1. Professors will make appointments in their heads and expect you to show up at these appointments. So that when you call them to ask them what time you are supposed to be meeting with them, they say things like, "I'm here, where are you? We were meeting an hour ago!" Yet they never told you originally what time you were meeting. Riight.

2. Professors cannot check out books from the library by themselves. Apparently they need a "research assitant" to do this. This has now become my job. It comes with a bit more money, which is good as I have car payments and credit card bills and phone bills and whatnot. But also somewhat ridiculous. And they wonder why education wastes so much money. It's because professors need a special course in "how to use my library card". Sigh.

I guess that's all the things I learned today about grad school. But believe me, that's plenty. And I bet, without even telling you, you can tell how my day has gone and what has happened without me saying anything other than those two points, hmm?

Heh heh.

Otherwise have done many good & productive things including the following:
- grocery shopping (!!!!) so now am in no danger of starvation
- getting free (!!!!!) books for class am teaching from bookstore
- going to stupid meeting and learning about Mr. J's and the "Honor System" (sigh)

I also met some other new grad students. So far it seems to me that nearly everyone here is a) married and b) has children. No really. The two new grad students I've met, at least two of the other ones. There are others that are married with no children or engaged, of course, as well. And then there's me. I feel like a kindergartener. That's okay, I guess. It certainly is strange to be hanging out with a lot of 30 something married people, though. Goodness.

First we drove to Williamsburg to visit Edward and Andy and their friend Andrew. We all had lunch and then we drove on, getting lost only twice in Norfolk (luckily on a military base where the friendly MPs, set up to deter terrorists from entering gave us directions!). Onward we went, paying the $10 toll to cross the Really Long Bridge across the base of the Chesapeake Bay. There was an extremely bad gift shop/restaurant complex in the middle. Extremely bad. They were selling plastic starfish made in the Philippines. Anyway. We ended up on the Delmarva peninsula and started driving north.

Two hours later we arrived on Chincoteague Island (where "Misty of Chincoteague" and other Margaret Henry books were set!), home of mass tourism, a bridge to the largely untouched Assateague Island, and a McDonald's. We pitched our tent and set off for the beach, only to find it far to pitch-like to swim, so, as it was quite dark, decided to find dinner instead. We drove all the way to Maryland, but to no avail, and, since everything on the Delmarva peninsula apparently closes at 8 pm, we ended up eating McDonald's (not on Chincoteague). Depressingly. We went back and had a nice camping evening in which we were simultaneously a) nearly baked to death thanks to a poorly ventilated tent and b) nearly devoured whole by bugs thanks to large holes in the screen.

This morning, covered in chigger and other better not thought about bug bites, we woke and headed for the beach on Assateague Island, where I promptly managed to walk into a jellyfish. Go me. We swam a bit, then I limped back to shore and sat for awhile. Then Anton came back and we both sat awhile and ended up taking a nap when reading failed (it was a lovely beach day). At 1 we left and started driving north.

Assateague Island is a natural wildlife refuge and national seaashore, all built into one. So there are lots of animals, lots of signs to watch out for "Endangered Delmarva Peninsular Fox Squirrels" (which must have been seriously endangered because we certainly didn't see any!), and lots of marshes and bogs and things, as well as a lovely beach (complete with jellyfish- another form of nature!). You can ride bikes or hike and there are lots of nature trails and things, as well as a picturesque lighthouse (lovely!) and an abandoned fish factory (didn't actually see this but am picturing abandoned factories from old Scooby Doo cartoons- spoooooky). And there was one tree full of birds! Herons and geese and ducks and all kinds of cool things! So Assateague Island is a pretty cool place- I highly recommend it as a vacation destination, even with the bugs and jellyfish.

The drive to DC from Assateague Island is much longer than it looks because the speed limit in rural Maryland is quite low, as it turns out. So we took a good six hours to get back. Exciting stops included one for farm fresh produce so Anton could buy tomatos and nectarines, one to buy Alex a present (they had the Goo Goo (see Tennessee trip in May)!!!!), one when we got minorly lost in rural Delaware, and one to visit Katie at Borders and go out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant (spur of the moment, and also, coincidentally, fortuitous as we were lost when we saw the Borders where Katie works looming before us like a lighthouse).

