outer-jessie's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- long entry full of stuff "You gonna go fishing?" asked dark crazy-eyed man. "What?" "You goin' fishing? You're gettin' a tackle box." This is the story of the acquisition of my electronics lab kit. After this little what-the-fuck conversation, dark crazy-eyed man handed me a bright red tackle box filled with electronics stuff. He charged me $75 dollars, and I was left to my own devices with the box. It contains wires and solder and a soldering iron (which is bound to become one of my prized possessions) and electrical tape and scissors and plugs and a fuse box. I'm ridiculously pleased with it. It is the one redeeming feature this class is going to have. Even if I was just a full-time student, I don't know if I'd be able to accomodate all the demands of this class. I wonder if Harvard students only take three classes at a time? It doesn't seem likely, but I don't know. But never mind that, because I'm NOT just a full-time student, I'm a part-time student with a full-time, up-at-seven-am job. As it stands, I'll be working essentially 8am to 9pm on Tuesdays, and that's without taking time out to go to the help lab. That sucks severely, I don't care what you say. When I was a student I had one semester where I had classes from 8 to 7 one day a week, and that's still two hours shy of this crap. To top it all off, the prof has called a gathering at ten o'clock tonight. Anyone ever heard of monkey bread? Yeah I'd like to find out what that is and inform you all, but there's no way I'm going out a half hour before my bedtime. During class I was considering withdrawing and just coming to lectures and having a hand at the homework (this was after we went over a few problems and I realized I had done them disastrously wrong). But that really won't get me anywhere. So I think what I'll have to do is prioritize these class components and just do what I can, and try to get by in the class. If I fail it, the cost of it is out of pocket. If I can pass, I'll be reimbursed by Harvard. I need that money. And I need this class. I was handed real work today. My boss put me in charge of the automatic processing of data, a job that until today belonged to one of the long-timers here. Long-time being not quite three years. I guess the idea is to get us learning things we don't yet know, and although I already know the basics of AP, it'll be nice to have my own task. I'm really kind of proud of my boss for coming up with this idea. It's really going to help my motivation, and that of the girl who was doing AP before me. I think. I'm running out of time for my TfA application. Are you guys following all these abbreviations? TfA for Teach for America, AP for advanced processing? Good. Yeah, and speaking of running out, I need more vegetables and fruit. Tomorrow. I don't get to go home till 8 today. Now that I've been back from my trip for so long, I no longer feel like sharing all its intimate details. I'll do a quick run-down, because I know you'll cry if I don't clue you in on all aspects of my life. Friday we drove out to Manchester for an uneventful flight on Southwest, a very weird little airline, I dare say. Entertaining though. I wrote down the jokes they had the little kids come up and say, but I'll spare you those. They weren't funny, and you had to be there. So forget it. Four hours and fifty dollars later, we arrived at our hotel and went swimming, as I mentioned. It was nice and hot, and so was the spa. I burned my skin slightly, but I'm ok. (pouty face) After that we took a long walk down the main drag, and had nearly gotten up our courage to throw ourselves ten stories up into the sky before we realized it was $25 apiece to do so. It was some strange little town amusement park thingy, and although I really wanted to be tossed, fifty bucks for one ride is preposterous, thank you very much. So we came halfway back and ate at this place...I can't remember the name of it now...but there were buckets of peanuts on the tables and peanut shells all over the floor. There, I had the best cheddar mushroom burger on the face of the earth, and was served by a guy who's the roommate of someone I played field hockey with in junior high. Yes. That was very odd. Saturday was twelve hours of Disney fun in Magic Kingdom. It was your typical Disney experience, great for me and boring to hear about. We did every fun thing we possibly could and ate an abundance of food and met Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and Tigger and Eeyore and Cinderella and Ariel and other people I didn't know. Sunday we went to Universal Studios, which was pretty amusing, since it opened at 9 but half the rides and much of the other stuff didn't open till 10. So we hit all the cool stuff that ever there was, and saved many people (nearly all the rides have a you-must-save-us! theme), and Rob was chosen as a stage hand in a recreation of an Earthquake movie. And THEN.... hold on... I want to build up the suspense... you will be so jealous... try not to regret your meaningless life... I met... Spongebob. Mr. Squarepants himself. He was right there, and so was I, and we hugged and had a picture. I think it's safe to say my life is complete. There's a lot of cool stuff at Universal. It's not as "magical" as Disney, but it's definitely fun. I could have spent a hundred dollars at the Hitchcock gift shop. I really wanted a Bates Motel Angry Mother shower curtain. Sunday night was the Super Bowl. I'm a Patriots fan, when I'm a fan at all. 'Nuff said. You all know what happened. After that we sailed off to Pleasure Island on a magical, um, taxi van. Oh yes, the purple bodice was donned, I became one with purple sausages around the world, and nearly maimed myself dancing in my kinky boots. I even got to do that thing that chicks in movies do, where you have to stuff something in your bra, or bodice, as the case may be, because...oh fine, because I bought princess barrettes for my friend's little girl. Not sexy, and also not very comfortable. Oddly, no sex was had by me that evening, despite how purple and vinyl I was. This may have something to do with how fast I drank that screwdriver, and how fast I passed out after we got home. Monday, we checked out, had breakfast, and went home. The end. I'm making clam chowder this weekend! 3:48 p.m. - 2002-02-07 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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