Slippin' and Slidin'

Brrr! The forty degree weather of yesterday is nothing but a long-forgotten dream. From rain to hail and -25 windchills in a matter of hours. That's the Midwest for you. I try to stay indoors as much as humanly possible but had to brave the gail last night for my journalism class. Frigid, frigid weather when a five minute walk isn't a five minute walk but a little piece of eternity dropped in our hands. Sorry. Tennessee Williams is probably rolling over in his grave right now.

Today I am officially 20.5 years old. Time really does slip through your fingers the older you get. All those times that you laughed when an old person sighed and asked "Where does the time go?" will come back to bite you when you catch yourself asking that ridiculous rhetorical question. I used to throw myself half birthdays all the time when I was young. And I mean real parties with friends, cake, and half a birthday gift. One year I received the bottom of a heart-shaped jewelry box. I think I still have it stashed away somewhere in the back of my closet. Really these celebrations were just an excuse to celebrate in the dead of winter when life started getting monotonous. Ah, the tyranny of childhood! How I miss those heady days.

I don't have class tomorrow due to a glitch in the space/time continuum. Both my Thursday classes happen to be taught by writers that just happen to be attending the AWP conference. Pretty sweet, I tells ya. However this shall not be a day to laze about and procrastinate. No, no, no. I have to workshop an essay with my classmates and will teach yoga at 8 AM. Still, that means I can spend most my day working on weaving. Hurray!

Stormy Weather

Unseasonably warm weather greeted me as I left my dorm this morning. A playful breeze made me wish that I was sporting a red coat and gaily colored ribbons in my hair instead of a drab black peacoat and sensible topknot. Spring seems to have slipped under winter's radar in a teasing preview of good things to come. The heavy snow cover of last week was melting in a torrent of rivulets and streams that turned the sidewalk into a sinking quagmire of slush and mud. While I welcome the break from frigid temperatures I dislike the lovely deception that lurks behind balmy 40 degree weather. Tired of winter, I look towards a spring that is still an entire month and final snow storm away.

My weekend was relaxed and, admittedly, I did little of interest to the masses. I took care of some business for Yoga Club (yes, I do realize that I'm being purposely ambiguous) and essentially lounged around. On Friday afternoon it began to snow and my friends threw me a half birthday party since we will be apart for my actual birthday. It was pleasant to be snug indoors cooking in the kitchen of Haven while fat snowflakes fell outside the windows. We made enchiladas and danced to Cuban melodies. A German chocolate cake was produced and devoured. Pleasantries were exchanged and silliness prevailed. A good old Beloit time. I worked ahead in some of my classes since I had the time because I am one of the few students that doesn't procrastinate. Next weekend will prove much busier especially with the Presidential Scholarship weekend. I will be participating again this year as a member of the interview teams--part of my annual power trip fix. For those of you who are coming to campus for a scholarship interview, here's some advice. Relax. It won't be that bad. Think of the experience as an opportunity to sit down and have a conversation with faculty and students. You are getting to feel out if the college is right for you just as much as they are figuring out if you're right for the college.

Warning: Stream of consciousness blog post ahead

So I've been thinking a lot lately about how I circumspect my language now that I'm an aunt. This occurs even when my darling nephew is not present. I find myself saying things like "goodness!" or "oh, mercy"--frowzy phrases that I wouldn't normally be caught dead uttering. When did I begin speaking in so dowdy a fashion? Why did the birth of my beloved nephew turn me into such a terminally unhip person (as evidenced by the fact that I even used the phrase "unhip" as Shanna just informed me)? Perhaps this is what motherhood or aunthood really does to a person--makes them cautious and prim. I always vowed that if or when I become a mother I would never dress like a New Haven matron or a second-grade teacher. No plaid jumpers for me. Now I find myself chuckling politely, hand over my mouth. I've always been inclined toward modesty in dress and action but I seem to have recently devolved into a nineteenth century school marm in behavior and language. Is this the beginning of a whole new Krista, one whose fiery tendencies are banished to a land of mild placidity? Perhaps aunthood is akin to sainthood. Wait. Now I'm just getting narcissistic.

Sorry for the rambling post. It has absolutely nothing to do with life at Beloit, just life in general. Truthfully, nothing much has happened to me since I last posted on Monday. I went to classes, did homework, wrote a film review, ate, slept, repeat. All quiet on the Beloit front. This isn't helping to make the post more coherent. Again, my apologies. Hopefully exciting things will happen over the weekend and I can share all the gory details with you come Monday!

Back in Business

My goodness! It's already time to update my SOI blog and let all you faithful readers know about the wonder that is a Beloit education. Sorry but that will be my one and only admissions plug. Scout's honor. So much has happened since I last posted back in December. It seems eons have passed. All those classes I was lamenting about and worrying over have been tidily finished and put away in that convenient back drawer called an undergraduate transcript. But I promise new classes will take their place and give me fresh fodder (read: angst) to share with everyone.

Let's see. I'll just give you the highlights of my month home and to make it stylistically interesting I'll compile it in a list.
1. My best friend drove to Beloit to pick me up for break the day after classes let out. Winter roadtrip ensued complete with getting lost on a back road in Hope, MN after dark.
2. Spent lots of time with my new nephew. Fell in love with him over and over again.
3. Holiday celebrations with too much food and herds of camels.
4. Played many rounds of Apples to Apples and Rummy Royal with merry relatives.
5. Watched Sweetland and Omkara again. Fell in love with Ajay Devgan.
6. Wandered around the St. Paul public library with sleeping nephew. Received sore arms but great knitting patterns.
7. Made potstickers for New Years eve with my grandmother.
8. Danced with my cat.
9. Went to favorite pub with my best friend and took silly pictures of french fry eatery and straw shenanigans.
10. Read books at my leisure.

Goodness, what fun it was to go home but now it's time to buckle down and hit the pages again. This last weekend was the Beloit International Film Festival, which is always a lot of fun but seems to fall on the coldest weekend of the winter. Luckily most of the films I went to see were close to campus so I didn't have to trek too far into the raw cold. I saw a set of shorts which were really funny, a documentary about Cuban healthcare, and a comedy called The Ten which wasn't what I expected. The festival is always a great way to get off campus and watch some films you might not otherwise see.