highrise living for a joke like me

Scenes from Campus, #562: A trio of dancers were practicing on the patio outside the performing arts center yesterday afternoon as I was leaving design. I didn't stay to watch them, but as I sneaked past them they were doing arabesques à demi hauteur: one arm up in front of them, the other out to the side, the opposite leg back at a 45° angle to the vertical. As I passed, I realised that there was a baby in a stroller with them, and I'm sure it was coincidence, but she was holding her arms in such a way that it looked like she was doing an arabesque par terre (arms the same, but both feet on the floor) in her laying down position. It was indecently cute.

In other news, I hate my floormates. So, I share a bathroom with the 35-odd girls who live on my floor, yeah? That's generally not a problem, since said bathroom has 4 stalls, 5 sinks, and 4 showers, so lines are rare. But that being said, how fucking hard is it to change out the toilet paper when you finish?! You see, our lovely cleaning guy (he's a little weird [I'm not sure he blinks], but anyone who can clean up after 80-odd college students six days a week deserves my respect and extreme gratitude) leaves a big pile of extra rolls on top of a cabinet in the bathroom, so that when the stalls run out during the day we can restock. But I can't count the number of times this semester, even, that I've gone into the stall and been greeted with an roll that was empty except for those little bits that stick to the roll and hang there mournfully.

Jesus, people, I promise your fingers won't fall off! (And I'm not even going to start about the girls who run the roll backwards. Let's just say I flip them over the right way when they don't run the paper over the roll.)

...I just wrote an over 200 word rant about toilet paper. It's going to be a lovely day, isn't it?

So, a wasp got into the room a few hours ago. Now normally, I can take on any bug, but I had a reaction the last time I got stung by one, and C (who was out) is allergic to stings. So I freaked, and got my RA, who also freaked, and who then got the guys to take care of it.

But it gets better. I had the president of our building's student government standing on my bed trying to get the thing out of my light fixture.

He eventually took down the fixture itself and got the wasp out into the hall, where he knocked it out of the air and another guy squashed it with his sneaker. (And then the president came back in to put the fixture back together, even though I said I could handle it, which was kind of sweet.)

I was hiding in the closet from the damned wasp (no jokes on that one, please). And this was all done with the door open and people in the hall, so now everyone probably thinks I'm a spaz as well as a whore, but that's fine.

At least I didn't give the girly shriek when it flew out of the fixture.

Mr. President did. :D

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

So, we had an ice cream social on the floor, right? But the RAs wanted to talk to us about sex. You know, about being protected and all that, and then they wanted the girls and guys to ask each other questions.

Smart idea, right? Most of these kids are away from home for the first time, so it would be smart to teach them a little, yeah?

No one wanted to talk to each other. These are freshman, you must remember.

First, the RAs were talking about how the health center gives out free condoms. And then one of the guys asked if they had free female condoms, and the RAs didn't know. I can't blame them for this, since it's not clear that they have anything that isn't a latex male condom. But no one else knew, and so I wound up explain where you could get dental dams, female condoms, and non-latex stuff at the health center. (Note: I only know this because I was there today and saw a sign.)

And then one of the guys said something stupid about dental dams, and the guys had to explain it to him. And then the guys finally asked the girls if any of them didn't like cunnilingus (because apparently the dental dam guy refused to go down on girls, and the guys thought that was ungentlemanly not to at least reciprocate if not do it first). And get this:

Two thirds of the girls didn't even know what it was. Including the female RA. And I was the one who had to define it. Because the boys were all "you don't know?!" and the male RA is queer, so he's no use (though he knew what it was).

I'm now convinced that the half the floor that came to this event thinks I'm a whore.

My only though on this? If I'm going to be a thought a whore, I'd like to at lease be getting the sex, too. :D

The day before this was relatively boring, minus the GYN appointment I squeezed in between classes. That's a story rife with medical TMI, so it's in another post, which can be found directly before this one.

