I just got back from a day of selling soup at the Second Annual Mennonite Philadelphia Mennonite Central Committee Festival and Benefit Auction (Where my test knit of Madison's Bell Lace Stole sold for $120, which I was very pleased about. (There were quilts that went for less than that. Which is more a commentary on how quilts do not sell in Philadelphia than a commentary on how awesomely well my stole did, but we'll just ignore that. And enjoy our new hand-quilted double-bed-sized Falling Blocks in lovely shades of green that we accidentally bought for $200.)

Also finished my first week of my new job, which was exhausting, even though I did almost nothing, but oh yay employment, and they seemed pleased with the almost-nothing I did, which is something. (And it's more than I did in my first week at my last job. Possibly more than I did in my first month at my last job. At least, if I don't count the daily work of living in Zambia.)

And I think that tomorrow I'm hauling all of my books and clothes and various possessions back to the third floor in order to make room for the Colombian ballet student who will be coming to live with us in early November.

( Also a meme. )

Watch out: I have a screwdriver and I know how to use it!

----


When I upload pictures from my camera, I'll tell you about the circus tent fabric cover for a trapeze rig that covered my living room with 132 yards of fabric yesterday.

Not only would it have been easier three hours ago, before so many people walked on it, while, "I'm sorry, but I don't have a job either and can't afford to pay someone to do something I can do perfectly well myself," is a pretty good reason for not paying someone to shovel the walk, I think I like "It's done already" better. I don't need to actually give that excuse to the nice young man who shows up at the door, it just exists.

In my defense, it was still snowing until close to an hour ago.

It's not one of the stories I tell, generally. However, the other week I mentioned it to my mother, who found it hilarious and then made me tell it in Adult Sunday School the next week. And I thought that it is, perhaps, a story worth telling. ( One of the untold Small Miriam Stories )



In other things going on in my life more recently:
- I made mozzarella and it was a success, but not as amazingly wonderful as I had hoped. I will try again with more salt and fattier milk.
- Contra dancing is excellent, but terrifying drivers are terrifying.
- I am at Smith for the next few days. If you are here and would like to see me, call my cell phone or ask in Seelye B5.

Well, this evening of babysitting has so far gone much better than I expected when I arrived to discover the seven-year-old crying on the living room couch because he couldn't decide between a cookie or a popsicle for dessert. The three-year-old was extra clingy, and I was suspicious that it was going to be Just One Of Those Days, but so far it's been the usual gig, right down to the quiet-footed visitor half an hour after bedtime, and everything has been quiet upstairs for the past while, so I might escape a second iteration of the "Go to bed. They'll be back late. Don't wait up for them. Yes, they'll be here when you wake up in the morning." etc conversation.

We went to REI this afternoon. For those who don't know, REI is to camping supplies and outdoorswear as Ikea is to home furnishings, although not quite so overwhelming. And dad was very patient while I tried on what seemed like every boot in the store (I have wide feet, and they didn't seem to have women's boots in wide, but the men's boots didn't seem to come in wide until size eight, and one of the two kinds that came in wide were cut narrowly, and the other kind was cut large - so I wound up in a 7 1/2 men's . . . I got the blueish ones that were cut large and hope that they will stretch enough that I do not regret this purchase). I also got useful things like wool socks and a bike light and a new bike lock and a father's day present.

And the dreams. I blame the science-fiction-y-ness on the fact that I was reading The Risen Empire this week (and it was excellent!) and watching Babylon 5. ( Judge for yourself . . . )
Speaking of science fiction, there's nothing quite like explaining Moodle to a room full of adults, many of whom would rather just keep using Blackboard, using examples like Swanick's "The Dead" and kadharonon's post on "Geeks in Space."

And speaking of books, I've also been reading The Dresden Files, Robin McKinley's Chalice, 1984, some stuff that's not coming to mind right now, and The Screwtape Letters, which is interesting, if, on occasion a bit preachy (if something narrated by a devil can be preachy in a Christian way).

So in my mystery care package* I received a ridiculously bright green t-shirt that reads "JYA Smith" on the front and "Junior Year at Smith" on the back, presumably on the assumption that the fact that I'm here at Smith to be getting a care package means that I didn't go abroad. There's a world map on the back, too.

I have come to the conclusion that what this shirt really needs is the addition of some equally bright fabric paint adorning the map - I'm thinking something along the lines of a star on Córdoba and a star on Northampton.

So - anyone have some puff paint? I'm thinking maybe in shiny neon blue.



*My dad says that he didn't order it. Imagining my mother ordering a care package is difficult. So where did it come from? Certainly not my 17-year-old brother.

Hear that, contents of my wardrobe?

You can stop falling apart now.

Okay, I'm leaving for room draw in 15 minutes, so this will have to be quick.

-I have a terrible room draw number, but I'll be a senior, so it can't be that bad, can it? All the same, room draw was REALLY INCREDIBLY STRESSFUL when I was choosing a Ziskind room; I figure that it can only get worse. On the plus side (?), I don't actually know any of the rising seniors in the house (except for grumpy Monday morning girl, who appears not to be in the directory under the name I know her by. I think she'll be a senior. Maybe she's a senior already. That would be nice.)

-I have a summer internship, and the only major hurdle remaining as far as that is concerned is PRAXIS paperwork.

