Hey everybody, I’m gonna try something different for photos this time around. As you can see, there’s a ‘May Photo Album’ link a few lines up. That ought to take you to a google photos album.
So in the April post you were given the following preview:
-Meg and Carrianne go to the Spa
-Dissertation Supervisor assignment
-Carrianne returns to CT
-UB interview
-Avett Brothers concert
-Mom’s school concerts
-Catching up with family
-SQUAD time and Kimmy’s birthday
-GHS orchestra concert and my first look at the new auditorium. (IT SHOULD’VE BEEN BETTER FROM THE START)
We’ll just go with that, with a few other things spliced in. The photo album should follow along, more or less. 🙂
Meg and Carrianne go to the Spa: HELL YEAH WE DID. We needed it more than we thought, really. We were fed many tasty things, we got to go swimming, got to take BATHS, each had a massage and a facial, and thoroughly enjoyed not really having to clean up after ourselves (or anyone else).
-Dissertation Supervisor assignment: Dr. Douglas Small is my dissertation supervisor, and we were able to fit in a meeting before I left for home. I like him, and I think that we’re on the same wavelength about my project. He’s had a few challenges to my ideas that really did expose some things that could be trimmed. I appreciate that, and I’m definitely the kind of student who needs that kind of advising. I don’t think either of us are concerned about limiting ourselves to the proscribed three (3) meetings because I’m working on an accelerated timeline and I need all the help I can get!
-YARDWORKS FESTIVAL: So, right behind Maclay residences is the SWG3 warehouse complex thing, and you may recall I’ve been complaining about rowdy youths outside my windows in the wee hours coming and going from SWG3 events. Well, they have a cool festival that’s all about graffiti and street art, and they offered free tickets to people who live in the G38QP postcode. I went both Saturday and Sunday, (May 6/7) so the photos should be a cool collection of the artwork in different stages. I managed to get Ingrid, Beatrice, and Meg to join me at different points, and it was a lovely way to pass a weekend out of doors. It was BLINDINGLY sunny though, and my right forearm got roasted. No pictures of that necessary, your imaginations can handle turning the red dial all the way up.
-Carrianne returns to CT: I hung out with friends right before I left, so I was perhaps more tired than I ought to have been on Monday morning! I went home mostly to take care of the in person details for my University of Bridgeport program/internship in the fall. Kim and Kaitlyn came and picked me up from the airport ’cause they’re GEMS, and dropped me right off at home. I almost had a fit when I walked in the door though… it looked more like a 5 person flat than Maclay did when I left it.
Tuesday the 9th was supposed to be all about running errands, getting my money order for the fingerprinting appointment following my interview on Wednesday, generally getting a feel for being home and driving on the right, and then seeing squad for dinenr! That’s not how it went. First major hurdle of being home: my car wouldn’t start. Yes, it had been run semi-regularly and definitely recently… but the battery was kaput. The rest of my day was a stressball of dealing with the car, AAA not cooperating, and panicking about what-if scenario’s regarding my wednesday plans. Fortunately the local car guys were able to replace the battery, and I made it to dinner with squad, already ready for any possible decompression.
-UB interview: Still slightly tense from Tuesday’s hullabaloo, I was anxious about just getting straight to UB. I wanted a little bit of time to park and look around before sitting down for my interview. The interview itself went really well. My connections to the Greenwich School System came in handy, and, barring a disastrous courtesy interview with the school principal, I was guaranteed an internship spot at a middle school in the GPS system with a placement for student teaching at GHS in fall of 2018!
I strolled out of the interview feeling cocky and proud, and drove to Trumbull to take care of the formal fingerprinting. I walked in, signed in, sat down with the clipboard full of forms to sign…. and realized that I didn’t have the money order. The money order I was supposed to get on Tuesday. When my car didn’t start. fuck. So I walked back up the desk, blushing to my roots and asked to reschedule. The secretary was NOT impressed. They didn’t have any availability until the 24th, but I was really in no position to argue. I slunk out of the center with my new appointment date and my tail between my legs!
Since SHU was on the drive home down the parkway, I stopped in to see who was still around, and got a chance to catch up with a few people and leave notes for a few others. That soothed my embarrassment a bit and I made it home determined to focus on the things I did well!
In a rather hastily cobbled together plan, mom drove home from Troy to collect me on Wednesday night so that I could attend school with her on Thursday and Friday and help out at the Thursday evening HS concert. I think the only thing I need to say about Troy is that they separate their 6th grade general music classes into boys and girls, so mom either has a class of 20 11/12 year old boys or girls. WHY. WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT. WHY.
Saturday night was the Avett Brothers concert with Kaitlyn! Basically, the Capitol Theatre is great, we always have a good time, the Avett Brothers rocked, and it was a perfect time in spite of the rain. THANKS KATE, I LOVE YOU.
-Catching up with family included a sleepover with Grammy, a visit to Grandpa and Johanna, and dinner with my St. James brood.
I went with mom to the Norwalk Symphony Concert, mostly to see some of my musician friends and see mom play 🙂 They did Mahler 2, the Resurrection, which was really just a MASSIVE number of musicians. there were some great moments, but I wasn’t feeling the whole narrative thread of the piece. I’m just not entirely sold on Mahler in general.
My trip back had lots of music, which is great, but I was absolutely GREEN with envy about the state of the new GHS auditorium. I only took two photos because the rest of the time was spent gawking and then listening.
My big home project was basically integrating the books I had brought home with me from Glasgow, and getting my room ready for diving right into school again in the fall. Let me just say, there’s not such thing as too many books. HOWEVER, it was time to pass some of them along, a decision which should NOT prevent me from taking ownership of my dad’s library when he kicks it. I had to make room, Daddy, it’s not like I shredded them or dog eared all their pages. I still deserve the Chime Acres Treasure Trove.
Cool story, several days at home were uncomfortably warm. I was thrown for a loop, but soon it went back to reasonable temps and everything was fine. LITTLE DID I KNOW that soon the external temperatures would be irrelevant to me. Part of the UB paperwork I was dealing with this trip included a health form with proof of vaccinations/antibodies. Thought it was all fine, asked the Dr. to fill it out and send it off. Got a call saying they need to take blood to do the antibody test. Fine. Sure. Went and got that done, got a massive bruise that has only just faded (6/10/17), and thought that’d be it. NOPE. Turns out I somehow didn’t have chicken pox antibodies? WHERE DID THEY GO? I don’t know. so I had to go back in and get the booster shot on Friday the 26th. By the evening of Saturday the 27th, I had a puffy, inflamed, tender upper arm, chills, nausea, and fever. Nothing like getting pseudo chick pox at the end of ones vacation.
Anyway, it knocked me out of commission through Monday the 29th, and I ended up missing Kim’s birthday party which really really sucked.
The afternoon of the 30th was spent doing my taxes, which I naturally left until as late as possible.
The 31st was packing and puttering, then mom and I went to the beach for fries and salt air. It was SO GOOD to smell the sea breeze, even if the haze undid my straight hair and kept us from seeing the NYC skyline from the beach. I got a good shot of it when we crossed the Whitestone bridge on the way to JFK though. I totally managed not to cry at the airport, which is new and exciting. The flights weren’t bad enough to really complain about, but my sleep totaled about 2 hours. I got home in the afternoon of June 1st, and I only made it until around 5pm before passing out entirely!
Your June preview includes:
Dissertation symposium presentation
Fika Open Mic
BBQ @ Ingrid’s
Street Festival
Dram
Wonder Woman
Queer Theory
Glenfinnan and Mallig
Dissertation Progress
and probably several other exciting things!
Fantasy in Scotland 