Nineteen

I'm sorry I didn't write this post on the actual day, but... well. I've been nineteen since 25 April! Rebz and her family drove down from New York to see me, so I got to spend the afternoon with them. It was really nice... this is my first birthday away from my family-- I've had birthdays away from home before, obviously, but never one without my parents, and very very few, at least recently, without the Wesners, Brendon, Trevor, and the Bitondos. So I knew this was going to be different... but it's nice to have some old faces around. I finally got to introduce Rebz to everybody, we went out for dinner with Kaira, and at some point, we drove on a sidewalk. Fun stuff. A surprise party was also planned somewhere along the line, and... well. I was a little more than surprised. 


So... that was my Monday. Sorry if that was awkwardly explained... it was a busy day, to say the least. The rest of the week has been wonderful... busy, but... it's been fun. I feel like I should be under more stress, but I just feel completely in my element. I had my final paper in Historic Preservation due on Thursday (which I managed to finish sometime late on Wednesday night), and my final papers in European History and Russian/Soviet History due on Friday (I had "finished" my Euro paper on Tuesday, but I made some changes on Thursday night after my professor looked it over for me. The Russian History paper got done about four hours before class). My final project for Art History is due on Monday, and to be honest, that is really what I should be working on right now. I have an American History paper to write for this coming Thursday, but I'm not too worried about that. We can choose any topic we'd like, so I think I'm going to do something with French-British-American relations. There's a lot to go on, from the revolution, to 1812, to the World Wars... I'll have to narrow it down to the pre-Civil War years, as that's all the class covers (and if I don't, I'll be writing a book. Or several), so we'll see how that goes.


Oh! And I have some rather exciting news... Professor Fraser (my professor for Russian and European History)... well. I'll just quote part of the email for you.


"I have been mightily impressed with your levels of analysis and your work ethic this semester. If you have any interest in it, I would invite you to take my Stalinism seminar (HIS 342) next fall. It’s generally for juniors and seniors, but I suspect your brain could use more of a challenge than you are getting in freshmen-level classes. We will do more specialized historiographical readings and discuss them, but overall the point of the seminar is for students to go off and do their own 20-25-page research paper. Starting early, we’ll do several drafts and workshop papers among each other, with some presentations and peer review along the way. You always write solid drafts, but in terms of learning about shaping your writing, I think you would benefit from working on a single project all semester, and drafting and re-drafting it. Up to you, though, and certainly, no pressure!"


I met with her about it after class on Friday, and... it sounds really great. Of course, it could be a disaster-- it could be too much for me; I could flunk out and ruin my GPA, and not be able to get into the year-long Oxford program... but I've decided that I'm taking it. She's right about needing more of a challenge. And I need to take three seminars before I graduate-- if I am gone for all of my junior year, that's going to be a problem. So if I get a chance to take a seminar early, I'm taking it. I really like the idea of committing to a project for the entire semester as well. And there's the fact that Professor Fraser is the best professor I've had here: I really enjoy being in her classes, and I have a lot of respect for her. She's somebody I hope I become like later on... I also have to admit that this is all very pleasing to my ever-growing ego. I'd be lying if I said that didn't factor into the decision-making process at all. I mean, I wish I could say that the decision was made purely according to logic, but there's quite a lot of the whole "somebody thinks I'm smart!" thing going on... that's probably not healthy. 


Anyway.


It's... just nice to feel like everything I've done this semester has paid off. Recognition is always nice. 


So... to summarize: I'm nineteen, I got to see one of my best friends, I've been working on final projects all week, and my professor thinks I'm good enough to take a senior-level class in my sophomore year. I'm happy. 


Well... I'm getting back to my Art History project. My love to all,
Tasha

Fall Semester 2011 Schedule

AST 110: Introduction to Astronomy

HIS 220: Russia: Peter the Great to the Revolution

HIS 235: The American Revolution

ANT 275: Language Myths

ENG 241: Archaeology of Text: Archival Methods

Fort Sumter and little French songs

Hello again!

