Car skills, pt. 2.

On my way to a pedicure appointment with my mom last night, I passed by the auto parts store. I was running about half an hour early, and that passenger side headlight was still fading, so I figured "what the heck" and pulled in.

The men at the counter were impressed when I headed straight for the bulb and then immediately to the register...at least, until I admitted I had been in yesterday. We all chuckled, I paid, I left. I still had twenty-five minutes, and the light in the lot was okay, so I decided to win one for the girls and popped the Little Civic's hood in the parking lot of the O'Reilly.

This was supposed to be the "easier side" to replace, as there was no power steering fluid container in the way on the passenger side, but there was a connecting wire the other side had been missing. Joy of joys...I successfully wrestled the old bulb out in just a few minutes, but spent the rest of my half hour fighting to fasten the wire into the new one.

Just as I was about to give up, I wiggled the wire, it slid smoothly into place, and I fitted the weather seal over the whole operation. Swaggering just a little bit with gender-neutral accomplishment, I picked up my paper towels and dead bulb, and headed towards the trash can.

At that moment, a car came roaring into the parking lot, pausing just long enough to discharge a man in coveralls from the passenger seat. "Your on-the-spot mechanic has arrived!" he hollered, running to my rescue. "I got a phone call that someone had a hood popped in the parking lot, and here I am! What's the problem?"
"Actually, I just fixed it."
He deflated a little, but persisted.
"You a mechanic?"
"Eh, a mechanic in training."
"That's my favorite kind of mechanic." We were at the entry of the store now, and he faced me squarely.
"My name's Derrick. Can I have your number?"

I told him I was going to meet my momma, and my boyfriend might not like that...but thanked him very much for the help!

More car skills.

The newest addition to the "things I can do to/for my car" list: changing the head light bulb. Even though it took a little wrangling, Googling, and brow furrowing from my dad, the entire operation was successful!...and made me realize just how dull my passenger side light was getting. Looks like I'll have another opportunity to practice this new skill tomorrow!

Still a little kid at heart.

As a little kid, I was really into swords 'n' sorcery and video games--I played Final Fantasy on my aunt's old-school Gameboy, leapt on anything that referenced mythology, and cried when I finished Final Fantasy X. Even as a (semi) grown-up, I've got more than a passing familiarity with video games*, and tend to have one or two on reserve at any given moment.

I've been on a Sims 3 kick lately, but in the rush of moving out last Friday, I completely zoned out and forgot my game disks. Cue the sad face.

Luckily, I have another game on hand...one that I had banished to the dark recesses of my external hard drive, but one that will see the light of day soon.

Mrglrglrl!

Yes, sadly, that's right. It's World of Warcraft time.


*Incredibly useful when talking to guys. I think I've accidentally stolen a few of my friends' interests this way, but I swear it's unintentional! Knowing how to prolong the double chainsaw weapons in Dead Rising is vital information, and who doesn't love that cross-dressing scene in FFXII?

Congratulations, Arielle and Adam.

I wish you the best of luck in your life together. With such a beautiful beginning, there can be nothing but goodness in front of you.


“El amor
nace
con el placer de contemplarse,
se alimenta
con la necesidad de verse,
y concluye
con la imposibilidad
de separarse.


Love is born
with the pleasure of looking at each other,
it is fed
with the necessity
of seeing each other,
it is concluded with the impossibility
of ever being apart.”

--Jose Marti

What a day!

Woke up, ate breakfast, put on grownup face, dealt with traffic ticket, came home, took off grownup makeup, went running in snow (Practical? No. Fun? Yes), did wind sprints in gym, probably weirded out maintenance guy in gym. Decided not to care. Jogged home.

Packed things, unpacked things, repacked things, put pasta on to boil, loaded car, dropped basil, swore a little, crammed final items into car, heated up spaghetti sauce, took out trash, grabbed pasta, brought final bags to car, locked door, adjusted packing in car, drove to brother's dorm.

Got honked at. Wondered where pasta was. Slowly realized where pasta was. Drove slowly.

Arrived at dorm. Saw brother's puzzled face. Pointed towards roof of car. Received acknowledgment. Retrieved pasta from roof of car, discovered it had cooled to perfect consumption temperate. Ate pasta. Proclaimed it delicious.

Drove to St. Louis with no further hilarity. Rolled eyes at self and day in general.

Knitters' support group...

A few of my friends knit, but for the next month, they'll be pretty far away from me. Thus:

Ravelry

Free patterns, patterns for purchase, groups, tips, other knitters. As someone presented it to me, "It's like Facebook--but with knitting."

Uh, yeah. I can get into that.

What advice would you give?

Just received an e-mail from the head of the English department, asking departing seniors for their advice to underclassmen. The department is hoping to publish these comments in promo packets for incoming students, but it's an interesting question to consider. What would I tell myself, if I could go back four years in time?

