Week 0 Update, Fall

I have no idea if I'll actually be updating weekly, but just in case I'll number updates for now.

Our flights to Syracuse were mercifully boring; the luggage arrived when we did, etc. Since we weren't shipping any guitars we didn't need to worry about the airline breaking anything.

We spent the first night at my sister's house in Syracuse, then went to Rome to meet some friends. It was the first time any of them had met Andy, and he fit in just fine. We did get some sad news, though: a very dear friend from high school and beyond died in late July.

The next day we vegged while Mom was at work. After dinner we went out for ice cream with some friends whom Andy had met last time; a married couple whom I knew through Oswego, oddly enough. I had been in a dorm with the husband in my second-to-last year at college, where he was doing graduate work. It was fun, and ended up with us retreating to Dunkin Donuts when it got a bit chilly -- something unusual this time of year for us New Mexicans.

Thursday we headed back to Pamela's for a cookout and then loaded the llama-mobile as a proof-of-concept for the move. It turned out to be large enough that we were able to do it in one trip.

Friday was the move-in itself, and it went pretty well. There was no line at the ID office, so I got in and out with time to spare before anything else on campus opened. We ended up not needing the email I had printed out about the move-in date. Andy and Pamela brought most of the stuff in while I manned the door, which would not unlock with my ID card or with the key fob the front desk keeps for just such problems. Then we did a few runs to stores for odds, ends, and a bookshelf which doubles as a nightstand.

It was very sad when Andy and Pamela had to go. I kept trying to find reasons for them to stay, to no avail. And they really did need to leave since Andy had an early flight the next day and Pamela needed to drive him to the airport. But I do have Andy D. Bear and MOLL*E, so it's not quite so bad.

For Those Who Knew Ray Hall

( Raymond Anthony Hall, Rome Free Academy class of 1988, alumnus of RIT and MVCC )

Week 1 Update, Fall

On Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays I have Asian Theatre and the 19th Century American Novel. The former should be pretty self-explanatory, while I squeed in a previous post about the novel course concentrating on Gothic literature, including Poe.

One of the requirements for the novel course was a presentation, and I decided to give the first one offered, on Poe's biography. I gave the presentation on Friday. I don't know the grade for it yet, but the professor smiled a few times when I hit on certain points and, in his followup, said "Like Cat said" several times, which I think bodes well. While I still have essays and such to write for the class, I'm glad to have gotten the presentation out of the way early. Not only does it lift the weight of having to give it off of my shoulders, but also I don't have to worry if another student sets the bar high.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Sophomore Seminar on genres and Literary Criticism. Both of them seem intimidating at the moment, and I feel really out of place in the seminar since emphasis is on us getting to know one another as English majors in the same year. I'm wondering if I should ask for alternate courses to the sophomore and junior seminars (there is no senior seminar yet; I'm expecting it will be introduced next year) since they're specifically for groups which I don't fall into. I'll probably mention it when talking to my adviser on Wednesday to get my declaration of minor signed.

I had thought I had seen the last of the online course stuff when I finished the summer course, but it turns out that the university is encouraging professors to make use of it, and at least one of mine, the Sophomore Seminar one, has embraced it big time. I'm currently procrastinating making my first post on a discussion in the online system. I have a hard deadline of 11:59 on the 7th, so it'll be done soon enough.

At least two of my courses involve papers in which the professor will be checking up by requiring bibliography and drafts handed in before the paper itself. Tomorrow I'm going to avail myself of the day off to chart when those things are due and see what overlap, if any, there are with the major projects and with lesser essays and such for the other courses.