emlocke

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  • Thanksgiving Diz-ay

    Title inspired by ::chicka chicka:: Robby Stanley, who finished his grace at Holly’s Thanksgiving dinner table with “Amen on this lovely Thanksgivin’ Diz-ay.”

    My Thanksgiving dinner was far less eventful, but it was nice to be home for the holidays instead of a minor surgical procedure. Of course, I had the annual “Big Thanksgiving Decision” to make. Freshman year it was “Roommate Homicide or Suicide?” Sophomore year it was “To De-Transfer to Mount Holyoke or Not/Semester Off?” This year it was “University College London or Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand?” It all started with everyone telling me that I would never get into UCL and I was so afraid that I wouldn’t get to go anywhere, so when Holly said, almost kidding, “You should just apply to New Zealand and come with me,” I decided I might as well.

    By then, I was accepting the idea of not going to London and getting excited about this new adventure in my future. Which is why I was extra shocked when the rep from the Butler program called to tell me that “Sometimes the universe goes awry and even I have been known to be wrong, you did get into UCL.” Bring on the internal conflict. How do you compare London and New Zealand? Well, you don’t. In the end, instincts and logistics all pointed to Victoria, so pending acceptance (which is said to be gauranteed if my GPA is +2.7!), I will be leaving for Wellington, New Zealand in Febryary, 2005.

    I’m sort of sad about London. I have to get used to not feeling like I’m missing out or like I’m breaking from the timeless English major in the UK mold. I’m also still sort of revelling in the fact that UCL accepted my application even though my GPA was short a few tenths-of-points. Was it a fluke? My advisors seem to think so. But what have I learned in the last year? Not everything is a promise, not everything is a sign. I have a habit of believing that words or events or flukes all mean something, but I’m trying to remember that even though things happen for a reason, individuals are also responsible for their own choices and all I can do is follow whatever path I can forge for myself. And if that path is leading me down under, well, who am I to resist?

    On Friday I babysat for the Cass’s (as documented below) and on Saturday, Lauren and I hung out in Dunkin’ Donuts discussing the finer points of ghetto-speak, a metalanguage of middle Ridgefield, as ccollette might say. And tonight I’m back at school, working on homework in the library, with a job at the Gap (back again!) over J-Term and a new found appreciation for oversized My Little Ponies.


    Me and my grumpy honey monkey girl
    Posted by Hello

    Quote of the day: “But the day came when you were standing by the ocean, and I found the courage to stand next to you, I remembered the dream, where you were the angel” – Rebecca Riots

  • We’re Doing Facemasks Now

    Back to school post-wisdom teeth removal/recovery weekend, I was about to be sad about missing the first snow, but judging by the current greenness of the green, I didn’t miss much anyway. Holly got a haircut at Ochoa this afternoon and I almost didn’t recognize her. It’s still long but it’s all style-y. There’s a small part of me that thinks I could pull off style-y hair if I put in any effort at all. Ochoa even has a “scale of hair color,” one being black, ten being platinum. The shampoo guy told Holly that she is a seven, which means that she is way blonder than she would have ever admitted without salon-documented proof. I am making an appointment tomorrow in the hopes that a professional will be able to confirm, once and for all, that I am a strawberry blonde.

    I’m writing my children’s literature paper on Harry Potter and his self-image and how his role models and peers influence his own perception of himself (Ms. Wassall would loathe that sentence for it’s redundency and excessive use of reflexive pronouns.) I’m so into the topic though, I wish I had a month to write it instead of about four days. A. Pearce gave me an extension due to extenuating dental circumstances, but I promised myself I would finish it with enough time to shenanigan when Lindsay comes this weekend and most most most definitely before Thanksgiving break.

    Holly says, “Put that away, we’re doing facemasks now,” so I guess I have to go exfoliate.

    Quote of the day: “And when the darkness comes, I’ll lie and wait, still playing lost and found. All at once, I break my silence, all at once.” – Pete Yorn

  • Wisdom or Luck?

    Everybody is so moronically clever with the wisdom teeth remarks. If one more person quips about my new wisdom or my old wisdom or my lack of wisdom, I’ll – well, I won’t do much of anything because my face aches and I’m a little tipsy on the painkillers.

    So, you turn twenty and your dentist still isn’t entirely sure if you’ve got any teeth-in-waiting at all (cue the wittiest of wit: does the absence of said teeth suggest an absence of my common sense? Don’t be smug!) and suddenly you’re teething up there in the top left corner. Six months later, you’re in the chair thinking about how everyone says you’re soooo lucky because you only have one to remove.

    In the moment, I didn’t feel so lucky. Nobody thinks one tooth is worth anesthesia, so they pumped up the laughing gas and the novacaine and just went for it. Was anyone in the room/office/building complex really that shocked that the conscious girl in the chair screamed when she felt the pliers in her mouth? And now, even in a drug-induced sleep, I’m having flashback nightmares.