Well, it's 12 April: the day the American Civil War began, with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter. I'm very pleased with the timing: I had American History this morning, and I had to give a presentation on antebellum presidents... anyway. Supposedly, the only casualty on the 12th was a horse, and three Union soldiers died on the 14th when a cannon misfired during the surrender ceremony.

Anyway.

I spent the weekend in the New York, so I could see Rebz's senior musical, which was amazing, as expected. It's her last in high school, and I couldn't imagine myself missing it... so yes. Rebz: I've told you before, but really. You have such fantastic talent. I'm sure the Ursuline theater program is going to miss you greatly, and you are going to be such an asset to whichever college you chose. I also got to see Trevor, as well as Ben, which was... well. I had almost forgotten how easy it is for certain people to make me laugh.

Speaking of theater and of French-speaking friends... last week, Goucher had students from Marseille over as part of the French Theater program. I didn't get to talk to them much, as I'm not in the theater program, and I don't speak French (cue feelings of inadequacy), but they seemed very nice. An acquaintence of mine from my American History class in bilingual (her father is French), and she got the job of giving the students a tour of Baltimore, via the Collegetown Shuttle. Perhaps not the best way to go about it, but still. Anyway, the entire group of them were on the shuttle while I was taking it to Penn Station, to catch my train to New York. Half of them were sitting in the back, improvising these odd little a capella songs... I really wish I had recorded them.

We also had GIG on Friday: that is, "Get Into Goucher" Day, which I suppose is something like Spirit Week is in high school, except we've managed to consolidate it into one day (thank goodness), and it involves a lot more watching drunk and high people do stupid things. At least, in my case. I may be the only one who does that. Anyway. It was surprisingly fun... there was a big barbaque lunch, and lots of good music, and the dance department got to show off... not bad for my first GIG. Apparently, its a lot more fun when it's not raining torrentially and all the events happen outside.

Moving on... I register for classes on the 14th, and I am... well. I'm really excited. Of course. I can only take 18 credits (that's the limit for all non-freshman students), and with all my other scheduling issues, it may get quite complicated. But I've got a list of classes I want to sign up for, and a list of classes I can take just in case I can't get into one, or a few, of those on the original list.

Original List:



HIS 235: The American Revolution


ANT 275: Language Myths


HIS 220: Imperial Russian History (Peter the Great to the Revolution) (Taught by my current European and Russian History professor, who I'm hoping will be my advisor once I declare my History major.)


HIS 241: The Vietnam War


AST 110: Astronomy






Alternatives:


PSC 111: Theories of Citizenship (aka: pre-requisite to every Political Science and International Relations class ever. Grr.)

ENG 241: Archival Research Methods


MUS 101: Music Theory


MUS 182: Piano


(or MUS 183: Organ, or MUS 184: Harpsichord)


HIS 254: The Jews of Russia
SP 130: Spanish


So, of course, I'll write up my new schedule here as soon as I've finalized it on the 14th.

That's about it, really... nothing very interesting to say. It was 80F yesterday, and very sunny, so the entire student body of Goucher spend the day outside on the quad, getting either pleasantly tan (as in Kaira's case), or turning into a tomato (as in my case). Heh... I'm not really that burned. I actually tanned a bit, for once! I have a really pale strip of skin where I left my watch on... it's sort of amusing.

Anyway, I'll write again soon, when I know more about my plans for the coming summer/fall. Until then, my love to all,
Tasha

The Hampton Estate

Well, I've had yet another adventure through the history of Baltimore! It's a bit difficult to escape them when I enjoy them so much, and they're required for class... anyway.

