What I didn't mention was that I am supposed to include seven facts about myself; I held off on doing that so that I could describe my online dating (mis)adventures. But here are seven facts about myself and my life in Chicago.
1. I gave up M&Ms for Lent just because I love them so much. (Also, if I gave up caffeine I just might turn into Godzilla and start stomping around the city while growling menacingly and throwing things.) That might explain why I keep having dreams about the talking M&Ms from the commercial. In the dreams they are laughing and mocking me because I can't eat them, and there are a bunch of other people in the dream; they too are laughing and mocking me while they eat candy. That might also explain why I sometimes wake up by weeping into my pillow.
Forty days never seemed so long...
2. The grad students at my school sometimes like to go to neighborhood bars to hang out and socialize. I dislike going to bars because I don't drink alcohol and also because I think that most bars are adult versions of recess in grade school. (The main difference is that at bars people are drinking from beer bottles instead of from juice boxes or milk cartons.) Everyone is standing or sitting around in groups and pairs, gossiping about each other while not-so-discreetly checking out other people and hoping that other people are checking them out. Instead of showing off for the girls by playing football in front of them the way the boys did in grade school, the men show off in front of the women by yelling authoritatively at the game on TV. And just like at grade school recess, I'm on the sidelines, talking with different groups of people while pretending to feel like it doesn't bother me that I don't belong to any of the cliques.
3. When I show a movie in class, I tell my students about how it relates to the themes that we're studying. But a part of me is just relieved that I don't have to give a lecture that day. I also can't even watch most of the movie, since I have to keep telling students to wake up or to turn off their cell phones.
4. When I have to sit through another lecture that I either only understand 2% of or that has nothing to do with my graduate research, I want to jump up in front of the other grad students and professors and yell, "Why does this even matter?" Then I want to run off and watch an episode of Jersey Shore, because watching it doesn't make me feel like I'm the most clueless person in the room. But I don't, because I know that would really bug me if my own students were to do that.
5. Whenever it's a really windy day in Chicago, so that I feel like I'm going to get knocked over if I just stand still for a minute, I find myself muttering with determination, "Must...make...it...through! Must...get...to...Starbucks!"
6. When I'm using one of the Nautilus machines at the gym and one of the personal trainers is nearby, I'll add more weight to whatever I'm lifting and do another set so the trainer won't think I'm lazy. I also think of how I first learned to bench press in high school, when the gym teacher leaned over me and said, "Is that all you can lift? You're WEAK!" And of course all the other girls could lift more than me. Show-offs.
7. I think I'm one of the few Chicagoans who actually likes winter more than summer. I don't like the freezing temperatures, icy roads, or slushy sidewalks. I like that there are less people outside, which makes it far less likely that I'm going to get all impatient and yell, "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" (I don't really do that. Well. I haven't done that in a couple weeks, at least.)
According to Alice X, the rules for this award are that you not only list seven facts about yourself but that you also pass it on to other bloggers. So I'd like to give this award to these amazing bloggers (and check out their blogs!):
lalalalauren at lauren vs. reality
Theresa Milstein at Substitute Teacher's Saga
FreeFlying at Tickets for Two
Anna at Anna Saikin
The Unprofessional Critic
Have a great Monday everyone! And does it say something about me that when I tried to type "Monday", I ended up typing "M&Ms" instead?
Ahh!!!! This is just what I needed today!!!! THANK YOU!!!! MORE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Anna,
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Awards always make me want to use exclamation points too, just because they make me smile! :)
Aw, thanks for the award, girl! :D
ReplyDeleteHi lalalalauren,
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
This is The Unprofessional Critic saying: THANK YOU for the awesome award!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about bars: I do drink alcohol, but I prefer to go to bars to hang out with my friends and unwind, rather than meet guys. I also like gay bars because the music's better and no one's drunkenly hitting on me!
Hi Unprofessional Critic,
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I like going to bars with my friends too, because their company makes being at bars more fun.
"Must...make...it...through! Must...get...to...Starbucks!" That's it girl, don't let mother nature stand in the way of your caffeine fix
ReplyDeleteHi Alice X,
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think I'm like those people in those Butterfinger commercials who won't let anybody take their candy from them, except for me it's my coffee that I'm focused on. :)
Congrats on the award! God, you had a very nasty gym teacher!
ReplyDeleteHi Talli,
ReplyDeleteThanks! The gym teacher was tough, but he was like that with everyone; I think it was because he was also the football coach so I didn't mind him too much.
Yay!!!! Thanks for the award! It's such a pretty one! And congrats on your award. :) I love reading this blog.
ReplyDeleteHi FreeFlying,
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I love reading your blog too!
Thanks for passing the award onto me.
ReplyDeleteWe need to get coffee together one day.
First, I'm completely with you about those graduate school talks. My years in the History program were the only years I ever felt so stupid. I never want to hear about Foucault again as long as I live.
Second, I hate when movie in class is more work. This has happened many times as sub. Fun fact: I had a professor in college who taught two classes simultaneously. Mine was one and a movie (and culture or some garbage) class was the other. He'd turn on the movie in the other room, then come to our room. Nobody figured it out for years. Apparently he'd done it for several semesters.
Third, I'm with you on bars and recess. One big difference, bars are usually indoors. Unlike you, I hate the cold.
Hi Theresa,
ReplyDeleteWe should totally get coffee together someday. That'd be fun. I don't like Foucault either; he's very difficult to read. I feel so out of place whenever I listen to other grad students talk about how they wrote papers and articles about him.