National Novel Writing Month

Hooray! It's November and I'm writing my novel. I have over seven thousand words, and I haven't started a single one of the five papers I have to write for school this month! ALRIGHT! Right on schedule.

I moved from the idea of an informal collection of essays and fiction short stories of the time period, including the always easy to churn out fake poetry to writing a history text from the year 2080. How did this happen? I may move back to the more informal premise. But writing a text book from the future is fun! Oh well.

Wish me luck!

Very truly yours,
Sarah

Inspiration!

A friend at work and I were discussing Grace Kelly this morning.



She was saying that as an overseas operator in the late seventies, she often had to patch calls through to France, and sometimes if she started speaking in English, they would just hang up! Uh-oh! Or sometimes they would say, "Un moment" and grab someone to translate. One of those times, a voice came back on the line and said, "Hello, this is Princess Grace Kelly." I would have fainted! I thought it was cool. She's certainly a lovely and inspirational lady. And To Catch a Thief is one of my favorite movies! Cary Grant is such a dream boat.

Today I was thinking about topics I could cover for some papers I will be writing this semester. The possibilities are limitless: in Russian History, I believe we are able to write on any topic to do with Historical Russia (well, Medieval or Imperial Russia); in Ancient World History, we were told to choose ANY HISTORICAL TOPIC. What? In the History of the WORLD? He's kidding, right?

QUESTION: Do you have any suggestions for these papers? The only ideas I had were about language or fashion. As for the Russian History, I'm sure I could cover an interesting figure...

New Semester!

Celebrity of the week, as always, is Audrey Hepburn.



Who did you expect?

So it's the first weekend of the new semester. It's been really great so far; I like all my classes and teachers. Most of all, I find that I'm quickly adapting to and enjoying the change of pace. Of my four classes, one is a freshman course, one a junior course, and two senior, both of those containing several grad students. Each class has about 10-15 students. With the exception of my freshman class (Ancient World History), the grades consist of a two exams and a paper. (My Tolkien class has only a final and a paper).

So what do I do in the meantime? Go to class, take notes, and READ.

I've never been one to open books assigned to classes, which had lead me many times at HCC to question why I even purchased them in the first place. However, the classes I have now involve much more interesting reading, with much of the material overlapping. This weekend, I've assigned myself three chapters of Greek Society (just finished!), 'Poetic Diction' in the Barfield Reader, and the first two chapters of my Russian History text, reaching through Kievan society. I have a sub for the first two weeks in Ancient Philosophy, so no reading has been assigned yet, but I'm covering a lot of the material in my Greek Society book. It's awesome so far! I'm so glad I finally found classes that seem like they're meant for me. Hooray for picking the correct major! Yay!

And at the prompting of Google, who always reminds of stuff, happy birthday, Michael Jackson! Here's the songs on a mix tape I would make for MJ on his birthday:

Side A:

1. "3030" - Deltron 3030
2. "Sunglasses After Dark" - The Cramps
3. "$20 for Boban" - Balkan Beat Box
4. "Birdhouse In Your Soul" - They Might Be Giants
5. "Barbara Ann" - The Who
6. "Not Allowed" - The Suburban Lawns
7. "Miss Misery" - Elliot Smith

Side B:

1. "Brand New Cadillac" - The Clash
2. "Party" - Daniel Johnston*
3. "Falling from Grace" - The Gentle Waves
4. "Rock'n'Roll Suicide" - Seu Jorge
5. "Learn to Live with your Heartbreaks" - Saturday Looks Good to Me
6. "Boys" - The Beatles
7. "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (Favorite song!)

Not really. I would never make this mix for anybody, it's so, so horrible. Ha, ha.

Very truly yours,
Sarah

* The only song I would actually put on a mix tape for Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.

Congratulations to me!

My work just gave me a surprise mini-party with a chocolate cake and ice cream in congratulations to my being accepted to St. Thomas. They're all so nice. It's hard to find a really nice group of ladies to work with, as I'm sure some of you know.

In other news, my schedule is set up for this summer and this fall! I'm taking the following classes at HCC this summer:

Session I:
Public Speaking
Government II
Piano

Session II:
Art History I
Local and World Geography
Piano

And these are the classes I'm taking this fall at St. Thomas:

Teachings of the Catholic Church
Ancient World History
Ancient Philosophy
Medieval and Imperial Russia

Hooray! I'm majoring in History, and minoring in Russian Studies. I need a whole lot more electives than I thought, so I will most likely be there five semesters, plus maybe a summer. This is OK, as long as I'm allowed to learn about History I will be happy.

As far as apartments go, I'm moving away from the idea of a roommate... I have been looking at one bedrooms again, and have another scheduled to look at tomorrow. I'd really like to be able to walk to school! Is this so much to ask for? To help finance this extravagance, I'm considering giving myself a loan. What do I mean by this? I'M SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

I started considering taking out an additional private loan to help with living expenses this fall, and then I slapped myself in the face and was like, "Hey, remember how you have thousands of dollars in savings? What is wrong with you?" (OK, I didn't really slap myself in the face, and I only have a few thousand.) So I am taking into consideration the concept of giving myself a grant from my savings and only using that set amount over the course of the school year. It sounds logical; can anyone think of any drawbacks besides touching savings money that doesn't want me to touch it like that? Ha ha ha. Hm.

I have a sushi dinner planned tonight with my knitting buddy, Jill. We're celebrating her finished-in-thirty-days, one-hundred page script for Script Frenzy! It's a pretty big accomplishment. I will then possibly see this play for free, entitled "Gold", at Miller Outdoor Theatre. I think it's going to be hilarious. Take care of yourselves!


Yours very truly,
Sarah

Foggy Morning

This morning I drove to work and the whole city was bathed in a glorious fog. I was so thankful; I got to pretend that Houston doesn't have more billboards than any other place in the whole world. Hooray!

I just realized that I am listening to the Cramps super low and I can hear another co-worker listening to Kenny G super low. Is this kosher? Maybe I should put something else on. I don't want to taint the memory of the recently-dead Lux Interior.

I looking more and more at alternative solutions to linguistics at UT Austin. Not that there's anything wrong with that school, but I'm getting antsy. Other schools I'm looking at include St. Thomas (to which I've already applied), UNT, the American University at Bulgaria and Vanderbilt. And because not all of these offer Linguistics as a major, I may be switching to French, Russian Lit, or History! Fun, fun.

I will now take a picnic for lunch. Have a great day guys!

Very truly yours,
Sarah