The Film Noir Experience

So, Sunday was my day off. I woke up at a non-unreasonable hour (with the help of my furry alarm clock, Cooper), made myself breakfast and a nice pot of coffee. I made a checklist of things that had to get done during this week, prioritizing what would need to be done first and I got down to business.

And then I realized that if any of my business was going to take place outside of my house at any point this week, I would have to do laundry because like the lazy slob that I am, I had two full laundry hampers and no clean knickers.

Yup, I'm a classy girl.

So, I relocated my ticking-things-off-master-list efforts to the laundromat. Everyone else in the known universe was there as well because it was Sunday afternoon. Sunday, that day of fun and rest that comes between Saturday (another potential day of fun) and the rest of the (potentially crappy) week. So, there was a bit of a queue for the machines. But, I had reading to do, so I was pretty set. Every once and awhile I look at my laundry baskets and I think to myself, "never again. I'm going to wash things on a weekly schedule so that I never run out of things." I get pretty good at it and then you have to put it off a day because something comes up and the next thing you know its a month later, or on your last pair of underpants and you're waiting for a machine to open up on a Sunday afternoon. I've made no vows to myself about a schedule this time. We'll just see how it goes.

Posted by Kate at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, my school books have been trickling in, slowly, as I've bought them from the internet. One of the classes I'm taking is a Corpus Linguistics class (I'm learning Perl!) For the class, there was one absolutely optional books. Two books who are optional if you've worked with UNIX or Perl before (I bought them) and one required book. Guess which order I've received them in? Yup, that's right. In the exact opposite order in which they would have been useful.

Today, I signed in to see the status of my books that I've not received, so I'd know when to expect them. Apparently, I Didn't even order that last one. The one that was required. The one I should already be three chapters into. Thankfully, I have friends and know how to look sad and pathetic and have been able to keep up with the reading. Further good news, thanks to the internet, I can expect said book in 4-7 days. Hooray!

Posted by Kate at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So, I have come into the possession of a bicycle and have decided that since I do not live all that far from campus I should start riding my new (to me) bicycle to school. (Its nice that school has started so that I'm not just on campus tooling around the library coming up with things for myself to do or read. Although, I did really enjoy my Summer of Proust.)

The day before school started, I went out and bought my school supplies, which this year included a helmet, lock, and pump so that I could inflate my tires to the proper pressure. (I would also like to acquire a basket, so that I could stop carrying the old backpack I've had since undergrad and instead carry, full-time, my new fancy-pants school bag I got when I was back in Iowa. I'm still on the look out for a nice one.) And, then when I got home from work I took myself for a little ride. And, while I was riding, it occurred to me that I probably haven't ridden a bike (that wasn't stationary) since I lived outside of Kansas City. (For those of you at home keeping score, that's eleventy-thousand years because I am Methuselah.) Lucky for me, "its like riding a bike" is an adage for a reason.

Monday, I had to be on campus by 9, so I left around 8:15 because I didn't know exactly how long it would take and I was shocked at how quickly it took me to get on campus. I also became aware of a hill that I previously had been unaware of. (Nothing like the Pentacrest, for the Iowa City folks out there, but enough for this little fatty to being huffing and puffing after it.) Tuesday, I went in early to get myself situated. It was great. I biked 3 of the 5 days (the other two days I didn't because of assorted off-campus errands that needed to be run prior to my appearance on campus.)

Did I mention it was great?

So, I took myself on a little recreational bike ride this evening. It was also great. I explored the little residential neighborhood behind my complex. It was nice. And, it reminded me of this book I read awhile back. is a book about an overweight guy who keeps to himself who, after a family tragedy, ends up riding his bike across the country to identify his sister's body. I enjoyed it.

Posted by Kate at 06:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)