These things are amazing. I definitely saved more than a dollar on laundry last night and cut my drying time in half.

On the other hand, I really don't want to go to class today.

Playfighting in elevator: not fucking cool.

Do not make me hurt you.

That is all.

(Real update after HIST111.)

All moved in and such, with a new carpet and my bed seven additional inches off the floor. They painting the walls cream over the summer, so the room is lighter than the prison blue we had last year, but it's kind of bland. We're already trying to brighten it up as much as possible.

Also, I've fallen in love with this comedian:

Mostly packed, though I should be all packed. Uff, I'm a moron.

That being said, the laptop is getting packed last, but I'll likely be posting next from the dorm. So no, not dead, just crazy busy and spastic. Same old then, yeah?

The end of last week, I was simultaneously fighting the good fight against the Big Damned Coffee Shop and Resident Life. They're both sorted in my favor, and it really sucked at the time, but now it's just amusing.

The ResLife bit is the simpler of the two. It starts with the fact that the university doesn't seem to understand the difference between a state of being and an action. To explain, when one's cumulative GPA remains below 2.0 for two consecutive semesters, one is "dismissed". However, one then has the next off-semester session (either Winter or the two Summer sessions) to raise hir cumulative GPA above a 2.0, and then the transcript will say "removed from academic dismissal due to [Summer/Winter] performance". Ignoring the grammatical nightmare there, what it basically means is this: if I raise my cumulative GPA (currently 1.52 or something horrifying like that) to a 2.0, which I can do by earning an A in EDCP and at least a B in ARTH, it all goes away and I'll be back at school in the fall. And because of the stated policy, I don't have to apply for reinstatement unless I don't manage the above.

But the darling people at ResLife sent me a letter Thursday night that said I would be tossed out of housing either way if I didn't submit my application for reinstatement, which was due 29 June, the very next day. Insert panic attack, and a round of phone calls to corporate in Seattle, and then I called ResLife Friday morning and gave them hell. Actually got transfered to a manager, who nattered on for a bit and then said that as long as they knew I was actively involved in fixing my academic situation, I was fine with them.

And then the next day (Saturday) I received a formal confirmation of my housing status. Bastards must have put it in the mail as soon as I got off the phone. Amusingly enough, their website still doesn't have the formal details, but that can wait.

BDC can wait until late, must needs go to class. We start Japan today. *waves*

Just finished reading The Cid for Casey's class. Plot goes something like this:

Princess falls in love with boy, but he's too far below her station, so she introduces him to girl who is her buddy but on a similar social standing to boy. Boy and girl fall madly in love and are to be married. Girl's father insults boy's father when boy's father, boy kills girl's father in duel to avenge boys father's honor. Girl wants revenge but still loves boy, so boy runs off to war. Instant war hero! Boy returns victorious but still can't marry girl. King declares that boy will duel another knight, and the winner will marry the girl. Boy is victorious and they live happily ever after.

Sheesh.

(And then I tried to take a shower...and we have no hot water. Boo.)

Dear Dining Hall Staff.

This is couscous. It is not carrots or yellow squash, neither is it zucchini or mushrooms, nor is is chickpeas or those really creepy rehydrated raisins. Please learn your foods, kthx.

In other news, the weather out there is delightful. Sunny and warm and delightful. Made this afternoon's fire drill pleasant, even if it did wake me up from a trippy dream (I was napping). But damn, the alarm in this building is painful.

Exam today went well, happily. That means no more midterms until mid-April. I'm a happy bunny.

And a bored, horny bunny with spring fever. I get crazy and stupid this time of year. Someone needs to make sure I don't do anything stupid (like a guy, for example :P).

The last Stargate ep (ever! *sniffles*) airs in Britain tonight, but I can't get to it; the account that was posting them on YouTube was suspended. Anyone know where I can get them? Not that I would ever do anything illegal, of course, but desperate times call for desperate measures.