An Open Letter to the Weather

Dear Weather,

I know I chose to go to school here but it certainly wasn't for you. If I wanted beautiful autumns I would've gone to New England, if I wanted mild winters, I would've stayed home. Alas, I love Beloit too much.

But you could still try.

I mean, really. It's the second week of October and it is 89°F out with 70% humidity. That's not cool.

The air conditioning was turned off in my building last week because we shouldn't need it! We had the fan on all night and I still woke up with my pajamas stuck to me! After I dropped my prospie off this morning I came back to shower and turned the fan on HIGH and COLD. All it did was blow warm air.

And then I remembered the magic of the Midwest – it changes in an instant. From the time it took to walk from the library to Aldrich (time: 3.5 minutes) the skies grey. By the time I had set down my books and walked to the bathroom there were ominous clouds outside my window (time: 35 seconds). And when I had made it back to my room from the bathroom (time: 10 seconds), it was pouring. I grabbed my umbrella and bag and headed out into the rain. I hadn’t walked more than 50 feet when the rain stopped.

Then the wind picked up and it felt like autumn. Thank you, I finally get to wear a sweatshirt again (even though it’s 70°F).

Weather-gods, where ever you are, thank you for letting us have autumn. Tomorrow’s forecast (in the 50s and 60s) looks lovely.

At least you haven’t made it snow yet like you did a year ago this week. Yeah, that wasn’t cool.

Sincerely,

Quinn

thursday means it's almost the weekend

Today is Thursday - the best day of the week, at least, in my opinion. Not only is it almost the weekend but it's also a great TV night. Not only does is The Office on but starting tonight is Supernatural! I say I watch Supernatural for the content - American urban legends - but in reality it's for 3 simple things:
1) The Metallicar (a 1967 Chevy Impala)
2) The classic rock soundtrack
3) The attractive main characters

Other than that, this week has been pretty mellow. Last week consisted of 2 papers, 1 rewrite and 1 exam. With only 1 exam this week I can see the light of October break. Ahhhh, I'm excited.

Last weekend was Parent's Weekend so it was a mellow weekend on campus. This weekend, though, is Alumni Weekend. That means that this week was Homecoming...I think. We're all proud to represent Beloit, here, but we forget we have sports teams (sorry about that...). It also means that things are really happenin' this week and weekend. Tonight is another band night at C-Haus (the bar) for student's bands and this weekend there are some dance parties at a frat and sorority.


I found this on the sidewalk outside a dorm. It's a good reminder.


Smile.

pure-bred geek

I'm sitting here in Admissions trying to locate the USB port for this computer. Where the heck is it? Apparently, this computer doesn't have one even thought it seems to be only a few years old. I've got some lovely photos on my flash drive but can't get them off there onto the computer!

Anyway, I'll continue.

[EDIT: I added photos!]

I recieved two packages last week, on the same day. One was a new bubble umbrella (clear with a blue stipe) and the other was a care package from home. We have 5 apple trees, a pear tree, an asian pear tree, 2 plum trees and a necatrine tree in the yard so my parents send a box of apples and pears. I've given some away (like to my RA, Connor, for helping me carry the box) and others I've eaten.

I love autumn in Wisconsin, there are so many more colors than at home (silly evergreen trees!). In Botany today we took a field trip around campus to see some of the trees! Most of them are still green but a few have been turing beautiful shades of orange and yellow.

Alas, I'm also lacking in a beautiful picture of the trees. But I'll add some tomorrow or later tonight! Pretty leaves!

I can see from the blog counter that lots of people have been visiting the blogs from all over the country and the world! It's really nice to know people are reading because for a few weeks there it seemed like only the other SOIs were reading the blogs. That and our parents (Hi Mom and Dad!).

be classy, okay?

This summer I worked at Ace Hardware for most of the summer. It was uneventful other than the few days I had pink hair (for Harry Potter because I went as Tonks).





The highlight of my summer, though, was the week I was a Camp Counselor for a group of 83 youth in 7-9th grades. Working with such an energetic bunch of young adults was life changing. It's a tricky age to be in (remember 8th grade? yeah, not fun). The energy that my fellow counselors and I were able to help focus was unbelievable. That one week gave me such a better outlook on the future. The amazing ideas and futures in those youth were more than I ever thought of at that age.

