friday, 31 october 2003

overheard: "i haven't been sober since the queen." -peter

so it's halloween. definitely not a big holiday here. sad. as much as i dislike this holiday, i like having the opportunity to dislike it, you know. and i'd secretly hoped for some big harry potter-esque feast. oh wait. we're having one. tonight is the coming up dinner. and then the falling down party. thanks for that, cy. safe travels to DC for my parental units today. mandahouse, i'm jealous of you. give them hugs from me. ummm. what else? 2 hour meeting with dr archer yesterevning. we hashed out that i can do the liberties. so, yeah, i'm excited about the dissolution of monasteries in the 1530s. who knew that would ever happen? life is strange, isn't it? ok. until november, then...

thursday, 30 october 2003

overheard: "i can't do a job where i have to be poor." -joe

yeah yeah. i feel like a chump. it's 9.30 and i have been entirely unproductive thus far. i think i'll try to read for an hour and then run a bunch of errands. and then maybe work out. mmmm. lunch. ooooh. i'm reading about strict settlement in an economic and social history of early modern england. so that's fun. i have my seminar this afternoon: 3 down, 13 to go. i love my life. last night was the cardinals' drinks party. good times. i'll post a picture from it soon. if i'm allowed to. hm. yesterday when i got up it was drizzly and seattlish. and so so pleasant. but then the clouds went away, so it was really cold again this morning. i got an invitation this morning to the falling down party, to take place immediately after the coming up dinner. goodness gracious, saint ignatius. saturday morning is going to painful.

wednesday, 29 october 2003

overheard: "oh, i am so hot." -jack

ok. welcome to wednesday. per usual, i'm starving. but i joined a gym (for reals) yesterday, so i'm up at the break of dawn for a little workout craziness. no. i don't want to be awake. but my body decided to get up so i'm taking it to the gym. mutually assured destruction, i'm telling you. i just found out that average annual precipitation in oxford is a little under 650 mm per annum. that's, what, under 26 inches? goodness. seattle and portland are both in the mid 30s. why do people complain about this? hurrah hurrah the rain is here. today? the cardinals' fancy pants drinking party. and maybe some reading. OH! i got a note in my pidge last night from the chch librarian saying that a book i returned at the end of last term had an unacceptable number of corners turned down in it and that if it happened again i would be fined. which is funny, because not only was i not here last term, but i still have the book in question, and not a single corner is now or appears ever to have been turned down. so i'm gonna go have a little talk with the librarian today. that i am.

tuesday, 28 october 2003

overheard: "we'll both have a little something on the side" -mandahouse

yes yes yes. i was quite productive yesterday. hopefully i can reenact that again today. in theory, i'm having lunch with cyrus, but he hasn't really told me where to meet him yet, so maybe not. hmmmmm. what else? i'm really excited about this whole liberties thing. like. really excited. mostly cuz i'm a big nerd. i had my first beer in over a week last night. it was a guiness. i think it ought to have been an oatmeal stout. i also tried to call bern and julie on the telemaphone, but failed. they weren't home. sadness. dinner last night was vennison. i'm not sure i'd ever had vennison. but now i have. oh, and my mom was supposed to call this morning at 7, but she didn't. so that's no fun. i miss the movie keeping the faith. oh. and my friends.

monday, 27 october 2003

overheard: "well love bug, your father and i have 45 minutes until bobbo comes home from youth group. so we're going to go... umm.... chat..." -mom

i was completely and totally useless yesterday. so useless. and now i need to go take up residence at a library for several days to atone for my sins. i wonder what's for dinner. that's alls i have to say for the day, methinks.

sunday, 26 october 2003

overheard: "...and how odd to know him and yet not know a single thing that had happened to him..." -virginia woolf

that's my friend quote of the moment. went to london (again) yesterday. i really like that town more and more every time i go. had high tea at the dorchester with joe and rob. very posh. very fun. the rose champagne gave me quite a headache. what else happened? we walked around mayfair. i still hate the bus ride. maybe i'm just impatient. wait. i know i'm impatient. it's always nice to see joe. british summer time ended today, so it's 8:40 but i'm starving to death. i am oppressed. brunch. get me brunch. ok. i'm gonna go take a shower and do some work, or something. cheers to all y'all.

