Margaret

10:09 am: Die Wissenschaftlerin

Normally, I'd say that I have a head for history and a body for...sitting around and reading about history. But occasionally, the scientist in me emerges and I become consumed with finding answers to questions like...

How long can that hair on my arm get?
If I speak only in German to my 11-year-old brother, will he have a good knowledge of the language by the end of the week?
Can the moves from Bill's dance in episode 11 of NewsRadio, The Breakup, be dissected and imitated?

Last year, I started wondering about whether my palms could freckle. Now, one of my more rational friends would've probably answered this by investigating the amount of melanin in the palms. I opted for exposing my upturned palms to the sun whenever the opportunity presented itself. After a few weeks, I lost interest and quit the experiment with nary a mark on my palms, but several new freckles on the undersides of my forearms.

A few weeks ago, however, the seemingly dead question of freckling palms was resurrected. I give you the outer edge of my left palm...

ETA: Excuse the poor quality of the image. As soon as that MacArthur Genius Grant comes through, first priority will be getting a good camera.

07:39 am: Ah, yes. Back to that one semester I have before Deutschland. My first week's not quite done, but I can honestly say that I'm enjoying each of my classes so far, even if they're all in that slow, beginning of the year stage.

I'm taking...
GERM 3082: 18th c German Literature (class conducted auf Deutsch)
GERM 2075: German Civilization (class conducted auf Englisch) 
HIST 4046: 19th c Britain
POLI 2057: Intro to International Politics

Yes, only 12 hours. I've figured out that I can still graduate in May 2009 even when only taking 12 hours a semester. I might have two 15 hour semesters during my last term, depending on what courses are offered and how much independent study I'll need for thesis research.

Back to this semester (I need to stop leaping ahead and focus on the present)...
GERM 3082 is taught by Dr. P, whom I had for GERM 2102 and like very much. I'll be honors-optioning this course by writing an expanded essay (expanding, that is, on our big Referat/Essay project for the year) on Gottfried August Bürger.

GERM 2075 is taught by my thesis advisor and the head of APA. He's a very interesting man, raised in West Germany during the time period in which my thesis will be focused. I need to narrow my scope a bit, but he really likes my idea and says that it's something I should easily be able to work into a masters thesis (only a bit more expanded than my honors thesis) and eventually a dissertation.

Not much to say about the other two courses yet. I've got to get to work now. Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Tags: college life

08:50 pm: Bonn? C'est bon!

The letters won't go out until the end of September, but today I got confirmation from the head of Academic Programs Abroad that I had been selected for the Spring 2008 exchange in Bonn!

*shakes her Bonn-Bonn*

And I have another six months before I depart to think up plenty more plays on the name of that beautiful Rhineland city.

Tags: das reisende mädchen, study abroad

08:43 pm: Eep!
Checked out Miss Marple, Series 2 (the Geraldine McEwan version...yes, I'm much more of a Poirot fan, but I've exhausted the library's supply of Hercule) from the library, and what to my wondering eyes should appear, but Anthony Andrews AND Claire Bloom in the second episode. Both are fine actors with great bodies of work, but what excited me so is that they played Sebastian and Lady Marchmain, respectively, in the sublime Brideshead miniseries.

02:11 pm: Well, I saw the doctor on Friday. He's given me a big-ass pill (Ibuprofen, but in 600 mg pills) to take 2-4 times a day, and a splint (I'll pick it up on Monday) to wear at night. He's also scheduled me for an EMG with the neurologist in December, when they'll decide whether or not I'll need a minor procedure to move the nerve under a muscle layer at my elbow. The good doctor assures me that, if I do need the surgery, I will be mostly recovered by the time I go abroad. The test consists of sticking needles into my fingers and conducting electrical currents down the ulnar nerve. I just hope it doesn't interfere with the frequency on my government-implanted microchip...

Pill: Took my first dose a few minutes ago. Bit of an after-taste, but that could just as easily be the Fruity Pebbles I ate for lunch.
Splint: Don't know what it looks like, but I think it'll be little more than a glorified elbow pad. Bit of a let-down. I was hoping for something more along the lines of what Voldemort gave Pettigrew.

11:01 am: Stye o' My

Originally, I had intended to make my next post about various typos I've made when typing in web addresses and whether they could be placed into some sort of Freudian context. But after waking up, puttering around, etc., I've forgotten all of them. And maybe it wasn't too interesting to begin with. Things that seemed that way as I'm falling asleep rarely are.

But then, after noticing this new stye on my right upper lid, I came up with this new title - an allusion to a fourth season Sopranos ep. Don't worry; this post contains no hypochondriac hand-wringing about an eyelid pimple. I can't recall having a stye before, but I know they're not likely to cause any complications/be indicative of a more serious problems, unlike various rashes, aches, and pains that have sent me running to WebMD.

That numbness in my left ring finger and pinkie continues, along with an occasional ache. Luckily, it pretty much has to be the ulnar nerve.

