Tea and Cookies (or Biscuts. I'm not really sure what to call these, actually.)

That title pretty much sums up my week. I spent most of it sitting in my room or in the Atheneum finishing up final projects, studying for finals, staying up late doing nothing with friends, and surviving on earl grey tea and shortbread cookies that say "Biscuts" on the front. It also says "Product of Scotland" on the front, so that explains that. Anway, I'm sure all the adults in the audience will be very pleased to hear about my ever so healthy diet. Except not really, at all.

Anyway.

I spent the weekend at my friend Ellie's house: she lives about half an hour away from Goucher, and she invited to come see a dance concert at her old high school. It was fun, and of course it was nice to get a break from studying and frantically tying up loose ends. But it was a little... well. Awkward. I've only met her parents once before, and I think I was too busy being shy to make a good impression. In any case... it was odd. Whenever I go to somebody else's house, I feel like I'm walking into somebody else's entire life. And... well. There's a big difference between walking into your best friend's house, and walking into a near stranger's house. Ellie is my best friend at Goucher, but... I think we've all gotten used to the idea that our homes are now our dorm rooms-- not where we came from before Goucher.

Okay. Enough of that rambling.

The next week should be a lot better. I don't have classes, and only one actual final test (on Tuesday morning). So I'm pretty much free to roam Towson and Baltimore for the next week. Kaira and I are hoping to finally make it out to the Baltimore Art Museum on Wednesday: she's interested in the Andy Warhol exhibit, and I just feel ever so slightly embarrassed that I haven't been there yet. Especially since I'll be taking Art History next semester... I get the feeling I'm gonna get to know my way around the museum quite well before the year is out. I'd also like to go back to the USS Constellation and go through a better tour. I rushed through it last time, as I was looking for pretty specific information for my Historic Preservation paper, so I'd like to do it properly this time. I also want to see the other ships in the harbor: USCGC Taney (a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, 1941), and USS Torsk. So, I'll let you know how that goes. Theoretically, I'll be able to borrow Karia's camera for pictures, so... yep.

I'm leaving for New York on Thursday afternoon, so I'll get back that evening. And... I will write another post then! Until that time, my love to all,

Tasha

"Proma"

I've recently taken to referring to all the drama about prom as "proma." And, goodness, there is a lot of it. Far to much. Actually... any at all is far too much.

Most recently, two of my friends (we'll refer to them as "A" and "B") attempted to switch the location of after-prom (one of three different parties that night. Dear me) from the place we had been planning on having it since September, to somewhere else. Namely, from one friend's house ("C") to another's ("D"). A had been having some issues with C's mother, which consisted mainly of miscommunications and misunderstandings, and so, A was uncomfortable with having post-prom at C's house. B is also extremely uncomfortable with C's mother, for reasons that she will not fully explain. What bothered me was that A and B thought that they could just dictate what the rest of us would be doing, without giving us a single reason, and without telling C or his mother until after they had been preparing to host the party for a whole weekend.

To make an extremely long and tedious story short, I wrote to both A and B, essentially saying a) I don't understand why we're changing plans now, b) I'm not sure when we all decided this, c) this is hurting a lot of people's feelings, and causing more problems than it needs to be, and d) Two people cannot bulldoze their way into having the "perfect prom," while making everybody else miserable. I think I wrote all that out a bit more diplomatically, but that's the general gist of it.

A has backed down on her own, and has made up with C and his mother. B, on the other hand, is understandably upset with me and C (and especially A) for standing up to her. We've planned to move post-prom back to C's house, but this is all going to take a lot of damage control... 'sigh.'

I know I've made A and B sound pretty bad here, but they really aren't. Really. I know A is having a lot of problems at home, and she's always been very emotional about everything. And B is really a sweet girl, and a good friend. They both... just like being in charge. And tend to completely miss what other people are thinking. But you know, there's a reason I like having more guy friends, and this is why: most guys don't do all this dramatic nonsense. I feel awful for having gotten involved, even though I'm pretty sure I did what was right. I've never really done this kind of thing before. And I never want to do it again. I feel awful about upsetting B, and even worse about D and her family, who had to be caught in the middle of all of this. I can't help but think that I caused all of this by making an issue out of it. I like to think that I'm essentially a rational person, who isn't susceptible to these sort of things, but I got dragged in, and I feel like I've dragged D and her family along with me... I probably created even more of a problem by confronting A and B about all this.

And I think that that is as many times as you'll ever see me use the word "feel" in any conversation, written or spoken.

But, of course, it's not all bad. I've had almost no school work, so I've had plenty of time to work on my own little projects, run around outside, do some reading... (I've just finished "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and the other four books in that series.) I've also started trying to teach myself flat-footing using youtube.com... I know. I'm surprised too. Flat-footing is an Appalachian relative of Irish set dancing, with some influence from Native American dance... and it's really fun. I'm enjoying it.

Well, hopefully, my next post will be a bit happier than this one. I'm sorry about going on a bit in this one-- I'll try to make the next post a bit more concise as well.

My love to everybody,

Tasha