back to bedtimes.

I have come to the unfortunate realization that I need more sleep. Okay, it wasn't so much a realization as a huge slap in my face with a freezing hand after I had almost fallen asleep at work several days in a row. Unfortunately, in graduate school, sleep is just not an option sometimes when you have work, homework, and a million other things to do. So instead of more sleep, why not get more efficient sleep? I found this website called Sleepy Time that will count out REM cycles, and tell you when to wake up in between REM cycles so that you wake up, actually awake. According to their website, waking up in the middle of an REM cycle makes you feel groggy, and maybe just makes you want to go back to sleep. I've tried it out for the last couple of nights, and so far it actually does seem to be working. I go to bed a few minutes later than I normally do for my 5:30 a.m. wakeup call, but I have been feeling a bit less groggy. I'll let you know how this goes at the end of the week...

fridays in the office.

So Fridays are pretty lonely in my office. I do have two men to keep me company though.

Walker on the left and Pancho on the right.

Clearly, I had to name them so that I wasn't just talking to nameless cardboard figures. I can give them a little humanity after all. They must get lonely spending so many long hours in Zimmerman library by themselves. Anyway, back to normality...

Fridays, over this past semester, have slowly morphed into lazy days. Pretty much because after Friday morning yoga I have no energy to put on real clothes, although I can usually manage a little blush and mascara. Also, after Thursday nights at O'Niell's, I'm not sure I could fit into actual pants on account of all the queso consumed. Ideally, Fridays consist of yoga, a little work, a little reading for school, and a lot of napping. The napping part I can do without a problem, the other ones I need to work on, like, ahem, the working one. Back to Pancho and Walker...

foucault can go...

One of the pleasures of grad school is reading authors who for the most part were deemed irrelevant at the end of the last century by most of ordinary society. But am I really in normal society? No. Exhibit A: Foucault. While this French philosopher by all means has some influential and insightful ideas, reading him is literally like trying to read Russian. Which I do not speak. Or read. But through these really difficult authors which I have had to read for a few years now, including senior year of college, I have come to appreciate theoretical literary and artistic criticism much more than I ever thought I would. I still don't have too much of a fondness for Foucault, but I do quite enjoy Marx and Engels (especially the fact that they both had a passion for good wine), as well as some more modern postcolonial theory. While challenging, I have actually picked up quite a bit from many of the authors, and I am the better for it. So here's a challenge to you: read something that makes you think. No, it does not have to be all of Capital by Marx, but something that is much shorter can make you think just as much as a one-thousand page book. May I suggest something by Althusser or Horkheimer to get started? Do it, you will feel smarter and I know that some people are as crazy as me. I'm still not into Foucault though. He can go off and do some things that are too scandalous to put into writing. At least here anyway...

the pantyhose conundrum.

I really, really like my jobs. Working in an art collection is really great, and I love getting to learn so much while managing an entire collection by myself. I also adore teaching debate. I never really fancied myself the teacher type, but helping out with the debate team at my high school is oftentimes the highlight of my Tuesdays and Thursdays (and many a weekend in far-off locales like Dallas and Minneapolis). Unfortunately, as much as I love this part of graduating college and getting a real person job, I cannot get into pantyhose, which are often de rigueur in chilly winter months.

 I wish I could make pantyhose look this cute...
http://bit.ly/wDEUYy

I've got a solution for winter. I just wear lots of cute stockings from Anthropologie and Wolford with summer dresses and sweaters and call it a day. My big problem comes in the warmer days, a couple of which we have been having lately. Of course I just want to wear dresses and more dresses because it honestly feels like spring. Well, sundresses sans legwear are not exactly appropriate for high school teachers and grad students in a semi-professional position. And wearing hose in spring is just not cool. I would rather be skipping around in a field or walking on a beach, or even just walking to class, and none of these activities should involve hose. So, please let me know if you have any solutions to make dresses work-appropriate, and in the meantime, I will be rocking many a maxi dress.

welcome home.

When I decided that I was moving back home to do my master's, and I began searching for a place to live: I always seemed to run into one of two problems. First, apartments were completely out of my means, even if they weren't that nice. Second, the apartments that I could afford looked like they had been used to film a meth scene in Breaking Bad. So that left me with the inevitable conclusion of moving back home. While this came with many perks; mainly food, air conditioning, and dogs; I started to suffer a sort of identity crisis. How was I supposed to create my own life if I was stuck living in the house in which I grew up (although it is pretty hard to argue with this backyard view)?



However, I eventually realized after a little soul searching and some glasses of wine and crying on Skype to my boyfriend that I can define myself in other ways. In fact, most of my life was outside my house. In fact, I really only slept there and got sub-par morning coffee (sorry, Dad). I have friends, a really great job, and lo and behold an actual life beyond 1550 Eagle Ridge. There are a million other ways in which I could build my own proverbial nest. So, no matter where you are; whether it's living at home, living in a tiny apartment and hating your roommate, or in an awesome flat in London; follow me on my journey to create my own life and read about many klutzy adventures and fabulous insights to come. Welcome home, wherever you are.