brainylady

I need to take a chill pill.

I'm trying to chill, I really am, but it's hard! I feel like I've been full-on busy for about three months now, and I am wound tight, people. It seems like everywhere I look there's a bunch of frat boys sitting on their front porches drinking beer, and I think, "Don't you have things to do? Don't you have to go to a class or unpack or earn a living or something?" (Answers: Yeah, right; Yeah, I'm unpacking a six-pack! and, Huh?) Here I am, feeling like an underachiever, when just today, for example, I did the following: drove my brother to the airport at 6:00 a.m.; bought a TV set; bought cat stuff, including one of those oh-so-dignified carpeted monstrosities for the cats to climb on and scratch; applied for and had my photo taken for my Ontario driver's license; picked up a telephone book; went to an info session at school about the teaching assistants' collective agreement; went to three used-book stores, desperately seeking Susan Sontag (with no luck); spent $100 at the university bookstore on three books; and went to school again for an evening class that never materialized. I think there was some other stuff, too. I even managed to bathe, dress myself, and eat. And do I feel satisfied? No! I feel like I should have picked up my bus pass!

OK, I just took the time to count to ten, and I'm feeling better. Anyway, the good news -- excellent news, really -- is that being on campus today felt so good. I felt so happy to be there. It's a beautiful old campus, and it was a beautiful day. So yay for that!

Walking to my non-class tonight, though, felt a bit like being on the set of a movie about the first week of university. Dude, it's Frosh Week! There are hordes of fresh young undergrads wearing matching T-shirts, depending on which residence they now live in. They're playing volleyball! They're playing Twister on the sidewalk! They're setting up trampolines in front of their houses! They're zany! I've never seen anything like this in real life. I even saw the cheerleading squad, all dressed in their teeny purple outfits! I go to a school that has a fancy cheerleading squad! Ready? OK!

(Oops, blood pressure is rising again. One, two, three, four...)