Category: Undergrad Stories

and emily still hasn’t started her lit paper. but she did think about topics for her computer science term project. did she decide on one? no, not exactly…break is in 3 days, right? thought so.

i did laundry today, which shocked even me! i held out for six weeks. that’s 46 pairs of underwear, and i really could have gone through october break, but i was down to the gray ones that i don’t like. i filled three washers and two dryers, and still spent less than i would have at mount holyoke to do just one load! eventually, that might make up for the small fortune i’m spending on [i heart] ny gas prices! but that would be a lot of laundry.

i really like the fedex.com commercial where they pull the new-hire to do shipping, and he’s a snob and says, “i don’t do shipping,” and the woman assures him that fedex.com is easy and straightforward and he’ll catch on and he says, “no, you see, i have an mba,” and she gets sincerely concerned and says, “ohhh, you have a mba…then i’ll have to show you how.” wit. i also enjoy the dawn detergent commercial with the duck rescued from an oil spill. “if she could talk, she’d tell you how dawn saved her life” b/c the rescuers used it to clean her up safely. quack!

my last swim class is tomorrow, and i’m sad b/c i really liked my teacher and i don’t want to start fitness. it’s so much more exciting to get in the water twice a week. someone encourage me to go to the pool once in awhile and practice.

quote of the day: “and what were thou, and earth, and stars, and sea, if to the human mind’s imaginings, silence and solitude were vacancy?” – shelley

love always, em locke

i had such a good time with holly and allegra and em, we did all my favorite things, even sleeping until 1:00 on saturday, naturally.

driving into south hadley and through campus was the epitome of de ja vu. it was about 5, the time of day i always used to love at mhc b/c of the way the sun set on the lake and the lights glowed from all the dorm windows. it’s still so classically beautiful. holly came out and gave me a hug and brought me up to her room, which is lovely, but not as cozy as the cottage! i was so happy to see her. so we met emily (who made me a sparkly card!) and then we ate chicken fingers in blanchard and em gave me the grand tour, including the school store. they have sweatpants with pockets! so we hung out in emily’s beautiful room (the french windows are surrounded with ivy – it’s like walking into a british novel!) in south delle for awhile, and then went over to allegra’s room and played a little nintendo and then holly and i went to bed (but not before talking about boys just a little.)

on saturday we slept late, getting up only so we could all go craft shopping! emily bought new knitting needles and some new yarn for a scarf and let me cast-on for her, and allegra and holly and i wandered through ae for awhile and stopped in the thirsty mind and ate dinner at fedora’s (good chili). i called rachel while holly was at work and she showed me her huge room in 1837 and we walked up to porter together to revisit the catalyst to the wacky em & rachel duo. then i caught up with everyone else again and we went up to emily’s room and watched a movie. that was the best. em & i were knitting, i got to sit in the chair she “swiped” from the laundry room, and she made me tea and fed me chocolate!

this morning, holly and i got up early (early for us anyway), grabbed smoothies at the rockies and went to northampton to go shopping. we stopped in the cedar chest and at faces and then walked down to this vintage thrifty store we’d always wondered about and got ice cream at herrell’s. holly said, “i want to take a picture of us eating our cones” which made me smile b/c i was thinking the exact same thing. we went into lucky’s too, which was exciting b/c i’d always wanted to go in, but never had the courage without someone to hold my hand and remind me to play it cool!

but i did have to leave eventually. aww. but before i took off holly and i went down the gardens and took a couple of photos. i can’t wait to have them all developed.

so, the mount holyoke weekend is over. but i’m back at hamilton, it’s my new home and i’m still happy! mount holyoke ladies, save me some M&C’s. you’ll always be in my heart. and i’ll be back to see you soon!

