Welcome home to the happiness hotel...

For all those Muppets fans out there, this title is for you. It has occurred to me lately that the very thing that is missing from collegiate life is Muppets. Everyone would be a lot happier if there was a little Jim Henson happening on campus. There are these ugly wall murals in Commons that kind of look like puppets but it just isn't the same.

The second half of the semester always flies by in a hurry and is disproportionately busy compared to the early half, though I suppose that is to be expected--building on your knowledge base and all that riffraff. I should really be starting to write my research papers but am currently engaged in storytelling for my fiction class. Speaking of my fiction class, we had a guest speaker today from Madison who is the head of acquisitions for the university press there. He spoke about the publishing industry--very dismal outlook, just so you know though these terribly literary types tend to be a bit pessimistic, shall we say--and his own career as a freelance writer. We asked questions and got some good info. The strange part is that yesterday I was thinking how funny it would be if I had run into him before through my Madison contacts and then today after his talk he comes up to me and asks if we'd met. Talk about deja vu! In fact I hadn't met him before but he told me I had a really familiar face. Rather bizarre.

Next week is advising week where we sign up for classes for the next semester. Always an exciting time. Hopefully the offerings will be intriguing and class times will work out in my schedule. I want to take another weaving class since this Navajo one has been such a blast. By the way, I am only five inches from finishing my rug. Hurray! I have been thinking about off-campus study a lot lately as I suppose many sophomores are. I'm not sure if I want to go abroad but it would be nice to get off campus to refocus my education and think about life after Beloit. A professor recommended I check out the ACM Newberry Library program in Chicago which sounds amazing. It is essentially a semester in Chicago that you can devote to an individual research project using the Newberry's fabulous resources. It is sort of like prep work for grad school and teaches students how to write a huge research paper (60 pages). The best part though is that you get to work at the Newberry while you are taking the course! Super exciting. Just thought I'd throw this in here in case any of you prospective students are interested in domestic off-campus study versus study abroad.

This weekend I will be heading to Old World Wisconsin with my friends as a tag-along on their class field trip. Looks like a lot of fun. Sheep, people in costume, butter churns and all that other good stuff. A chance to get off campus isn't to be taken lightly, no matter where you end up. Happy weekend everyone!