Yeah, 15 INCHES.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen 15 inches of snow.  I’m terrified and my warm boots slip on everything.  I almost did the splits today trying to get to the library, ow.

So, what all haven’t I posted?  It’s been so long.  Spring Break.

I spent a lot of time home alone watching tv and trying to get ahead on my readings for all of the various projects I have coming up.  I did okay, I could have accomplished more, but that’s always the case, and I’m trying not to feel bad about it.  I went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory over the break, that was fun.  I stood in the mint storage room and it was insane. It was like bathing in menthol/mint smell. It was incredible, and while it kind of hurt it was also really exhilarating.  My lungs have never had such an experience.   I’m not sure how to describe it…

I had an interview Monday for a part time student aide position at CSU today. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get it, the lady who interviewed me said as much, she just needed to check on my references first. I’m hopeful. It would only be 10 hours a week, but I’m last person to scoff at any job these days. It is in the building next door to matt’s so that might be fun too.  I think I’d be a glorified errand and phone-answering girl, but I’m still excited.

We’re reading Heaven’s Coast right now for one of my classes and it is heart wrenching.  I really think it’s incredible, Doty writes like a poet, but without the floridness that usually drives me nuts.  The story is beautiful and astoundingly detailed from my limited experience with grief.  Other than that I’m rereading the Robber Bride for a paper, and numerous articles to discuss Buffy in the terms of somatic criticism, and that’s my term.

I wish I had more to report but the term is busy here and hence my life has become quite dull.

So, a couple weeks ago I saw an advertisement for a photography competition, and I entered because a professor at WOU told me a long time ago that I should…  And I got chosen as some kind of participant/finalist/something!  I’m so excited!  I’m not sure if this means I won a spot in the actually “winners” or was just accepted for the exhibition but either way I’m practically floating on a see of my own ego, it’s so cool.   And, as follow is the email that you probably don’t need to see, but I need to show off.

I’ll post the picture that got accepted when I find out which one of my submissions it was.

Congratulations!!!!

Your image/s have been chosen to be a part of the 2008 Where in the World is CSU From photo contest. To celebrate, we will be holding a reception on Monday, November 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 in the 1^st National Bank Gallery in the Morgan Library with all the images displayed. Refreshments and appetizers provided by COISA—the Council of International Student Affairs.

Congratulations again, and we look forward to meeting you all to hear first hand where all these pictures came from.

Sincerely,

– The Contest Organizers.

Now that I am 23, I of course have no such thing for such trivial things as keeping in touch through our lovely website… just kidding.

Things have been crazy here. My classes picked up speed so suddenly. I’ve spent more hours in the CSU library in the last two weeks than I did in the WOU library in my first two years there! My classes are okay, but not great, I’m a little disappointed to be honest, I had such high hopes. Short Story is a pretty frivolous in class and Chekhov is making me harbor thoughts of melancholy, melodramatic suicide. Research is a LOT of painful busy work, but I know it’s good for me – kind of like spinach, I imagine, but more expensive. Critical theory is like having a really, really, really, smart person talk to you in a language you don’t understand and without oxygen breaks for 50 minutes straight. yeah.

But, I have made fantastic new friends and recurring acquaintances, so Matt and I aren’t spending quite as much time alone in the house with the dogs. I’ve hosted two non-movie nights so far, where the only movie watching accomplished were on youtube, but they were so much fun. And, Matt and I have been frequently Emily’s to play Rock Band. I can do respectably not awful on the easy setting while she and matt play on expert and medium/hard, respectively. I am not envious – I just want to beat them up a little. But my ‘star power’ is screaming at the microphone which I think then gives me extra points and sparkles on the screen, so I just amuse myself with that while they kick my butt…

Now, as for my birthday, that was pretty awesome. I had a crappy day in school doing library busy work but after all that Matt made us reservations and I got marginally dressed up and we went out to dinner at The Melting Pot, which I guess is a whole change of fondue restaurants. Well, it was fantastic. We had yummy bread, veggies and apples in cheese fondue to start, then numerous random meats that we cooked “coq au vin,” followed by chocolate s’mores fondue with fruit, cheesecake and random goodies to finish. Gotta say, that was one of the neatest restaurant experiences ever, it was a lot of fun. And, with that I magically became 23 and a grown-up. Or not.

Anyways, I must leave the computer now or I wont be able to ignore the paper I need to write anymore.

yours,

Alaina

I was just brained by a butterfly.  I’m not kidding.  A butterfly, or possibly just strangely pretty moth, just flew directly into the center of my forehead.  Hard enough to feel it too.  Had this butterfly or moth been slightly larger or more forceful, I could have been injured!  Really!  Luckily, I was not harmed in this ordeal and simply now have an interesting anecdote to share with you all.  Thank goodness.

yours,

Alaina

For Labor Day weekend we all (dogs included) decided to go up to Mt. Evans,the tallest mountain unto which you can drive to (14,130 ft).  It was quite a drive!  The road was literally wedged into the side of a cliff, not a drive you wanna take if your scared of heights!  As we neared the top of the mountain I noticed my breathing was changing.  I was breathing twice as frequently.  Also I began feeling nauseated.  When we got to the top we started walking around checking out the great view and at times I felt very dizzy.  I guess this makes sense seeing how I get motion sickness out at sea, I get altitude sickness too!  Which kinda sucks because I like going up to the top of high mountains.  But, the awesome view is worth it.

On the way down we saw a Pika.  Alaina was excited to see that tiny little critter hopping around collecting food and hiding in the ground.  I must say it was quite entertaining.  If the dogs could have seen over the wall, they would have probably pulled like hell to catch that thing.  Also, we saw some mountain goats!  We parked the car and climbed up the hill to get a closer view of them.  There was a heard of them, and they were just laying around in the sun, old ones and young ones.  We were standing within 10 feet of them!  I wanted to get closer, but their horns on top looked a little intimidating.

Finally, on the way back home we stopped at a brewery in Idaho springs called Tommy Knockers.  The beer was delicious.  I think that is my 3rd favorite brewery for taste in beer.  The first of course being Lost Coast and 2nd Ice Harbor.  Their Oatmeal Stout and nut brown ale was to almost die for.  And to top it off we had really good food.  Alaina had some delicious french fries, dumped in buffalo sauce and blue cheese, and I had a taco salad, a little less creative, but very scrumptious.

Well, two days down and …  many many more to go.  I’ve had all three of my classes now and they sound incredibly intimidating, but I’m optimistic.  MWF is Reading Literature: Recent Theories which is over crowded because it’s required and popular and is basically a class that will study every critical theory for literary or cultural criticism that the professor can fit in – which is quite a few given the extra long terms out here.  This class sounds insanely difficult, but only one or two papers and no tests or oral presentations, so that’s something.  TR are Research Methods and Theory and Genre Studies: The Short Story.  Research methods sounds like it’s going to be a great many hoops to jumps through but I know it’ll good for me in the end and Short Story sounds great until the oral presentation part and then the actual writing of a short story!  If I had that kind of creative mind I would be an MFA, not an MA, yikes!  Maybe I’ll write about the poor little academic who got lost in the vicious wonderland of critiquing her own short story and ended mad as a hatter…. Good plan.

Besides that I biked to and from school yesterday, which so incredibly nifty.  And then incredibly painful (up hill) and I’m officially a registered biking student.  Yay.  I love not having to find parking!  Although so does everybody else, so all 15,000 bikes per day (literally the average) appear to be fighting me for the bike rack.

I must go now, I cant believe I’m saying this again, but I have homework.  Weird… And neat.