saturday, 25 october 2003

overheard: "match any top to any bottom" -the news cafe menu

don't forget to set your clocks back an hour tonight. joe (f. not mc.) visited the dreaming spires yesterday. it was great. we visited chch. we visited magdalen. we wandered aimlessly around the city. i thought i had some other profound things to say about yesterday. perhaps not. i slept like crud last night. not too surprising, i guess, since i didn't take nyquil and i'm still all sick and stuff. oh. and right before i went to bed i had a flashback to a nightmare i had back in, i think, sept 2001. scary ass dream. congrats to kevin and kira on the birth of their third child, jonathan richard. happy and healthy and just over 8 lbs. exciting exciting. i love babies. uh oh. nesting mode, here i come. no. wait: LONDON, here i come. whoop whoop.

friday, 24 october 2003

overheard: "i think i need a jesuit." -jack

so i'm still sick like nobody's business. but i'm getting better. which is a good thing. joe is coming to oxford today! so so excited am i. i think that i'll resist the temptation to go to london with him tonight, though, opting for a night of quiet rest followed by a day in london with him tomorrow. that's what i'm thinking for now, anyway. what else? i had a seminar yesterday. now i'm scared of ever being forced to present a paper. the 3rd year dphil student who presented yesterday got torn to bits. close, anyway. she looked a bit frazzled by the end of the experience. in more exciting news, i was walking past a shop on the high yesterday that sells prints of oxford, and they have a watercolor of the western front of chch as seen from st aldates, looking northward. it's a very nice view. best part about it: on the left side of the painting is a house with a single window facing south. that window, of course, is my own window. so so cool. i should really find out how much it is. my room got hoovered today, and my basin washed. i love oxford.

thursday, 23 october 2003

overheard: "you want cake? no. you want cake." -rho.ho

so yeah. still sick as a dog. but getting a little better--mutliple nights of double digit hours of sleep can't hurt. since my mommy seems entirely recalcitrant on the issue of sending cookies to her ill first born living abroad, jack was kind enough to buy cookies for my lousy, helpless, thankless self. cheers to him for that. otherwise, i was quite antisocial yesterday. saw the freshers' photo proof. definitely buying one of those expensive mofos. but cool, nonetheless. goodness, buying the chch one and the rho.ho one. deep pockets. perhaps my parental units will buy the rhodes one. wink wink. nudge nudge. OH. i did my civic duty yesterday by voting. fun like whoa, i'm telling you. and mail gets to me in oxford faster than it gets to manda in DC. craziness. OH (take 2): i had a dream last night in which katie was cheerleading and was always at the top of the pyramid. and the girl just below her left foot would always wobble just a little to make katie fall down. well, i found this unacceptable, so one time after she made katie fall, i threw a boot at her stomach and knocked the wind out of her and made her fall too (what are friends for, right?). well, the girl tried to get me in trouble, but i didn't go to their school, so i just laughed and laughed and laughed and told her not to be mean to my friends.

wednesday, 22 october 2003

overheard: "i have no principles" -jack

grrr. i have a supervision this evening. i need to do a lot of reading. i don't really have anything else profound to say. one thing i love about life is that there are always more stories to tell. and to hear. and more friends to be made. i'm sick as a dog. so i slept a long time last night. hint to my mother: cookies. no. really. cookies. xxoo.

tuesday, 21 october 2003

overheard: "i'd rather give birth to smart gay ones than to dumb straight ones, i guess" -bug

so. yeah. let me tell you something, E2, DG REG FD. she's little. and the duke of edinburgh is huge. in comparison anyway. nelson mandela: a little small too. people are like vultures. there's nothing like a half dozen gin and tonics at buckingham palace to make one hungry. but. yeah. wow. amazing. that's mostly what i can say about that. so unbelievable. not a once in a lifetime experience, a nonce in a lifetime experience. in other news, today is st frideswide's day, so the heads of house of all the colleges had to march around with their college maces. and dressed up all funny. but i have to go eat lunch. i get to see joe friday. hurrah!

