Voice Post:

Phew

Suffice it to say I feel much better now. (I'm not sure I should listen to that phone post again myself... I imagine it's embarrassing.) And things always seem better when you can sit down at write them out. Today's just been... weird. I got up this morning, fully intending to get downtown and back before class at 1:30, but that totally didn't work because I slept in until 10:30 and I had to take a shower. I debated a little about going anyway, figuring I could make it back, but somehow while I was doing this it suddenly became a quarter til one and I had to go to class. Which was delightful, and I have a feeling it will be for the rest of the quarter, but it is a supremely weird feeling to agree with almost everything the professor says and be on the same page... at the same time. Like "Hm, I hope we talk about this part next" and the next thing being "And now, moving to [that part]." And knowing the answers to the magical pedagogical nightmare what's-in-my-pocket game, which apparently he prides himself on being obtuse about. Unfortunately, there are other people in the class just as quick on this (because I think by this point everyone knows the trick to at least the first few days of class, and also because everyone here is depressingly smart sometimes, so I don't get to feel special). The prof, though, Veeder (as he's known to everyone), has a sort of cult following in the English department, so I'm thoroughly scared of agreeing with him. I mean, I don't want to be a groupie. I can totally see how people end up hanging on his every word, though. He's got a sense of humour, and a very interesting way of interpreting everything. It's just... what he gets mad at critics about seems so obvious to me, so I can't help agreeing with him. Plus his philosophy of interpretation is nearly the same as mine. (Which I'd explain if I was sure at this point that I've got his right... for now, I'll be vague to avoid embarrassment.)

Um, anyway... before I even got to class, there is a story. See (as we've already covered in some vague detail today) the buses suck this year more than they've ever sucked before (too few, too small, too never-on-time, too... made of nonsensical useless routes), so I get to campus a good 20 minutes before class starts. I was gonna buy the book I needed, but it was $60, so I walked over to the Reg and just printed Young Goodman Brown out at the mac lab (I've read that story so many times now anyway...) And while I was (five minutes late, because the printers were screwed up) running to class, I noticed massive storm clouds on the horizon. And so, as I was walking, it started raining on me. I remember thinking "Oh crap" because I didn't even have jacket (it was amazingly warm and lovely this morning). So it stormed massively all through class (providing all sorts of appropriate thunder during our discussion of gender roles). And I mean... it did storm massively. The uchicago discussion of it is rather amusing, for the comments about what sort of trucks can be blown off the road. It continued to storm even after class was over, so I hurried across campus (getting rained on) and waited for the bus in the Reynold's Club. Now, the problem with this is, even though we've have a (uselessly) several-thousand-dollar overkill flatscreen TV hooked up to the buscam (which is really a website. See?), it only displays for about thirty seconds at a time, then switches to the (never updated and always useless) student government website. Almost always whenever a bus would otherwise be shown approaching, making it impossible to catch the bus. So I went outside and dealt with the drip drip dripping... for half an hour. Because the bus decided to be late. There had to be a crowd of 30+ students waiting for the bus (most of us not dressed for the rain. Thanks, weathermen.) And when it finally came (20 minutes late, as far as I was concerned, but considering the crowd, probably a good 40+ minutes late), it was nearly full, so only about ten more people could fit on, leaving the rest of us to walk back in the rain or wait another twenty, probably thirty minutes for the next bus. So obviously walk it was. And for some reason, streets in Hyde Park don't hold up well in more than five minutes of rain, and there were puddles everywhere and I had no choice but to call and complain, because I'd planned on being downtown by 4 this afternoon so I'd have time to take pictures.

But that's okay, because I did make it downtown, and Dar entertained me over the phone most of the way there, even though I had to yell at her (and countless people probably thought I was nuts, especially at the bus stop when I said something like "No, you're right, you can't kill Dr. Gregory!" People actually turned around to stare, which made it hard for me to bring up other topics, since they also involved the verb to kill. Oh, innocent bystanders). And downtown always cheers me up when I'm there alone. It's so nice to be able to wander the streets by myself, with no one else's shoddy sense of direction to contradict (who goes northwest when we should be going southeast? Shouldn't people at least get it half right?) So I picked up the film and some of the supplies I need (the rest is coming in the mail from my dad, which makes me very happy because this way I won't have to spend $300 on the class), then grabbed something that was not quite lunch and not quite dinner at Quiznos. I was going to wander and take pictures, but I realized, though I'd remembered my camera and it'd stopped raining, I'd forgotten my light meter, so I went and waited for the bus... unfortunately, right in front of Garrett's, so I had to get popcorn because, goshdarnit, when the bus isn't coming the smell of caramel popcorn can really get to you (especially when you've been a slightly amused sort of angry most of the day, and need something sweet to make up for it. Or something. Really, it's just the smell, and I think the bad weather scared away most of the line that's usually there).

But you know what's not amusing (or tasty, or intellectually enriching)? Now it's not only the high and mighty Sir Nicolas Jerkface Pizzolatto that hasn't e-mailed me back, but the undergrad head of the English department... thing, as well. And I can't seem to get a hold of the people who're supposed to fix my computer to check on its status. What gives, people? Is the rest of the world cutting me off for a reason? (At least the English Department lady has an office, which I totally intend to march into sometime tomorrow... actually, probably Wednesday when I have more time, after my advisor appointment (boy is she gonna get an earful, poor thing)... and act all indignant and offended and... grr. Definitely very grr.)

Oh, and I didn't even manage to get into how many cars nearly hit me today. What the heck? It had to have been like, five. It's wet out, people! Stop sucking at driving! I know most of you have decent brakes in normal weather, but I so don't trust you in the rain. So stop almost hitting me!