Spring Break So Far

It is my personal and scientifically supported belief that time goes by so much faster either when a deadline is closing in or it is some wonderful time of year, such as Spring Break. Currently, I am experiencing the faster-than-light passing of my one week Spring Break. Naturally, because I am me, I have kept insanely busy thus far, sleeping little and walking approximately 1.32 bazillion miles (estimation may be slightly exaggerated).

The Spring Break started off magnificently with a wonderful trip to Seattle, WA with the much loved Protagitron. To be in the same city as the other half of my brain was, to say the very least, fantastic. We managed to scour the city of Seattle in very little time. There were classy events such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Conservatory, Pike Place Market, and the Observation Water Tower in what seemed to be an extremely hoity-toity neighborhood.

And of course since it was me and the Protagitron, there were some of the "less historically accurate", shall we say? Sketchy? Questionable? activities as well. The Seattle Underground was recommended to me by a colleague who actually used to live in the city. Now, because sometimes I like to live it up, we took the Underground Underworld tour which was rife with colorful, can't-possibly-be-true historical stories involving opium, prostitutes, government corruption, the Bubonic plague, and the selling of cadavers.

We also went to Ye Old Curiosity Shop, which was overwhelmingly wonderful. It was basically a knick-knack store crammed full of odd (and I'm sure accurately labeled and scientifically researched) artifacts. In one small corner of the shop alone you could view a player piano, a taxidermied two-headed calf, an optometry sign from turn of the century England, a preserved baby shark in a jar, shrunken heads, and a candle making mold. Clearly there was no rhyme or reason to this place, and it was dusty and cramped, but well worth the visit. I sent a postcard of the mummy "Sylvia" to my sister and "Sylvester" to my brother. Luckily, the caption on the postcard read exactly what the sign next to the mummies said. My siblings can judge the legitimacy of the claims themselves. While my other friends got postcards of Pike Place Market, Martin also got a postcard of Ye Old Curiosity Shop, so hopefully he isn't too concerned about my sanity when he receives it.

I also went on the ghost tour of Pike Place Market, which was awesome, as usual. Anytime there is a ghost tour, one should take it, ESPECIALLY if it is a ghost trolley. My brother will back me up on this.

Once back in Minnesota, I still did not stop to sleep. On Tuesday, Dani and I took Matthew and Lee to the Children's Museum, and it was truly as overstimulating and in-your-face as I remember it. Having not been there in several years, I thought perhaps my memories were a bit skewed since I was a child, and sometimes children remember things or perceive things differently.  But let it be known that it is really an overwhelming place! Lee had a little melt down once or twice when he tried to move from one room to the next, but mean old cousin Ivy wouldn't let him just run around the entire museum. I was afraid I was going to have a hard time getting him to leave the museum, but he got turned around in the ant hill and panicked a bit. That meant that when I crawled in there to get him, he let me carry him right out of the museum without a peep. The ant hill, by the way, is not built for adults. It isn't like I am 6'4" or anything, and it was still a bit cramped.

Linnea and I watched "The Neverending Story", and there may or may not be some major plot holes, there.

Tuesday, I went out for the afternoon with Dani and Linnea to Grand Avenue, where we lunched at Cafe Latte, browsed through the boutiques and stores, including The Red Balloon, one of my childhood favorites, and returned to Cafe Latte for "dessert" before packing up and heading back to the suburbs.

Afterwards, I went up to Minneapolis to visit Martin, and we walked and walked some more. People seem to be figuring out that I could walk around for hours and be perfectly content. It has been a while since I have been on the U of M campus, so it was nice to see it with a fresh prospective. Plus, the weather was gorgeous. After hearing about and seeing some of his very impressive and complicated work, we proceeded to dinner where the most important part was the Wild Blueberry Wild Cherry milkshake. You really need to say the "wild" twice, otherwise you are selling the shake short. After dinner, we watched "The Fifth Element" which has Bruce Willis, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I was a little skeptical at the beginning of the movie, but it was definitely entertaining, and the weird fashion things going on almost are interesting enough on their own.

Unfortunately, I had a meeting with some colleagues this morning, so I had to get up bright and early and drive back to Rochester and drop Squeaky off at home. Since I ended up working from 9am until about 2pm, I don't think Squeaky would have enjoyed her time cooped up in the car. That would have been one angry cat.

The Beginning of Life: Part 3

So I've successfully made the move from Montreal back to the Twin Cities. I'm using the term "successfully" pretty loosely, but I'm ok with that right now. As far as I know, everything made it back and in one piece, but I have not even really begun to unpack. Upon returning to my parents' home, I was directed to move to the music room in the basement. My childhood bedroom is being turned into a closet and an office for my father, and the rest of the remodelling consists of adding a new bedroom for my parents. This means eventually I will get my parents' current bedroom, which is very nice. In the meantime, however, I will continue living in the basement with my stuff still in suitcases and boxes, hoping every day is the day I will get my own workspace.

I need the workspace, you see, because I am back in school. I am enrolled in the MAT program at Hamline University in St. Paul, working towards my licensure to become an ESL teacher. I am finding a lot of the education classes tedious and patronizing. It is only 1 month in, and I am already hating the word "reflect". Everything we do or say or write or watch has to be a reflection. How did that movie make me feel and why? What makes a good teacher and how does a good teacher make me feel? As one of my friends pointed out, I am a midwesterner! I do not share my feelings openly with strangers. The thing is, I am doing it, albeit resentfully.

Lucky for me, I have made a few friends who share my feelings (haha!) towards a certain class, and I have someone who understands and deals with my sarcasm. I feel confident that if something ridiculous or patronizing is going on, if I cannot think of a clever or snide remark, one of them will make one for me. I was getting a little snarky, however, so for lent I have decided to be more positive towards a certain class and more tolerant of some of my classmates, especially those who never seem to know what is going on, yet talk and talk and talk.

My tea drinking has not decreased, but my coffee drinking has increased. The Internet told me that studies have shown that young women who drink 3 cups of tea each day pretty significantly reduce their risks of a few cancers, so I feel good about this. Due to my increased coffee intake, I am trying to stick to the decaffeinated teas including Mint and Lady Gray. My curly-headed former roommate turned me on the the latter, and when I brought a box home, my father has decided that he, too, really enjoys it. He said it is one of his favorite teas now, which is amusing to me. As for the coffee, I need to stay awake during those long and drawn-out tedious "discussions" in my evening courses, and I really prefer to stay alert and awake on the drive home, as well.

My boyfriend has adjusted well to his new life in Madison, and I am very proud of him. Just last weekend I went out to visit him for his company's 30th anniversary party, and it was really nice to put faces to names. We talk to each other on the phone for a little bit everyday, and I've heard so much about these people. It was too bad that none of them really looked the way I expected, but I think I can get over it.

The washing machine is calling me now, with its incessant beeping.

In case you're wondering, Life: Part 1 would be baby - 12th grade and Life: Part 2 would be University life at McGill. Both of those parts went rather well, I think, so let's all cross our fingers for Life: Part 3.