After dinner, we drove back, did some grocery shopping, and that was the trip. Lovely. And I have gotten my first deposit from the Mr. J's! That's right, a whopping $23.50, my friends. Hopefully a heavier cash flow will follow this or I may be in debt longer than I had previously thought.

Also, hello to the reader in Iceland who is checking this quite frequently. If you get this note, could you write and say how you found me? I'm endlessly curious.

Night, y'all.

So the vacation. We're leaving this afternoon. It's still unclear where we are going, but I'll post it here, so if I get eaten by bears or anything, you'll know where to look for my bones. Riight.

Room is mostly clean, just need to put stuff on the walls. Books are all bought except the ones in German (those I need to special order). Have a schedule worked out (will post this once I have my class times all set). Website is nearly done (will be done except for typing a few pages, a javascript menu, and some Perl forms after this afternoon). Vacation is nearly planned out. So, all in all, all is well.

Hopefully this trend will continue.

Happiness continues. It's just nice to be getting organized and feel like I'm doing something with myself for the first time in months. Not to mention to have visitors and to see old friends and everything. Hurrah! And Jason sent me a picture of a Christian bowling alley today. Seriously. It has Jesus fish on the sign. Get a strike for the Lord, my friends.

This all occurred to me today as I was feeling very calm and walking along the street the way I have almost every fall morning for the last 4 years. Of course, it is still ghastly hot so not properly fall yet, but we're getting there. And now- to the bookstore! And then home to organize some files. And things are happy happy happy. And tomorrow I don't have anything to do. That's the best part of all. I plan to a) sleep in and b) read more "The Master and Margarita" (which I have become a total slacker about lately), also some of the book of Romanian fantastic literature (short stories) that Anton brought me. I've never read anything quite like that before. They are kind of like the 19th century Fantastic genre, but set in 20th century Romania. V cool.

Alright, now that I've babbled at you all (aren't you loving this ethernet? I sure am. Mmm ethernet. I'm such an internet addict. It's sad), off to the bookstore. With a resolution only to buy books for class. Riight. But I will try.

seven things you love:
[1] meaningful late night talks over tea
[2] hanging out with friends I've known since forever
[3] plants
[4] going on the teacup ride
[5] when guys put their hand on the small of your back
[6] dancing to good techno
[7] Christmas

seven things you hate:
[1] ignorant people who provoke me
[2] being afraid
[3] feeling sick
[4] spinach
[5] when you can't think of anything to say but feel that it's necessary to say something anyway
[6] feeling listless
[7] violence

seven foods:
[1] my mom's meatballs (mmm!)
[2] pasta with meat sauce
[3] cheeseburgers
[4] pizza
[5] cake!
[6] biscuits and gravy
[7] egg salad

seven personal turning points (in some kind of order):
[1] birth
[2] moving back to the US
[3] 11th grade
[4] college
[5] Middlebury
[6] my semester abroad
[7] deciding that grad school was for me, after all

seven best books you ever read:
[1] AS Byatt "Possession"
[2] Gabriel Garcia Marquez "100 Years of Solitude"
[3] Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
[4] George Eliot "Middlemarch"
[5] Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"
[6] Mary Shelley "Frankenstein"
[7] Fedor Dostoevsky "Brothers Karamazov"

seven things on your desk [excluding computer, monitor, etc.]:
[1] ikon of St Sofia
[2] a stuffed kiwi named Bhutrous Bhutrous Ghali
[3] cell phone
[4] Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia, 4th edition
[5] a hologram clock with a bouncing dolphin that counts seconds
[6] "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov
[7] lots of back up disks (both zips and CD-roms)

right now you are:
[1] hungry
[2] wearing a skirt!
[3] thinking I need a haircut soon
[4] having an itch on my leg
[5] wishing the person I'm thinking about would come online
[6] waiting on the Chinese food we're having for dinner
[7] procrastinating work by doing this survey!

