Congrats ETSU!

Found this lovely tidbit in my e-mail this afternoon. Soccer starts tomorrow at 9 pm and my arse is still a little sore (I think I pulled it a while ago . . . don't know if I mentioned that previously or not). So, keep your fingers crossed that all goes well and that we have a blast!! =)

Week 5 Countdown

5 weeks, a mere hop-skip-and-jump, away from graduation. Yipee!

I made an online reservation for a rental car today!! Nothing too exciting, I had to go with the minivan for the extra space. Duh, to transport all of my stuff to Chicago on 9 May 2006. It is actually cheaper to rent a car for the entire week than it is to rent one for a day to Chicago and rent another back (for David) for two more days. Weird.

Received my API packet of info. (aka a scurry lot of legal papers to sign) last night. I have most of it filled out. Now, to get a notary public . . .

Other news:
1. Readers will return my thesis by the middle of next week (which really means that my vacation will be ending shortly. It's been smooth riding since I handed it over).
2. ETSU Research Symposium tomorrow. I'm moderating the Arts and Humanities section. Fun stuff.
3. My annual Women's Health appointment is on Thursday. I'm sure you're glad you know that. I would just like to say, for the record, that I really don't know why they put comics on the ceiling. I mean, I know they are trying to be entertaining and all, but I have to admit that I can't really read 10pt. font from a good 8+ feet away. Really, people!
4. I am supposed to be driving to Winchester, VA this weekend, if everything works out.

That's all from my relatively uninteresting life.

Let Us Begin the Games

After much harrassing of the people in San Marcos, TX about the status of my application (which, by the way, apparently arrived much later than the nice mailman assured me it would), I have finally received word that my packet, in its entirety, has arrived SAFE and SOUND and I have been accpeted.

WHEW! I was worried for about a nano-second about that one-- not for getting in but for the U.S. Postal Service employees, God rest their souls, losing yet another one of my mailings of utmost importance. I equate using the mail service for important documents with the decision as to whether one should cram every last belonging into a carry-on or risk checking one's luggage. Anyone who has actually gone through the loss of mail and/or luggage will, I hope, understand the anxiety assigned to both.

Anyways, now begins the fun part. Making peace with the sure idiocy of the Spainish Consulate, I have decided to forego the VISA and instead remain in the greater European area* for no more than 90 days . . . we're going with 89. ding-ding.

I have purchased my tickets to Dublin, leaving from the Chicago O'Hare International Airport (lovely place, I might add) on 5 June 2006 at 7:25 ish. I arrive in Dublin at 8:40 am on 6 June. Oddly enough, I think the information tab said that they would not be serving food which is both a relief and a disappointment. I paid good money for that crappy ham sandwich and cheese of which I will only eat the cheese b/c (oops!) you keep on forgetting that I requested a vegetarian meal. What? Oh sorry, that was my trip to SWEEEE-DEN. I got confused. But, it is good to know that I am expected to bring my own dinner and breakfast. Note on the times: remember that Dublin is like 6 hours ahead, so the fact that they aren't feeding us really isn't as barbaric as it sounds.

I will stay in Dublin that night (fingers crossed that I can reserve a hostel online) and fly out to Amsterdam the next morning, where I will meet up with my long lost roommate, Jewel. I fear that I have not planned past this. I DO know that I have to been in Madrid on 19 June AND that I have an invite to Frankfurt/Koln Germany the week prior to the 19th.

I have made a list of everything that I need to purchase before departure. It includes (as it continues to grow and get edited)

1. Hiking backpack
2. miniature everything (I've got the toothpaste and shamp/condt covered)
3. digital camera (any advice about a reasonable one is appreciated, I haven't begun shopping)
4. comfortable, yet non-tennis or tennis-like shoes to wear with #5
5. several summery skirts and longer shorts/long khaki capris
6. a few blouses
7. SUNSCREEN, SUNCREEN, SUNSCREEN (actually contemplating taking several huge bottles)
8. new sunglasses
9. a good book

I think that might be it for now. Any input?

