Mosaic Life

Spring semester

Wendy W — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:05:39 +0000

I scheduled my classes for spring semester. Finally, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I have no idea what I’ll do with all my extra time when I’m done in May, but I’m certain I’ll find something.

First term I’m taking Intro to Drawing and Philosophy of Religion. I’ve tried my hand at art and drawing in high school, and as I recall, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t prove to have an immense amount of talent, but hey, how can you go wrong with an art class? I’ll tell you how you can go wrong, you can take an Asian Art class in which the teacher can only dole out a certain number of A’s, therefore you get a B with your 89.95 grade point. I’m not bitter about that at all, actually. Anyway, I’d best make an A in the drawing class, because I’m bent on graduating with honors of some sort. Oh, and then there’s the Philosophy of Religion class. I figure that will be interesting, because I’m rather ignorant when it comes to other religions than Christianity and I’d like to be able to speak about them with some sort of familiarity.

Second session I’m taking Genderlect and Creative Writing. I’m excited about the Genderlect class because I’m taking it with a professor that I’ve had before, plus she usually starts the class by bringing in a transvestite. Talk about a good way to begin! As for Creative Writing, I feel like it’s something I should take to round out my college experience. Although I don’t really enjoy writing fiction, especially since I can never settle on names for my characters.

Anyway, that’s it for spring. I’m so excited that I’m nearly done. Hooray!

No, actually I don’t remember

Wendy W — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:46:46 +0000

Yeah, so I’m not the best at remembering people. I guess it’s because we’ve moved so often that I clear out the memory of those who aren’t around so that I have room for those who are. I’m practical like that. At any rate, it’s usually only on Facebook or when I go to my hometown that it really affects me, since that’s really the only time I encounter people from years back. For example…

Me: (looking at a Facebook friend request) Hey Brandon, do I know ______?

Brandon: Um, yeah. He came over to our apartment multiple times after we got married. Remember? You baked cookies.

Me: Oh. I guess I know him then. I’ll befriend him.

Second session

Wendy W — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:14:52 +0000

I just started two new classes. One is a World Lit class (the enlightenment to the present) and the other is a class on the Italian Renaissance. I really think I’m going to enjoy this session. I’ve had both teachers before, and I really enjoy taking their classes. Plus, my grades will be based on papers alone, which is good news for me since I’m way better at writing than I am at memorizing information. However, I will be reading quite a bit. I’m supposed to read Robinson Crusoe by Saturday. We’ll see how that goes.

So anyway, yeah, super busy. But I’m halfway done with my last fall semester as an undergrad, and I’m very much looking forward to graduation in May.

Cuteness update: 5 months

Wendy W — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 13:50:48 +0000

We were able to make a trip to Alabama last weekend despite how unbelievably busy we are. I’ll be happy when we’re less busy and can enjoy such luxuries as breathing and doing the dishes. Anyway, highlights were being able to see my painfully cute niece and nephew and playing Rock Band (now I have a huge urge to listen to Garbage and Radiohead).

Aren’t footie pajamas the cutest? When I have kids, that’s all they’ll wear. In public, during the summer, that’s it.

Rylan is such a sweet baby. You can usually get her to smile just by smiling at her, which never worked with me. I’ve heard that when I was a baby I was more into crying. I do recall that as a kid I enjoyed glaring, too, and pinching. One of my teachers told me that I was so much prettier when I smiled, but what kind of motivation is that until becoming interested in boys? No motivation at all I tell you. One thing that Rylan already shares with my baby self is that she’s already figured out how to throw a tantrum. Seriously. She goes all limp or puts her arms back like she’s skiing. Remember little girl, pizza and french fries. You’ll make an olympic skier someday, tantrum or not.

Dawson is getting so big. He’s already wearing clothes recommended for 9-month-olds. He could be a prize-winning spitter upper if he put his mind to it. He also is very much into eating, which shows that he too takes after his auntie. When I was a child, my grandma nick-named me “bottomless pit,” which isn’t as cute as my other nicknames, roly poly or Winnie the Pooh (which I hated at the time).

Anyway, that’s the cuteness update for the month. I’m glad I usually get to see them each month as they develop.

Toilet Training Update

Wendy W — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:16:34 +0000

So toilet training the cat has been a bit more difficult than we expected. So far we can get him to use the tray on top of the toilet, but not when we remove the middle part. He’s not really into going to the bathroom in water. It’s natural, sure. He probably thinks of the water as a drinking source. So we decided to encourage him a bit more strongly.

We gave him half water, half chicken broth to drink. Of course, he was all about that. Then we locked him in the bathroom overnight, thinking he’d have no choice but to give in. When I walked into the bathroom the next morning, I discovered he’d peed on the rug and pooped on the floor, making sure to swat out some cat litter from the tray on the toilet to bury his poo.

Yeah. He’s pretty stubborn. But so are we. We’ll win this one, eventually.

In which I work a Gone with the Wind quote into school talk

Wendy W — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:41:18 +0000

So when I tell people that I’m going to school and working full-time, they often ask me how I manage it. And each time I generally don’t know how to explain it. I’m not really sure how I haven’t gone crazy yet. I just sort of take things day by day, pray that I don’t have to work late the night before a paper is due, wake up at 6:45 am on a Saturday to go to class (often cursing because sleeping is one of my favorite things to do, but being sure to curse quietly enough not to wake Brandon), and just basically keep going.

