Home Again

Got back last night.

Interview went well...if you really want to hear about it, then you can call me.

But more importantly (and the reason I blog) I spoke with one of the Chatham English professors and he informed me that the Gate House where I stayed is in fact haunted.

It would seem, the reason the college was able to acquire the historical home is because the old owners didn't maintain the place. (They couldn't tear it down since it was a historical land mark. So they adopted the -go-gravity-go philosophy and were waiting for the building to fall down)

Any-hoo, due to the lack of maintenance, the building more or less became a crack house. And one night the body of a murdered prostitute was wrapped in a rug and dumped inside the house. The old owners, not liking the bad publicity, sold the house to the college and it was restored. But apparently, the ghost of Ms. dead prostitute still haunts the house.

Score. Now I can check the "yes" box if I'm ever asked if I've slept in a haunted house.

Got a call from Miguel in Taiwan. How hot is that?!

P.S. I love this new "recover post" button for when I accidentally delete what I've written...I've already needed to use it.

P.S.S. In other good news, my adfic grade was finally changed on stuinfo.

Road Trip

Excuse the lack of writing, but not much has been happening.

Due to speedy internet, I felt I should post. Since the internet is fast, it may easily be deduced that I am not at home. I'm visiting Chatham College. I loves it. It's tiny but beautiful. Am staying in The Gate House. I could live here. It's a historical monument all on its own. And it's very good for my creative process...I shall pretend it is a haunted house.

I almost had a heart attack when I walked into the campus bookstore and saw that all the summer class books could be held on only 4 book shelves. MSU bookstores would need about ten times the space.

But coolness of all coolness, the girl working at the book store recently graduated from the very writing program I want to enter. So it was nice to gain a student's perspective of the program.

Went to a Jewish deli for dinner, so my dad was in heaven. Plus, there's a Barnes and Noble and a number of cafes within walking distance from the campus. Joy.

The world would be perfect of only the evil professor man had sent off his letter of recommendation on time. Le sigh. That's the one thing stopping the assistant-something-admissions-something woman from making her recommendation of whether or not to accept me.

Am exhausted...drive here was long...mainly because the GPS system didn't take us to the right part of Pittsburgh. GPS system is not to be trusted.

Wish me luck on interview tomorrow.

My Long Post

I should be asleep right now. Stupid my body. It knows it’s usually awake early (10 AM) so it won’t let me sleep past that time. But I really wish it would, what with my being up to 5:15 AM.

Yep, 5:15 AM. I never even came close to pulling all-nighters during my entire time in college, but now I’ve already done it twice. Sarah, Monica, Miguel and I decided to watch Joss Whedon’s Firefly series since the movie Serenity would be out soon. I do recall that I originally suggested watching the series, but I don’t know how we got the bright idea to try to watch all 13 episodes and 2-hour pilot in one sitting. When I asked the group, blame formed a round robin of accusing someone else and not excluding anyone.

6 PM to 5 AM. We got the job done, ate snacks constantly and even watched the gag reel. I’ll admit, I didn’t think we would make it. We are an impressive group of people.

In other recent news, I graduated. During the various picture opportunities my parents would whisper comments like “we’re so proud of you.” As is their way. Holly and Anna coming to the ceremony made the night fun. My parents took us to Olive Garden and what followed was more or less feasting.

I don’t feel different, being all graduated. After all, I do still have to finish up with study abroad. The one difference that I’ve discovered so far is that when I’m faced with a task that is more difficult than it should be, my dad will say, “You’re a college graduate. Surely you can figure it out.” I roll my eyes every time he says that.

As for the issue of grades, this semester has proven to be the most dramatic. I was shocked and disappointed to learn evil adfic professor man gave me a 2.5, thus ruining my GPA. I stared at the grade, trying to decide between trying to forget the dark mark on my record and moving on in life or fighting the grade. Searching deep within myself, I discovered that in my heart, I felt I truly deserved a better grade. So I sent a rather long but polite e-mail to evil professor man (I’m rather proud of the polite aspect-I’ve been known to enter crazy-mean land when I’ve been given grades higher than this one) requesting to know more about his grade calculation process. In the e-mail, I listed all my grades and efforts and used the syllabus to back up my claim of deserving higher than a 2.5.

I know, most of you are rolling your eyes at my obsessiveness, but I HATED that class and I still went to EVERY SINGLE meeting in the hopes of getting a decent grade.

Surprisingly, evil professor man replied the same night (I’d never gotten such treatment while in his class). He said he hadn’t recorded on of my story grades-the 3.5 and the pivotal component that made me feel I deserved better than the grade I received. He asked me to send him a version of the paper. I did better. I sent him a scanned version of the copy he’d graded. The one with all his little incomprehensible marks. The one with the “3.5” clearly written on the last page in his own handwriting. Take that evil professor man!

Any-hoo he replied saying it was his fault and he’d changed my grade, (to what? I don’t know) but it might take several weeks to show the change. Several weeks?!

P.S. Despite my courageous story of triumph, I recommend that all you MSU students avoid Professor Penn. I spent the entire semester viewing him as an infallible evil that occasionally said funny things. Although he has demonstrated that he is fallible, I still feel that his evil concentration level is high.

P.S.S Everyone who knows Holly should call her and say that they love her.

That is all.

Parents' Compy = Painfully Slow

Dad decided to be very nice and he bought the special edition DVD of Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail for me. I think we needs to have a party soon to watch it. Some time next week? That could also be our Firefly-a-thon and Buffy party. (Sarah, Monica? You two paying attention to that last part?)

Update portion of the blog:

One grade reported so far-surprise! 4.0 in chiclit...didn't think that would happen since I was on the line for a 3.5 and I felt the final went very badly.

Movies = good. Have thus far seen Run Lola Run, Kill Bill II and ??? with Holly.

Books = also good. Have been on a C.S. Lewis kick. Finished Mere Christianity and am working through The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Work = Done none.

Hitchhiker's Guide = fun fun. Couldn't stop self from clapping when first heard voice of Alan Rickman come from Marvin the robot.

Jeffiner's Goodbye party = enjoyable. Stayed up all night and saw sun rise. Then crashed.