    I’m sitting (upright, it’s incredible) at my desk in my room at home, trying to type – it’s difficult because the narcotics make my fingertips feel fuzzy. I’m not sure how to write about my wisdom teeth [tooth] experience without actually thinking about it. It can’t be any more difficult than talking without thinking about it, or swallowing without thinking about it, smiling without thinking about it or eating and drinking without thinking about it. I’ve never devoted so much cerebral effort to not thinking about thinking about something (something that’s actually been removed, and isn’t that the whole point!)

    In all the thinking about not thinking about thinking about it, I have come up with a philosophical dental theory: If, as everyone says, the number of wisdom teeth a person has directly correlates with the level of that person’s wisdom, how does it account for how lucky that person is? Because for all the terror of the procedure, I certainly do not envy the pain and process of recovery for anyone who had four teeth surgically extracted. So, even with this wad of cotton in my mouth, I feel pretty lucky. And if I can come up with a formula like that on codeine, I don’t know how anyone could doubt my overwhelming wisdom.

    “I’ll drink to the madness that made me this way.” – Kasey Chambers

  • Why I Never Bought a Hamilton Sweatshirt

    Why wear a sweatshirt at a school where it is clearly more fashionable (and, apparently, newsworthy) to sport no clothing at all? Today’s New York Times features this charming article about my temporary alma mater. Excerpts…

    November 3, 2004
    In a Game of Shirts and Skins, They’d Be the Skins
    By MAREK FUCHS

    CLINTON, N.Y., Oct. 28 – At a rugby game at Middlebury College recently, cheerleaders had taken the field to urge on the home team with timeless perkiness when they were silenced by a drove of naked students running a parade line through the middle of the field. At Connecticut College, a tour of the campus was conducted in the typical formation, with the guide walking backward, pointing to everything from the library to the dean’s office. The only wrinkle was that those taking the tour, both men and women, were without a stitch of clothes…

    At colleges across New England and upstate New York, a band of naked students from Hamilton College, who call themselves the school’s varsity streaking team (and consider themselves undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the nation, though it is not clear – or even probable – that there is any competition), has been spotted tiptoeing through college libraries stark naked, forefingers on noses, advising people to shush and running down campus hills in a Flying V formation, also naked, flapping their arms and making “caw” noises.

    Proudly describing themselves as more narcissists than naturalists, the streakers, most of whom say they are on the fringes of campus life and washouts from youth athletic programs, are not authorized in any way by Hamilton College or the N.C.A.A., and they obviously do not have the more common trappings of team play, like uniforms. All they come equipped with is deadpan humor and sneakers.

    Theater of the absurd, meet intercollegiate sports…

    “We kept referring to ourselves as a team,” said Craig Moores, a senior studio arts major, “and then it dawned on us that if we were truly a team, we’d have to have away games…”

    The team starts by arriving on campus and formulating a plan of attack while fully clothed, disguised as that school’s students.

    At Colgate recently, they first figured that they would run through the main portion of campus, and two floors of the student center, before going into the woods to undress.

    Mr. Holzaepfel gave the team a pregame talk, though it was a short and modest one. The team was fearful of being caught, not to mention somewhat chilly….

    Off they went, imploring Colgate students to strip (none did), and then back to their cars, which, as bad luck would have it, were parked in a lot next to a building where Colgate’s president was holding a meeting.

    “We’ve done a lot of bad planning historically,” said Lydia Kiesling, a senior comparative literature major. “That’s usually the X-factor.”

    The team was hemmed into the parking lot by three campus security vehicles, backed by the Hamilton Village police.

    Andy Glossner, a junior chemistry major, looked ashen. If this police matter delayed him, he would miss an exam in physical chemistry, he wailed.

    “Physical chemistry?” repeated Ms. Kiesling. “As opposed to what, mental chemistry?”…

    Then the Hamilton Village police charged everyone with disorderly conduct.

    Quote of the day: “I belong to you, I belong to you, You’re the one who will never let me down, won’t let me down, I belong to you.” – Superchick

  • Tear Tour 2004


    rough draft
    Posted by Hello

    That’s what I’ve got in front of my right now, where there should be a paper of four to six pages in length on a pattern of langauge in The Canterbury Tales. Blurred perspective and all. You can’t quite make out the tear stains though. Seriously, I challenge each and every one of you to just go ahead and try to match my record for number of administrative offices cried in while enrolled at Mount Holyoke. Today, I knocked my quota up to an estimated eight to ten. And I’m branching out in genre, too – not to leave International staff wanting for tears, I cried in the Global Initiatives Office tonight, approximately twenty seconds before they closed. Beat that!

    Okay, really, I’m not proud. It’s exhausting, inelegant, and very inconvenient, not to mention wet and blotchy, to be trailing tears across campus. There is only one way to put an end to my Grand Tear Tour; something will just have to work out the way I want it to. Something, anything, preferably my study abroad plans, but really, anything will do at this point. Can you tell that things have been complicated? Frustration…

    Quote of the day: “Afraid of change, afraid of staying the same,when temptation calls, we just look away.” – Barenaked Ladies

  • Just Because I Can

    Remember three days ago when I couldn’t satisfy my urge to blow kisses at everyone via the Internet (or is it just internet now? Depends on who you talk to.). Mwah! There’s nothing like a new toy to inspire blogging even after a seemingly endless dry spell. Here I am after cleaning my whole room, top to bottom, for Family & Friends weekend.


    friday kisses
    Posted by Hello

    I called home to ask for lots of batteries, because they are expensive and my Discman is dead, and my brother answered the phone with “Hey, I have a quick question.” Wait just one second now, I called you! He’s like, “Yeah, I know,” but didn’t seem to think it odd that I called and he got to ask his favor first. Typical!

