emlocke

emlocke logo with teal letter 'k'

  • summit high vs. cell phone high

    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

  • so early, it’s surreal

    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

  • an ode and 1/2 to campus safety

    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

  • from partners in crime to…

    i was so proud of lauren today – not only did she create her own blog, but she didn’t even flinch when i told her that she would have to edit the html in order to get the colors she wanted and personalize the side column. she totally outdid me with her header (i tried to imitate, but i screwed mine up so badly that i didn’t know if i’d be able to fix it!) and gave it a great title (after much consideration, trust me) and put a john mayer quote of the day in her column, which can never be a bad thing! then, she went all out and created a photo album, and then she found some web space where she could publish it. it was so fun to have a partner in closet computer nerdness today.

    i started putting together this huge collage today, which was more fun than you might imagine b/c a) i was avoiding my psych reading and b) i rediscovered my love for lisa loeb. she’s just so cute and fun, and she has a silver glitter guitar. hello!

    next project is definitely going to be this quilt/duvet cover. i need to find a good [great] discount fabric warehouse or something, b/c the fabric i want to use costs upwards of $15 a yard. no good. so if anybody knows where i can get a deal on about 12 yards of dupioni silk, let me know. and, can i borrow your sewing machine? and some thread?

    new plan: get up 15 minutes early every day so i have to time to stop at commons and eat peanut butter toast. why didn’t this occur to me before? i love peanut butter toast. mount holyoke never had crunchy peanut butter, but commons has it out almost every morning. yum.

    quote of the day: “would you be the wind to blow me home? would you be a dream on the wings of a poem?” – dispatch

    love always, em locke

  • a place for everything, everything in it’s place

    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

  • pro-activities

    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

  • to the tune of ‘windy’

    i hear that isabel is the size of colorado!

    my new favorite site for outdoor gear is campmor.com. i ordered a new [warmer & dryer] north face sleeping bag for camping in the adirondacks and saved $70. and it’s blue! i’m getting excited for this trip.

    in other shopping news, pottery barn’s new teen department has launched their website, which i find to be pretty cool, and obviously way more interactive than the catologue. (also doesn’t fall apart after i flip through it fourteen times.) yes, it’s trendy stuff, but if you sift past the yummi puff bedding, which intrigues but is still a little over the top, they stock some cool stuff, or at least inspiration for more personal (and crafty!) projects.

    i talked to maggie on the phone! mom switched to speaker phone, after saying, “talk to her!” quite loudly in my ear (i think she got excited), and when i threw into puppy-ese, maggie barked back, it was awesome. then mom said, “i think she’s a little confused…” but let me do it some more anyway. i miss my yittuw fuwy guwl! translation: i miss little my furry girl!

    got the marry me jane cd in the mail today, it’s awesome. beautiful art, too, which is important if you’re going to actually invest in a factory recorded album! my favorite song is “you didn’t kiss me,” which is from (well, the whole album is from) this obscure 90’s movie “if lucy fell” with sarah jessica parker, which i loved for it’s alterna-humor (it features ben stiller as a character named ‘bwick’) and friends-turned-lovers romance. the best scene is at the end when lucy (sarah jessica) borrows a bike from the chinese delivery man to ride out to the bridge to a) stop joe from jumping and b) reveal that she loves him. i think he already knew.

    quote of the day: “nothin’ really makes sense. the azure in the sky, never had it on my wish list. it caught me by surprise” – marry me jane

    bonus quote of the day: “i am curious! i’m as curious as george!” – joey

    love always, em locke

  • drink lots of fluids

    this cold is getting me down.

    i got a letter from allegra today! i heart mail in a big way, and it totally cheered me up to get a card from my lovely allegra. i miss her and rachel like mad, we could have had so much fun! i won’t ever forget the short time that i had with them, i treasure it. even though i didn’t love mhc, i love both of them to pieces.

    i also talked to alana today, and watched her stick out her tongue & smooth out a sleepy eyebrow and witnessed the clutter that is her closet via webcam! i’ve gotta have one.