seven facts about you:
[1] I would rather have books than food
[2] I always have at least one song stuck in my head, many times more
[3] I name my things after characters from plays and novels
[4] I was named after Katharine Hepburn
[5] I want to write a romance novel
[6] I made a movie about pirates once. No really.
[7] I know every word to the 1995 A&E "Pride and Prejudice" miniseries (which is five hours long) and can talk along while watching

seven things you plan to do before you die:
[1] go on another adventure trip!
[2] live in Russia
[3] live in New York
[4] get a PhD
[5] drive cross country
[6] go on a cruise somewhere exotic and warm
[7] learn to speak Swedish properly

seven things you can do:
[1] speak German
[2] change a flat tire(!)
[3] drive a stick shift
[4] play the cello
[5] watch Russian movies without subtitles
[6] ski black diamond slopes
[7] write computer programs

seven favorite movie stars:
[1] Colin Firth
[2] Jeremy Northam
[3] Ralph Fiennes
[4] Cate Blanchett
[5] Audrey Hepburn
[6] Emma Thompson
[7] Rupert Everett

seven favorite movies:
[1] "Persuasion"
[2] "The Barber of Siberia"
[3] "Amélie"
[4] "An Affair to Remember"
[5] "My Fair Lady"
[6] "Bridget Jones' Diary"
[7] "Singin' in the Rain"

seven favorite musical artists:
[1] They Might Be Giants
[2] Ben Folds (Five and just him)
[3] Falco
[4] Abba
[5] Tori Amos
[6] Weezer
[7] Die Toten Hosen

seven albums that have had an impact on you:
[1] They Might Be Giants "Factory Showroom"
[2] Fiona Apple "Tidal"
[3] Abba "Super Trouper"
[4] Ben Folds Five "Whatever & Ever, Amen"
[5] Vivaldi "Four Seasons"
[6] Die Toten Hosen "Opium fürs Volk"
[7] Bach "Goldberg Variations"

seven ways to end this (a gold star to you, if you can figure out where these ALL come from, dear reader!):
[1] The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.
[2] It was necessary to sit up half the night, and lie awake the remainder, to comprehend with composure her present state, and pay for the overplus of bliss by headache and fatigue.
[3] "Why, then I'll teach you to play and sing, for I dearly love a good harp," said she.
[4] And on the way home, she met her brothers, and there was a rough-and-tumble, and the lovely crown was broken, and she forgot the message, which was never delivered.
[5] An excellent year's progress.
[6] My reason will still not understand why I pray, but I shall still pray, and my life, my whole life, independently of anything that may happen to me, is every moment of it no longer meaningless as it was before, but has an unquestionable meaning of goodness with which I have the power to invest it.
[7] And when the long-awaited white fingers of water tapped and lapped on Oscar's lips, he welcomed them in as he always had, with a scream, like a small boy caught in the sheet-folds of a nightmare.

So anyway, that's that. Here's a (brief) account of the trip to New York. Truly not much happened. Well, we had our adventure right at the beginning and afterwards it was just a nice trip. Here's the skinny:

Christabel's Big Adventure:
First, on Thursday, I woke up early and drove to Amy's. When I got out of the car, there was an alarming hissing noise coming from one of my tires. I got Amy and we discovered that, indeed, my tire was quite flat. We changed the tire ourselves! Happily I got my flat tire at Amy's house (somehow), so we could avail ourselves of her phone, kitchen and driveway while we were busy with the tire. She jacked up the car (using the moonroof wrench! we didn't realize that the other strange hook looking object was a proper tire jack wrench until after we'd already managed to lift the car with the dinky moonroof wrench!) and I got the lugnuts off. My wheels have wheel locks, handily installed by the fine Honda people who put my tires on with their fine Honda tire-installing-machines, which, of course, deter thieves from stealing my tires. Also, apparently, they deter me from getting my tire off when I have a flat! Amy called Eric, who is quite the auto expert, and he suggested making a bigger lever. We didn't believe him, but then we found an old pipe and put it on the wrench and jumped on that (to get the wrench to turn, we actually were standing on it and jumping up and down- so much for upper arm strength) and it worked! The wheel lock came off and we put on the spare and drove to a body shop and bought new tires (my old tire was quite dead; the mechanic looked at it and just shook his head, saying, "I can't do that") and they changed my oil. So with a happy Christabel, we began our journey north, only two or three hours behind schedule.