This week, my Historic Preservation class took a trip to the Hampton Estate, which is about a ten-minute drive away from Goucher campus. In fact, Goucher's current campus used to be part of the estate, and it is said that one of the would-be masters (Captain Charles Ridgely) was killed in a riding accident somewhere on campus (right by the Mary Fischer Library, to be exact). It was owned by the Ridgely family, who began building the mansion in 1783. It was completed in 1790, and was, at the time, the largest home in the United States. It was used as a summer home for the Ridgely family, and the estate included orchards and ironworks, a farm, and a racing track (Charles Carnan Ridgely, the second owner of the estate, and the nephew of the first was an avid horseman, and began to breed Thoroughbreds at Hampton. Carnan Ridgely was originally "Charles Ridgely Carnan," but changed his name in order to inherit the estate after the would-be owner, Captain Charles Ridgely, died).

It is now a museum, with each room restored to a different period of the mansion's history.

This, for example, is the Parlor, as it was in the 18th Century, just after the American Revolutionary War.

I love this carpet. It vaguely reminds me of a rug we used to have in New York, but then again, a lot of things vaguely remind me of other things. Don't mind me. Anyway. I didn't know this before, but at the time, carpeting was sold in strips of about 27 inches (if I remember correctly), and one can see the tiny gaps between strips...

...Yep.

And I happen to find this door quite interesting:

Ordinary, wooden door, right? Not quite. It's made of wood, of course, but it is painted over look like mahogany. Apparently, this was quite a popular method of decoration at this time. In the Great Hall, which I do not have many pictures of, the "marble" decorations at the bottom of the walls are actually wood, painted by somebody to look like marble.

And this is the East Hyphen. A "hyphen," in this case, describes part of a building that connects two larger areas of a building. In Georgian houses, which Hampton is a rather good example of, there were typically two hyphens, one on each side, connecting the larger part of the house to smaller areas. The East Hyphen, in this case, connects to the kitchens.

Each of these bells is connected to a separate room in the house. They each sound slightly different, so that when they were rung, servants knew which room to go to.

The Kitchens:

The Dining Room:

I have to say, I really love this room. Not as in "OhmygoodnessIwouldtotallydecoratemydiningroomlikethis," but in the more "I could spend my day staring at this room," sort of way. It is restored to what it would have looked like just after the Napoleonic Wars. It has a lot of this very beautiful Prussian blue paint, as you can see, and yes, we know for a fact that this was the color used at the time. It's surprisingly bright, but then again, nothing looks too ridiculous next to the mural they have on the wall. These sorts of wall murals were quite popular in Europe at the time, and the Ridgelys were very much aware of this. So they had their dining room wall painted with landmarks of Paris. I kept expecting to look around and see a guillotine painted somewhere, but no... I was disappointed.

The Drawing Room:

Now, we are very clearly no longer looking at the Federal Period. The Drawing Room (the room to which one would "withdraw" after dining) is as it would have looked in the 1850s-1860s. As you can see, there's another very elaborate carpet (imported from England), also in strips, though its more difficult to tell with this one. Here, we have another example of what I was talking about with the "mahogany" door: the wooden decorations on the walls are painted to look like sandalwood.

And I could kick myself for not getting a close-up, but in this room, one sees more decorations with stag heads, and shields with three stars... these are part of the Ridgely Family crest. Later on during the tour, we got to see a lot of the family silver, and quite a bit of it was also decorated with these symbols.

The White Curtain Room:

Well, quite clearly, there aren't any curtains in this room, but that's only because the museum is still researching exactly what they would have looked like. It's nice to know somebody is being a stickler about these things... anyway. This is a bedroom on the second floor, as it would have been in the 1890s. The second floor was meant more for guests, so it was more highly decorated, as you'll be able to see as I go on.

Another bedroom:

This room is restored to its Napoleonic War-era state. Small meals like breakfast and dessert would have been had in this room, and it also houses a telescope, which I would have been very happy to see closer up... but ah well. And if my photographing abilities were not as horrible as they are, you would be able to see that one of the panes of glass looks a bit different than the others... it was a common practice during this time to etch window panes with names, as well as dates of birth (and death). It's a bit classier than graffiti-ing the wall, I suppose...