• Most of the most interesting, brilliant, earth-shaking people I know didn’t actually graduate with perfect 4.0s, either in years or in grades. Take the time you need, and realize that it really isn’t about the numbers.
• Be receptive to change. It’s gonna happen. You can take a deep breath, and adjust your plans, or you can whine about it, but nothing will keep it from coming. Give yourself an easier time of it and take that deep breath.
• Learn to make time for yourself. College can make you very busy, but a job will make you even busier, so if you don’t learn to relax now, you’ll have a much harder time of it later.
• Learn a foreign language. This is the most focused you’ll ever have a chance to be.
• Keep your eyes open for opportunity: it’s everywhere. The best jobs I’ve had, I found because I checked my e-mail or listened to my professors’ announcements in class.
• Be nice to everyone. I mean it. Everyone, from the housekeeping staff in your dorm to the stranger behind you in class. You never know when you’ll be locked out of your room or totally stumped in lecture, and that person will be your only hope for survival. (Also, being nice makes life more pleasant for you, and for everyone else around you, too.)
• Keep a planner. Things tend to get busy around here!

This last item I know all too well..this blog has been pretty neglected through the busy season of finals. Breaks always allow me time to rearrange my priorities, so this should be kept up a little better for the next month, at least.

Nights memories are made of.

Since entering the second phase of my school's teacher development program, I've been in methods courses with the same 20 or 25 people every week. Plenty of our content-area classes overlap, too--all of the secondary English education majors are required to take similar smatterings of upper-level literature and linguistics courses, so we've spent a lot of time together through the past year and a half.

On a four year plan, the last semester of coursework is spent in student teaching. I'm on the 4.5 year plan along with just a handful of other English teachers, but most of our group is scattering in January to work in their classrooms. Last night was the last hurrah, the last time the whole group would be together (except for graduation).

I won't say much about it--quite a bit of it is of the "you had to be there" variety--except for noting that the last big moment of the night works well as a microcosm of the entire evening: surrounded by friends at the last event, reading a karaoke screen and shouting along to "On a Boat" played by two dueling pianists.

Do with that what you will...

Sometimes, laughing at yourself is the only thing to do.

I learned how to knit!



Well, really, I think I'm in the "learning to knit" phase. Still a little shaky on that "purl" thing. (Must remember to ask if anyone knows at group meeting for Vagina Monologues tonight...the women's center holds weekly Stitch & Bitch sessions right before our meetings, to there's got to be someone knowledgeable around.)

The real reason for laughing at myself today, though? Googling "knit man scarf," and receiving a humongous number of results...not the least of which are bloggers warning against "the curse". If you've been dating a fellow less than a year, and knit him something, prepare to kiss the man (and man-scarf, or sweater, or whatever) goodbye. No one is immune. Even Nicole Kidman knows of the curse. Good thing A. and I are safe--plus, I know for a fact he goes a little weak at the knees for home-made gifts. It's the little bits of knowledge that make Christmas fun.

It's SNOWING.

First one of the year! Today has been insane--grocery shopping, Vagina Monologues rehearsal, Kappa Delta Pi initiation, and Mortar Board meeting have ensured that I haven't been home for more than a half-hour at a time--but just seeing those little flakes made me perk up a bit.

Photos forthcoming, assuming good ones present themselves!

Just happened to dig this up.

...browsing through my alma mater's Facebook page.


That? Is happiness. (For some, happiness at the memories and the accomplishment...for others, happiness at the opportunity to move somewhere new for a while. For me? Little bit of both.) Nothing else to really note here, other than a bit of a reflective mood: high school was both good and rough for me, just as it is, I guess, for everyone. This was one of the good moments.

Also, check out the height of those hats in the left-hand corner. Who threw those, Cy Young?!

Word of the day: healthy.

We're almost to the end of the semester, and there are moments the homework threatens to overwhelm me. I've been referring to it as "triage time": there's too much to do, but you've gotta start somewhere, and it better be with the gushing neck wound in the corner. My gushing neck wound today is the second-to-last sociology paper of the semester...I need to finish it by 6pm (though, really, I have until 11 tomorrow). After that comes the soccer test due ASAP (I'm calling it a broken leg), the unit plan for my methods course (severe concussion), and final paper for African women's diaspora lit (early labor pains).

Despite all the academic gore surrounding me, I'm feeling pretty good. I didn't work on the soccer test or paper last night, instead snagging last-minute tickets to Avenue Q, which rolled briefly through town. L. and I were in row E--not bad for a student ticket bought in the eleventh hour. We met up with another pair of friends post-show and checked out a new frozen yogurt bar in town (yummy) and laughed over the show.

This is a really new thing to me--I wouldn't have even entertained the thought of something like this a year ago. Bit by bit, I'm learning how to manage my own stress, and cool off a little before I hit a breaking point. Even now, I'm going to work out for an hour before I begin that paper, because I know I have the time, and the workout matters to me.

I'm in a "bleh, I don't want to do anything" frame of mind lately, but that's just typical senioritis and end-of-semester syndrome--nothing like the crying jags and insane amounts of stress & panic I put myself through just a semester ago. Fingers crossed to keep this trend up till the end of finals!