Right now I'm chatting on AIM with one of the girls that was in my cabin this summer. I can feel her enthusiasm in everything she writes.

There is really is hope for the future.


And remember...

nataliedee.com

i haz a blog

Even with all the work I have this week and next, I still find time to goof off. Rather, I love the internet and often spend too much time reading dumb websites...

Like I Can Has Cheezburger ---->

College does have a lot of downtime. I seriously never thought I would watch as many 90's movies as I have. Or movies from my childhood (the Swan Princess anyone?). The public library has an amazing selection, as I've mentioned before. If I were a superhero, my power would be able to "call" things (Accio keys!) but libraries would be my weakness.

Speaking of the library, they're building a new one! Currently it's 3 blocks off campus in a decent sized building but they're renovating the old Beloit Mall and putting it in there. It'll now be the opposite way off campus and not much farther. It should be opening in late 2008 or early 2009.

You really have no idea how excited I am for this new library. I love libraries.

In other news, the evening chat is now online! Sunday through Thursday from 6:30 to 9:30 CST you can chat with real, live students -- ask any questions you want! Just sign up here and log in! Once things get hopping, if you just want to sit in the chat and not ask any questions, that's fine too!

half a post...in hindi. thanks blogger.

LAME. I wrote half a post before it switched into Hindi. Blogger can now be written in Hindi but if it gets switched into it it can't go back. Not cool.

It's been nearly a week since I posted because things get crazy all at once. I have two paper and an exam this week PLUS an exam next Monday. This is on top of the regular reading and smaller projects that I have like memorizing a Shakespearean sonnet to recite for class or reading all of Gulliver's Travels in a week.

All I want to do is snuggle in my bed a read The Great Gatsby again. It also doesn't help that my roommate got me started on the first season of Heroes. I finished my paper before I got here so we're going to watch at least one more episode tonight.

Julia and I are in here tonight (along with Tracy from the Admissions Office) trying to get into the new chat module. Emily seems to have gotten on fine early this evening but we've having a hard time. Something isn't loading right and logins aren't working. We haven't gone completely live yet so we aren't worrying too much but Bryan (our supervisor) is on the road and unable to help.

You know how in high school it's really annoying but sort of fun when the fire alarm goes off? You get to leave class, chat with friends and avoid doing work, right? Yeah, it's not all that cool when it's 7 PM, you're writing a 5 page paper and someone burns chicken on the floor above you so everyone has to go stand outside the building. We sat for 15 minute in the parking lot waiting for security to give us the thumbs up before we could enter the smoky building stairwell.

At least it was a decent reason - apparently a fire extinguisher exploded last year during the winter at 4 AM and the alarms went off.

Maybe we can log into the chat module now that it's been half an hour since we got here...if not, it's homework time!

true confessions of a college student

If I was a productive student, I'd be doing the Botany reading that is sitting at my elbow.


toothpastefordinner.com

But I'm not. It's Tuesday and my brain is fried. I was sick this weekend so I neglected to write an analysis of a sonnet for Oral Interpretation (THEA 105) until 9 PM last night. The other problem is that my roommate and I get sidetracked by doing things like trying to find the mouse that has been eating our food or dancing around the room to Beirut songs. So when we finally turned out the light at 2 AM I had no idea I had set my alarm clock wrong.

Let's just say I wasn't too late for class.



Not much is happening in the office tonight since all the phone calls have been made and all the envelopes have been stuffed. It's a chill Tuesday night on campus too so when I'm done with my shift it will be back to my room to read some Aristotle for my Rhetoric class before bed.



One of my favorite things about the town of Beloit is the public library. Not only do they have nearly all of P.G. Wodhouse's works but they also have a GIANT movie collection.

I returned 3 Twilight Zone DVDs and picked up a couple of things I had never seen before and one of my favorites:



I love musicals. Love 'em all.



[[photos courtesy of toothpastefordinner.com and google images]]