I have also compiled a list of things that I have to sell. It is a bit longer and is not as fun, so no need to enumerate it here. I cleaned out the entire apartment on Friday and have most everything set aside for a garage sale that will (hopefully) come together with a few other people in about 3 weeks. David has mentioned selling all his Christmas Villages in preparation for his potential big move north!

Know anyone that wants a car? PLEASE TELL THEM: I've got one--white '95 pontiac sunfire 122.222 miles ($2,300 obo)

Well, enough exciting news about the future, now I must carry on with my less blog-worthy (though still somewhat amusing) present. Task? Prepare for my presentation tomorrow in my Independent Study.

Waiting for the blissful day of May 6th!!! =)

*The receptionist at the Spanish Consulate informed me, oh, I don't know FOUR TIMES, that Spain is a part of Europe-- no shit Sherlock! The conversation really was ridiculous and, if you are struggling for half an hour's amusement, I would definitely recommend you checking out. Make sure you call the Consulate in New Orleans. I fear if you call any of the others they might actually be helpful, which would be a shame since you would miss out on experiencing wanting to maul someone through the phone lines. Here is a brief transcription from memory:

Lady: asdljljflkajsfklajsdfkl (whole bunch of unintelligible crazy stuff in Spanish)
Me: Yes, um, I need to get a student Visa to Spain
Lady: I've got another call, you'll have to wait.

waiting approx. 5 mins.

Lady: What was your problem? Didn't you read the stuff online.
Me: Well,
Lady: All the information is there
Me: Yes, but I have a question (hoping that she will allow me to continue).
Lady: What question it is all on the website.
Me: Yes, well, I plan to be in Europe for about a month before flying into Spain for my study aborad
LAdy: Well, Spain is in Europe, lady (1). I think you're misinformed because Spain is in Europe (2). Spain has always been in Europe (3).
Me: Yes, I understand that, but I will not be in Spain until June. Before that I will be outside of Spain but still in Europe.
Lady: Man, Spain is in Europe, man.
Me: Yes, thank you.
Lady: You need to get your information together and read the website.
Me: Yes, thank you.

--I'll stop here.

Yet Another Provocative Exercise from Joe Rice

Handout I received this morning. Taken from How to Find the Work You Love

Respond to the following:
1. Of all the people you know, who is most consistently supportive of your goals and dreams? Who consistently holds high expectations of you and encourages you not to settle for less than your best?
2. Is there anyone in your life who tends to be openly hostile or negative toward your dreams? If so, who? Do you have an "soft enemies"- people who appear supportive, but then to encourage limited views of yourself? Who are they? How can you better protect yourself from these negative influences?
3. List the names of the people you would like to get to know better, people who could serve as role models or supportive friends.
4. Whose accomplishments do you most envy? List the names of at least three people. (If you really feel as though you have no jealousy, then you can frame these questions in terms of the people whose accomplishments you most admire.)
5. For each person, list at least three specific accomplishments that you most envy.
6. Now review your answers and write down the top five accomplishments you are most jealous of.
7. Finally, ask yourself how you can begin creating your own life so that you can accomplish similar things.

Completely not related to the above: I am exhausted. This week has been soooo long. I turned in my thesis to my readers this morning. I have a conference at Tusculum tomorrow morning. I've got to frame one of the thesis chapters to make it work. Hopefully, that won't take much more than a few hours, because I don't think I have the steam in me.

David and I are going to Barnes and Noble on Saturday to browse the vegetarian cookbooks. We have decided to invest in one and to begin to build up a solid pantry. It will be spectacular, spectacular. No words in the vernacular can describe. . . .

Sunday is SPANISH PORTFOLIO TIME!! Yes, that's right. I've put it off for months and now I have to do it because I must turn it in in order to graduate. Seems like that would be motivation enough, but it hasn't because it is complete b.s. busywork and I have not been looking forward to it. Oh well.

Well, I better start moving towards the writing stage. =)

Well, today was . . .