After the Big Adventure, the rest of the trip was a piece of cake. We had an uneventful drive up to Amy's grandparents' house in New Jersey, where we caught the train to Penn Station in Manhattan. We went to Central Park, met up with Edwy (who was there for job interviews), and took in the show. We missed most of the off-Broadway show John Flansburgh is producing because we were 10 minutes late, but we heard it from afar. The in-between band, Messer Chubbs, was allegedly from St Petersburg, Russia, but this seems unlikely. They did play a wicked cool rendition of "March" from the Nutcracker with intermittent shrieks, though. The opening band, Moldy Peaches, was a band you have to like. At first I didn't and we were complaining, but then, then they won us over with songs like "I'm a Thundercats Ho" and other such. And then the Johns came on! They were good- played a good mix of stuff, but the show was somewhat shorter than we were expecting because of a noise ordinance. Bah on you, wealthy old ladies of Manhattan who make Central Park concerts stop promptly at 10! Also- Ana Ng was not played, tragically. We listened to it on the car ride home to make up for it.

We went to Times Square, then, to spend some time before our train left. It was so hot we weren't hungry, so we had something to drink and then went back to the train. We spent the night at Amy's grandparents'. The next morning we got up, had breakfast with Amy's relatives, and then drove back. We made excellent time and were back at home by 3:30! Very exciting. And that was my trip to New York.

Will post about New York(!) and other related things tomorrow. I think any lengthy posting at this late hour would not make much sense. Therefore, bed for me. G'dnight!

Maybe now I can devote more of my time to reading Literature Necessary to Enhance My Upcoming Education. In the meantime, have to get down to business as have been very slackerish the last couple of days... watch me become productive! Riight.

The other major accomplishment of the day was having my eyebrows waxed. It doesn't hurt, except a bit at first because it is strange to have hot wax dripped on your face, my friends. I'm sure you can all imagine. But, nonetheless, I always get a sinking feeling of foreboding that, just maybe, this time the stylist will drop the hot wax in my eyes and they will melt out of my head a la "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", which is a worrisome prospect, quite frankly. But I survived, eyebrows intact, and now have lovely wispy brows to go with my lovely witchy legs.

The thing about having witchy legs, though, is that now I am having strange cravings to attempt hair dye again. After considering the last hair-dying debacle, I am thinking I'll go play some Super Mario World instead... but the thought is there. More on this later.

Hurrah witchy legs!

Did not do any Reading, but did some reading- still on the literary sleuthing kick, I picked up a Jane Austen mystery that I got for Christmas. I read the first one and was not terribly impressed, but you have to be in the mood for it. The woman (Stephanie Barron) had an interesting concept - she has Jane Austen sleuthing around solving mysteries. It's good, except that it's not Jane Austen. But it's much better written than cheesy Regency romance novels, so your standards are higher than with the usual Jane Austen knock off fan fic type stuff. Anyway, just a thought.

Therefore, today, you see me up uncharacteristically (for the last few weeks) early. I mean to do a good deal of Work and also do some Reading (not reading for fun, mind you, reading with a purpose, which could be fun, we'll have to see) and overall be a good and productive citizen.

Strange to think that it is already August 6! In two weeks I will be at school already! I'm still very worried about school, but I think it will go okay. Certainly it will be familiar, etc. I'm more worried now about other things, of the sort that I do not write about on my blog, but I will leave those off. Probably everything will resolve itself by itself and I'll have worried for nothing; usually this is what happens.

For some reason I have Madonna "Like a Prayer" stuck in my head. I will not explore that further, rather I think it is time to go out and do things. Or go downstairs and eat breakfast. Riight.

The funny thing was that, at the time, I was finishing up "100 Years of Solitude" and it seemed even more strange, because it seemed like something that would happen in the book. So it was like I was inside the book. Always surreal when that happens. Lovely book, btw. I highly recommend it.

Now I am reading "The Way of the Pilgrim". It's about a 19th century Russian peasant who is a pilgrim. He wanders around and reads a lot (he was a wealthy peasant, not a serf, so he knew how to read and write- it's legit). It was apparently actually written by the 19th century peasant and is autobiographical. This is really quite strange because the peasant was writing at the same time as Turgenev and, although the language is the same, his travels seem more similar to those of John Moschos in the other book about pilgrims I was reading earlier this summer "From the Holy Mountain". Maybe it's just books about pilgrims.