-I finished Viaje al fin del milenio. Egads, 400 large pages of really dense Spanish. And the prof said that this one had an easier plot than the other! I personally found the jumping around in time really confusing; I'd much rather follow multiple characters and multiple plotlines than multiple timelines - at least as far as easy-to-understand goes; multiple timelines can be cool.

-I also plowed through about 100 pages of the Portuguese textbook. Well, the relevant bits of it; I didn't read the exercises.

-Finished The Two Towers, putting myself ahead of schedule for Inklings as well.

-I rather feel like I spend most of break doing homework.

-I do not have a take-home final over Conbust, which is a good thing (I do have a take-home final over Fencing Nationals, but I'm likelier to have more free time that weekend, and she gave us two more days, too). I'm sad that this was occasioned by Alberton's death, but very glad for the reprieve. Albertson would've approved of ConBust, I'm sure.

-I saw Emily's father play Sweeny Todd. He was terrifying. See if I ever sleep over at her house again!

-Time with family was good. Time with small cousins was even good, despite the fact that they were suffering from nasty colds. They do not seem to have passed them to me, though, for which I am Very Glad.

-This computer has had grumpy internet all evening. Also, the scroll-dot on the mouse only goes up. I think I use it rather more for down.


Okay, time to have my housing fate determined.

I really want that whitewater kayaking class. But last I heard, I was on the waitlist (#2? #3?), and if I don't get an e-mail by tomorrow saying that I've gotten in, it's not happening. At least not this semester. *sigh*

On the subject of other Bannerweb-related things I want, it would be nice to know my grades from last semester. Or even just receive verification that the credits have gone through, or something. I'm not seriously worried about it (either the grades or the credits-going-through), but I'm pretty sure Smith got all of the relevant paperwork at the beginning of January. Or maybe mid-January, thinking about trans-Atlantic postal times. Although PRESHCO does have a fax machine.

In other news, life goes on, and it's better on days when I'm getting over being sick and have enough sleep. I even got enough sleep last night, contrary to popular belief (I'm all for five-college practice. But events at Mt. Holyoke that end at 10pm get to be a little much. Particularly when you're never sure if there's going to be a ride for you to get back to campus, or if you'll have to take the bus. But I did have fun, and got to bed at a nearly-reasonable time). And tomorrow is Friday. I should remember to get food tomorrow so that I can eat on Saturday.

So, there you are, kids. If you ever need to tell your Spanish-speaking friends, "This is the most difficult shower I've (n)ever taken," think back to this moment.

Tonight has been an evening for feeling silly.
Despite having used the oven twice before (and forgetting a knob last time), I forgot to set it to bake, and to set the timer, and to set the temperature. So I waited 15 minutes wondering why the oven wasn't getting hot . . .

And then I tried to take a shower. Aside from needing to wash my hair, I have a sore throat and a runny nose, and thought that hot water would feel nice.
First problem: I couldn't light the hot water heater. Well, actually, I managed the water heater just fine; I even noticed that the one knob on the gas line was turned and turned that. I just couldn't light the butane lighter to get the flame lit. The last one was running out of juice, so Pepi clearly got around to getting a new one, and I couldn't get it to light. I can light camping stoves. I can light Coleman lanterns in the dark. I can manage those nasty paper matches. I can light fires with one match - with no matches if there are still a few coals left. I can light fires in the woods when it's been raining for three days and everything is soaked. But I'm a wooden matches kind of gal. I don't like butane lighters. This is why. And the fact that the metal piece gets hot and will give you a nastier burn than the actual fire, and you're liable to forget that it's hot until it burns you.
So I knocked on Ana's door when she was practicing and she lit the water heater for me.
And all was well, right?
Of course not. The water was coming out of the faucet rather than the shower head, which it's never done before, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to switch it (turns out the little pull-up piece is in the same place as the ones at home, only it's disguised as a holder for the portable shower head). Ana to the rescue again.
And all was well?
Well, I started my shower. And when I went to rinse the soap out of my hair, I discovered that the water had gone cold. Looking through the little window, it looked like the heater had gone out. So I called Ana (who was luckily puttering around the kitchen) and stood there wet and shivering while she tried to re-light the heater - and discovered that the tank of butane was empty. So I stood there wet and shivering while she changed it and re-lit the heater.
Era la ducha más dificil que nunca he tomado.

This whole weekend has been vaguely bleh. In addition to being sick, I read the death-crumpets book (La virgen de los sicarios, The Virgin of the Hitment), which was both depressing and disturbing. And I can't even say that I didn't like the book, because it wasn't the book's fault. What I didn't like was knowing that the situation that the book describes still exists in Colombia; the drug trafficking and the casual disregard for human life and relationships, the world where someone will kill you for your nice sneakers that will probably get them killed sometime next week, and, what is perhaps the worst bit, a world where many people don't believe things can be different.
And while I knew about many of the problems in Colombia, there's a difference between knowing and reading a novel where you're immersed in that world.
I would say, "oh good, I've finished it," but I still need to watch the movie before class on Wednesday, and then we'll be discussing it for three classes.
And writing for the past two-three days has been like pulling teeth (okay, not quite that painful, actually. But slow and draggy and hard), although that finally got better today and perhaps now that Things Are Happening it will continue being better.

And homework (aside from death-crumpets) was major-time Not Happening; but the paper is short and isn't due until Tuesday evening.

I did get work done on my books on Friday, though. And people are coming over for paella tomorrow, which should be fun.