monday, 20 october 2003

overheard: "i'm just slightly more clean than you. not that you're dirty" -jack

so. yesterday: tea party at new college. today: tea party at buckingham palace. my life has become absolutely absurd. but in a good way. went to evensong last night. that was lovely. dinner: good. dessert: raspberry cheesecake. delicious. and now i'm being harrassed to go to breakfast. so that's that.

sunday, 19 october 2003

overheard: "i just want to **** him with a boomarang" -shannon, of course

got matriculated yesterday. it was very cold. but the tourists loved it. i'm looking forward to seeing the proofs of the freshers photo. should be fun. and the half naked second years you kept us entertained get major props for braving the early morning cold so scantily clad. went to a linacre bop last night. good times. but what's with the cover? it's a bop. hm. what else? saw lindsey there. got drunk. ummmm. i feel like something else cool happened yesterday. took a nap. got invited to some christ church cocktail party. wednesday 3rd week. black tie. open bar. £8. i'm all over it.

saturday, 18 october 2003

6 years...wow. time passes quickly

i'm getting all matriculated-like this morning. i'd say that you'd see pictures of it tomorrow, but that really depends how funny subfusc makes me look. glad i practiced the bowtie thing. actually, i should get in the shower and get dressed so i can make sure that my tie looks alright. yesterday? looked at maps, did some reading, didn't join a gym. fell asleep while knitting at 21.30. yes, i'm an elderly woman. other news? hmmm. no. i don't think so.

friday, 17 october 2003

overheard: "and that's how he got that std" -woman i walked by last night on magdalen street

i took a nap yesterday. i hate taking naps. i really need to join a gym. hmmm. i had a dream last night in which i came to the conclusion that noam chomsky was right about the ways in which the US government coerces its citizens. and then my fifth grade teacher popped into the dream, which took place simultaneously in dc, oxford, and at the corner of stevens and sprague in downtown spokane. dinner last night: chicken supreme. and fruit salad for dessert. i was none to pleased. watched the hours with jack last night. ate some good ice cream. now i need to go to breakfast, do some reading, and write my supervisor a note about paleography. OH. as i may have mentioned, the full extent of my class-like commitments during grad school is a weekly seminar during each of the first two terms of the first year...16 such seminars in tutto. i went to one of them yesterday, and didn't feel like a complete idiot. so let's toast to that.

thursday, 16 october 2003

overheard: "ok...now stand facing the door...and...this is complicated..." -person on the phone outside somerville

hm. yesterday. had a supervision (i know: how very tab of me) that made me miss dinner. so that was sad. went to the kebab van. didn't die. that's good. then a histfac drinks party. the turf with jack (gasp!). no. it was my first turf experience. cute little place. übercrowded. had a beer. had some tea. had some good conversation. all in all, a pleasant evening. otherwise, i mostly read. OH. i had gang panang with chicken yesterday for lunch. went with devi. good times. ok. that's all. gots to go eat and read.

wednesday, 15 october 2003

overheard: "i prefer to do it than to watch it" -no one. no one at all.

sorry about the lack of an update yesterday. i woke up late and slightly hung over and had to eat and catch a bus to london to meet bug. which, by the way, was amazing. yes. monday night = craziness. £1.50 double rail drinks = drunk bubba. but i managed to meet another cool chch'er. so all in all, i will consider the evening a good one. london was good. saw fr ribeiro. saw amelia. ate thai food. went to the tate modern. walked along the victoria embankment. saw the temple. went to a dodgy party in shoreditch. missed the announcement of dbc pierre as the winner of the booker prize. yadda yadda yadda. i slept like a baby last night. OH. sunday night i had a dream that i didn't write about on monday...joe (of guglbtrc fame) and i were sharing a dorm room at georgetown. and we were trying to figure out how to fit all of our stuff into it. for, despite being quite large, it had 4 beds, 3 sofas, and about a dozen bikes in it when we arrived. neat dormers, though.