Margaret: But what if it's arthritis?
Internet: No.
Margaret: Neuropathy? Oh, man, look at all the scary things that could cause that...
Internet: Neuropathy is pain, dumbass. You're only having occasional pain in the arm.
Margaret: Carpal tunnel?
Internet: No. I mean, similar symptoms and same pathology, but the isolation to your fourth and fifth digits means it's the ulnar nerve. Plus, the phone consult with the professional who TOLD YOU SO. Remember that groovy test in which you tapped the inside of your elbow and sent that shock up your arm?
Margaret: Okay, but it hasn't gone away in over two weeks.
Internet: ...you may need surgery. Doc will tell you when you see him at the end of the month.
Margaret: Good. Now show me possible complications for the surgery.
Internet: I refuse to do that. There's something wrong with you.
Margaret: THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING.

03:39 am: Yes, it's very late...
...and, yes, I do plan on waking up in about 4 hours. But let me tell you why I am still awake:

Those of you who know me in real life (hell, maybe it also bleeds into my occasional half-assed attempt at a blog - I just cursed twice in one sentence for no good reason. My, I do get punchy in the wee, small hours of the morning) know that I have my fair share of neuroses and a couple of phobias. Like any normal, well-adjusted 20-year-old. The world is a scary place. Half the battle is acknowledging that. I'm still working on that other half. Anyhow, one of my phobias is bugs. Specifically, the stinging and biting kinds and the big, honking palmetto bugs (jumbo cockroaches) we get down here. Also, anything that could potentially crawl into any orifice-o-mine while I'm sleeping. Basically, all bugs, except butterflies.

Anyway, at about 1:30 am, close to when I had originally planned on going to bed, I heard the unmistakable sound of a small, airborne critter repeatedly colliding with an unidentifiable surface. I knew it was likely a palmetto bug that had sneaked in from my attic. Well, I'm certainly not about to turn out the lights and climb into bed, lying all innocent-prey-like in my bed while that ricochets off of various surfaces in my boudoir. So I decided to wait it out, wasting time on the Internet and silently praying that the creature (it's so late I started to spell that with a 'ch' forming the 'ch' sound) would flee my room. I could never catch sight of the bug, despite hearing it almost nonstop for two straight hours. Finally, I notice that the Target bag hung off of the nearer post at the bottom of my bed was moving...well, something inside it was moving. I grabbed the nearest roach-killing object (24 Season 3 DVD) off of my desk and delivered one, two, three thwacks to the bag. Once satisfied that the bug was dead or at least maimed (and now I sound really callous...but bugs are our NATURAL ENEMIES, people!), I returned to tell you all about it. And now there's a nice thunderstorm in progress, and I always fall asleep easily during those. Funny how well things work out sometimes.

Still, I'm afraid to look inside that bag. Do bug guts come out of new cotton shirts easily?

07:51 am: The Life I Lead

...with apologies to Roger and Richard Sherman and David Tomlinson.

I feel a wave of something approaching exhaustion
But power through, as I'm up and can't go back to sleep
I stayed up until two-thirty-three, watching NewsRadio on DVD
How boring is the life I lead!

I run my body precisely on schedule
At 6:58, I awoke to my alarm
My Mini-Wheats, vitamin, and newspaper are due at 7:02
Consistent is the life I lead!

It's great to be a student finishing her sophomore year
Summer vacation is still long;
Though terribly hot, I fear.
I'm the lady of my bedroom
Living at home - no rent
Until the end of August, when I must return to student housing once again

It's 7:03 and the co-heirs to my father's dominion
Are still asleep, tucked snugly in their beds.
And so I'll turn the music down
Until they come around
Considerate is the life I lead!

08:07 am: In which my ulnar nerve continues to be the bane of my existence...
...but, hey, if that's the worst thing going on in my life, I've got it pretty good, right?

Yes, the numbness in my ring finger and pinkie continues, but I'm just going to wait until my doctor's appointment at the end of the month.

Nothing much going on right now...oh, except for one good thing: I've located the Scottish folk song from The Great Escape! The one sung by Mac and Ives, right before (spoiler)Tom is discovered and Ives commits suicide(spoiler). It's "What Saw the 42nd" or "Wha Widna Fecht for Charlie." Y'all have no idea how long this has been plaguing me, and how many songs I listened to before finding it.

I finished The English Patient and greatly enjoyed it - even more so after seeing this parody of the film.

Now I'm back on the Ulysses horse (just finished the Sirens chapter), reading The Commanders by Bob Woodward (very interesting stuff about first Gulf War and how decisions like that are made...but I'm only 45 pages in), and awaiting the library's delivery of Divisadero (confession: it took me three tries to get that right).

11:19 am: Lucie got me started on Veronica Mars. Very entertaining. I wish my dad would let me help out on cases.

In the midst of Mom's Great Renovation SNAFU, I have filled up a trash bag and a duffle bag full of books to give away. Now I no longer have to double-deck every shelf. I've also filled a trash bag with clothes to give away/throw away (the latter, definitely, for two old nightshirts from swim camp '99 and from an old state QB tournament). Now I can return to acquiring books guilt-free...well, except for that old, penny-pinching guilt.

