End of Week 9: close to the end

On June 14 I will have “finished” finals and be moved out of my apartment here in Hyde Park. I have a feeling that I will be doing some “finishing” of finals after that date. But that ’s the plan right now.

We are ending week 9 here. Which means there’s one more week of classes and then a week of finals. This is the time of the quarter when you want time to move both slowly so you can get enough done and quickly so that the agony is over.

I’ve been doing a good job of paring down my food supplies in the kitchen. But otherwise, I haven’t done any packing. I hope to pack some books over the weekend. I’m also going home for a couple of days at the end of next week and will be bringing some thing back (instrument, linens, etc.). But the rest will be going to a storage unit.

I’m really excited for Israel and I have a place to live, a passport, and a plane ticket. It stil seems far away, though.

So, posting, which has been light, may get even lighter until after June 14.

wish me luck!

Tempted

It’s the weekend between week 8 and 9 here in Hyde Park. And it’s Memorial Day weekend. A “holiday” weekend. Which, apparently, falls appropriately at a point where I have to write papers for finals in order to feel successful. So, I am. Or will. Yesterday I wrote notes and a presentation outline. Today, I am blogging instead of starting. I have notes. 2 different files of notes and one outline. I also have the paper proposal open. We are ready. Open yet another new document…

Instead, I am thinking about the Borders rewards coupon sitting in my inbox. 40% off. I am moving soon. I am getting kicked out of my housing and moving everything to a storage unit–which I have not yet reserved. And so, buying another book, especially after a quarter where I ended up buying more than 10 is probably not a good idea. But, the idea of going to borders and paying 5 or 7 dollars for a new book of fiction sounds wonderful (and I have a gift card with $5 left!). Kind of like heaven. What is one more book, especially when it’s so cheap? But, I am a grad student, living off a pittance of loans and other small incomes, and it will add another weight to one of the many boxes of books. This is why Borders sent out a Memorial Day weekend coupon with such a large discount. To tempt me. To lead me, a bookworm, away from my computer and productivity and towards the nearest big box bookstore (or down Lake Shore Drive to my favorite).

knowing that spring is here

I wish that I had a digital camera. I promise to either borrow or buy one for my time in Israel. I know that spring is here because the view outside my window is no longer of a plastic bag wound around a high branch of a tree and a clear sight of the parking lot. Instead, it’s images of that springy green color–of leaves. Lots of leaves. And no clear view of the parking lot. I can see the nearly flourescent green of the moss under my window that slowly merges with regular grass halfway down the parking lot length (to the side). I see rain now and often. Here in the upper midwest, we’ve been experiencing lots of rain. But, then there is a day like yesterday. Where I rode my bike to school for the first time this spring (I was slow in filling my tires). And the sky was perfectly blue and the temperature was perfectly just under 70 degrees. They had a bbq for graduate students and when I walked up to the lawn where it was being held, seeking out my friend, I saw so many people all over the lawn sprawling nearly down to the sidewalk. It began at 4, and the food was gone before I got there, at 5:30. We ate on a restaurant patio instead.

it was the funnest day

Yesterday, although I was weighted down with an allergy headache, was a good day. Not the best day ever. But a good day.

Firstly, I stunned my seminar class with my opinion of Edward Said’s article reconsidering Orientalism (not it’s proper title) by announcing that it was lame. I feel embarrassed of course, but my brain did not articulate my feelings in an intellectual way. Luckily, I will be meeting with this professor this afternoon and can apologize for my inarticulate, colloquial response. Although, it conveys my immediate feelings. Why write an article of reconsideration where you aren’t going to actually say anything? What a waste.

The fun part of the day was the workshop I attended with my class. We had had a cancelled class on Wednesday so that we could write a review of this book. Which was interesting and written extremely well. So well written that I included a paragraph on style, which was most likely unnecessary. I cannot escape my “writerly” instincts. Anyway, we sat down for an hour and half of conversation with Professor Cummings. Who was so interesting and nice. The coolest part was her admitting her mistakes in writing the book, which we (my classmates and I) had noticed and wondered about. It is honorable and honest to react in such an agreeable way. The whole conversation was fascinating. The book is about Catholic women in the progressive era. I don’t know much about Catholics in general. So, the book was a whole new world, for me.

The best part of the evening was talking to my fellow classmates. This class Women in American Religious History is notable at the Div school for its all-female class. It’s notable to me, at least, and makes things so much better. The women in this class are so engaging and interesting. I truly enjoy our class and I had a wonderful time last night, too.

a case of the Mondays

I have a case of the Mondays today.

Why?

Let’s see:

1. I couldn’t get through the 1.5 hours of class before break without dashing downstairs for a bathroom break during class. The problem was the coffee. The other problem was the fact that about 1/2 before the mad dash downstairs I had started obsessing. And when you start obsessing about having to do something like that, you cannot concentrate. Which wouldn’t be that bad if you weren’t in a small class and sat close to the teacher.

2. In the same class, I didn’t have the copy of the primary source, because there were 2 copies on Reserve. I had decided not to even try to get one of those copies. It was no fun. And it didn’t help with my obsessing about #1.

3.Other stuff that I can’t talk about.

4.The university grad housing office is so entrenched in bureaucracy and customer service is clearly not their goal. I have to move out on June 14, I’ve decided not to “transfer” apartments, which means I have to pay another deposit (which I’ll get back of course). But the manager even threatened to take away my monetary compensation for having to get kicked out early. Until she read the fine print, again. Unbelievable!

5. The fact that I’m sitting in the music building not getting work done. Like I do every other Monday night of my school life. I hate the lights, the building’s temperature, the noise, and the location of my desk: conveniently located next to the men’s single stall bathroom with a vent. Lovely.