Different:

Because I am nearly finished with my thesis, I did NOT spend the entire afternoon working on it. Instead, I ran a few errands around campus. The breeze made the otherwise pleasant weather a bit chilly. Here's what I did:
1. Dropped off my Honors Convocation form to Donna in 201 Yoakley. She is so great. If I were a better person, she would make me want to be a secretary too. Wow for helpfulness/pleasantness/just as happy person that makes me happy too! =) god, you'd think I was in love with her or something.
2. Picked up from Ms. Donna (see above, haha, like you've already forgotten, right?) a press release form for the Honors Convocation/Graduation jazz. Learned that I received the Outstanding Student Award for the Department of Foreign Languages. I think I actually jumped up and down. I think I am becoming an effervescent person. hmmm.
3. Went to the post office and mailed some insurance information to my father. Okay, I'll be specific--it was an invoice for the Physical Therapy for my knee. He offered to foot the bill and there's no way in hell I'm gonna turn down that generous of an offer.*

A Linguistics Lesson:

1. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." --Groucho Marx. This was the gist of our lesson today. We linguists (yes, see how I throw myself in with all them thinkers?) like to call silly exercises like this a practice in constituencies. It proves rather amusing entertainment =)
2. Not exactly a linguistics lesson, but wierdly related. I logged on the Blackboard this morning to upload my linguistics homework and found my name staring right back at me, "Congratulations, Alyssa"** Thinking this was some weird new feature where teachers can post personal messages in the announcement section (of course, only available to that particular individual), I opened the link to discover that she made an announcement to THE ENTIRE CLASS. Why, you ask? I wondered the same thing. Anyways, it turns out that I also snagged the student award for the English Department. I guess I have much cause for jubilation . . .

An Update on Spain:

Too anxious to wait for Ms. Tillman to contact the University of Salamanca about the graduate courses, I did it myself and learned, in no uncertain terms (and rather unpleasant words) that there are no courses taught in the faculties. I suppose the irritation had something to do with the fact that I doubled-checked . . . geez. I guess I should have trusted the concise sentence "sentimos que no hay clases en las faculdades durante el verano" to mean what one should infer: that, if there are no courses in the faculties, then there could be no graduate courses. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry! I will probably never have the misfortune of meeting the person who replied and thought I was an idiot.

I have pretty much decided to combine Summer 2 and Summer 4 sessions 19 June-29 July and 29 July- 1 Sept, respectively. The overlapping date is a bit deceptive. I will actually have the week of 29 July to travel since this would be a repeat orientation in Madrid. I think they refund the difference in cost, so that's super cool of them.

I still plan to leave Chicago sometime in the second week in May (looking for the cheapest combination here) and fly over to Europe to tool around. Jewel and I are secretly planning to take over all of the European Union. shh! No, really. We are. jk
I received a rather timely e-mail from Max, the coolest German alive. We hope to meet up sometime over the summer. Plans are still awfully tentative since he doesn't know the dates of his Biochemistry internships (yes, he has more than one!!!), and I have a lot of figuring to do before I know the best combination for travel. Anyways, it is still super exciting.

On Sunday I found that it would be rather reasonable (esp. for the beginning of the travel season) to fly into Dublin and then catch a cheapie flight to Einhoven (we're talking 45 Euros, folks!). Let's hope I can get one of those flights before they sell out!!! =)

that's all for now.

*The bill and insurance stuff is all rather odd. I think they pretty much randomly selected a few dates to pay for and then left the balance for me. Remind me to never get into that screwy business.
**Clarification: she misspelled my name and I intentionally reduplicated the mistake. don't you have confidence that I know how to spell my own name?

Spain? okay!!

Yeah, so I think that I'm going to Spain this summer. To study in Salamanca with API. Of course, I still have to apply and be accepted, but small beans, right? I will be working with a Ms. Ilene Tillman to design my course of study which (hopefully) will be a variation on the intensive summer package they offer. Cross your fingers for some graduate course, k?

So, that means that a certain Amsterdam friend and I should meet up before the program starts, don't you think, friend? When are you out of school again? Check out the webpage. I think I'll do the two sessions combined (10 weeks with 2 week break in between). If I got the dates straight, that would mean a break from 1 July to 29 July, all negotiable, of course =).