There have been times that I’ve been so busy that I’ve had to allocate time to worry about stuff. Like one time I had to work overtime over the weekend, but I had a paper to write that was due Monday and one due Wednesday. So I had to pull a Scarlet O’Hara and say “I won’t think about that now, I’ll think about that later.” Obviously I wasn’t saying that because I was feeling guilty about shooting a yankee, but it was helpful. Sometimes I have to give myself a cut-off point, like when I have a huge reading assigment that I just don’t have time to finish without sacrificing the quality of a paper that’s due. I’ll read the first few chapters, the last few chapters, and fill the rest in with Wikipedia. I hate having to do that because I actually enjoy reading the material (most of it, so far The Song of Roland is exceedingly boring), but it’s what I have to do. Plus, honestly, I need time to be lazy, to watch one more episode of House, to actually do the dishes and maybe even do laundry. It’s all about survival until the end of April.

Perhaps they do spend too much time together

Wendy W — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:27:32 +0000

Yesterday I was home at lunch as usual. Monster was riled up, because lunch time is prime time for biting and pouncing since we’re both there and not distracted by work. At any rate, Brandon was holding Monster (against Monster’s will of course) when he threw him to the ground and said “GET HER, MONSTER!” At which point Monster galloped across the room and attached himself to my leg, biting my jeans.

It should be noted that it’s nearly impossible to train a cat, and that Monster was just doing what he loves to do. But still. Crazy.

Call me… No wait, text me

Wendy W — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:01:08 +0000

I noticed a slight generation gap the other day as I chatted with a few of my coworkers before a meeting began. Here was the main difference:

Coworker in her late 50’s: I don’t even have a cell phone. And I don’t answer my home phone half the time. People who call me know when to call me if they want me to pick up.

Me: I don’t even have a home phone. I don’t always answer my cell phone, but my friends know that if it’s important, they can always text me.

I can’t even imagine not having a cell phone. It seems so inconvenient. I get a small taste of it when I’m in the Target that we frequent and I have no signal. I have to spend like, minutes trying to figure out where Brandon is. Minutes that I could be spending not looking for him. I would never want to go back to the days when people had to wait around at home if they were expecting a phone call. Or set a time to meet when they’re shopping at the mall.

Honestly, I’ve gotten to a point where I’m most comfortable e-mailing (or instant messaging) people that I need to contact rather than calling them or speaking to them in person (unless I know them really well or they’re ridiculously close by). I feel like it’s more polite to e-mail, because they can get to it in their own time. And they can have a moment to consider their reply, rather than answering quickly so that there isn’t an awkward pause in the conversation. It probably sounds like I’ve reached a new level when it comes to being an introvert, but I don’t think it’s that, really. I’m just polite.

Remembering 9/11

Wendy W — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:27:05 +0000

So seven years ago today, I was asleep in my dorm room when my friend Melissa burst in the room (she didn’t go to the same college but she’d spent the night) and announced that the country had been attacked. She seemed mostly excited but sort of scared all at once, and I quickly followed her into the dayroom where the TV was, where other girls from my dorm had gathered. Right then, the second plane hit the second building. I, like everyone else who tells their story, was in shock. Never thought it could happen to our country. I mean, don’t they know we have the big bombs?

The day was a blur, but I distinctly remember how blue the sky was. How it was such a beautiful day, and yet such a terrible thing had happened. No one knew if another attack would happen soon, so we were all sort of reasoning in our minds whether or not our location was important enough to attack. Since I was at a small baptist college, I felt pretty confident we were safe.

The news played the scenes over and over again, looped everything we knew up to that point. But we watched anyway, as though watching would make some sense of it.

Diet beverage review

Wendy W — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:32:00 +0000

We drink mostly diet sodas, so I thought I’d give a review of different ones.

Diet Coke. Bleh. BLEH. The aftertaste, it’s awful. If I go to a restaurant that has no other diet sodas, I’ll usually get half Diet Coke, half Dr. Pepper so as to drink something with less calories that will not set off my gag reflex. It does depress me that usually Diet Coke is the only thing offered at restaurants, because I think more people would give diet a chance if they’d try diet beverages that don’t offend the taste buds. However, I do know people who are used to the aftertaste, and no joke, actually crave Diet Coke. I’m sure this has some sort of relation to that syndrome that kidnapping victims get when they start to love their captors, but I haven’t really done any research to prove it just yet.

Diet Pepsi. Bleh, but not as bad as Diet Coke. Same deal as above, mostly.

Diet Dr. Pepper. Oh how I love thee. It actually truly does taste a lot like regular Dr. Pepper. And it doesn’t go flat quickly.

Pibb Zero. Notice that they’ve gotten rid of the formalities and ditched the Mr. At any rate, good tasting, but it goes flat quickly.

Coke Zero. Goes flat quickly, but tastes pretty good at first. I’d say it tastes pretty similar to regular Coke, just not as syrupy sweet.

Cherry Coke Zero. Used to love it, but we bought it like 1,000 times in a row and now the gag reflex starts up with the taste of fake cherry flavoring.

Diet Cherry Coke. Way better than regular Diet Coke, but we did the same thing with this as with Cherry Coke Zero, so gag reflex and all.

Diet Sprite. Good stuff. Goes flat quickly, but I do like adding it to grape juice to make it fizzy (and to drink less sugar with juice).

Diet Mountain Dew. Tastes very much like regular Mountain Dew, if you’re a fan. For some reason, a lot of people like to hate on the Dew, which I don’t get, unless maybe it has a redneck sort of feel to it or something. Plus, it’s a sickly green color. But I like it just fine.

Diet Root Beer, any brand. BLEH. Not worth buying. If you crave root beer, just buy IBC, not diet. It’s the bomb diggity.