Halloweening

Although Halloween has not actually occurred as of yet, it is now underway here in St. Louis. On Saturday I attended some costume parties dressed as my calculus professor, Brian Blank.
Items associated with Brian Blank:
-Khaki cargo shorts
-Polo shirt, not buttoned
-Socks with sandals
-No belt
-Pens in shirt pocket

For more information, look him up on wikipedia... or maybe not, it's not very flattering.

Good success with the costume, though. I'm thinking about wearing it to calculus class on Wednesday.

In the world of work, I have ridiculous numbers of tests and papers due in the near future.
Coming soon:
Chemistry Test
Physics Test
Kind of Lame Writing Assignment
Calculus Test

It's looking like fun. I'm currently watching a week's worth of chemistry lectures that I skipped. It's a great time.

Halloween

Hello, everyone. It's Halloween weekend! And also Parent Weekend! I am so relieved that all of my midterms are long gone and that I managed to pull out all A's and one B so far. We got this college thing! This weekend was Parent's weekend at University of Iowa, so Mom came up for Friday and Saturday on her days off to come visit, see the campus and just hang out. We went and saw the movie "Across The Universe", and I HIGHLY recommend that you all go see it immediately. It was fabulous, and my mom and I both shed a few tears. It's a musical like RENT, but entirely to Beatles songs. It was beautiful. The rest of Mom's time here consisted of shopping (groceries and some winter clothing - the GAP outlet outside Iowa City is probably the best discovery I've ever made in my life. Everything is 30-50% off) It was sad for her to go...but I'll see her in a month at Thanksgiving so I think she'll survive. I know it's hard having only boys at home now - she misses having all the girls around! This...is Swan's room mate. I just had to put this picture up because this is by far the most wonderful and humorous Halloween costume I have seen in years. Hamburger Helper! He made it entirely of a sheet, some red fabric, a marker, and a bunch of staples. It made my day, so I decided to share it with everyone. Happy Halloween everyone!

Half way home.

Exactly two months from tonight I was sitting alone by the light of my laptop in my dark, lonely apartment. I’d like to say that time has just flown by, that would be somewhat of a lie. .Looking on the bright side though, I’m already half way done with the semester so I’ll be home in about the same amount of time I’ve been here.
In the past two months I have managed to spend too much money, eat and sleep too little, and spend too much time on public transportation, but somehow I’m still getting by. It was the overwhelming decline in my bank statement that finally gave me the motivation to find a job, or two. I have started lifeguarding and teaching swimming lessons at the local rec center last week and on Wednesday I start banquet serving at the Lion House at Temple Square.
There are serious perks to both jobs. Lifeguarding, I spend about 1/3 of the time actually working and the other 2/3 doing whatever I want. Oh, and did I mention I get to teach water aerobics too! Then at the Lion House I get to bring home delicious food and wear the most flattering prairie dress like apron you’ll ever see. It could only be better if I was allowed to wear an actual prairie dress with the flower print, but apparently they stopped doing that a few years ago. Bummer.
Other then more work experience I’m also gaining some life skill here. I’ve learned how to live off of one to two meals a day, I can now sleep on a bus full of dirty seats and sketchy people (yes, this is a life skill), and on top of it all, I still have a place to live. Hooray. Now, all I need is to learn how to keep our apartment clean to make it easier to pass our intense “white glove” cleaning tests we have coming up. I'll work on that...

utah utah utah

last night we (yes, this includes people outside of me and elizabeth) decided to hike up spanish fork canyon to some hot springs.

dehydrating in the hot water.

Last night was a lot of fun. We went to a battle of the bands thing, stopped by a hilarious byu decades dance at the dorms, and then went hiking and hung out in steaming hot - sulfur-ridden - water. I guess Utah is alright.

The next few weeks are bound to suck though, midterms are coming up way too fast.

WashU experiences: my life as of late

So here's the rundown of my typical school week at WashU.

Mondays: I have a lot of classes, but I don't go to calc or chem, so it's more than manageable. It mostly ends with me staying up extremely late doing absolutely nothing. My buddy next door is going to hook me up with the Sims 2, which will be a fantastic waste of time.

Tuesdays: 4-hour chem lab! It sucks! It starts at 8:00 am! Much later, I have choir. Choir is not the greatest thing in the world, for a few reasons.
I have one or two friends in it, and we have all come to the same conclusions. Basically, there are three types of people in choir: decent people, people who suck, and back-seat directors that you want to punch. Unfortunately, there are way too few decent people, which makes me upset.
Later in the night I watch the chem lecture(s) that I skipped on Monday online.

Wednesdays: A lot like Monday. I skip my first two classes and wake up at noon. It's great.

Thursdays: Physics lab! Not as bad as chem lab, because it starts at 10:00 am and only goes to noon! But it's not a lot of fun! More choir later in the day, and you know how I feel about that. I also watch Wednesday's chem lecture on my next-door neighbor's projector.

Fridays: See Wednesdays. Then add in ridiculous amounts of partying at night. It's ridiculous. I think a tornado hit my room last week. There were bottles, shoes, and cans everywhere. I am not a fan of such messiness.

Weekday recap: I never go to chem or calc anymore, which makes me happy. Overall, life is good.

Kottak- what a guy.

so the author of my anthropology book is the biggest prick ever. He often mentions himself and his research in the text, things like, "When I did fieldwork in Brazil I discovered this amazing thing...;" But yesterday, I found what I feel is probably the best quote of the entire book. On talking about people in the U.S. and Canada appreciating diversity, Conrad Phillip Kottak states, "'melting pots' no longer, they are better described as ethnic 'salads' (each ingredient remains distinct, although in the same bowl, with the same dressing)." arent you glad you are all part of an "ethnic salad" ? This guy knows what he's talking about though.. I hear he did some really great fieldwork in Brazil.

Jebus

Oh my god, I go to college, too, you jerks.

Another week of school is past. We're almost to midterm, you guys! Or at least, I am. I feel like the semester really has flown by. Half way through the semester already? No way. Hope you all are having a great week.
The outside of my dorm room door, I have no idea who wrote on my white board. It's a good form of entertainment, seeing what the random people walking through my hall felt inspired to scribble on stranger's white boards. Plus, look at those cute girls in the pictures!

My hallway looks strikingly similar to how I imagine a prison, or perhaps an insane asylum, to look. The second door down on the left is my cell, in which I am currently sitting have not left once today as is my Sunday routine.

First Class, Baby

Iowa has officially joined the blog circle...somehow I didn't even know about this until tonight. It's a shame that tonight I have nothing of interest to share or discuss because it's only Thursday and my weekends are the peaks of my excitement. Here's something for you, I talked to my mom about the plane tickets to Salt Lake and her response was, "Okay, if you have the money for it." Which I really don't, but who cares? We all know I don't. Anyway...I found a non-stop flight from Chicago to Salt Lake for about $220...holla! Not bad, not bad. If it all works out I should be making my purchase sometime this week, assuming Anne gets her act together so we can take the jump together. I'm so excited to see you guys! (sorry J-Comp) Anyway....here I am cutting out flashcards for Arts of Africa in my cozy little room which for some reason has had a weird stench the past few days if my window is closed? I'm going to have to investigate...

staircases and rape hill

I've started to have some intense knee pain today and I think this may be why:

Here's the first set of abnoxiously steep staircases I walk up everyday, sometimes twice.

Here's the second set of staircases I walk up. (strikingly similar to the first picture)

And there's the hill I usually choose over the third and fourth set of staircases. There really isn't a good option, but this seems to be the best.

Seriously though, I'm concerned about my knee. I drink milk all the time and I haven't been exercising much...I should not be having knee pain.