Trying to Sleep

After the struggle to function, I finally gave in and took a nap.  After laying down for fifteen minutes, someone came into my room.  He was one of the maintenance guys.  I had put in a request the day before for a plug for my bathtub.  These guys usually take months for anything and now he had woken me up.  When I explain what I wanted he said he would be right back. 
Right back apparently means an hour.  I tried to go back to bed while I waited. 
Now I'm really tired.  Yuck. 

Happy Gobble Gobble

I almost said something to Elena about Thanksgiving having a traditional nap as well as a meal.  It seems that she never studies except when I need to do something in the room. 
So I attempted to sleep and faded in and out, but didn't really sleep the way I wanted to.  Even though I was still tired, I gave up. 
And then of course, twenty minutes after I got up, she left.  I feel very much like I can't win. 
Some of my friends invited me to come round and watch the Thanksgiving episode of Friends, which I was actually excited for.  I haven't watched those episodes since last year, and I always enjoy them.
Right before I got there I passed the community table, which is basically where people drop off stuff they don't want anymore.  I got this adorable SpongeBob humidifier.  I don't really need a humidifier, but I just sort of like having this bright sunshine in my room.  He's sitting on the window sill near my bed and it really makes me smile.  I'm thinking if I get crafty with it, I can maybe repurpose to be a lamp.  When Elizabeth and Jenny saw it, they thought it was really cute.  An old lady saw me with it and gushed over it, which surprised me, because I've seen her be really nasty at other people.  I don't think she was familiar with SpongeBob, because she didn't recognize him. 
When I got there they were watching Varsity Blues, which is such a sexist, nasty movie.  Lola really likes the film, though I haven't the faintest idea why, considering how it portrays women and generally stupid it is.  I mostly texted people instead.
We watched the first three Thanksgiving episodes of Friends.  I had a good laugh.
My parents called, and I spoke to them on the phone briefly.  I was actually a little annoyed, since I got off the phone right as third episode was ending and everyone else wanted to go home.  So then it was over. 
I watched a bit of tv.  Paul texted me that he was grateful that I listen to him when he needed to talk to someone.  Earlier in the day I had texted him that I was thankful he put up with me.  I had been thinking about Paul the day before, during a conversation about Thanksgiving and being grateful for things.  The thing I find I am most consistently grateful for are me friends.  And in the last year or so, Paul and I have become really close.  So I found myself thinking about how particularly grateful I am for him, even when I get on his nerves sometimes. 
Later on, Jimmy and I talked, and it was so nice to catch up with him.  I told him about a writing project which I've been considering.  Jimmy told me about how his family has a tradition of "complaining" that a particular dessert needs "more practice."  It sounds like a fun little ritual.  We had a lovely little chat about our lives and plans for the future.  Jimmy is thinking of applying to the same graduate schools I am, which means maybe we'll end up at the same place.  A girl can dream, right?
It might also be good because then they'll be someone around I can trust.  And maybe it'll encourage Paul to come live there, and maybe together?  (Paul and I've been chatting about being roommates for over a year now.  I suspect we have to do it now.)
So it's been a really quiet, though very pleasant, sort of holiday. 

Wrong Number

While taking a nap today, a phone call woke me up. I had called someone earlier in the day, so I thought it was probably them, until I looked at the number, and I realized it wasn’t.
"Hello?" I answered.
"GiGeeGee?" she asked.  I almost sighed.  I was trying to think of a way to tell her to stop calling that would actually work, because I've told her to stop calling for ages now and she still is doing this.  As I paused, she apologized and hung up. 
About a month ago, this woman began calling me. She always sounds confused, and I’ve explained to her (she’s called at least ten times) that I don’t know who she is.  I suspect she's an older woman with memory problems, because no amount of "stop calling this number" has worked so far. 
Last week she called me twice while I was at work, which makes me nervous. Most of the time people at work are cool, but what if I’m in a meeting? What if she does what she did last week, where she called me in quick succession?
So I just sent an email to my Mother asking how I can best block her phone number. Mostly, I want her to know what is happening since we’re on a family plan and someone calls her asking if she knows I've had to block someone's number I don't want her flipping out. 
I was reluctant to take any action until now because I was hoping this woman would stop calling or someone was taking care of her and make her stop. 

