Monday, December 20, 2004

Christmas Break

That phrase is a beautiful one, isn't it? This is the first break that my parents have decided to come visit me (and my older brother's family, who now live down here) rather than the other way around. They just got there yesterday, and my brother is going to pick me up today. Then I'll spend about a week up there, and return the day after Christmas to start working for a little extra money.

Yesterday my roommate and another friend and I played one of his games on his new PS2 most of the day. That was fun. But this morning we had to be up by five or so to take him to the airport, which is the main reason I put off going to my brother's until now.

Unfortunately, because my lady works at a school down there in Mexico, and they close up most things during break, she doesn't have access to the library where she would normally have internet access, so she either has to go to town to get ahold of me or just call me, which is expensive. This means that our communication has become much less frequent. The days drag on. I miss her. :.( Yet another reason I can't wait for school to start again.

Hope all is well with you! Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 06, 2004

Drama (No, it's a good thing!)

I forgot to mention that last week we had tryouts for next semester's play. This year, we are putting on a production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Last year, we did his As You Like It, and it was a very professional performance. I had the privilege of being the lead male role, Orlando. The roles are already assigned for this year, and I am Leonato. I'm not the lead male role, but I am a major character. I'm supposed to be an older man, the father of a girl named Hero. I don't know how they're going to pull that off. :-) I also have as my brother Antonio the same guy who was my brother in the last play. We do look a little bit alike, but I didn't expect to be paired with him again. Not that it's a bad thing. I'm so excited about the play! I've missed it since last year.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Some news, both bad and good

Somehow this semester seems to be centered around the amount of sleep I get at night. I seem to be ready to do absolutely anything to stay up just a little later, and then the next day I can't get up at the time I want, or only while looking like a zombie. Case in point: Thursday night, I stayed up almost all night, partly helping my roommate with a project (at least I think it was Thursday...all the days sort of run together when you do this....) and partly doing email stuff, etc. I set my alarm to wake me in time to get ready for class, but I didn't go. I don't remember what happened, but my roommate tells me that I slept right through it, so he came over and tried to wake me up. I got up and walked over to my clock and turned it off, and then just stood there glaring. He decided I didn't want to be awakened, so he didn't stop me when I went over and jumped back in bed. I only really woke up at 10:30, realized that I had missed both my classes that day, and went back to bed. When an old friend called at 2:30, I was at the phone before the second or third ring, as always. For some reason, the phone *always* gets me up. Sometimes I'm not awake, but I'm always at least up. I wasn't completely awake when he introduced himself, but about the second or third sentence, I was. We talked for about ten or fifteen minutes, but he was worried that he'd awakened me (which was my own dumb fault for staying up late!) so we got off the phone and I went back to bed. Finally, I woke up at around 5:15 or so, and went to supper. Except for missing the classes, I felt great! Sleeping about 12/13 hours will do that. So that's just one example. I hate it. Until this semester, I may have had trouble getting to bed at a decent hour, but nothing like this! I am a morning person, and I love to be on time to class. Maybe it's senioritis, but whatever it is, it stinks!

Aside from that, I have worries about classes (as a direct result), worries about two papers in English classes (due this week, W and F), worries about finances, and worries about my Honors thesis, which I haven't really worked on all semester (don't read that, Dr. D.!). It isn't due to be finished until next semester, but this semester was a major part of the time I was supposed to be doing research.

On a MUCH lighter note, last night, Honors took a group of us to see The Nutcracker in Bass Performance Hall in Ft. Worth. I saw it live once before, about three years ago. It was a great performance. I was impressed all over again. It is such a great fairy tale. It occurred to me while I was watching it that while perhaps most girls (just a guess) dream of being the center of a fairy tale like that, many probably don't realize that there are a few of us guys that dream of being the hero in just such a fairy tale. All the way to Bass from school, we (the people in the car I was riding in) talked about significant others, as well as accidents we'd been in and traffic tickets we'd received, and because of one big backup due to an accident, we barely made it to the performance on time. After the performance, we decided to go to Barnes & Noble for a little while. I spent my time in the "Fiction and Literature" section, of course. I am worried about finances, but sometimes you still have to indulge yourself a little, so I bought one classic novel, Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence for about five bucks. All the way back, we talked about classic literature and things like that, and had a lot of fun. The ride seemed much shorter, and we felt like better friends by the time we dropped one off and drove back to the parking spaces by one dorm where the rest of us could get out. Two great things in one night! Even when life isn't going your way, things are still good.

Now I'd best rush off to lunch, before I miss that, too! As the Peruvians (among others) say, chau!