More Stuff Scribbled In My Study Carrel

So, another economics quiz, another study carrel. More interesting graffiti conversations. In case you missed it, you can see part 1 here.

1.Love wins!
Reply: But only if you're good looking

2. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.
Reply: No one does, so they settle for whatever makes a lot of money, which is why they're miserable.

3. Jews < Canadian Geese
Reply #1: Palestinians < Poisonous Tree Frogs
Reply #2: Shut up, both of you.

4. Physics ruined my life

5. Necessity is the Mother of Invention
Reply: Then who is the Dad?

Oh look, red blotchiness

I am having an allergic reaction to my pencil eraser. I know, I know. You think that such a thing is not possible, but I tell you I have done it.

I leaned it on different parts of my face during the Lecture That Time Forgot, and poof!

What pretty raised designs. How cool, even my histaminergic system demonstrate the existence of an Intelligent Creator. Some one should come make a quilting pattern.

May You Rest In Peace, Mr. Safire

From the New York Times obituary:

Mr. Safire won his Pulitzer for columns that accused President Jimmy Carter’s budget director, Bert Lance, of shady financial dealings. Mr. Lance resigned, but was acquitted in a trial. He then befriended his accuser.

Years later, Mr. Safire called Hillary Clinton a “congenital liar” in print. Mrs. Clinton said she was offended only for her mother’s sake. But a White House aide said that Bill Clinton, “if he were not president, would have delivered a more forceful response on the bridge of Mr. Safire’s nose.”

Mr. Safire was delighted, especially with the proper use of the conditional.

Ever Notice?

Ever notice how weird we are when we walk?
I'm talking about arm swingage.

Why do we swing our arms like that. Why? Are we "pumping" ourselves? Or is it because they're just hanging there, like two limp sausages, and we let them flop around as we stroll along?

I was watching people swing their arms this morning, and I kept breaking into giggles and getting looks. Try it, and see if you can do it without laughing.

Of course, the Summer of George proved that not swinging your arms while walking is also ridiculous.

Economics Horror

So, I just finished an economics exam. It was an online, open-notes type of thing. "Don't worry," says my professor, "you have 90 minutes. You should be done far before that."

La-dee-dah-dee-dah ...

I get to the end of the exam (30 minutes to spare) and go back to check over my answers one last time.

!!!!!!Klong!!!!!!!!!!

I realize: OymyGawd. I transposed the wrong "unit labor of productivity" number, rendering all the subsequent calculations (and test answers) wrong, wrong, useless, wrong.

So ahhhhhhhhhhh! I had to go back and re-do the whole test, praying that I'm not so frazzled that I jumble other numbers along the way ....

(All the while, someone has brought a screaming baby into the study room. And the guy next to me is gently moaning in Islamic-call-to-prayer fashion.)

I get it in with 3 minutes to go. Because it's online, I can see my grade right away:

41.25/50. What is that? B? Low B. But a B. Not bad for economics with a meltdown at the end.

Sigh. Must continue to bust hiney to make it in this class.

Georgetown Visitation

I had a little visit with the Sisters of the Visitation here in DC this evening. It was very nice; Vespers and a lovely dinner. (Or supper, actually.)

In case you are unfamiliar, the Sisters run a big, beautiful, top notch preparatory school for girls in Georgetown.

The Divine Office, which is chanted in choir, follows melodies composed by Abbot Marcel Rooney, OSB, who is, in liturgical matters, a Big Deal. His music is airy and intricate sounding; before this I was accustomed to plain chant.

The Sister's website is here. They also have a blog and a Facebook page.

Reunion

I am sort of iffy about reunions.

Nostalgia is a sad frame of mind.

Last night I had a little reunion with a bunch of City Year people, the excuse being the double birthday party of two fine and fabulous ladies.

It was Not Sad at all.

And there were dumplings. Yum yum.

Some Cultures Go "Oops."

"Some people say, this torture is just a cultural thing. Like the rack. All kinds of stretching, da-da, da-da, da-da, things happen."

~My Human Rights & Ethics professor. He's from India. You have to read it with an Apu of Kwik-e-Mart accent.

