop down and come up from under, kind of like in the Beyonce music video.
UG: What?
RLG: Like this. (muffled sound)
UG: Are you gay?

I am suprisingly less busy today than I have been in some time. Being in Chapel Hill all weekend to do homework helped--I pounded out two essays and a buttload of Chin 252 studying.

Speaking of Chinese, I won a Harry Potter book in this year's essay contest. This has given me the most incentive to learn characters, ever.

(I am not as busy, but still as tired, so this entry will be short.)

Not having orchestra tonight was so good.  I don't think I could have handled another walk through the freezing rain after dinner (it has been pouring and gross all day and I didn't have an umbrella until Jay lent me his at noon).  And I got a bunch of stuff done.

(If by "a bunch of stuff," I mean "some minimal Chinese studying and extensive facebook co-stalking with Matthew")

In other news, I would like a C right now.  Not in any class, per se (although in Media Law, that's a definite possibility), but if I had a C or higher USFA rating, I would be eligible for the Div I NAC in January that coach is offering to fund travel to.  But I guess that's the price I pay for only doing NCAA stuff... If I competed more often in the low-class tournaments offered by our shitty state, I would have a much better letter.  Oh, North Carolina, why do all of your clubs suck so much?

Fencing, fencing every day.  When was the last time I posted in this?  So long ago.

Dual meets at Haverford this weekend were not bad.  I went 8-1 on the day, which means that at least a little of the work I've been doing paid off.  I spent $40 of meal money in the first day at a sale at Old Navy and had to eat clif bars and doughnuts stolen from the referees' food stash for the rest of the weekend.  We watched Good Will Hunting on the bus for the millionth time ever and I apparently grabbed Jay's elbows when I fell asleep on the floor.  I did not get food poisoning again and my toe is healing.  So that's that.

Tonight I went with a bunch of CET people to a Chinese indie rock concert at Gerrard hall.  It was great.  The music was fun and super loud and practically the entire group of us from this summer were there dancing like crazy.  I felt like I was back at the Babyface club by our school and that after we finished jumping around onstage, we'd sneak back after curfew through Chris's window, whispering muffled half-English curses.  Man, I love those people.  It's sad that we can't spend so much time together now that we're back in America, so something like this was a real treat.

Um, what else.  I may get an A in Media Law after all, thanks to an office-hours visit with the Mr. Jeckyll side of my bipolar professor. 

No fencing this weekend, thank god.

The Temple Open trip this year kind of sucked.  I cut my foot open on the locker room stairs, got sick on the bus, and missed Halloween.  Bummer.  I fenced okay, but now I am swamped with work and it will not let up.  The Phillips Ambassadors sent me a friendly reminder e-mail today about a five-page research paper due in three weeks, and all I have to say to that is--seriously?

Yesterday, Chinese

Professor V: Is everyone ready to present your idiom dialogues?
Students: Dui!
Professor V: What idioms did everyone choose?
Group one: "Tuo le kuzi fang pi" ("to drop one's pants in order to fart"; to be excessive)
Groups two: "Tuo le kuzi fang pi!"
Group three: "Tuo le kuzi fang pi!"
Professor V: Out of the whole Chinese language, the only idioms you could think of involved passing gas?  Are you seven?
All groups: ...
Me: hee hee she just said gas.


I have had no sleep ever this week.  This morning I woke up at seven to catch the bus to the goddamned off-campus art labs, about which I was supposed to write a column today.  And about which I kind of did write a column, only it is very shitty.  But I am leaving for Philly in fewer than nine hours, so it will probably have to run as is.

Philly!  Temple Open!  So psyched!

Scene: Digital Media Economics and Behavior, Today

Girl: Have you done the midterm yet?
Me: Oh, hells, yes.  It took me like, an hour.  Okay, two.
Girl: Wow.  I haven't even started.
Boy: WHAT?!  It only took you TWO HOURS?!
Me: I'm not a moron.
Boy: It took me, like, seven!  And I'm still not done!
Me: Well I'm sorry.
Boy: Seriously!  I mean, mine was like a thousand words.
Me: Why?  It was just a financial statements worksheet.
Boy: ...
Me: What?
Boy: The financial statements worksheet was only 20% of the midterm.  The other 80% are essay research questions.  They take forever.  
Me: OH MY GOD HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS.
Boy: I'm not a moron.


So here I am, 11:00 PM and finally finished with a rough draft of the other eighty percent.  I have yet to do any homework for other classes tonight.  I would say FML but I'm just glad that I found out today and not Thursday when it's actually due.  But, Jesus.  What a shitty waste of time.

In better news, I kicked ass today in Studio Class (Franck #4), got all of the classes I wanted for next semester, and got a lesson at club.  

Another crazy, crazy day.

Amid the usual chaos of a million classes and extracurriculars, I have been thinking about applying to be a student ambassador for a program in Shanghai this summer. This is what I've been weighing:

Pro's:
--All-expenses-paid trip to Shanghai; food money; housing
--Three months of Chinese immersion and practice
--A two-hour flight away from my roommate this summer and my other Beijing friends

Con's:
--It starts mid-April so I would have to coerce my professors into letting me take exams early, miss the fencing banquet and other end-of-year activities, maybe not give a recital, etc
--I should really be focusing this summer on getting an internship in my field and in America
--I would have to spend my twenty-first birthday very anti-climatically in a region where the drinking age is eighteen

The program looks really competitive, but I think I'm going to give it a shot.  I'm having another talk with Mr. Get-A-Job in J-School Advising tomorrow, so I'm going to run it by him first.