01:51 pm: Picture It! Sicily, 1918...

10:41 am: Notes from the Underthestairs

Scene: Mom's study, mid-morning. MARGARET is working on her laptop. Normally, she would be in her room, but they are putting up drywall there. The foot traffic is heavy in this room, but our heroine does not complain (too much) about the interruptions.

Enter MOM, who notices MARGARET's handy-dandy-notebook.

MOM

Oh, can I have one sheet of paper?

MARGARET

Fine. You know, Mom, you should really get your own notebook. This thing has saved my life on so many occasions...

MOM

Great. Now I know what to hide when I want to mess with you.

10:41 am: Got back from the family reunion yesterday. We stayed at Lake Fausse Point. In the 50+ years that they've been holding this reunion (always on odd years, on the weekend closest to my great-great-grandparents' anniversary), I think this was the first time it wasn't at Sam Houston Jones State Park, which is still recovering from Hurricane Rita.

Still, an excellent turnout. Here's what it involves: my mother's mother's mother's mother and father, John Webster Rhorer and Virginia Elms, had 8 children. There were 6 girls and 2 boys. One of the girls, Aunt Grace, never married. The other 7 did, but it's mainly the descendants of the other 5 daughters (Mary, who was my great-grandmother, and then Augusta, Olive, Lucille, and Kay) who participate. This year, we had a couple of representatives from the two sons, Jay and Osborn, but this line of the family is strongly matriarchical. As a proud descendent of the Moores, Mary's branch, I have to say that we were best-represented, as usual, with our contingent making up 45 of the 96 relatives present. As our patriarch, Dennis the Lionhearted, says, 'When it comes to humility, the Moores are #1.' Maw-Maw would've been proud.

03:04 pm: Oh, happy day...

Am about to leave for a family reunion far removed from TV or internet, and I'm so so so glad that the last piece of news I've heard will be that Paris Hilton is back in jail.

Judge Sauer for President!

07:53 am: Razors pain you; rivers are damp...
I thought if anything did me in this past weekend, it would be allergies.

Wrong.

Last night, I started my leg shaving routine with the ankle - always the trickiest and potentially bloodiest part. This time, with my mind elsewhere, I forgot to un-point my foot for the delicate task. I now have five short, albeit deep cuts, one after the other, like a little ladder going up my Achilles. Took at least 30 minutes to stop bleeding. Looked like the blood-going-down-the-drain shot from Psycho.

My own fault. Still, enough to make me curse Gilette, summer (shorts season), and feminine grooming requirements in general.

08:42 am: Allergies were hell until about a week ago. Then, out of the blue, they began clearing up. Something evil must've been in bloom...that, or my trusty friend, Immune System, decided to collapse after an exhausting semester of fending off (almost) every infection that came my way.

More later. Today: work, library, post office, read. I love summer.

07:51 am: When the dog bites, when the bee stings...

...when I'm feeling sad,
I simply make a mix of my favorite tunes
and then I don't feeeeeeel
soooooo
ba-aaa-aaaaad!

In honor of the gloriously inclement weather last night, I present

06:26 pm: ...
Well, that ban on nail-biting was fun. Lasted all of 72 hours, until I forgot and submitted the fingernails to a little tooth-and-nail manicure a few minutes ago. Let's try again next year, shall we?

01:05 pm: Want some whiskey in your water, sugar in your tea...

Played this yesterday, driving back from the BR with Dad. He told me that #2 was the first song he ever danced with a girl to. 

My Gifford's Ulysses Annotated should be here by Monday. Going to New Orleans with my godmother/aunt on Thursday to see the Femme, Femme, Femme! exhibit at NOMA. Marathoned the first and second discs of WKRP Season 1 last night.

This summer is off to a great start.

08:32 am: Freedom is a word I rarely use, without thinking...
From fridayfiver:

1. Turn your head to the right -- what do you see?
Window, window sill (needs dusting), and bulletin board

2. Stand-up -- do you like how tall you are?
Yeah, it's okay. I'm not abnormally short (5'2"), but I wouldn't mind being taller - makes it handier for reaching overhead storage bins on planes and trains. Still, a low-end-of-average height will be advantageous in the case that I have to fall back on Career Option #13: Cat Burglar.

3. Do you believe in heaven or hell?
Yeah, both, and some place in between.

4. What is your favorite piece of jewelry?
Either the wedding set I inherited from my grandma (on principle - I haven't/don't actually wear it) or the pair of fleurs-de-lis earrings with the mother-of-pearl dangly parts that I got from my godmother. The piece I'm wearing most often though, as of late, is a pair of earrings that're dangly, purplish-bluish opaque stones beneath metallic circle. I like dangly earrings, especially when there's no chance of encountering a grabby, curious infant or toddler during the day.

5. What is the last thing you took from someone else?
With permission? Hmm...can't remember. Without permission? Can't remember that, either.