Just a little section of wall decoration that was kept in the Gallery Room, where they are currently keeping the Ridgely Family silver.

The Needles Bedroom:

Still on the second floor...

 Back on the first floor, to the last room, which happens to be my favorite:

Of course, my favorite room would be the Music Room, shown here in all it's Victorian glory (there's even a little print of Queen Victoria in the corner. Something I wasn't quite expecting to find in Towson, Maryland of all places, but perhaps I shouldn't be too surprised. The Ridgelys did a lot of traveling, and there is a reason we know the period as "The Victorian Era" in the United States, and not just in Britain). This is how the room would have looked in the 1900s to be specific. There are hand-painted silk shades on each window, which I unfortunately could not manage to get a proper picture of, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say they were quite beautiful.  
I was excited to see this room in the first place, as I've been studying Victorian Parlor Organs for the past week or so, and I was excited to see one in person. So I walked into the room, ready to see an organ with a ridiculous amount of decorated wooden shelving, and instead, I got... well. A pretty standard-looking piano.

I'm not disappointed, really. I'm just a bit bemused, since Parlor Organs were so much a part showing off one's style and taste at this time... I suppose I can't really explain my feelings about it without going into a discussion of Parlor Organs in general, which will have to happen another time, but... anyway. Suffice it to say I was surprised. They also had the original harp used by one of the female family members, so I cannot complain.

And a few pictures of the facade to finish up:

 Well, that's just about that. If you are interested in learning more about it, here is the Hampton Estate's website: http://www.historichampton.org/.

And just a few words about myself personally... things are going fairly well. Busy as ever, but well. I just got my second major paper back from European History, which I wrote about the "Age of Metternich." If you are interested in reading it, let me know, and I will email it to you, along with my professor's comments. But anyway, I got another "A," so I'm pleased. I'm hoping (okay, I'm fairly sure) I did as well on the second part of my European History midterm.

More soon! My love to all,
Tasha

Myers, Briggs, and Holmes

I've been slacking off. Again. It's probably expected by now though, so anyway.

A lot has been happening over the past few days... weeks, actually, I suppose. I sat down thinking: "Finally! Time to write! This is going to be such a long post!" and now that I'm actually trying to write it all down, it seems like there's nothing really worth mentioning. Whenever I call my parents, or I come back to New York, and I get asked what has been going on, I have to respond: "Not much," because that's all I can say that really makes any sense. Things happen that seem very dramatic at the time, but by the time I get around to relating them, they're just more of the same story: I love class, I'm doing well, my friends stress me out more than my work does, I forgot to eat for three days, and now I'd like to sleep, please and thank you. It's all rather dull... but that's everyday life. And I like to think that while Professor Sheller continues to bring 19th century tailor's shears and tea sets and other such things into class for me to examine for two hours straight, everyday life won't be all that dull.

So yes. About the last two weeks specifically... well. Not much specific to say. I'm getting ready for a craft fair that should be taking place this Friday. Hopefully I'll earn some extra cash from it... that would be really nice. I'm just hoping people buy things at all. There was another craft fair last week that my friend Jenny was selling scarves at, and she managed to sell four of them. We were all quite amazed, as it's really impossible to get college students to buy anything that costs more than five dollars, and Jenny was charging fifteen... but anyway. I have hope. And very little else, but that's enough to be getting on with for now.

My classes have been going very well, as usual! I've just finished all my midterms, and should be getting some grades back over the next two days. Of course I'm nervous about it. I always am, no matter how well I do in the actual class. I keep getting the feeling that I could have written more, or that I could have included or explained more things more clearly... I cannot think about it. I really cannot afford to be worrying about things that I don't need to be worrying about... and yet, I do. Am I surprised? No. Am I frustrated with myself anyway? Yes. Rather.

Anyway.