monday, 13 october 2003

overheard: "but instead i said i'd had sex with the library" -lgbtea

monday of first week, you know. michaelmas term. crazy oxford. but good oxford, too. i realized that i don't own a folder. which is problematic. i'm working through this difficult time, though. i talked to mo and bo for about an hour last night. it was good to catch up. i miss home. but life is so much fun here. i guess. i'm starting work in earnest today, so we'll see if i still think it's fun after that. but yeah. ummm. i don't know if anything interesting happened yesterday. met some real, live english people. and a hilarious dutchman. oh. and i got those pictures i mentioned yesterday posted. banff is beautiful. i want to go back. ok. i'm off to the bod for 3 hours--until lunch calls me back to the house.

sunday, 12 october 2003

overheard: "once it starts to feel good, you'll know you're doing it right" -unknown man on st aldates

so yeah. i think rugby may not be my "thing." it hurt me. not so much the rucking. more the having to change directions suddenly while running. hurts my knees, yo. i gave it the old college try, though. wow. 3 people in white pants just walked by my room on st aldates. i accidentally flashed the tourists on the upper level of a double-decker bus yesterday. whoops. i was planning to do some work this weekend. that hasn't happened. c'est la vie. tomorrow i'll start working hardcore. i need the motivation of the bodleian. i think i may take a little walk to iffley--a village south of oxford--if the weather holds. i also think i'm going to post the pictures of my and aaron's trip to banff in the travel gallery. but that will probably take several hours, so it may not be up if you check now.

saturday, 11 october 2003

overheard: "but really, i just want money" -nick

i start playing rugby today, apparently. yeah. i was thinking the same thing. sat next to the christ church old gaurd last night at formal hall. that was an interesting expereince. not exciting, just interestng. that was followed by a GCR pub crawl. i only made it through the bear, the mitre, and the king's arms before bailling for a merton MCR party. lots of rhodents there. i miss them. the chch folks are awesome, though. so i can't complain. brunch service doesn't start until 11. i'm hungry like no one's business. it's supposed to get up to almost 70 today. craziness. OH! i actually started doing work yesterday. i went to the bod, read a journal article, took copious notes, and got generally excited about being a student again. ok. i have to go buy "at least 8 cans" of my favourite drink for rugby (initiation?) this afternoon. wish me luck.

friday, 10 october 2003

overheard: "is he on drugs all the time?" -juliet

let's see. what happened yesterday. oh yes. my first grad school crisis. i had a moment (well, 20 minutes or so) of being convinced that i was unfit to pursue graduate work in history here. but then i ate lunch and it passed. today is collections. i feel like i'm not being collected. breakfast this morning, yummy and all, was 75p. oh yes, i love the house. oh, speaking of the house, did i mention that my parents had our house in spokane painted grey. very exciting. i can't wait to see it. why haven't my battels been delivered yet? there are several books i feel i should buy, but i can't really work up the energy to walk to blackwells. i really need to go to the sackler library as well. when will i actually start doing my work? OH! new pictures in the uk gallery.

thursday, 9 october 2003

overheard: "punch him in the face. i'll steal his cake" -mandahouse

wow. yesterday was hustle-bustly. i finally met chris. i got all matriculated-like at the house. in the past week, i have been asked to stand during frightfully fancy meals to toast the following: president bush, uncle cecil, the house, and (twice) the queen. craziness, i tell you. i found out where the chch giftshop is yesterday as well. and made my first appearance at the undie...the college bar. today i have buckets of meetings, and i really need to get to breakfast, despite having other things to tell you all. happy thursday.

