11 I 2002 - 06:54 - vita19

This is going to be a short entry, because my ride is due to be here, oh, in five minutes or so. Al is sitting next to me, saying that it's actually three. I love school.

I especially love the new computers we have in the PC lab because the old ones were being vandalized. That's a great reaction to vandalism: they're breaking the computers? Let's get newer, more expensive ones! Sometimes I wonder about the quality of education that an institution with such policies is able to provide. Then I stop thinking, because my classes are so boring and I'm thinking about how much I would like to be reading my new novel or learning some Gaelic or, you know, sleeping. The shock going back from break this time was almost as bad as it is going back from the summer break - we had almost three weeks, most of which was spent in a blissful vegetative state. I think I would make a good cucumber. Or maybe a tomato. Yes, I'm mushy enough to be a tomato.

My sisters left, too. And the nice people we had visiting from MIT because of a linguistics conference. I never thought I'd grow fond of the smell of cigarette smoke, but there I am, hooked by secondhand smoke. This does not bode well for future relationships. Am I going to wake up every day and kiss not only a face prickly with stubble but a mouth tasting of, well, ash? It's a good thing my crystal ball broke a while ago. Plus I had no talent for telling the future. I mean, who would have guessed that my least favorite class would be orchestra? It is! All because of my lovely stand partner. Some days I derive terrible amounts of pleasure from visualizing a scene in which I am whipping him until small... never mind. You already think I'm insane.

I now have about a negative minute, according to Al. What she doesn't know is that I usually don't get picked up until about 3:05 because my mother knows her children and knows that there is no way on God's green earth that we would get out there on time. Although think about it for a bit: God, I mean. We're reading the Bible in English class, and of course they chose the heaviest edition. Well, maybe not the heaviest. I think vellum pages with leather bindings are a little heavier. Maybe if a monk were sitting on top of it...

That made no sense, but never mind that. I am sick and tired of school already, and it's about two weeks to the next break. I have no time to do the things that I want to do and even the things that I don't want to do, like practice. Homework? I'm so dreadfully out of practice that it took me both science and math periods just to get my Latin homework done. Yes, I know, I shouldn't multitask, but what can I say? I'm shameless. I never know what to say when I'm sitting in Latin class and the person sitting next to me says, "It took me 80 minutes to get 20 lines done." It takes me about 45 minutes. On a bad day. Bragging? Yes. But I'm not ashamed of it, because I am full of myself, and I've finally come to terms with that.

I have got to get more sleep and write more mail. Send me your addresses and I will either stalk you or send a postcard. Try to indicate which one you prefer in your email. And don't worry - I'm kidding about the stalking, and anyway, I don't think I have a mind capable of sustaining any effort (like stalking) for more than about an hour or two. Just ask my stand partner in orchestra. Or my cello. My cello understands me. It helps out by inducing panic during orchestra concerts. It decides that my strings should slip. I'm not happy about this, but perhaps it's for the best, since the effort of trying to tune discreetly a string that has gone off by more than a seventh is certainly enough to keep one awake during the entire concert. Which, given our repertoire, is quite an accomplishment for a cellist.

I've got to go now, really - I'm running negative minutes. I did do my Bible reading for tomorrow, though. Yay. That leaves, oh, only six periods' worth of homework to do for tomorrow. Until then.

J

Oh, by the way, I changed the table on my "older" page, and the page has a new title, "do ut des." If you didn't notice the latter, you are blind.

ulterior, ulterius comparative adjective farther, further, beyond

veto, vetare, vetui, vetitus to forbid