    i was talking to holly the other day and she told me about this mhc first year who planned to major in neuroscience but is thinking about switching to sociology b/c the neuro department has too many requirements (which, hello, it does). so this girl was leaning toward soc, but still felt unsure b/c of all the reading involved. holly had some great experiential solace to offer! she said, “uh, let me tell you about my roommate. (that would be yours truly!) we took soc 123 last semester and she went to class about 50% of the time (that’s not true, i went waaaaaay more! but i did play electronic uno during a good number of those classes.) and neither of us did any reading, and we both did well, so you don’t need to worry at all.” it was funny just b/c it was so true! good thing we didn’t buy the books for that class, just renewed them at the library every few weeks. i considered not even purchasing the course packet, but i needed a nice large coaster anyway. i did read, and really enjoyed where the girls are and my paper comparing bewitched and gilmore girls was quite entertaining, if i do say so myself. and i do.

    don’t know what the hurricane aftermath has planned for us this weekend, but for now, the weather continues to be gorgeous.

    quote of the day: “every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘grow, grow.’” – the talmud

    love always, em locke

  • last night i dreamt that i held his hand

    in the unconcious sense anyway.

    yet another change in weekend camping plans: 46 peaks has been postposed b/c of hurricane isabel, which is supposed to drench the mountains this weekend. we’d be at risk for mud slides, flash floods, you know, your general life threatening wilderness events. and you thought bears were scary! we should be going next weekend, when it might be colder, but not nearly as…wet.

    i saw “groove boutique,” which my jazz professor, ‘the doctuh’ mike woods, composed. he and the band he put together jammed for us in class this morning and then performed in the barn tonight acompanied by scenes from a one-act about a salon called groove boutique. the atmosphere was perfect – lights, tables, set, audience, the smell of “light refeshments” coming from the kitchen. oh yeah, the best part was the food. they served potato salad, collard green and roasted tomatoes, fried chicken and corn bread. uhh, yum.

    on a whiny note: why is the internet connection so slow?

    in the past two days, two different girls have randomly introduced themseleves and started talking to me on the way up the hill. one of them skipped right by, “hello” and went straight into, “how are you?” it takes me by surprise when people do that b/c i try not to think about how friendly most people are, b/c i don’t want to jinx it, but that’s what drew me to hamilton in the first place. i introduced myself and explained that i’m a transfer student (“i’m like a freshman”) and both girls went, “oh! i keep seeing you around but i didn’t recognize you so i just thought you were a freshman,” and were cool about it. maybe they’ll spread the word?

    should i go abroad? i think i want to, but it seems a little weird to spend two semesters at hamilton and then take off again for another whole year. honestly, it still feels a little like i’m only here temporarily. maybe just one semester away? where? hmmmm.

    i talked to laura yesterday! she asked how i was adjusting to the new masculine presence in my life, and i told her the truth, which is that on monday morning, i saw a guy crossing the street and unconciously thought, “oh, he must either a) be visiting his girlfriend or b) be taking one of the five college classes.” i had to poke myself mentally! there’s obviously some residual all-women’s college-itis in my system.

    quote of the day: “she says, ‘forget what you have to do, pretend there is nothing outside this room” – ani difranco

    love always, em locke

  • soooo good!

    first of all, i’m very excited that the fourth edition of “teen girl squad” has been released. check these chicks out. they are looking soooooooo good!

    not so excited about the current state of my physical health. (sick)

    so, it looks like i’m going on 46 peaks weekend after all. still feel a bit nervous about proving my woodsiness abilities, but as long as i can act as independently as possible and maintain confidence in myself, i think it will be a good experience. mom is excited that i’m going – she’s sending all my random camping equipment that i haven’t used in years and never would have thought to bring. i need to locate my long underwear though – it’s going to be mad cold in the adirondacks! as long as i don’t get hypothermia again it will be all good. it’s a four mile hike into the campsite where we’re staying on friday, then we campout and leave our gear at the site the next morning, and it’s about 6 hours up the seward mountain peak and back down to camp. i want to take it easy and enjoy the mountains for the weekend. we’ll be back on saturday night, just in time for me to do some laundry, watch tv and read walden in my spa bathrobe before bed.

    addie said she would be interested in going camping anytime, so maybe we can do our own little chill trip sometime.

    had my computer cleared for viruses today. the help desk guy was very interesting, and told me that he is always looking for people to work the night help hotline, so maybe i’ll go fill out an application there. de ja vu or what? i’m also going to finally gather the courage to e-mail the director of the writing center and see what my options are, if any, in terms of continuing my writing center work at hamilton. i do really miss it; i helped addie with a paper of hers last week and just felt right at home.

    sometimes i miss mhc, but i cherish those feelings of belonging. more to come, right?

    quote of the day: “this is the class where you learn a healthy disrespect for things.” – mhc journalism professor

    love always, em locke