You know, that paragraph started out very cheerfully, and ended very... not-cheerfully. I didn't mean for that to happen... as I was saying, my classes have been great. Of course, they're the reason I'm here, but I've also been feeling lately as if they're a safe haven from everything else that's been going on. People are complicated... yes, I know we all know that, but... wow. People are complicated. I tend to think of myself as somebody who doesn't really need other people around all the time... actually, most of the time. And yet, I attract people that need other people around them all the time, constantly. One can see the problem here... I make friends with people who need me around more than I need them around. And that sounds really horrible, but I don't mean it to sound that way... I love and enjoy my friends. I really do. Anybody could tell you that. It just happens to be that my best friends are people who are equally in need of time to themselves, and equally capable of entertaining themselves.

The nature of relationships at college just doesn't seem suited to the way I interact with people in general. I've met people who, overnight, will start calling me their best friend and spouting "I love you!"s like I don't even know what. I'm sorry. But my best friends are people who I have known for years. A few late-night study sessions does not give one that title. And I firmly believe "love," like "hate," is a very strong word, and a word that one should only use when one really means it. I am capable of having low-key, casual friendships, you know... not every friendship needs to have the intensity of... something very intense.

Sorry. I felt the need to vent about that. It's just that only about three people here seem to get that. And it frustrates me when I find myself in a situation where there's a lot of drama and anxiety, just because myself and the other person involved don't share the same idea of what friendships should be.

I need to put out a guidebook: How to Deal With Your Natasha Gross 1.0 or something like that. (For those of you who don't know, it would probably read something like this: http://typelogic.com/intj.html. Some of you may already know the story of how my Art History professor had us take the Myers-Briggs test earlier this semester... if you don't, that's pretty much how that went. Usually, I'm not one to put much faith in these personality test things... I think the most useful thing I learned from psychology in high school is that anything, if it is flattering and general enough, will be perceived as true. To be perfectly blunt, I think the whole personality type thing is simply another way of shoving people into boxes, which I thoroughly disaprove of, and my opinion is not helped by the fact that the tests themselves are almost always very general, and rather inaccurate. I happen to think that this one is very interesting, however, and I have to admit I'm impressed with how well it described me. With some people, it completely misses, but... anyway. This has been a very long parenthetical statement.)

Anyway, I've been burying myself in my work as a result, and I've come to the conclusion that this is how things should be. I don't need to be socializing... just give me a book and an essay to write, and I'm happy. And speaking of books and essays, I just finished re-reading The Sign of Four for my European History class. Yes, that's The Sign of Four, as in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, as in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm not sure how to get across just how pleased I am that this is required reading... it's how we're meant to be studying Victorian culture. Really, it's just an excuse for me to curl up with Misha, a cup of tea, and a whole lot of late 19th Century trash literature.

A worthy use of time, I think.

So I shouldn't be complaining as much as I am... I may have people problems, and I may worry too much about everything, but I get to read Sherlock Holmes for class. And I'm not currently in Libya or Japan. ...I really wish I could say something about those situations that somebody else has not already said. It's just amazing what has happened over the past two months. Frightening, really. But things like this happen all the time, and I never hear about them... it is interesing what the media chooses to cover, and what the superpowers choose to get involved in, and what they don't. That being said, my heart goes out to everybody suffering right now, whether the BBC talks about them or not.

My love to all,
Tasha

ps. I feel the need to mention this to everybody: one of my best friends is in circus arts, and is (in addition to being an all-around extraordinary person, both in terms of personality and intelligence) a fantastic performer. Here's one of his videos, if you are interested in seeing what he does...

