I like the Brewers too.

This weekend I went home for my little sister’s confirmation.  I’m really glad I did, because it was nice to have the whole family together for an entire weekend.  These days, those moments are rare.  And the entire weekend?  Crazy.  Since I was in Wisconsin, I watched the Brewers (and cheered for them Grandpa!!) to get my baseball fix.  It was a preview of my life this summer with not being able to watch the Twins on TV everyday like I do now.  Although, we do get FSN Detroit and FSN Wisconsin at home, so I can see them when they play those two teams.  But really, I don’t have enough time right now to sit down and watch an entire game, with class and studying and papers and whatnot.  Not that I would want to watch the Twins play the way they have been lately.  There are some good moments, but as a whole, they really aren’t proving people wrong like they told us they’d be doing this season.  Finishing last in the AL Central doesn’t seem like an outlandish possibility to me anymore.  But I will still follow the team and cheer them on, despite their shortcomings.

Two and a half weeks left until I am free for the summer.  I keep trying to track what I have left to work on and make a plan for it all, but it is not working.  I can only take things one day at a time.  For example, today I have my final fiction writing class, so I am working on the readings and writing exercise that are due later.  At midnight, my last paper is due for my American Lit class, so after my fiction class I will concentrate on that assignment.  Looking forward to next week, I have my two revisions due for fiction, my Chekhov term paper due, and my Psychology final.  And after that all I need to accomplish is taking my American Lit final and finishing the take home final for Chekhov.  I will be done officially at noon on Wednesday, May 14th.  But I have time before I get to go home that Saturday.  There are a bunch of things I’d like to get done and places to go, not to mention packing my things.  This will be a great summer.  The Twin Cities may be more exciting than a small area of Northeastern Wisconsin, but comparatively, I can have more fun with my friends and family there, than a person or two here.

Various Happenings.

This week I had workshops in two of my classes.  In workshop, we get into small groups and read our peers’ papers and offer advice on how they can be better revised.  One was for Fiction Writing and the other was for American Literature.  As scary as it can be to have a fellow student judge your writing, sometimes it can be a good thing.  A bit of an ego-booster, I suppose.  When you get your paper torn apart by the instructor, it can be nice to hear the good things from others.  It helps verify that this whole idea I have to eventually write for a living is not hopeless.

There are two weeks of class plus finals week left until the end of my Junior year of college.  I have one paper revision, one term paper, two story revisions, and one small paper due until the final exams come.  When I think about it, it really isn’t that much work, but I also have to move before the 17th of May.  I am considering the option of renting a storage space, because it doesn’t make much sense to haul all my stuff across the state and back.  And the fact that we move into our new place on September 1st, which happens to fall on Labor Day this year doesn’t help.  I hate moving.  But I am very excited for my new place.  The free washer and dryer in the basement will probably be my favorite part.  That and the dishwasher.

In about an hour my Dad arrives here at my place.  Tomorrow I am driving back home for the weekend.  Hopefully I can haul a bunch of the stuff I don’t need right now home as well.  On Sunday my little sister gets confirmed.  I will be driving the family van back to school on Sunday, without the seats in the back.  Three more weeks and I can be home, working, not having to do homework, and just relishing in the fact that summer is about to arrive, yet again.

Professor Profiles: American Literature

I have had the same professor for both of the classes for American Literature, parts one and two.  (The early stuff and the more recent stuff.)  His current status at the U of M is as a visiting professor from the University of Michigan.  But I think all of us in his classes (and I suppose he does too) want him to stay here permanently.  The only reason I really get into that class as much as I do is because he is extremely passionate about the literature that has come from America.  Everyday there is something that makes the entire class laugh AT him.  It can be ridiculous how nerdy he is about the books.  But at the same time, so very awesome.  (We are all English majors, anyway.)  I write in the margins of my notebooks all the time while taking notes recording some of the gem-worthy quotes he says on certain days.  One of the more recent quotes that I wrote down (and pretty much live by) is:

“There’s no reason to be stressed in English class.  Two plus two can equal anything!”

That pretty much sums up why I love my major and it is perfect for me.

He has terrible handwriting, which is unfortunate because he writes our notes on a chalkboard.  (We have class in the Science Classroom Building, which is an ironic area for literature discussion.  That building is old, falling apart, and scary.  And the entire time during lecture we have to stare at the giant Periodic Table poster wondering if we ever actually learned how to use it.  Every so often he will write a word on the board that no one can read, so he tells us to yell out in class if something doesn’t make sense or he does or says something foolish.  It can be pretty entertaining.  He always has a bottle of Vitamin Water and will pause every so often and tell us, “Excuse me while I take a drink of my delicious Vitamin Water.”  You’d think he’s getting paid for it!  His appearance is even scholarly!  He has the dark rimmed glasses, and the Thoreau-esque beard, and wears sweater combos and muted, drab colors.  But lecture is never dull and he always has an interesting point to make.  Because of him, I was able to get through all the early Puritan and political literature and now with the more interesting Beat Generation and Postmodernism stuff, get into a lively discussion.