    Quote of the day: “You arrive and the night is alive, yeah, you are a shining light. Yeah, you light up my life.” – Ash

  • Once a Yankee, Always

    In the bathroom this morning, I was making my typical “I am not awake right now” pre-coffee sound effects, and Anna said, “It’s okay,” because she thought I was bemoaning the Yankees’ loss last night, which actually hadn’t occurred to me yet. In my not-quite-even-half-conscious state, however, I was pretty sure she had mumbled “Tolkien,” which would have been very strange because I was on my way to Chaucer.

    As it turns out, Chaucer was cancelled, so Holly and I are in the library catching up on all the work we put off while we faithfully watched the Yankees go down in history all week. And I do mean down. So here we are, slaving away in the atrium…


    The Last Basselope
    Posted by Hello

    I guess I really can’t complain when our assignment is to “write a few lines” about a picture book with great illustrations.

    So, baseball. I was so excited for the series to go back to New York because it’s just more fun to watch your home team when they’re at home. It is not fun to watch when they are losing. And even less fun when they are cheating (A-Rod, for shame!) and the fans’ behavior is drawing the attention of cops donned in riot gear. At the same time, letting the series go would be so much easier if Boston fans were better winners. The rivalry is fun, but it’s supposed to be about loving your team and having positive spirit, not abuse for the opponent! But go ahead, take it all out on me, have your fun, Red Sox. You earned your moment, for sure. New York will be back. I still heart my boys in pinstripes (especially you, Bernie!)

    Quote of the day: “Oh, chariot, your golden waves are walking down upon this face, Oh, chariot I’m singing out loud” – Gavin DeGraw

  • Photo-Op

    After staking out the mailroom for two hours at lunch, my package slip finally arrived and I [finally] picked up my digital camera – the Canon Powershot S410 is stylish in silver and has 4.0 megapixels. Perfect for constant photo opportunities.


    paisley daisy
    Posted by Hello

    Everyone is coming up on Friday for Family & Friends Weekend. This means that vacuuming will be necessary. I love that my parents still come up to visit me and participate in activities that are so obviously planned with firstyear parents in mind! Film Board is showing Finding Nemo, A Capella is performing, and if the weather is good, I definitely think we should all do the meditation walk on Saturday.

    Quote of the day: “Welcome to the planet. Welcome to existance. Everyone’s here.” – Switchfoot

  • Belle the Elf

    Mount Holyoke’s classes are challenging and their alum network expansive, but everybody knows I came back this Fall for the cutesy traditions. Elfing is this week, which means all the sophomores are staying up as late as they can to leave surprise presents and signs and candy outside the first years’ doors. And I am writing poems and tiptoing around in the middle of the night, too because I am an honorary Junior Elf! I missed it last year, and one of the sophomores had eight freshman to elf, so I adopted one of hers. I even have a secret name, Belle, and I will reveal my true identity at M&C’s this weekend. Way to keep a secret, right? No one will ever suspect a Junior to be their secret elf.

    Meanwhile, I have somehow become a dorm rep for 2006 Class Board, so I am also organizing Big Sisters & Little Sisters in Mead. I’m in it for the ice cream, man!

    Quote of the day: “Well, I’m no savior, But I tried to save you, With all my love that rages high inside.” – Leona Naess

  • Pajamas for Boston

    I went to bed wearing a red t-shirt with a somewhat suggestive slogan on the back, pink zebra-print flannel and purple space-dyed socks. I woke up wearing the same thing. Did you think that story was going somewhere? No such luck, but now you have a much better understanding of what the inside of my duffle bag looked like when I unpacked after fall break!

    It seems that the planets have realligned because Mount Holyoke Administration and Red Tape is out to get me all over again. Just when I think I’ve got it all under control and I start practicing my British accent, somebody turns around and rains more paperwork and deadlines on my study abroad parade. I’ve been running around (literally – someone asked me if I was timing sprints between Mary Lyon and Mead) since the moment I got back to campus on Wednesday. Somehow, I managed to snag an appointment with a professor who will consider writing a recommendation letter for my application, and I think my fingers will be crossed until that’s over.

    But then I can hit the highway, because I’m driving out to Boston to see Rachel’s play at BU tonight! I’m staying with Chelsea at Wheelock, and DJ and Lou will be there, so I’ll get some extra parental exposure, which I obviously need to tone down my wildchild ways. I almost wish I was going to the baseball game, too, but I wouldn’t want to hang out with all those Boston fans anyway. So, I’m going to go pack, and hopefully coordinate a more fashionable pajama ensemble.

    Quote of the day: “Life springs eternal, on a gaudy neon street” – Sheryl Crow