Trevor:  I can't wait to hear what L'École de Cirque de Québec says. No matter how it turns out, I cannot say how in awe I am of you, or how proud I am to call you my friend. :)

Internships and Insecurities

Well, despite the fact that it is in the title, I really don't have any news on any internships yet. But it relates to what's been going on lately, because the whole "lets-make-plans-for-summer" thing has been taking up a rather large portion of the energy my brain has that isn't focused on classes. Most of you probably already know this, but when something big is left undecided, or unsure, I tend to think myself into a state of stress disproportionate to the sittuation. Right now, my summer plans seem completely fluid. I may be doing the Medieval Studies program at Cambridge, if I get an internship, and if I don't get an internship, I may be doing another program earlier in the summer at Cambridge, provided that there are still spots open, and if that doesn't pull through, I'll hopefully be taking classes at one of the colleges in New York, or elsewhere theoretically. Okay. All of this is purely theoretical. Which is my issue in the first place.

...I'm fairly sure this isn't a very healthy outlook on life. I'm going to have to get over this whole fear-of-the-undecided thing at some point.

Also, I got a B on a paper for Russian History. Not terrible, but it sort of dampens the sort of "I-can-do-anything" high I've been on for the past few weeks. Honestly, I wasn't expecting a fantastic grade on this one, seeing as I really don't know much about this period of Russian history, and have less outside information to draw on for these things. But still. And I don't mean for this to sound as if I'm saying that because I got one B, I'm having a mental break-down... my expectations aren't that high. Okay, that's a lie, my expectations are that high, but that's not the point. My point is that I'm not especially bothered by the grade. It just happened to come at a point when I'm worrying about whether or not I'm going to get an internship or not, and...

...anyway. Basically, I'm stressing myself about something I have no real reason to be stressing about. I think. I hope. I've also noticed a decreasing tolerance for socialization. As it currently stands, I'm hiding in my upcoming essays, and refusing to talk to anybody I don't need to.

...yeah. Moving on. It's a good thing Spring break is in two days.

Things have been pretty alright, other than everything I just talked about. The semester has been fairly easy in terms of workload, which I have greatly enjoyed rubbing in the faces of all my science-major friends. Which is pretty much all my friends, actually... Anyway. One of the great benefits of being a history major is that the only homework I ever get consists of reading and writing. Occasionally, it requires reading quite a bit, and writing quite a bit. Obviously, I understate. But it's really quite nice for somebody who enjoys that sort of thing, and especially nice for somebody who enjoys it and can do it quite quickly. Thankfully, that's me.

But anyway, that means I've had time to actually go to events and get off of campus a bit...

(Ellie, Sarah, and I at a lacrosse game.)

(...I really don't know how to explain this one.)

...I haven't actually gone anywhere very interesting, other than a Japanese restaurant and the local art supplies store. And my friend Jenny had to drag me out of the library for that trip, so it doesn't really count. I also got dragged out to a lacrosse game somehow... I'm still trying to figure out how that happened. It was fun though. And it took my mind off of a lot of things. Not really, but it helped.

As I mentioned earlier, Spring break is in two days, so hopefully I'll get to slow down and relax a little bit before finishing up the semester. (Yes. Finishing up the semester. I'm amazed that I can even use the phrase, but it's true... my last day is 12 May.) That being said, I don't really want to relax... I just want to get stuff sorted out. As soon as I know what I'm doing this summer, I can relax, but until then, I will continue to worry about it.

Well, sorry about the amount of blabbering in this post. I'll write again soon, and probably from New York!

My love to all,
Tasha

Visits and Papers

Well, it's been a long few weeks... I really dislike February. It is the shortest month of the year, in terms of actual days, but I don't think any month manages to drag on for this long...

Thankfully, I've had plenty to keep my spirits up. The weather in Baltimore gets warmer sooner than it does in New York... which I'm less happy about in autumn, but at around this time of year, it's wonderful. There's a bit of a shorter wait for spring. I've also been very happy with how my classes have been going (for the most part). My first paper for American History had me a bit nervous, as I very unwisely assumed I could leave it 'till the last minute, and I didn't think I did as well on it as I could have... to be honest, I thought it was awful. I just got it back last Thursday, and --surprise of surprises-- I got an A on it.

I'm starting to think Karia has a point when she tells me to calm down about these things. (Actually, I've been hearing that from a lot of people recently. They may have a point.)