It isn’t very often that one finds an instructor who changes your entire outlook on the subject for the better, but he has.  I hope the English department realizes how much a lasting impact he’s had on the students and invite him to stay for good!

Roll out the Barrel

Guess what I did Friday and Saturday night?

I listened to the most fabulous polka band around and danced to greats such as, “Who the Hell is Alice?” and “Roll out the Barrel.”  I even sang and danced along to “On, Wisconsin!”

I have since decided that I will not have a DJ at my future wedding.  Instead, I want a polka band.  It’ll be a true German Wisconsin wedding.

I am not joking.

There WILL be polka to be had.

And hearing “Roll out the Barrel” just made me want to go see baseball at Miller Park.

Uh, snow? Why didn’t you come during the winter?

As I said in the previous post about squirrels and how they are the spawn of satan that spring is almost here, well that’s the truth.  Apparently we are supposed to get approximately EIGHT inches of snow in the next couple days.  Umm, what?  Last I heard it was April 10th.  Thanks Minnesota and your bi-polar style to weather!!!  I’m living in the land of extremes where it is either 90 degrees or negative 7.  Take your pick.  We have spring for about 2 and a half days.  And fall?  There are maybe 3 transitional days when we go from 80 to 65 to 32.  And it snows again.  I really enjoyed this winter hearing about Madison getting inches upon inches of snow nearly every week, especially when we would get a dusting or two every month or so.  I guess we’re just making up for lost time?  Thanks Mother Nature!

Squirrels…friend or foe? FOE!

There’s this squirrel who seems to have inhabited our back porch. Now that it is (almost) spring here, we would like to actually go out and sit in our lovely screened in porch area. Unfortunately, this is impossible for fear of being attacked by this evil creature. Since the area is completely screened in, the squirrel has proceeded to gnaw, chew, rip apart, and basically destroy most of the screen in order to get into the space. It seems to think the rafters provide a nice ledge to BUILD A NEST! I am afraid of the thing and have pretty much consented to use the front door. Even if I am going out to the car parked in the back. I have a feeling it is hiding up there at all times. I don’t want to catch the bubonic plague. (It does still exist.) There is a website, called Dead Squirrel that I found today and rather enjoyed it. Thankfully, we only have about a month and a half in this place before we move out and go home for the summer, but I don’t know what I will do in the meantime. My roommate’s brother is visiting in a week and a half and he might be able to get rid of it for us. How? Well…the little pest might just have to die.

Baseball Has Returned!

Yes, Opening Day was officially on Monday, but life is busy for me right now.  Here in Minnesota, we had a lovely spring BLIZZARD on Monday, which made everyone thankful we were still playing inside the dumpy old Metrodome.  Which in turn made everyone crack open the “retractable roof or no retractable roof” debate.  Honestly…I’d rather not have one.  I am afraid that having the option of a roof makes people want it closed at the slightest bit of wind chill.  The Twins opener was really exciting!  And the actually won, 3-2.  Even better, they were playing the Angels, who Torii Hunter left us for AND he went 0-4!  The rest of the four game series left much to be desired however.  Will this year be rebuilding?  Yes.  Will it be more?  I’d like to say yes, but I cannot until the team decides to actually score runs.  I will be going to tomorrow night’s game.  Christina, my roommate from last year and the person who helped get me into baseball is visiting for the weekend.  I can already smell the Dome Dogs.

Professor Profiles: Russian Literature

My professor for the Anton Chekhov course I am taking is the type of person who loves to talk at you. The type of person who will ask you a question and if your answer doesn’t suffice, they’ll go on to explain something for an hour that can be easily discussed in ten minutes. One of the components of the class is participation, but unfortunately not many of us can get a word in because of his lecturing personality. It is two and a half hours long on a Wednesday evening and he is speaking for two hours and ten minutes of the period. There is a lot to his life, however. He was born in Ukraine, his parents are Polish, and he’s been to Russia and Eastern Europe countless times. I really enjoy digressions in this class, because they are generally taken from something in Chekhov’s life or Russia, which both fascinate me to no end.  The only things we have to contribute for our final grade are the midterm, term paper, and final exam (which is take-home).  We already took the midterm (which I received an A) and I am beginning to write the paper.  After I informed him of the topic I intend to write on, he gave me a thick article he wrote on the same subject AND a book to look at.  Granted, the book is in Russian.  But my topic is Chekhov’s use of color in his works, and the book has illustrations that can help.  There are so many times I wish I was fluent in Russian.  Maybe someday.  But this professor is the type to really help you with your work.  Clearly borrowing a book to his students goes above and beyond.  I was wary of the course from the start, but now I consider it my favorite and my best class of the semester.