(no subject)
Life goes on in the land of the Bobcats. Classes started yesterday--I taught freshman comp. There's aaaaaalways that kid you KNOW is gonna be trouble... but other than that it was cool. Today was my first day of my "teaching apprenticeship" in my advisor's 18th c lit class. I stood the ENTIRE 80 minutes because she had me running the computer--googling visual aids while she lectured. :) It was fun, except for the standing. I'm going to have to wear my cushy black casual flipflops to class instead of my fancy, flat-bottomed sandals... But Dr. Z told me she LOVED what I did with the visuals in class and that it was a big help. I'm teaching half of the class period on Thursday: I'm doing the lesson on Pilgrim's Progress, and she's doing Samuel Pepys. Then I don't teach that class again until Oct 1st. I also have to add that I wore one of my new dressy work skirts today, and it looked FABULOUS, if I do say so myself! I took a picture, but I'm too lazy to do all the work to upload it here. :P
The fabulous new apartment is still fabulous. I got tired of there being just the big gaping hole in the sink (there's no stopper), and I tried a couple of different stoppers from Walmart and nothing fit right. Well, there was a wand to open and close the sink, just not the sink stopper, so Andrea and I went to Lowe's, and I got the stopper and installed it myself! It didn't require any tools, and I felt so competent! lol Andrea bought one the other night and I was going to show her how to install it, but it went a bit pear-shaped. First we discovered that there was part of one already in there, which we pulled out, covered in hair and what looked like rust (not a good sign). Then we found that the thing you have to unscrew to install it was COATED with rust, and when I tried to crack some of the rust off by pulling up the wand, THE MECHANISM BROKE. [I can tell I've been updating my fanfic more than my lj; I just tried to use the italics tag from the ao3 website rather than the typical html one... lol] We'll have to call the landlord--he's pretty good about timely repairs. Unlike the last one. I love my new apt so much! :P We still don't have everything organized; when we do, I can't WAIT to take a little video walkthrough of it and post it!
Speaking of last night's adventures, I also discovered that the wireless had stopped working on my newer lappie. I had a HECK of a time figuring out how to get tech support, and when I did, I did it online through my desktop. The guy I was talking to was SO ANNOYING. He wouldn't answered me for minutes at a time, and when he did, he would tell me to do the thing I had JUST SAID wouldn't work, or he would forget that I wasn't chatting to him through the faulty computer (because it OBVIOUSLY can't get internet! Helloooo???). Anyway, I finally found a phone number and called it instead, and got a MUCH more helpful and friendly tech from the Philippines. Turns out the wireless thing must be loose, and since I don't have a small enough screwdriver to fix it myself, I'm shipping it out to them to fix. Now the fact that my dad got me TWO laptops comes in handy! I'm back to using the old one--I had forgotten how little and cute it was!!!!
More adventures from yesterday: It's a long story, but we were given wrong info over the summer about how to obtain our water bills (we were told they went to our landlord) and it turns out we were overdue on two months of bills and they were threatening to cut off our water, so I had to go in person to pay it. When I explained to the lady why it was late (while filling out a check for her that included the $15 late fee), she was VERY snippy about it, and I left totally fuming. So I found an email address and sent a letter of complaint. I received a very apologetic call this morning from the Athens water company... from Athens, Alabama.
Oops.
It was pretty funny; she and I both had a good laugh once we figured out what had happened. She gave me contact info she had found for Athens OH, but I don't know if I'll resend the letter--I mostly did it to give myself an outlet for my anger, and I'm not as angry anymore. Eh. Although I really DON'T like having to spend money before my first paycheck comes in, on Sept 15th. I'm down to like a thousand bucks--out of which my rent, groceries, gas, utilities, etc need to come--and it's making me antsy.
I count the $5 I shelled out tonight well-spent, though: Andrea and Sally invited me to go to Wellworks (one of the fitness centers on campus) to try Zumba, and it was GREAT. Basically non-stop Latin/Bollywood dance-exercise for an HOUR. I was soaked with sweat by the end, and because I had unfortunately eaten before I went I had quite a cramp in my side. But it was a heck of a lot of fun--and of course, being a dancer, I picked most of it up pretty quick. I felt very accomplished. :P It's good for two things I really need: endurance and core strength. So I think I'll go back. Luckily, I believe that ballet is now FREE to students at the Ping center (that name cracks me up: "this is the machine that goes... PINGGGG!!"), and apparently goes for more than 7 weeks a semester! That's on Fri afternoons; they also have Latin dance on Monday evenings. So lots of dancing options for me! However, I have to remember not to dance around the living room at night: our downstairs neighbor is SUPER sensitive to us making noise above her, esp after 9. Last night after the sink-fixing/-breaking incident she texted me and asked us to keep it down. (Why, oh why, did I give her my phone number? Oh yeah, because I wanted to be friendly and polite and I didn't know how to say No, I DON'T want you to be able to contact me when we're being too loud. That's why.) I mean, she's a nice lady and everything... it's just that Andrea and I are starting to feel like we can't move around the apt at night. ANYWAY.