In any case, that's all the news from the sickroom.

Hip hip hurrah for the Pirate King
Hurrah for the Pirate King

Maybe it's pure sentimentalism that has brought on this recent Gilbert & Sullivan listening spree. Who can tell?

For some reason, I am feeling very jolly this evening. Well, not all that jolly (still sick and all), but jolly nonetheless. It's strange. So, since I am confined to chairs and my bed, I am being vicariously jolly by listening to Gilbert & Sullivan and for some reason this struck me as a very jolly bit indeed- the bit about 'many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse'.

Anyway, thanks to Jason, who is my hero for publishing this bit of time-consuming fluff, I present the following random fill out thing to you all.
The ABCs of Katie
Note: these are the first things I thought of with the letter pertaining to me, not especially profound

A: Austen, Jane. My favorite author (as if you didn't know that already). She wrote a lot of good books, but my favorite is Persuasion.

B: bibliophile. I am a bibliophile, it's true. To the point that just going into a bookstore or a library is a big thrill. To the point that reorganizing my books on my shelf is a major undertaking and I can sit, happily engrossed in it for hours. To the point that when I'm reading, usually I lose track of where I am.

C: cheeseburger. Mmm. Blame it on my cold medication, but I must quote Jimmy Buffett here, "Cheeseburger in paradise." A cheeseburger is paradise, my friends. A juicy bit of beef with some ketchup, a lovely slice of cheese melted just so it gets gooey, a lovely warmed bun. Mmm. Life is better with a cheeseburger. Always.

D: Dracula. The class I am TAing this fall. Does not mean I am a vampire. Does not mean that I am a secret vampire. Hope to approach the subject from the point of view of the Gothic, both 19th century and modern, although think will probably be subjected to folkloric readings as well by professor. Sigh.

E: Ed cult. Started sometime in high school (around 9th grade, I think). Has now grown to massive (well, not massive, but big enough) proportions and is so firmly ingrained in members' minds that to this day nearly nine years later, we still call eachother by our "Ed" names. Edward and Edwy are also "in".

F: Franzos, Karl Emil. The guy who I might write my dissertation on (and who you, dear reader, have probably never heard of- don't worry- he's an obscure 19th century type). Not sure on that yet, but I'm mulling. We'll see.

G: Germany. The country I've spent about half my life living in. Well, a little less than half at this point. I should go back for a year and even things out! Places in Germany that I've lived: Crailsheim, Augsburg, Heidelberg, Munich, and, most recently, Jena.

H: Hello Kitty. I have a collection of Hello Kitty paraphenalia. It all started my first year of college, before the Hello Kitty trend came back, when I saw a Hello Kitty squeeze toy in the university bookstore and bought it on a nostalgic whim, prompted by fond memories of a particularly fine Hello Kitty plastic lunchbox that was mine when I was three. This started the trend of people giving me stuff, and, of course I still adore the image of Hello Kitty and still get that nostalgic blast, so if I see something particularly cute (everyone is a girl sometimes), I buy it too. Needless to say, my collection is large.

I: Iolanthe. The Gilbert & Sullivan operetta I am currently listening to. Gilbert & Sullivan rock.

J: Jane. The sometimes confusing name of my website. Not to be confused with a fondness for Jane Austen. Not to be confused with my name, which is Katie. The Jane business started sometime in 1997, I can't remember how exactly.

K: Katie! My name is Katie! Heh heh. Cop out, I know.

L: Lucinda II. My computer! I love Lucinda II. She provides me with the internet in my very own bedroom (well, her and a lot of cables). And goodness knows, I am addicted to the internet like smack. Plus she can play cool games! Like Alice or Age of Empires II. Plus she's good company while writing vile papers.

M: Mocha. Specifically café mocha, the only way I like my coffee. Yes, I'm a trendy coffee drinker. So sue me. The best is when you go out with someone you care a lot about and he buys you a coffee without asking and then you sit outside in the cold and the coffee fogs up your glasses and you just talk and it's lovely. Thinking of a particular incident there, folks. Sigh again.