Scribbled In My Study Carrel

are different conversations. Someone will write something, and a handful of other graffiti artists will respond. Some of the exchanges are funny, or just interesting. A few of them:

1. "The quiet conservative must never fear the angry liberal. There is no need to stay quiet."
Someone else wrote in reply: "How wise you are, noisy fascist."

2. "Are you there God, it's me, Margaret."
In reply: "Hi, its God. I love you. Go to church."

3."Long live Lenin, Marxism, Mao-Zedong's thoughts."
In reply: "Get a job, commie punk."

way more fascinating reading than my economics textbook.

September 11th Digital Archive

Two Things of Busy

I had a job interview today at the Smithsonian. They hired me at the end. So now I am going to spend my weekends doing children's programming for their Department of Education. I am in the American Art Museum, which is not on the Mall, but some ways off it near Chinatown ... smack in between St. Mary, Mother of God, the city's original indult parish ... and the MLK branch of the DC public library.

It's a triangle of joyfulness.

In other news, I showed up at the CMSWR's Eucharistic Congress this afternoon. (I'm actually typing this on a Catholic University library computer. Ahh, memories.)

I was interested to observe my chemical reaction to seeing Sisters for the first time ... it turned out to be a mixture of sadness, envy, and acceptance.

It was a little too intense for me after awhile, though. So I visisted the Upper Church for a bit and then headed home. I think I'll go back for some of the Saturday programming. Baby steps.

Things You Didn't Know About Archduke Franz Ferdinand

You know Archduke Franz Ferdinand was from Austria. You know his assassination was the spark igniting World War I ...

... but did you know, he claimed to be the greatest hunter in the world, having personally killed more than 300,000 animals, which he counted in his diary?

Did you know, Franz Ferdinand's chateau, Konopiště, contains the third most valuable collection of hunting guns in all of Europe?

Did you know, before his death in 1914, Franz Ferdinand hunted animals on all the continents (except Antarctica)?

Did you know that Franz visited the United States? While he was here, he made a trip to Yellowstone National Park. The park rangers explained to Franz and his entourage that they couldn't bring their guns into the park, since it was a protected nature reserve. Franz was tremendously put out, but he made the best of things, managing to kill 2 squirrels by throwing rocks at them.

(I learned this stuff in US Diplomacy today.)

Which makes me wonder: maybe instead of the "Black Hand" assassinating Franz, it was really the "Black Paw" of some black bear, taking vengeance.

The National Symphony Plays South Pacific

... and the theme from Star Wars and E.T.

Yesterday was the National Symphony's annual Labor Day Concert, offered free of charge on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol. I took this picture here just after sunset, as a storm began to roll in. I barely got through "washing that man right out of my hair," before the rain started.

Once it got really torrential, the soaking wet mass of humanity, myself included, beat it to the nearest Metro station. The walk was twenty minutes, entertainment was provided: small children, running away from their parent's umbrellas, flapping their arms and shouting "I'm a duck, I'm waterpoof" and "Quack, quack."

Labor Day is the unoffical start of Fall, and the day before is, supposedly, the last opportunity to wear white. Right? So I was wearing my white tulle dress on this ocassion. Needless to say, by the time I caught a train I closely resembled a subway rat tragically drowned on her wedding day.

It was a lot of fun, and there was hot chocolate afterwards. Splendiferous.

Announcement:

I own one pair of jeans. They are not "skinny."

Ladies, I understand. We tend to buy into these fads, ugly as they are (I wore bell bottoms in the 90s.)

But gentlemen: what on God's good green earth gives you the idea that you should pour yourself into "skinny jeans"? Does Mother do your shopping? Does your girlfriend insist? Ugh. Epicene.

I Love DC

The weather is perfect. Tonight I'm going to splurge on a Subway sandwich, go down to the National Mall, and picnic.

I was feeling sort of overwhelmed yesterday, with all the stuff I have to get done. Reading, papers, exams, job interviews, registrations, buy this, buy that, open this account, close that one, etc. ...

And then I remembered: I've been here less than a week! It's okay not to have everything finished and set up at this point. In fact, I've already accomplished quite a bit.

So, all is well thus far. One day at a time.

H1N1 is No Match For Public Hand Santizers