In less career-oriented news, I am so excited for our first fencing trip.  I'm not as ready as I'd like to be, practice-wise, but hopefully I'll be able to do pretty well.  In any case, I'm ready for the first round of meal money, philadelphia hotel parties, and weird ambien dreams on the ride back.

Fall Break, while not very relaxing, was still pretty awesome.  The Harem (+Jay G, The Boyfriend) went to Pilot Mountain--ostensibly to camp, really to eat lots of roasted food and play Cranium by flashlight.

The trees were beautiful, though, and on Saturday we did a hike up to Hanging Rock.  It was super cloudy and although we missed what I hear was a great view, it was kind of neat to be surrounded by all of the fog.

I didn't sleep great--although I fared better than my tent-buddy, who woke up shivering to discover that I had appropriated not only our shared blanket but also most of his sleeping bag--so I am ready to crash.  Also the people at ITS really screwed up some stuff when they re-imaged my hard drive so I have spent way too much time messing with the drivers.

Another week.  Eeeee.

After today's libel midterm in Media Law, I am well on my way to <strike>becoming America's Next Top Model</strike> Fall Break!  It's so close!

Yesterday was unhealthily busy.  Although we didn't have practice, I spent the afternoon burning calories by doing my Digicon midterm and writing whiny e-mails to people.  Specifically my orchestra conductor, who was surprisingly receptive to my complaints about part assignments--he switched me to principal flute on the Rachmaninoff last night.  Something about a squeaky wheel....

Then, in order to procrastinate further on flute practice this morning, I took my computer to ITS to evaluate the damage it received at the hands of Chinese viruses.  Their verdict: way too much.  I am leaving it with them over fall break.

Class, flu shot, team pictures, athletic eligibility meeting, club, homework, sleep.

"winds and brass rotate," MY ASS.

So glad I went to all of that trouble to help out last concert when Katie got sick.  Didn't know I'd screwed again, part-wise, this time.

Bleh.  I'm sick of Chinese 407.  Having to go there every day is only slightly better than actively trying to un-learn everything I've ever gained from my other, real, language courses.  I hate to sound un-academic, but I don't care about 1900's-era literature, classical vocabulary, or anything else I'm supposed to be getting out of it.  I want to learn how to speak, read, and write modern Chinese (in that order), and nothing I'm getting this semester is helping me out there.  I am beginning to think that I should drop the major and just try to take courses that will actually help me from now on.

My leg has suffered ridiculous fencing-related abuse this week.  I have bruises that may compete with the ones Jay S brings back from rugby.  But, why?  I haven't been wearing the booty shorts; in fact, it's been disgustingly cold so I've had an extra layer of spandex on as well.  But neither that nor the Nike "fit" saved my from Marion, who drove a seven-inch line into my thigh on Tuesday.  With her point.  She hit so hard that the skin bruised not just at the impact site, but along the entire gash.  Then she gave me a matching--if shorter--one on the other side. 

So to try to prevent further injury, I stayed away from the erratic fencers today.  Until Jeeho, who has a reputation for being wild and a penchant for trying to flick, called me on strip.  So I said to him, "Jee, please don't hit me in the leg today."

He acted taken aback, and for a little while I felt bad.  I mean, it's kind of a dick move to tell someone, "Please try to make an extra effort today not to fence poorly and injure me."  So I apologized.

Five minutes later his blade cracked against my kneecap so hard that it started bleeding at two sites.


In other news I am so glad this week is coming to an end, although the thing I'm really looking forward to is Fall Break.  Yesterday's orchestra concert went really well and I got to see my parents and Wan Rui afterward which was nice until I realized that they'd brought her to Chapel Hill to have me explain to her in Chinese that they wanted her to get her wisdom teeth out. 

"It is really not that bad," I told her, dredging my mind for pain-comparative vocabulary, "Maybe like being crushed in American football."

I'm still as busy as I was last week, but I'm slightly wealthier, so that makes up for it.  University Day (and the Ceremony Band gig that accompanied it) made for a profitable morning: I was paid $50 to sit on a stage and stare at the back of Mia Hamm's head for two hours.  Well, that and play Procession of the Nobles twice through.  Not bad at all!

This week is the week of Important Meetings With Authority Figures.  Yesterday, I had an appointment to talk with my Digital Media Econ professor and this morning I met with an adviser in the J School.  Both of them asked me repeatedly what I wanted to do with my life.  ("I want to get an internship in New York," I told them.  "Mostly so I can keep a pretentious blog about it.")  This afternoon, I have to go over the Schmann with our orchestra conductor (Katie's wrists have gotten worse, so I'm for sure taking over for her at the concert) and Thursday I'm getting together with Media Law Prof Who May Hate Me to get testing tips.

Despite all of this nonsense, life is going pretty well.  I'm really ready for Fall Break, but not so ready for the roller-coaster of fencing trips that come directly after it.

Matthew and I went to see the Bela Fleck concert tonight at Memorial Hall--pretty cool.

Tomorrow is University Day and therefore I get out of class and get paid $50 to play flute--even cooler.