I also got back my first paper for this semester of European History the other day. It was really fun to write-- the premise was a bit more complicated than this, but essentially, I got to blather on about the Enlightenment for 5-7 pages. Of course, being that the Enlightenment is my favorite time period, and I've managed to keep everything I learned about it in high school stuffed in my head, I had a lot of material to work from... so,  yes. My paper is ten pages long. And I could have written at least five pages more. And I'm definitely not going to let it get to my head. In any case, Professor Fraser writes really detailed comments, and for papers, she actually types out a separate page of comments. Personally, I think this is a brilliant system-- I wish all the professors would do that. But anyway. I now have a page of what is, essentially, her going on about... well. Here's what she said:

"Comments:



Natasha, this is excellent- not only for a first essay of the semester or for the level of analysis I expect for this introductory class, but as a proper historical essay that succeeds on a much higher level. You write very well, using clear, concise prose, and your analytical observations are astute and sophisticated. Your attention to chronology in these documents and how they compare to each other is very good, and you have shown an understanding of these documents that far exceeds my expectations at this level. Well done! I sense that you have even more going on in your brain than you could fit on the page, so throughout the semester, something you can work on is achieving even more succinctness and clarity with your arguments and examples. History writing can be particularly challenging because there is always so much we can include! I have no problem with the length of your essay here, but I think you can also work on conciseness and precision- and practicing the always difficult decision-making process about not only what should be included, but also what can be left out. I almost hate to give this grade on the first assignment of the semester, lest it indicate there is no room for improvement, but this really is very well done. Keep it up!


Grade: A "

Yep... I'm happy. Historic Preservation and Russian History are going just as well, though I wish I could say the same for Art History. It's not that I'm doing badly... I just don't have quite the same level of enthusiasm for it as I do for my other classes. I'm sure it's just the way this professor is teaching it, and that I'll be a lot happier once we get to the survey part of the class (where we actually learn history), but right now, we're just going over all the theoretical stuff. There really is a certain type of person who is cut out for it. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm one of them.

Ah well. I honestly cannot complain. Too many good things going on to be able to grumble because I have one class I'm slightly frustrated with.

Daria, my sister, visited the weekend before last! It was great to see her again... unfortunately, it turned out to be a really busy weekend for me in terms of work (both for class and for, you know, actual work), so we couldn't do anything interesting... I feel really bad about it. But I suppose that's the way things happens sometimes... next time, I'll have to make sure I have a enough free time to go around to museums and such. We did manage to get to the Paper Moon Diner, after a bit of an adventure in wandering around Baltimore at 7.00 in the evening, and Daria finally got to meet Kaira and Ellie, so I'm happy about that at least. (By the way, if you're reading this Daria: Kaira and Ellie say "hello.") We also went to see a friend of mine play at the Gopher Hole (the bar/coffee shop of Goucher campus), which was really fun. And... that's about it. I'm a very boring older sister. (Sorry.)

Speaking of work... I've been looking to get another job, since I'm now only working at the stables on the weekends, and at a really inconvenient time too. I wouldn't mind that, if it were a job that was actually helping my resume, or my major, or my education in general, but... well. Feeding horses doesn't do any of those things. So I'm looking into getting a job at the library for next semester (or for the remainder of this one, if possible). If I do get a job for this semester, the hours are likely to be a little odd, as the library is open 24/7, and nobody really wants the 3am-6am shift... but if it gets me time to do my work on the weekends, I'm happy.

Anyway... that's about it for now. It's been pretty dull around here, to be honest. I've been rather slowly working on A History of the English Speaking Peoples, by Winston Churchill. I'm about halfway through Volume II (so just around the Spanish Armada), and I'm hoping to read The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco, after Volume III... so I'll be needing book suggestions for this April-May. Ideas, anyone?

My love to all,
Tasha

ps. I've had a lot of Edward Elgar running through my head lately as well.