N: Norbert. Name of the dragon in Harry Potter, book 1. Also the name of a boy from Kenya in my Early Music Ensemble at school. We all play the gamba together. Not sure why I am thinking of this, but it's all that's coming to mind.

O: Oklahoma. The state I was born in. Yes, I was born in Oklahoma, it's true. It's not cosmopolitan. There's lots of flat land. There's lots of cows. My parents moved within two years. There's not much to say about it. Also the name of a musical, the movie version of which stars Gordon McRae and Shirley Jones and the songs of which get stuck in my head often. "Ducks and chicks and geese better scurry, when I take you out in my surrey, when I take you out in my surrey with the fringe, on top!" Mmm yeah.

P: pool. I like to play pool a lot. I'm not very good at it. But it's a lot of fun. Especially with a bunch of friends in a smoky pool hall. Heh heh.

Q: quizbowl. I've played quizbowl for five years and was the president of the quizbowl team at Mr. J's for three. I'm just chock full of useless trivia about things that no one cares about. In spite of the fact that this makes me less than fun in museums, I am convinced that one day it will enable me to win lots of money on Jeopardy! so I can retire in style. Riight. Or at least take a cruise somewhere neat.

R: Russian. I study Russian. I like languages and Russian's a fun one to learn. However, my speaking has horribly declined in the past couple of years, so now I'm like a poser Russian student. The literature is awesome, though, and studying it makes the shameful facade of faking the language well worth the effort. Hopefully a study abroad will remedy this.

S: Swedish meatballs. Specifically, my mother's Swedish meatballs, which are the most awesome food ever. They are like candy. Made of pork. They make the house smell like Christmas. You crave them all year and when you put them in your mouth, they melt. I swear. Maybe it's a Swedish-American thing. Maybe it's just my mom's meatballs. Who knows what it is. But mmm. Meatballs.

T: They Might Be Giants. The best band ever. No really. Because all their albums are good and their shows are good and they are just good. Trust me on this one, I've been to 10 shows.

U: university. I've been at university for four years now. I am going back for two more and maybe more after that, even! Soon my education will be something frightening to behold. In the meantime, I am going to attempt to keep up my social skills so as not to become a crusty relic of Academia like some other people I know who have taken that path before me.

V: vile. One of the best words ever. Also how I'm feeling right this minute (yay sickness).

W: white Russian. My favorite drink. Here's how you make a good one. Take a glass and fill half with vodka. Fill the remaining half, 2/3 with Kahlua and 1/3 with milk. Mix it up and it is lovely. As you have probably surmised, I drank a lot of these bad boys in Germany. Still my drink of choice, though.

X: Like a pirate skull and crossbones! Yeah, lame. I couldn't think of anything else. Anyway- you all know about pirates. Arr. Heh heh.

Y: Yellow. My favorite color. My room at home is pink with roses, but my room at school is gloriously yellow. And I like it that way. When I wear it, it makes me look bilious, though. Guess you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Z: Zelda. Specifically Legend of Zelda, the best Nintendo game ever. I've played hours on that thing, having Link go around attacking random things and rescuing Zelda. It's lovely and the music is lovely. My personal favorite version is the SNES version (the one I have). My friend had the NES version when I was little, but I was never allowed to play it, so can't really speak much for that one. My cousins have the Nintendo64 version and it's just not the same (although they claim that it is better, poor deluded souls).

And there you have it. Took me a good hour to type it up, too. Funny thing.

I've been reading this lovely book. "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Lovely, my friends. I highly recommend it. The language is just beautiful and so nice to read. It's actually calming! And makes me wish I knew Spanish so I could read it properly and not in translation. Ah well.

Two nights ago, I had this strange panicky dream. I dreamt that bizarre was spelled "bizzarre" and I got completely freaked out about it. Yes, I am a dork. But anyway, I got completely freaked out about it because I was afraid that I'd been mispelling that word for years and things like that are, well, worrisome. My dream was so real, in fact, that it wasn't until today when I was talking to John online and he spelled bizarre properly and then I found another website that had bizarre properly spelled that I realized that it was just a dream.