Antonin Scalia called Grokster Grapster. The Supreme Court is going to have to decide the fate of the file-sharing service pretty soon, so I find that simultaneously discouraging and hilarious. I mean, Grapster? Really, Justice Scalia?
Well, this is my big test. The novelty of my second-semester classes has long since worn off, midterms are over, and I've been in school for a good five months. Now I just have to keep my concentration up through finals.
Last year, the time after spring break was an absolute disaster for me. I think I've learned from the experience, but I keep catching myself just wanting to nap instead of reading. And with moot court and a huge paper due for Constitutional Law in the next 3 weeks, I really can't afford to goof off.
I would try coffee, but the last time I did that I ended up with indigestion and some unwanted all-nighters. So I'm sticking to a policy of no naps, no caffeine, and not too much sugar- the willpower method of staying awake while reading everything in legalese or Middle English.
Heaven help me.
Hamentaschen- the first erotic pastry?
Discuss. And weep, as I have. Thanks a lot, school of mine. Purim will never be the same...
Big giant Sondheim concert? Playing on my computer right now. Sure, I'd rather be listening to it in New York, but what the heck. Thank you, XM Sattelite Radio, for giving out free trials.
Because you know what? Right now I'm listening to Sondheim talking about adapting musicals to film, and the next number's going to involve Joanna Gleason. And later tonight, George Hearn and Angela Lansbury are going to sing "A Little Priest," which could quite possibly cause me to die of a joy aneurysm.
As Joss Whedon said to the man himself- "I know all your songs by heart. But I'm not a stalker."
Honest. :)
Dear Queen Mary college- why must you offer all your good English classes in the spring when I'm coming in the fall? And worse yet, why must all your politics and law classes be full-year? And why, oh why do your French culture classes require a generalized European culture class first? Doesn't knowing French count for anything?
From,
Scarred by Scheduling
Dear person in the library- you sound very ill. In fact, your cough brings to mind words like "pleurisy" and "tuberculosis." Why must you sit in the library and subject us all to your continual hacking? Honestly, I was concerned for you, coughing person. Go to the health center.
Sincerely,
Striving to Study
Dear Chaucer,
Even having to read them in Middle English doesn't change the fact that The Canterbury Tales rock.
Love,
Me.
Okay, so it wasn't really spring by any stretch of the imagination, and it fell too early for my taste, but this past week was a vacation, and I really think I used it pretty well.
What I did on my spring vacation:
Shows seen: 2
Books read: 2
Books not read: 2
Busses missed: 3
Lectures attended: 1
Hours of television watched: 25
Now, on to the details. The shows seen were The Producers, still going strong with Richard Kind bringing his air of wounded dignity to the role of Max Bialystock, and Dessa Rose, a very promising new Ahrens and Flaherty musical about the pregnant leader of a slave rebellion, a Southern belle abandoned by her husband, and the other people in their lives, past and present. I'm really resenting my "don't talk during previews" policy right now, but let's just say that with some work on Act I, this could be a Best Musical winner in a year.
The books read were A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by David Eggers, whose dense and self-conscious prose didn't quite live up to its title but didn't need to, and The Bronte Myth, by Lucasta Miller, which was a pretty interesting look at the history of the perception of the Bronte sisters, especially Charlotte and Emily.
My books not read were the only major disappointment of the break. I just didn't give myself enough time to finish them, I guess. They were Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated and Davita's Harp, by old favorite Chaim Potok.
The busses missed were all the same line, of course- the one from my stop to Port Authority. I missed my bus twice in the morning (once because I was 2 minutes late, and once despite being on time) and once at night (because I was directed to the wrong gate by an oh-so-helpful Help Desk employee). Maybe I should add another statistic to the list- Total time spent standing in sub-freezing weather waiting for a bus that won't come: 1 hour. And that doesn't count the time spent waiting indoors.
The lecture attended was one with the aformentioned Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the book writer/lyricist and composer, respectively, of Dessa Rose. Despite some hangups due to the fact that certain audience members had a hard time hearing, it was an interesting and rather engaging discussion.
And the television seen comprises 7 episodes each of Gilmore Girls and Scrubs, the Candide concert on Great Performances, Robert Altman's The Company, and the entirety of The 10th Kingdom, an old mini-series I adored when it originally ran.
When I wasn't watching or listening or standing and waiting, I went to 2 grocery shopping trips and 1 sorta-family dinner, baked 1 loaf of banana bread, and told my brother to turn down the volume on his video games 3,629 times.
And that was my spring vacation in numbers.
I'm this close to my much-needed spring break, but for now I'm stuck at school with a stomachache and a mission for tomorrow morning- find my political science professor from last semester and pester him until he agrees to write a recommendation for me. I really hope he comes to his office in the morning.
Anyway, even though this break really has no relation to spring or any kind of holiday, it'll be nice to have a week off from school. Even if I have to go to the dentist and write a Constitutional Law presentation. I'm going to be watching Dessa Rose on Wednesday and hopefully rushing other shows during the week if I can. I miss New York an awful lot for someone who's never lived there.