September 27, 2007

That would be mine

Ok, before I begin let me just state for the record that generally I am not an idiot. I know it sounds stupid, but I pride myself at not (at least, not continually) making a complete ass out of myself in front of annoying people, other classmates/peers, and TA's.
That being said, here is my story....
Yesterday during my lab for environmental issues, we went on a field trip. Our goal was to measure temperature, salinity, clarity and observe plankton in 2 separate lakes. Let me interrupt my own story now to talk about my lab group and our previous lab, also a field trip. I am in a lab group with two guys. One is obviously very athletic, pretty smart but not annoyingly so and a pretty nice guy (at least from what I have seen of him). The other guy, in a word, is an ass. This is all his personality merits, trust me. On the previous field trip, we were to identify plants in and around a nursery. This, with my particular group, was torture.
This time, jerk-boy (this is his new name - I didn't name the other. Um, sneakers is his name) was absent. I secretly hoped - correction, hope - that he dropped the class. Anyway, we got on the bus, each of us with half of the equipment needed for our data gathering. We were the first on the dock, therefore securing one of the best spots to do our sciencing.(It's a word, get over it) We were doing great (which is critical to point out given that it was ridiculously windy), we gathered our data, took turns doing what we needed to do, and were then given a new lab partner. She, thank the good Lord above, was not an idiot and further helped, as opposed to hindered our objectives. I actually felt really bad that she had to come to our group, since she had almost all her information done with the other group and probably didn't have much choice in the matter. Luckily, she was a good sport and didn't complain at all. I wondered if she saw that Oprah with the no complaining bracelets. Probably so. Or maybe not. Nevertheless, with one site down, we were in great shape.
After getting off the bus at the second lake, we once again secured a prime position on the dock and set out on our mission, doing exactly the same thing we had just done ten minutes before. We were doing fine, the wind significantly less strong here. I bent down to get the second instrument we needed, and disaster struck. After retrieving the box from the dock, I stood back up just in time to see the two most important papers of my lab report - the data records page and subsequent questions - land on the surface of the lake 15 feet away.
I should also say that normally I do not swear, mainly on the basis that I find it at the core uncreative (except that I have done so twice in this blog thus far..) The word "fuck" for example really has no meaning when people use it just because they can, 6 times in an eleven word sentence. Today, however, my immediate response was "sshit".
My lab partner, sneakers, was able to get the paper that didn't have the data on it back. Our instructor came over, laughing, to try to help me out as the guys in the next group were wondering (aloud, of course) whose paper that was. Being the genius I am I said "that would be mine" while lamely half raising my hand. Good God. To make a long story short, my instructor tried about 5 times to get my other paper back with a plankton net, but was unsuccessful since my paper had started floating farther and farther away. The girl lab partner said several times that she totally didn't touch it. Yeah, like she'd sabotage my lab of all things. I knew she hadn't, but I thought about asking her if she had a history of shoving things in lakes. I decided against it.
So now I wait for my girl lab partner to email me page 1. So I don't fail. I didn't really care that much, except that with my 2 papers and most of my dignity fell one of my awesome $2 pencils. Actually maybe $3. For about a minute it floated on the surface before suddenly plunging down to the depths of the murky, green waters. It even had extra lead in it. And it was blue.
As the bus (yes, yellow school bus and all) drove away I saw a little boy staring in horror at the bus and its occupants. I wondered if he knew about the pencil.

September 24, 2007

Admit it, I'm right.

At the end of my global politics class today, after being nearly trampled by people running for the door, I saw a guy carry a girl's backpack for her. She even had it on already and he literally took it off for her, slung it over his shoulder, pretended to nearly fall over at the added weight and walked out the door. (which I found even more ridiculous since he appeared to offer to carry it, and it was ONLY A FREAKING BACKPACK)
I like chivalry as much as the next girl, but seriously. A backpack? If someone wanted to carry something for me, fine, but there are certain parameters in which this would be allowed. Big, awkwardly shaped TV? Yes. Anything over 30 lbs that has to go up 4 flights of stairs? Certainly. Heavy shopping bag? Of course. Broken limbs or other impediments? Don't mind if I do. Backpack or purse? No thanks, I'm not quite that retarded. (not that she was retarded or anything...I'm just saying.)
This is the kind of thing that annoys me about girls. If someone is, frankly, weird enough to want to carry a backpack for me I would decline because I've been taking care of my own backpack-carrying needs for, oh, 14 years now. Also, it would quite simply freak me out. This way, although I would feel slightly insulted by the notion that I couldn't (or even shouldn't?) carry my own belongings, I could obviously prove them wrong by using said backpack the way God intended: The owner schlepping it themselves - no supervision needed. But doesn't being all "Ok, Johnny, sure you can carry it. That one notebook and all my back-up lip gloss in there really hurts my spine! (*sniffle)" show that girls really are as helpless as some guys think they are?
Yes, it does.

Well, at least until I break my clavicle or something and have to hire someone to carry my stuff around for me.

September 15, 2007

Hello, world.

Today I explored. I explored the world. Well, ok, I explored a very small part of my world. Approximately 3 square blocks actually. I went to this coffee shop that I go by everyday, and each one of those days have thought that it would be an interesting place to go. There was nothing really that brave about going there, I just never had before, but it felt so nice, so different to just go by myself to read a book (granted, not the book I might choose exactly - it was for a class). It wasn't a necessarily novel thing to do, but I guess up until this point in my life, I've always felt that I have needed an explanation for going somewhere by myself to sit and drink coffee in a new (to me, at least) place. Over the summer I would think that I'd want to go and get something to eat at this new deli sort of place downtown but I always felt that I needed justification. I felt like it wasn't enough that I just wanted to go, I needed to have an errand to run near there like going to the bank or post office and then decide, oh, well since I'm so close I should stop for a sandwich, use up the rest of the time on the meter. Today I just went. I read a chapter (a whole 36 hours before my class that I need to have it read for! How prepared I am!) wrote a postcard, just sat, not needing to go to the post office or bank.
It was wonderful. If everyday were like today it would be even more wonderful. Except, probably, I would have a caffeine habit, no money and probably wouldn't be enrolled in school. Hmm. Well, if every Saturday were like this, yes that would be great. Maybe this will become a ritual, like I don't know, Christmas or brushing your teeth. That doesn't really make sense though, because I do (yes, it is true) brush my teeth more than once a week and Christmas....bad examples, never mind.
It was good. A good day.