Sunday, February 22, 2009

Long Overdue

Wow sorry it's been a VERY long time since I have updated this! This term has been HELL- more homework and studying than I thought was humanly possible. So far my hardest class has been atmosphere and weather. Next Thursday we are taking a field trip to a climatology center in Moline, Illinois. That should be fun!
I'll give you the full update, starting with Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day was excellent! Jack's roommate (also named Jack) procrastinates doing homework by playing with his Nerf gun. They play together, one Jack will give the other Jack a "target"-- for example, a glass or a book- and the other Jack has to hit it with the gun. They procrastinate for hours playing together. Sometimes they get their whole floor involved in a huge Nerf gun fight and they run around trying to shoot eachother. These shootouts usually happen around midnight or one in the morning. It was a shock to me to learn that over half the guys on the floor had Nerf guns with them- that must be a guy thing, to bring Nerf guns to college. I haven't heard of any girls doing it. Anyway, (my) Jack always waits patiently for his turn to play with his roommate's gun. Also, when I come over and visit him without telling him first, usually he is playing with his roommate's Nerf gun (secretly). So...naturally for Valentine's Day I had to get him a top of the line Nerf gun. You should have seen his face when he opened it! I have never seen anyone happier. He put the (HUGE) cardboard box in the recycling in the main room, where everyone walks through. Within a day, rumors were circulating that "someone got the CS-longshooter, but no one knows who." Eventually it leaked that it was Jack, and it was from me, and for about a week, every time I would walk onto their floor, guys I didn't know would high-five me, saying I was the "coolest girlfriend EVER" and that gun was "SO COOL." and "Sometimes Jack lets me play with it!" It honestly feels like their floor is a kindergarten classroom.
His present to me was a really good cd of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong duets. It's called "Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong for Lovers." I HIGHLY recommend it!
We went out to dinner at a place in town and had crab cakes and filet mignon. No picture, but I did my hair really cute!
The rest of the month has really been me scrambling to get my work done, always a little behind.
Last Thursday night Jack and I went to jazz night at McGuillicudies (sp), a pub in town. Knox jazz ensembles (there are several) play there every Thursday night, and the 15% the proceeds of drinks go to the jazz program. We stayed for a while at a table in the back with a guy from France. It was a really fun night.

Our suite is getting cabin fever, and they have taken to creating "modern art". Here is a piece that they are very proud of. Visitors are often skeptical.





Today our suite decided to have a henna day! So the most creative and artsy girl, Claire, is giving everyone henna tattoos! Here's my foot- ivy wraps all the way around my ankle. Isn't that COOL?!






Here is a picture of my roommate in the middle of getting a parrot henna-d on her back:



Our suite has also been working very hard this term- it seems EVERYONE has ridiculously hard classes. So, to motivate ourselves, we created a "Sellew Smarties" wall (Sellew is our dorm name). On this wall, everyone who took a test or wrote a paper or did something that they are proud of and got a good grade on puts it up on the wall! It's like a big refrigerator.









Another funny side-note story: Jack is a favorite of all the girls on my floor. He is such a charmer, and so goofy, that sometimes I'll call him to come visit, and an hour and a half will pass and he won't have arrived yet. I'll walk out into our living room area of our suite, and he'll be sitting there watching TV and talking to all the girls sitting out there.
So anyway, we had a wheelchair floating around our floor for awhile, and one day I came out of my room to see this:




I felt like I was in a retirement home. The worst part was, he was watching Wheel of Fortune.




All for now. Homework to do! I promise I will update more regularly!

Love,
Kate