quote of the weekend: “and it hurts to want everything and nothing at the same time. i want what’s yours and i want what’s mine. i want you, but I’m not giving in this time” – michelle branch

love always, em locke

just got back from setting up a tent with emily and emma from ropes. we’re camping out for heag zero energy week. finally, i get my camping wish! the ems are really nice, they’re both frosh from kirkland and we’ve been doing ropes together for a few weeks now. on wednesday i ate dinner at the diner with emma and a bunch of other ropes kids and i had such a good time. that is what i always imagined college would be like. i was so surprised to say something and have someone else laugh outloud and say something back and hear people laugh in a “you’re clever and funny” way instead of a “yeah, riiiight, whatever” way. definitely haven’t had that since camp. or my house. but that doesn’t count. the “whatever” laugh was getting me down.

so, we are devoted to the camping cause, but i have to point out the fact that our tent stands alone on the quad right now! maybe that’s b/c it’s 36 degrees out and raining and windy? nah, couldn’t be. some guy with a camera came out and just seemed shocked to see us. and we can’t wait to tell andrew (the wild british ropes/adventure program director) that, while we might now feel confident enough to try cutaway rescues on the high elements, we aren’t afraid to conquer the elements! it is pretty darn cold out there though.

and post-camping, i’m leaving for south hadley! i can’t wait to see blanchard and holly’s room in safford and, oh yeah, holly! there is much excitement.

discovered this site today. not only is still emily the most popular name for baby girl’s and the 99th most common name for women in the united states (but a very rare male name in fact), but white is the 14th most common last name! i’m holding on over ever so dearly to locke. locke. locke. locke.

love always, em locke

to laura, who is celebrating her 19th birthday today! laura and i were inseparable when we were kids. you know when you’re little and you’re over at your best friend’s house and your mom comes to pick you up so you hide and you really believe that you might get to play a little longer if the adults can’t find you? like they’ll give up? i hid in laura’s guest room pretty frequently.

laura had a whole dresser drawer full of barbie dolls and clothes and accessories (but we rarely bothered with those plastic heels) and she had these little plastic glowbug toys that we would hold under her lamp and then take them into the big closet (where laura stored her purple and pink marabou dress up mules) and close the door to see them glow in the dark.

her brother rode his bike into me one time, but her dad is a devoted mets fan, which i can’t help but respect, so the whole tire-imprints-on-my-shin incident can be overlooked.

we both had american girl dolls and she never questioned the fact that i changed my samantha’s name to jessica.

i remember eating a lot of popcorn and drinking a lot of apple juice at laura’s house. every time i eat popcorn i compare it to what we ate together in elementary school.

and, her birthdate is 10.02 and my birthdate is 02.10!

love always, em locke

things i want to do in south hadley this weekend:
go fabric shopping with holly & allegra
play nintendo
have coffee in northampton
shop at faces and at cedar chest
feed the prospect ducks
tour blanchard and eat chicken fingers
demonstrate how much my knitting has improved
take lots of pictures

quote of the day: “you are the music while the music lasts.” – t.s. elliot

love always, em locke

i love climbing, i love camping, i love exploring the woods. but hiking up a mountain may not be among my top ten saturday activities. it was a rough day. we hiked phelps, which has an ascent of 3394′ and is about 10 miles, base to summit. we made it up and back in about 5 hours, but baby, i could have taken a little more sweet time! the weather held in that it didn’t rain until the very minute i got back to my room at about 9 tonight, but it was pretty overcast and extremely windy at the summit. it was cold and powerful, but pretty refreshing, since i was just physically drained out of my mind. endurance, endurance, endurance!

so, due to the cloudiness, the view at the top wasn’t fantastic or amazing or breathtaking (although my breath was long gone, trust me) by any means, but it was impressive and it could have been an exhilarant moment, but no one else seemed that excited. i guess i’m used to hiking with my family. we live it up when we get to the top. whether it’s to enjoy the view or check out the high altitude terrain or to recover, i’ve always really liked taking that time to look out over what you’ve achieved. we always take pictures and hold hands and while it might be a little touristy, it’s my favorite part. i missed that today. and i kept wishing maggie was there! nothing cuter than a dog with a pack trotting the trail.