I'm so excited . . . now to figuring out the money. booo.

Beautiful

So, last night I hosted a small get-together at the apartment. We all made our individual pizzas with whole wheat crust (recipe courtesy of Kate).

Speaking of whole wheat, Kroger is now carrying whole wheat white flour for a mere $2.79/5lbs. which is much cheaper than the Natural Market's whopping price of $4.99/5lbs.!!

Then, we played "Would You Rather," a board game I received from lover-lips for Christmas =). Lindy brought some white wine which all agreed tasted like rubbing alcohol . . . she did have a super sweet bottle opener, though.

Matt and Caitlin brought the biggest salad I have ever seen. It was in a spaghetti pot (you know, like the industrial-size pots for making pasta for the entire block). Yeah, oh, and there were only 6 of us, which meant one thing: I ate a whole-lotta super-sweet salad. The ingredients were something like:
lettuce (duh), garbanzo beans, pear, apple, tomatoe, steamed (cold) broccoli, fresh mushrooms, boiled eggs, and goat cheese (or really good feta??).
Matt made his "family recipe" dressing which is vinegar, water, adobo spice, splenda (and something else?? not sure). Anyways, it was fantastic. Of course, there are some leftovers that have lunch written all over them.

Roommate decided to disappear for the occasion which was, well, nice. Harsh, but true.

Today is probably the most beautiful day that we've had that my short term memory recalls. Perfect temperature, nice breeze, and not too stab-your-eyes-sunny. Of course, I'm inside for the morning and afternoon working on silly homework that teachers gave over Spring Break. I just have to reiterate how ridiculous that is. Really.

My aunt Pat sent me an e-mail saying that she is going to be a GRANDMA!! Well, she's excited, but I think it's a little weird to think about my aunt's being old enough to be Grandmas. Anywho, it's a girl and she's due around end of July.

Speaking of babies, Derek and Carrie informed me that they have been trying/are trying for a baby (well, not at this minute, at least I assume not since it is the middle of the day and they should be at work, not in BED!!) We were talking about names on Sunday and then Derek suddenly decided he was uncomfortable with me making comments about making babies. Like I don't know how it happens or something. Silly older brothers! Despite what he says, I think it is wonderful that I will be an aunt (four times over, unless twins, then five) sometime in the next year, fingers crossed, AND I will not cease to tease b/c this is a wonderful opportunity to get back at Derek for years of torture. Just kidding. It's just really fun, that's all. It makes him squirm and that's even better. Maybe, secretly, I am getting back at him . . . buwahahaha! Enough rambling about this, I think an example is in order:

Derek: Yeah, well, I should probably go. We were gonna watch a movie
Allyssa: And then go make babies in BE-ED!?!!? hahahaha.

yeah, I know, it's great, isn't it?

Well, the thesis is throwing a tantrum . . . he needs some attention. Yes, it has become an entity and it is a male. He's my lover and we spend every day together. Alone. Go ahead, be jealous David!! buwahahaha.

God, I love that maniacal laugh . . . .

WHAT??

In NYTimes' headlines:

"Technical Problems Cause Errors in SAT Scores"

That's really messed up. Really.

Other messed up things: teachers who agree to write recommendations for students and they turn them in AFTER the deadline, thus disqualifying students from the application pool. That's really messed up. REALLY!! (if you want more info., you'll have to do some investigating =)

Asheville

Yay! We went to Asheville-- here are pictures from the Biltmore. The one where we are leaning into the photo was taken at the Stable Cafe. Yes, we are sitting and eating where horses used to eat, poop, and generally be dirty. Let's not talk about it. The trip was fun. A much needed respite from Johnson City and school. AND a good re-connecting time with David. Which is good news considering that I'll be a-working hard next week (see below).









On another, less happy note: I've now received two take home exams in addition to revisions for my Thesis and Spanish portfolio. What a lovely, relaxing Spring Break I'll be having next week, huh?

Info. on David's Ph.D. application should be arriving soon. Check out the school he applied to here.

Welp, time to get to work. I have two abstracts due for conferences today!! =)