Anywhere but Here...

Anywhere but Here...

It's a beautifully grey morning outside that fills me with wanderlust. I'm anxious to pack, to hop in my car and then in a plane, jetting off to, well, anywhere else. The damp chill of the morning air reminds me of London, of walking on old streets, seeing so many beautiful places and people, smelling so many beautiful smells; listening to a plethora of world accents, and touching things that are so ancient, my mind can't wrap itself around the concept.

So I retrieved our list of Places To Go, a list we compiled a few months back, out for lunch at the pub. The List is written on a piece of used notebook paper,* folded three times. ** We each made a list, and a few of the places overlap -- we both want to go to Istanbul and Cairo.

The rest of the List (John's entries in black; mine in pink):

Agra, India
Bejing
Jerusalem
Machu Piccu
Ho Chi Min City (Hanoi)
Andalucia
Moscow
Paris, France
Dehli
Kenya
Iran
Fiji
Azores
Capetown
Florence, Italy
Lima
Tibet
Nepal
Srebenica, Bosna & Hercegovina

There are so many other places I want to see as well, and generally, my longing for Capri replaces Andalucia or Machu Piccu. But then, I can't remove Machu Piccu, or the feeling I've always had about it, ever since I first saw a National Geographic about it when I was six. And I can't erase "Andalucia" from the list, or my desire to walk all over Spain, exploring the Alhambra, Gibraltar, and sipping Sangria on the beach.

When we finished writing our individual lists and then comparing them, John asked me to fold it up and keep it somewhere it would be safe for years to come. In forty years, we want to be able to retrieve the List and look at the series of check marks, each replete with scores of memories, running alongside the lists.

So days like today, I pull out the List and pick a random entry, imagining it with my whole being; the sounds, smells, sights, and the taste of the food; the feeling of lying on the sand, the sharp then sweet taste of the Sangria, the sound of Spanish-accented voices a beautiful background to the day.


* notes about Bosnia are on the other side, as well as a line that says, "You look very Aztec." Don't ask; I don't remember.
** in half the short way, then each end folded in, like folding a towel.

Secret Recipe

Secret Recipe

School is over for the summer, for most people. I'm still living in my dorm, because I'm taking two summer classes -- the first one started yesterday. Most of the other residents have left, so this means that I can play my music at 2 AM if I feel like it, and not constantly worry about annoying the people next door. I can rearrange my room at midnight if I want (I want)! Unfortunately, as I found out this morning after that midnight rearranging and 2AM listening, the guys with the lawnmower trucks start at 8 AM during the summer, right outside my open window.

As for the recipe: Due to the fact that school is out, the cafeteria is closed (I hadn't used it for a while, anyway). I have to hunt down and kill my own food, and this is what I currently have in my refrigerator:

1. A bit less than a half-gallon of skim milk
2. Part (most) of a package of shredded cheddar cheese
3. Half a jar of salsa (it's not very good salsa, either)
4. Three packets of ketchup
5. A squeezy bottle of Miracle Whip
6. One stick of butter
7. Eight small soft tortillas

In my "pantry":

1. Two cans of green beans
2. Five cans of tuna
3. Rice flour
4. A package of bowtie pasta
5. Non-stick cooking spray
6. Noodles
7. One can of tomato sauce
8. Half a package of rice
9. One-fourth package of lentils
10. One-sixth bag of frosted miniwheats
11. Two packets of instant oatmeal
12. Salt, pepper, and ground thyme

Any amazing recipe ideas spring to mind? Take your time! Mull over this while I take the Non-Stick Cooking Spray, Package of Shredded Cheddar Cheese, and Two Small Tortillas downstairs to the kitchen and make myself a breakfast quesadiLLa.

...and yet HE's the one graduating today...

...and yet HE's the one graduating today...

There are some times I look at certain words, and wonder who decided that it should be spelled the way it is. I was writing my Chaucer final two days ago (10 one-page essays and one 7-page essay) and was putting down my thoughts regarding the similarities and differences between "The Nun's Priest's Tale" and "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale," when I tried to incorporate the word meaning "fire-filled" or "really really excruciatingly hot," I spelled it "Firey." Like a fire. Firey. But wait! That didn't look right. Oh. FiEry.

Four. Forty. Ugh!

I mentioned this to John.
"I have problems spelling the word 'fiery.'"
"f-i-r-e-y."
"AHA! But it isn't. It's 'f-i-e-r-y,' which totally doesn't make any sense. It's like the word 'forty'! We have four, f-o-u-r, and then forty, spelled f-o-r-t-y."
"It is?!"
"..."



Congratulations on graduating today, John. I'm proud of you for making it this far writing 'fourty' and 'firey' !!

I've done all I can...

I've done all I can...

...and now it's time to buckle down and work on my papers some more.

well. in a minute, anyway.

I thought i should take a break from my procrastination to offer up a bit of an update, so here i am.

in scholarly circles:
the semester ends this week, and John graduates this saturday, the 20th. I'm enrolled in two summer courses (the result of me telling my advisor that I will do anything, even sell a kidney on the black market, if it guarantees my graduating next spring), a science course and a history course. the history course begins on May 22nd and ends June 9th; the science course is from June 12th through the 29th.

in financial circles:
I need a job, terribly. I didn't hunt for one this semester, due to my position with Residence Life here on campus (hardly any money but looks good). The idea of waitressing is looking better, as this area is a bit of a tourist destination in the summertime.

in love circles:
still there. very much so. today, I was in a cranky, sad, emotional mood, and John kept hugging me and trying to cheer me up. "but think about it, honey, you have so many wonderful things happening in your life right now! (blah blah blah.) school's almost over; and you've found the person you want to be with for the rest of your life, someone who loves you so, so much." strangely enough, that helped. :)

the weather has been ferocious lately, with a ton of drizzle. if it was proper rain, I wouldn't be complaining, but this constant, cold drizzle, the temperature hovering around 40 -- it's ridiculous and sickening. last year at this time, though, we had snow.

so maybe i shouldn't complain.

O! the Insanity.

O! the Insanity.

Be proud of me! I never had made a banner the complicated way* until this evening. This banner involved three raster layers, merging, image cropping-resizing, adding artistic effects (watercolour and brushstrokes), and feathering the image over the banner area I had set up the complicated way! This is the third one I made this evening, and I love the colours, etc. (not the text so much, but I can change that next time).

I even made the stripes in PSP!

Why am I so motivated, you ask?

Simple, my friend! It's called "FINALS."

*The easy way: what I had before, a cropped, resized photo with lettering over it.