wednesday, 8 october 2003

overheard: "say what you want about the tenets of national socialism. at least it's an ethos" -the big lebowski

so so many whit russians last night. followed by a rendezvous with the rhodents. and speaking of that, i'm glad to announce that dr john rowett, chair of the rhodes trust, will be resigning his post as of MT2004. more on that later. to stand in stark contrast to monday, yesterday was wholly unproductive. so now i have to work my little butt off today to make up for it. meanwhile, i have college matriculation and a college meeting today, along with my history intro meeting and a fresher's dinner in hall. craziness. anyone know what's going on later tonight?

tuesday, 7 october 2003

overheard: "if i learned anything from my dream last night, it's this: don't EVER tell a lemur that it's just like a dog to you. they dont like it. and they're tricksy little motherfuckers." -mandahouse

yesterday was, well, eventful. i really need to take some time to finish moving into my room. perhaps sunday, when the libraries are closed. har har. i had coffee with fr ribeiro at 11, then lunched with fiona and sean, which was nice. fr ribeiro bought me a college scarf (see yesterday's post to confirm my need of it). after lunch i went to the HFL and checked out my supervisor's book. ps, i'm going to start calling him my tutor because it's easier to say. so i checked out my tutor's book and read a good deal of it in anticipation of our meeting. whilst reading in the rho-ho, a south african scholar came in crying after her first meeting in her graduate program. so that made me a tad nervous. but when i went to the meeting it was great. so that was that. i missed dinner, but i made it to GCR drinks. and tonight we have a GCR movie night. crushes crushed, sadly. oh. i need to get to breakfast. cheers.

monday, 6 october 2003

overheard: "nemo me impune lacessit" -british money

who puts that on their money, really? it's really cold here. 0th week has officially begun. hip hip hurrah. i'm not sure when breakfast service starts in hall. but i hear dinner starts today. which i may miss, because i have a meeting with dr archer at 6 pm, and dinner starts at 7.20. i think their may be drinks in the GCR after dinner, though, so i can go to those. anyway, today i'm meeting with fr ribeiro, of all the weird things. and then i have most of the day off. but, like i said, it's wicked cold. went on a tour of chch yesterday. it's stunning. i'm going through crushes like water. amazing. and money. gotta stem that flow. the budgeting starts today, i tell you. but the running doesn't continue. i really need to start getting into a routine.

saturday, 4 october 2003

overheard: "he's like a funny albino" -unnamed rhodent

so i'm slowly settling in. got my bank account, mobile phone, cap and gown, and various other sundry items yesterday. i'm tired of moving in a herd of americans, though. nothing against them; big groups are just unruly. meanwhile, my mom hasn't called me yet. she better get on that ball. i need to get dressed and get my butt to rhodes house. cheers.

thursday, 2 october 2003

overheard: "no. you didn't wake me up" -mom

so here i am in st aldate's quad, typing my first daily update from oxford. my view is lovely. my room is in what i imagine to be an 18th century house. the stairway is ridiculously narrow. it rained earlier, but it is simply grey now. i can't get my ethernet connection to work. the plane ride was fine. i slept almost the whole time. somehow i'm still pretty tuckered. OH. so important. congrats to brandon and laura on their engagement. i need an alarm clock. it took a long time to get through immigration, and i'm not sure what ended up happening there. the boys? varying quality, thus far. ok, time for a short stroll to the meadows and then to meet devi for a meeting at rhodes house. cheers.

wednesday, 1 october 2003

overheard: "fuck me, i'm a rhodes scholar" -cyrus

ok. so i'm suddenly really anxious about leaving. and you know what happens when i get nervous...my stomach kicks into high gear on acid production. ugh. i need to remember that this isn't such a big deal. though right now it seems to be such. i think the CIA hates us. oh yes. pointed questions, much? oh well. won't be invited back next year. small group dinners were good last night. got to talk to sue and jonah more than i ever had before. our host had heard of me in relation to the guglbtrc. hehe. ok. gotta pack and get ready for the leaving thang. lunch at cosmos club today, followed by saying goodbye to manda and getting my butt on a plane bound for that place.