as mountains go, since i had plenty of time to think about it on the way down, i think my favorite is the acadia region in maine. i remember spending just a day in acadia on the congregation church home trip when i was a junior. jill and i climbed cadillac mountain and then came down to the beach and went right in the water. as i recall i had to talk jill into the surf b/c neither of us had a change of clothes, but we lived it up to our knees and dried off on the rocky maine shore. it was so beautiful and it smelled so good and it was a very jill & emmo moment.

the highlight of my day? i finally talked to drew! i was so surprised to hear from him last week, and i finally got him on the phone. i miss him, i miss camp, and i didn’t feel so lonely knowing it was all on the other end of the wire. i want to stop down at camp for the afternoon/evening/night on my way home for fall break in two weeks. we talked about next summer, and he said that he is considering contacting paul and going out to orkila instead of back to jewell. of course, that’s what i’ve been thinking about since i found out paul was moving on. i really would consider it. it would be different and everyone knows how i deal with change, but at the same time, how great would it be to hit the west coast and work right on the pacific coast? hello! new experiences abound, and change can be good.

quote of the day: “suddenly, i wanted to lie down for about 2 years.” – a prairie home companion

love always, em locke

what else is there to say? leaving in 27 minutes for adirondack county. it’s actually not all that cold. i kinda wish i was sleeping in the woods right now instead of being awake in my room!

quote of the day, and by day i mean very early morning: “every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for a familliar ground.” – judith thurman

love always, em locke

while i wasn’t so much a fan on tuesday, campus safety and the parking office are my favorite people today! really, all i did was sit in the office for 10 minutes before the director said, “do we have room for her in the bundy lot?” and someone else said, “sure we do,” and she looked at me and said, “we’re just going to fit you in there.” good thing i didn’t mention that i drive a station wagon and i never learned to parallel park. i practically teared up with excitement and relief and appreciation, which they found quite amusing. there was nothing better than unloading the groceries from my car and then just…leaving it there. not driving all the way to north lot (i would link to the campus map right now, but it’s not even within campus limits!) and then spending 15 minutes on the street before i could come home and actually put my groceries away!

off to the adirondacks! we’re not spending the night b/c it’s gotten too cold, but we’re going to hike all day tomorrow. i only wish this gorgeous weater would hold! it’s perfect out today, and it smells just like september. tomorrow it’s supposed to be warm during the day, but partly cloudy and then storms at night. not that i don’t love a good storm, but i would rather enjoy it from the comfort of my clean lavender sheets than hike or drive through it in the dark!

seven days until i get to see holly! and i think i’m going to go back in november to see ani difranco at umass with rachel, which would be just awesomely fun. i’d have to miss wilderness training with hoc, but i’m not even cpr certified right now, so what’s really the point? i can take the course with the red cross or through the y if i want to later. and i’m going to try to do hamilton’s emt training this spring! b/c i need something to do on saturday nights.

quote of the day: “the moon shines for you.” – lisa loeb

love always, em locke

i cleaned my room and now i have a place to sit and a spot to put my keys so i don’t lose them every five minutes and i dug out the closet and actually tuned my guitar for the first time since camp! i had to refresh my chord vocabulary (still all of 3 or 4…) but i practiced a little and looked up guster chords.

i’m going to visit mount holyoke in october! i’m going to drive down on friday afternoon and stay with holly until sunday. it’s probably going to be weird…but i can’t wait to see everyone and the new blanchard and rao’s and maybe go to northampton (on the pvta?) and go shopping. and the weekend after that i go home for october break. i’m definitely looking forward to that b/c i miss maggie.

in other news, it’s melissa’s 19th birthday!

quote of the day: “channeling my inner computer nerd” – lauren
love always, em locke

current projects and/or goals:

a) starting a hamilton daily jolt
b) organizing a soda tab campaign for the make a wish foundation
c) designing a curtain to hide my closet & one to cover the faux wood panelling
d) recording a cd with all the songs i used to sing my campers to sleep

but for now, the girl needs her sleep!

love always, em locke