Butterflies at Rest

Today, I did some work on my photography.  I started fooling around with the camera I have around 2008.  I don't really know anything about photography, I just experiment.  Sometimes stuff works out.  A lot of the times it doesn't. 
I took a lot of decent (though kind of generic) pictures of butterflies.  Unfortunately, I can't tell you what the names of most of these butterflies are, but if you know the names of any of these, leave me a comment!I am not much of a photographer, but I do occasionally make an attempt to be "artistic."  Here is one of those attempts. I like the way the light comes in.  It's very dramatic.  Another attempt, one that was not so successful.  The only thing that saves it is the background.  Another butterfly. This butterfly is eating, using it's proboscis.  I was really impressed with myself for remembering that from school.  Another attempt at being DRAMATIC.  There's something unintentional Goth about this photo.  (I didn't actually change the colors on this; this is actually the original photograph.)  It reminds me vaguely of a Siouxie and the Banshees music video.  I would apologize, if I was not in love with both Goth and that band.I spent a lot of time being frustrated with my subjects for not standing still enough.  (My camera can manage some movement, but not everything.)  So, most of my pictures had to be butterflies at rest.  Here's another one in chow mode.This butterfly broke my heart.  As you can see, it's wings are all damaged.  It wasn't moving very much, and it probably died.  I hope not, but seeing this thing made me really depressed.  Butterflies are like fairies, they're suppose to live forever. Nearby, another butterfly was enjoying some apple and watching the dying one make sad attempts to fly.  Butterflies are kind of jerks. I also tried birds, just because I figured they wouldn't move so much.  Instead, they mostly made sure I couldn't see their faces, like these two.  I spent a lot of time trying to chase various birds around. This is the most chill otter I've ever seen.  I was actually slightly jealous, because a nap sounded really good to me right about then.  This otter should be in a old film.  I can just see him falling back onto a fainting couch.The only thing not good about this is the rocks.  Otherwise, it might be comfortable.  Like most mammals, mother otters raise their young, teaching them important stuff like swimming and hunting.  Once a mamma otter has another litter, the older kids are on their own.More birds, those these are far more cooperative.  I'm loving the lily pads here. Sometimes I'm just relieved when photos look like something you might see in a copy of National Geographic.  More duckage here.  I was with a friend, and she insisted on feeding them a granola bar.  I've already complained on this blog about how much I hate people who feed animals, so I won't go through that again, just register my annoyance that this time it was a friend.  This picture has kind of a fun angle on it. That would be the feeding frenzy she caused. 
There are some more photos over at my Flikr collection if you'd like to see more.

Last Day of Classes or, A Muppet Version of The Divine Comedy

Zut alors. Today was my last day of classes. I was kind of wondering if something of note was going to happen, but nothing really did.

Morning meant African history, where we watched this cool movie called Poison Fire. It's about the destruction of the Niger Delta by oil companies. If you think the oil spill in the news lately was bad, you haven't seen even a millionth of it.
Lunch with friends, where mostly we talked about movies. I asked Dan about his future plans, and he told me that he was planning on being around MSU for another year.
Early Modern European history next, which was okay. I'm still on the fence about the class. The subject is mostly interesting, and most of the other students are alright, but the professor frustrates me. I'm going to really miss Kelly, who is probably my closest friend in the class. We had a great discussion today about The Divine Comedy. It's been years since I read it, and trying to have a discussion about it to a class that hadn't read it is trying. The professor made this strange comparison between Dante's masterpiece and A Christmas Carol. I joked that now I want to see a Muppet version of The Divine Comedy.
I actually think the idea has some potential. Imagine it: Kermit as Dante, Fonzie as Virgil. A bunch of the characters can play saints. If we wanted to integrate some of the Seasame Street characters, I'd say Oscar the Grouch would have to be in Hell, just 'cause he's so miserable. ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!") The best part of this idea: Miss Piggy as Beatrice. Lol. She's totally the opposite of Beatrice, but I feel like it would be fun.
My last class was my feminism class. I feel like I've gotten a lot out of this class. Sam and I were talking last night, and she mentioned that she totally wanted to have a "angry feminist rant day," and I totally agree with her. I need to vent some anger; I don't care how silly I sound. Mostly, we ate snacks and talked about Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.
I'm going to really miss hanging with certain people in this class, mostly Erin, Jamie, Kate and Sam. I met each of them a different year of college. Sam I met in my very first English class (so it feels appropriate we're ending in the same class.) Erin I met through Jon and Jane. Kate I met in my Greek Religion class. And Jamie I just met right before school started this term. Everywhere I go this last week or so, I find myself looking back to whoever I run into and think "Oh my gosh! We've known each other for x amount of years, but it seemed like I met you a month ago." Things really do fly by.
My big plans this evening were a walk and a nap. I ran into Mark and got sidetracked. Mark is really awesome. He's one of those people who you connect to on such a deep level. I feel like we are on the same wavelength. Quite possibly we could talk forever and never say everything. I have a couple of other friends like that (Josie, Colin, and Ashley all come to mind), and I love finding a new one. It's good to know somewhere someone gets you.
So no walk today, shockingly. Just a nap.

Basically, nothing interesting happened today (as a certain British king infamously wrote...), but I always end up missing the little and strange things about my past. When I think on my past, I always miss the people in it, especially the ones I don't see often anymore. I miss those great conversations, and the regular meet-ups (hallways, cafeterias, classrooms, church, basements, the woods, the Forum) and the jokes. And that's probably what I'll miss most about here: wandering into my friend's rooms at all hours of the day and night to talk or watch Jeopardy or House or Chuck, sitting around in the hallways having hours-long conversations and then getting yelled at by the mentors, having "homework parties" in rooms or lobbies, running into each other in unexpected places, taking classes together, making bad horror films late at night in the basement like the one above, caf sitting, office hours, working, and generally being a family.
It's going to take a while for me to move on. I don't even have the time right now to compress and get all my feelings out. By this time next week, I hope to begin the process.