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.

So long, farewell...

Ah, the final post for the semester. While it's always a little sad to bid farewell to another half year of my college career it's also hard to be very despondent when a month of respite begins in only two days. Don't worry Blog fans. The SOIs will return in January to entertain you with the thrills and exasperation of being a Beloit student. So until then enjoy this final post for Fall '07!

Much has happened since my last post. But where to begin? Friday night was a busy one on campus. My friend and I went downtown to attend the Beloit Holidazzle after dinner. It was very spirited with all the lights, piped-in Christmas music, and free food and drink. I bought a gift for my nephew from the college bookstore and wandered into several of the little shops lining State Street. There were crowds of people down there mingling--students, faculty, and Beloiters. Even Santa Clause made an appearance. Pretty sweet. We headed to campus after a while to attend the first annual Miss Beloit pageant hosted by one of the frats on campus. Don't worry. Pageants on campus are simply a venue for student organizations to raise money for charities and for folks to humiliate themselves on stage. The girls competing for Miss Beloit were not the traditional sorority girl figure of popular culture. In fact, one of the contestants sawed a log with a chainsaw as her talent, which really says something. It was an entertaining spectacle to be sure. Afterwards my pals and I headed out to see the final Voodoo Barbie (campus improv group, for the uninitiated) performance of the semester. It was even funnier than usual perhaps because it was a veteran member's last show and they tried harder. Who can say? The rest of the weekend was work, work, work especially on Sunday when work intruded on my dinnertime. Just kidding, Bryan! Actually Bryan was really sweet and took all the SOIs out to dinner at a local fave called La Casa Grande. It was good time to reconnect with coworkers and de-stress at the end of the semester--plus we got a free dinner. Let's hear it for Beloit Admissions!

Only one more class stands between me and freedom. Being unusually lucky this semester I was exempt from final tests and only had final papers to complete for my classes. I handed in my English paper on Monday, my creative writing portfolio today, and my history paper will change hands tomorrow morning. In weaving we already put our rugs on display in the library and will just clean up the studio tomorrow and eat fry bread. Yum, yum. Now nothing left to do but pack and attend various cultural events 'round campus. I attended a friend's band concert last night and will go to the dance workshops tomorrow night. An Anthro party and friendly get together involving biscuits and other snacks will round out the fun. Hurray for December and have a great month everyone!

Hickory Dickory Dock...

Unimaginative title, I know. But I'm feeling rather uninspired tonight. Again it is snowing in Beloit and the cosmic ballet goes on. It seems as though the weather is aligned against me. Only when I have to venture out to work in Admissions does it begin to snow.

Not much has happened this week since my last post. I finished my basket in weaving class and so set about spinning yarn from some merino wool that I bought at the Minnesota State Fair a couple years back. Ah the State Fair! It seems so long ago that I was trekking around in the straw and muck of the fairgrounds eating deep-fried goodness and ogling seed art. Goodness, how I miss the prairie and my Minnesota home.*

Anyhow, today was the last 'real' day of my creative writing class so my professor threw us a party. It was so sweet! He told everyone to bring something and no one did except him which was sad (actually I brought some cookies I made on Sunday but they were getting kinda stale and so I was too embarrassed to put them out). But he brought quite a spread--crackers in the shape of butterflies, cheese and meat, clementines, and cider. If I had known that he would go all out I wouldn't have eaten lunch right before class. This is just one shining example of the dedication of professors here at Beloit, folks. They are even willing to spend their weekend beer money on students, as he put it. From here on out it will be paper-writing, filling out evaluations, and packing for me. Perhaps something wild and woolly will occur this weekend that I can regale you all with come Tuesday. One can only hope.

*Reference to a song from A Prairie Home Companion movie.

Snow, snow

It is snowing strongly outside at the moment. Walking over to Middle College tonight in the whispery hush of the snowfall I was reminded of a Mary Oliver poem entitled "Lonely White Fields." The scene evoked by the final line seemed fitting to quote this evening--"The fields swell with a rosy light and the snow keeps on falling, flake after perfect flake." That is what I'm thinking of as I look out the windows tonight. Well, that or The Shining if you prefer a more sinister take on snowfall...

There is a real pine tree in the admissions office and it is emitting a pleasant though distracting scent of evergreen.

So classes are winding down and students are winding up right now. I'm down to two more creative writing classes which is sad. We're having a party on Thursday which should be fun though everyone is supposed to bring something to share and very few students have the money/time/inclination to go buy something for class. I haven't decided whether to bring graham crackers or Cheerios since those are the only real foodstuffs left in my pantry. Well, that or dried pasta. It will be interesting to see what anyone brings. A poor man's feast, no doubt. I only have one more paper to write for my classes, which is quite a relief, and I finished up with tutoring for the semester today. The other folks in my weaving class are completing their rugs and I've woven a little basket as of Monday that could be used for keys or pennies. Our rugs go on display at the library next Monday which will let everyone see the outcome of our hard work and agony over the course of the semester. And only two more shifts in admissions are left as well! Hopefully there will be much excitement to share with you in the following days before I finish with classes and head home for the holidays. Excitement such as a snow day perhaps? Actually that never happens on a residential campus like Beloit unless the professor can't make it to campus because students simply have to strap on their boots and bundle up before going out to slip and slide on our way to class.