spring break my butt

I miss the quarter system. Three sets of finals can be a pain, and, sure, I always wasted away spring quarter returning to a healthy state of brownness, but at least I had a real spring break! I'm in Chicago now, and I'm having a lovely time. Gary's cooking me yummy food, and I drive 1/10th of my daily commute dropping him off at work. I don't need to schlep myself to class or wake up pre-dawn or suffer bad cafeteria food. Nevertheless, my brain persists in school-mode. Last night I couldn't sleep because visions of applications, outlines, and casebooks swirled in my head for an hour. Good thing Gary's wine-scented breath lulled me to sleep.

To soothe me during the day, I've listened to Jack Johnson's album, oh, twenty times this week. Since my ex-boyfriend ran away with another brown girl who loved Jack Johnson, I couldn't listen to his music without being physically ill. The worst part was that she raved on about how great he was long before "Bubble Toes" came on the radio, which means that she could have been ... cool. Ewww. Try as I might, I couldn't resist him. Damn him and his clever lyrics and his catchy beats and his classical guitar and his artful CD jacket and his handsome good looks. Damn him!

trimspa baby

This morning, in Property class, my professor projected her notes directly from Microsoft Word onto two jumbo screens on both sides of the classroom. She was lecturing about easements when, unbeknownst to her, a pop-up popped up in the lower right hand corner of her screen. I squinted my eyes and read the words "Quick Clips: Wild Anna Nicole and more!" I bit my lip and hid my face to keep from bursting as my prof droned on. Gradually, the rest of the class caught on, and judging from the look on my prof's face, she thought we were all crazy. Then she looked up at the screen, walked over to her computer, and clicked on the link out of curiosity. The class was on the floor. There was major potential for huge Anna Nicole MTV-boobies, but luckily the feed didn't come in right away. My friend turned to me and said, "Man! No porn!" My thoughts exactly.

fussy

Eating is a chore to me right now. If I didn't have to eat, I'd be really happy. For instance, I have to finish an assignment for Legal Research now, and my stomach is getting very angry with me. It must be done before 2, so I don't really have time to eat. So I neglect my stomach for a few hours, which makes it even pissier. When I finally get time to eat, it turns a cold shoulder and refuses to take in more than few mouthfuls. By that time, I've wasted precious time trying to please it, only to get an ungrateful response. Geez.

macauley used to be so cute

Tonight is my first night home alone ever. My mom went to visit my sister up north, and my dad is on call at the hospital. I've been alone at night in apartments before, but there multiple tenants, a common locked door, and second-story windows gave me a sense of security. I've been scared of my house since I was a child, and remnants of that irrational fear linger today.

When I was little, I spent most of my time in my room or my sister's room. The living room was set up for guests, so we never played there. At night, I would stare down my hall looking into that dark and ominous hole as the rest of my family stayed in the other side of the house ("other side" being no more than 15 feet away). Whenever I had to get something from the living room, I peeked out my door, mentally mapped my plan of attack, and ran to whatever it was I absolutely needed. Then I would run back, carefully slowing down near my parents' door to effect a cool demeanor. If you've ever been to my little house, you know how ridiculous this is.

By high school, I became afraid of the garage. One winter, a bunch of maniacal rats entered our garage, chewed up my dad's engine (resulting in $3000 in repairs), and maimed most of my childhood dolls. Shortly after that incident, I saw a huge rodent scurry across a beam in my garage, which scared the crap out of me. Ever since then, I hate going in there at night. I realize that rats are smaller than me, but remember, I irrationally fear small animals. Plus, because of all the trees in my backyard and my neighborhood, my family and I practically live on a wildlife reserve. Opossums, (freakishly big) squirrels, raccoons, peacocks, birds of all sizes, and, of course, bees all hang out here. Once in a while, they somehow show up dead (perhaps after a small animal rumble), and I make my little sister take care of it.

My friends at school generously offered to let me stay at their place tonight, but I figured I should just deal with this. Though, I think I subconsciously avoided "dealing" with being alone with my house at night: with a research memo, forty pages of constitutional law, a torts assignment covering "the hardest material of the semester" (quoting my torts prof), and a large latte in front of me, I might not have to sleep alone in my house after all.