Kitchen Sink

So, yeah, what if I barely blogged while I was in Montana? There was barely anything I did in Montana. Sewing, knitting, watching HGTV. But you already knew I did all that (whoever "you" are). When we went out to eat on Tuesday night, we were waited upon by a guy who'd had his jaw broken at his last job, whatever that was. Point is, he hadn't been able to taste anything at that shop, since his jaw had been wired shut. But he gave us an extra slice of cheesecake.

I wore my big, blue, fluffy cowgirl/peasant skirt on the plane. Helena, MT security patted me down to make sure I wasn't smuggling anything in my skirt. And yet, they didn't do anything about my grandma's screwdriver that I'd forgotten I had in my purse.

On Wednesday I got my shots I needed before I travel this summer. The tetanus still hurts a little.

Inka has gotten herself loose twice more in the two times I've put her out since I got back. And she always looks so meek and innocent and sad, too, unless she's running right past you playing hard-to-get.

To Grandmother's House I Go

My flights were nice and uncomplicated, even if the planes were small. While waiting for my first flight, I got to talk with an almost-3-year-old and his parents who were on their way to Hawaii. After that, I spoke with a man from India. First flight I sat beside a man from Brazil. Sounds exciting, yes? Well, don't worry; on my second flight I sat beside a late-middle aged Caucasian American man who was strugging to stay awake while reading his extremely boring looking books (something historyish, categorical perception, and propulsion).

Mom picked me up, and we ate at a restaraunt in downtown Helena. The waitress smiled all the time, and she came to check on us no less than 5 times during the meal. We also got to swing by Mom's condo, although I didn't get to see the inside. That might happen tomorrow, yay!

Mom's been spoiling me, too. She had a piece of cake waiting for me when we got home to Grandma's (which I was too full to eat, but I had for lunch today), and she picked up Wendy's tonight for dinner, complete with a frosty. I think she enjoys having me out here.

I've been sewing today, since Mom was off working. Yes, I know. I came all the way up to Montana to sew. But I'm working on stuff for Mom, this project being an apron. I'm almost done. Sorta. I just have a couple more ties to sew on, then buttons to attach and button holes to put in. More exciting, though, is the fact that I managed to thread the machine on my own. And it's a very complicated threading process. The pedal for the sewing machine is ... interesting. When I started sewing this morning, it sounded like a hot iron. If you have never ironed your clothes, or don't know what an iron is, then I'll say it sounded like a bowl of rice crispies. Which I think isn't a good thing. The pedal also warms up pretty quickly while I sew, so I've been taking my time, just in case the thing is going to short circuit or explode or do something else exciting. I don't know where the fire extinguisher is.

There will be a Test

Remember those billboards from so many years ago? The ones that were signed, "God." Like the one asking if we'd read his bestseller, because there would be a test.

Most people seem to think that the final exam for a class is the actual stack of papers they hand you that you're supposed to draw on. I've come to the conclusion that the final exam must actually be something different. The last test a class has to offer you: show up to the right classroom. Yes, you heard me right. A week ago was the last day of classes at my school. Generally everyone shows up because they want to know what will be on the test. Well, we had someone extra come to class. A dude who most definitely isn't in that class. For one, there's only about 100 of us in the year, so we all know each others' faces. Two, there's only about 4 guys total in the year, so it's not hard to figure out that he's not one of them. Third, the professor for this particular class is the major's undergrad adviser. He knows who each and every one of us is. When the dude walked into our class, he asked, "This ... isn't where my class is, is it?" Last day of classes, guy. Way to overachieve.

But if you think that's bad, just wait until you read this. We had two more such guys in that same class for the final today. One came in 5 minutes before the test was scheduled to start, holding his skateboard. The prof/adviser said, "Dude, I'd bet the house that this isn't the room you want." Luckily for the dude, he listened. 30 minutes after this (which means 25 minutes after the scheduled start time for the test), another dude came waltzing in. He was twirling his pencil, complacent as can be, searching for an empty seat. One of the grad students helping to proctor the test tried to tell him this was a Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences class (that made no sense to him) until the prof/adviser came up and repeated that this was not where the guy wanted to be. His face turned bright red. Go figure.

Now, I'm not trying to bash on anyone, but how can you go so long without knowing where your class is? What time the final is? Did you even attend the first day of class? The second? What kind of grade do you expect to get from doing nothing all semester? Do you not know anyone in the class? Did you not know that there's a website that maintains records of all the classes you're enrolled in and where and when they meet?

Did you ever find your correct classroom?

Summer

Everyone has their own definition as to when summer starts. For some people, it's the beginning of June. For some, it's the summer solstice (which really doesn't make that much sense, but whatever). For many, it's when school gets out.

For my brother, summer has two starting points. The first is when there has been enough direct sunlight during the day to make the lake warm/swimmable. For him, this is summer.

My brother's other point for the start of summer is when the snakes come back out. Especially the black and white king snakes. He found a huge one last summer that he named Scourge. Well, I've seen two king snakes already, but apparently neither of them is big enough to be Scourge. The important point is that they're not rattlesnakes, and yet that the weather is warm enough for snakes.

I have two more finals before this semester is over. It's crazy. One of my finals today was in my Philosophy class (Social Ethics). We had to write two essays in class. I took nearly the whole two hours. I finished seven hours ago. My hand still hurts.

In other news, remember the trees I talked about two posts back? If not, you can go back and look. Well, they were supposed to be ornamental plums, but apparently they're not ornamental no more. They have fruit! I'm not sure how big they'll get this year, since no one has really fertilized them ... ever. At least not in the 7 years we've been here. Or has it been almost 8 years that we've been here now? Whatever the case, there are plums growing. They're just growing extremely slowly.

You know those nights when you just can't sleep? I had one of those. Ran out of my preventative medication for my migraines, so I didn't sleep through the night. This morning I was tired and could feel a migraine coming on, so I grabbed ... a soda. Yes, I know you're not supposed to have soda in the morning. But I needed the caffeine, I hate coffee (in case you didn't know), and didn't have time to make tea. The best thing is, in the car I couldn't find my soda. Anywhere. I was almost to school (it's a 40 minute drive) before I found it. It was in my cupholder. Duh, you might think. What a novel place to put your soda. Well, it is for me. Furthermore, my cupholder sits in my arm rest. Really? Yeah, really. It's not one of those things that extends beyond the armrest, but it actually sits in the arm rest. I have an option of storing either audio tapes there, or one drink. Usually it holds loose coins and the gloves I keep in my car in case those Alpine mornings are super cold. My arm rest sits all the way back, too. Further back than my elbow is when driving. Which means that putting anything back there doesn't make much sense. No wonder I couldn't find the soda.

I'm used to taking naps, too, especially my nap after I get to school and before class starts. I pull a blanket and an extra sweater out of my back seat and enjoy 30 minutes more of shut-eye than I would get otherwise. I couldn't nap this morning. So instead I called my dad and had him look up the number for Travel Advising at Kaiser so that I could tell them all about myself in order for them to advise me on what immunizations I need before I go abroad this summer. I should expect to hear back from them in about two weeks. It's really hard for me to believe that I'm leaving in just less than 7 weeks. Two of those weeks are still school, and then I'll have a week I'm going to spend in Montana. Which means, my trip is almost here!

When my dad called me back with the number for Travel Advising, I was admiring my Legend of Zelda ringtone. Which reminded me that I still need to get that Rocky ringtone for whenever people from the dojo called me. Which means that I've been unable to get "Eye of the Tiger" out of my head for the last three hours. You're welcome.