So, yeah. I was going to do some more comps reading tonight, but it's almost 9:30, and I'm really not feeling it. I'm probably going to go to bed in half an hour anyway. I'll do it tomorrow before class. 'Night!
The fabulous new apartment is still fabulous. I got tired of there being just the big gaping hole in the sink (there's no stopper), and I tried a couple of different stoppers from Walmart and nothing fit right. Well, there was a wand to open and close the sink, just not the sink stopper, so Andrea and I went to Lowe's, and I got the stopper and installed it myself! It didn't require any tools, and I felt so competent! lol Andrea bought one the other night and I was going to show her how to install it, but it went a bit pear-shaped. First we discovered that there was part of one already in there, which we pulled out, covered in hair and what looked like rust (not a good sign). Then we found that the thing you have to unscrew to install it was COATED with rust, and when I tried to crack some of the rust off by pulling up the wand, THE MECHANISM BROKE. [I can tell I've been updating my fanfic more than my lj; I just tried to use the italics tag from the ao3 website rather than the typical html one... lol] We'll have to call the landlord--he's pretty good about timely repairs. Unlike the last one. I love my new apt so much! :P We still don't have everything organized; when we do, I can't WAIT to take a little video walkthrough of it and post it!
Speaking of last night's adventures, I also discovered that the wireless had stopped working on my newer lappie. I had a HECK of a time figuring out how to get tech support, and when I did, I did it online through my desktop. The guy I was talking to was SO ANNOYING. He wouldn't answered me for minutes at a time, and when he did, he would tell me to do the thing I had JUST SAID wouldn't work, or he would forget that I wasn't chatting to him through the faulty computer (because it OBVIOUSLY can't get internet! Helloooo???). Anyway, I finally found a phone number and called it instead, and got a MUCH more helpful and friendly tech from the Philippines. Turns out the wireless thing must be loose, and since I don't have a small enough screwdriver to fix it myself, I'm shipping it out to them to fix. Now the fact that my dad got me TWO laptops comes in handy! I'm back to using the old one--I had forgotten how little and cute it was!!!!
More adventures from yesterday: It's a long story, but we were given wrong info over the summer about how to obtain our water bills (we were told they went to our landlord) and it turns out we were overdue on two months of bills and they were threatening to cut off our water, so I had to go in person to pay it. When I explained to the lady why it was late (while filling out a check for her that included the $15 late fee), she was VERY snippy about it, and I left totally fuming. So I found an email address and sent a letter of complaint. I received a very apologetic call this morning from the Athens water company... from Athens, Alabama.
Oops.
It was pretty funny; she and I both had a good laugh once we figured out what had happened. She gave me contact info she had found for Athens OH, but I don't know if I'll resend the letter--I mostly did it to give myself an outlet for my anger, and I'm not as angry anymore. Eh. Although I really DON'T like having to spend money before my first paycheck comes in, on Sept 15th. I'm down to like a thousand bucks--out of which my rent, groceries, gas, utilities, etc need to come--and it's making me antsy.
I count the $5 I shelled out tonight well-spent, though: Andrea and Sally invited me to go to Wellworks (one of the fitness centers on campus) to try Zumba, and it was GREAT. Basically non-stop Latin/Bollywood dance-exercise for an HOUR. I was soaked with sweat by the end, and because I had unfortunately eaten before I went I had quite a cramp in my side. But it was a heck of a lot of fun--and of course, being a dancer, I picked most of it up pretty quick. I felt very accomplished. :P It's good for two things I really need: endurance and core strength. So I think I'll go back. Luckily, I believe that ballet is now FREE to students at the Ping center (that name cracks me up: "this is the machine that goes... PINGGGG!!"), and apparently goes for more than 7 weeks a semester! That's on Fri afternoons; they also have Latin dance on Monday evenings. So lots of dancing options for me! However, I have to remember not to dance around the living room at night: our downstairs neighbor is SUPER sensitive to us making noise above her, esp after 9. Last night after the sink-fixing/-breaking incident she texted me and asked us to keep it down. (Why, oh why, did I give her my phone number? Oh yeah, because I wanted to be friendly and polite and I didn't know how to say No, I DON'T want you to be able to contact me when we're being too loud. That's why.) I mean, she's a nice lady and everything... it's just that Andrea and I are starting to feel like we can't move around the apt at night. ANYWAY.
So, yeah. I was going to do some more comps reading tonight, but it's almost 9:30, and I'm really not feeling it. I'm probably going to go to bed in half an hour anyway. I'll do it tomorrow before class. 'Night!