Crunch

School is going well. Everytime I start to feel less than adequate a professor will be excited by something I've said, or I get a paper back with marks far better than I was expecting. I havent' missed any deadlines, and I am actually working ahead on things. I still feel crunched, though. I am crumpled. I feel like the paper wrapper on a straw that has been completely compressed around the straw's bottom. I have all of this straw stretching out before me, but, for some crazy ass reason, I am scrunched down into near nothingness.
Andrew is, as always, incredibly supportive. So are my friends. Sadly, I'm not seeing everyone so much as I'd like. It seems odd, in the past I have practically lived at Val's place, but now I haven't even seen her or the family in well over a week. I've missed HFS two weeks in a row, now. First I had a headache from hell. It felt like a lovely little proto-migraine, waiting to fully flower from semi-blinding pain to full blinding pain. Last week I was working on the story that wouldn't end. When it did end, late Sunday night, it clocked in roughly fifteen hundred words beyond our maximum word count. I did finally manage to cut it down by about twelve hundred words, but it was cutting it close. It hurts to have to go through and cut down what you thought was sparse to begin with. But this weekend I will be there, and hopefully will get the ball rolling on my squire project. I am feeling antsy about my squireship. It feels like I am off to a rough start. I'm hoping to change, this, though. Maybe seeing my friends on Saturday will be just what I need to feel like I can stretch out.

Happy (early) Birthday to Me

Yesterday my mother and I went by a local gym, just to check it out. I walked out with my birthday present, a membership. Which, while a wise investment in my future, shoots down my plans for pooling my birthday money and putting it towards a laptop. Although, one of the other things that came up was the possibility of selling my car to put some money towards tuition. I'm hoping to shunt some of that money into the laptop fund. It's for school! If I had a laptop, I could be curled up on the bed typing away on my story, instead of doing it here at my desk and being distracted by the interwebs every two seconds. That is my rationale. Now if I could just concentrate on the story I'm supposed to be writing. The story itself is good. The fact that it's only supposed to be 750 words long is bad. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I talk. A lot. Me plus a 750 word limit doesn't work. Can't I just write away to my heart's content and eat the rest of the tomato soup I made for dinner? Mmmm.... Anti-oxidants are yummy.
Now to finish cutting my story to shreds, to be followed by digging out gym stuff. Must resist napping.

Brain Filler

I just sat down and read the first book due for Creative Non-Fiction. Okay so it was a graphic novel, Persepolis to be precise. It's about a girl in Iran in 1980 during the Islamic Revolution. What's more fun is that, dur non-fiction class, it's a memoir. I wish I could remember more from Early Modern Mid East, but even with my pretty limited grasp of politics/history from the area, it was good. The art and language are pretty simple, which works since it's the point of view of a ten year old, well, up to when she's 14. The art is on the cartoony side, all in black and white. It's war torn Tehran, but it's war torn Tehran with bendy lines. But I think it's effective in that it doesn't push the reader away with stark/realistic images, but it brings you in because the art is inviting, it feels safe. Definitely matches her attitude. I'm looking forward to the second volume, but I'm going to be good, and do all my other homework. Well as much as I can, considering I haven't bought all my textbooks yet. *sigh* Sexual Difference and the Gothic novel is going to be fun, though. And oh so much writing to do for writing workshop. If my fingers don't fall off this semester, I will consider it a success.

School Supplies, yay!

Okay so the lowdown... I applied to grad school and the program of my choice. I got into the program, the school? Not so much. But I figured this would happen, so no biggie, I just went through the appeals process. There was, however, much freaking out, as school starts on Monday. So this morning I called the dean's office, and the secretary said the letter had been signed and mailed out, and she was pretty sure I had been approved. Woo! So I called the grad studies office, and they confirmed this, so I basically spent today running around trying to get my stuff together and get registered. And now I am. Unfortunately, even though I'm not the only one who wants to do it, and even though the professor says it's okay and he'll do the extra work to make us do the extra work, I'm not going to be able to use the undergrad (though 4000 lvl) scriptwriting class for my grad work. Boo. So I had to find another class. Currently I'm looking at a fiction writing workshop, Form and Theory in Creative Non-Fiction, and a Gender and Literature course that is specifically looking at the Gothic novel. (Specifically the feminine aesthetic of terror as compared to the masculine aesthetic of horror. Heh.) I'm eligible for an assistantship, but considering the fact that I am on probation, I decided not to apply. I want to really get my grad school bearings before I take that on. So, you know... next year.
In other news... not much has happened. My mom's cat, Mac, passed away. I felt so bad. He had an infection and just couldn't shake it off. At least we tried everything we could. So now my two truly are the spoiled brats of the house. And spoiled they really are. Bentley is still trying to figure out how doors work. The other night he was running around, and hopped up on the bed and burrowed under the covers until he was curled up by my feet. Perfect hiding place! And then he sneezed, and, realizing his cover had been blown, took off running again. Puck has been pretty lovey, lately. He still wants to go outside, but that just ain't going to happen.
For now I am off to make potato salad and cut up veggies for the veggie plate for tomorrow. We're having a big back to school party for my cousins' kids. I expect to end the day well fed, slightly sunburned, and totally wiped out from having fun. After all, that is why I moved back home.