Last Semester

Last night I watched the State of the Union. I don't know why I put myself through that. It made me realize that part of the reason I get so crabby and disagreeable has to do with the fact that I'm a political wonk. I'm addicted to political blogs of all sorts and editorial pages. When I have cable I actually watch C-SPAN. Yes, C-SPAN. I can remember in high school watching congress and wishing we had C-SPAN 2 so I could watch the Senate. Over intersession I watched the Alito vote as well as Molly Ivins on Washington Journal or Booknotes or something. I was really a much brighter, positive person in Spain, and I think that my detachment from American politics had a lot to do with it (also my detachment from American workaholism/homework). Remember after the 2004 election...I was inconsolable. After 2000 I was just pissed, but I thought it could be fun to be on the other side of the argument, you know, the one that gets to bitch all the time about how horrible the president is. It turns out 8 years is just too long a period of time to be in that mindset. Especially with Congress being all Republican, too.

So today was the first day of last semester of my life...unless i eventually decide to go to grad school. It was meh. Because I have to finish up some requirements, I'm taking a class I probably wouldn't normally. It's Calvinist Legacy in American Culture. The reading list is pretty good, but I just don't much care for Protestantism. It's probably the most biggest part of the Catholic education to be held over besides the guilt and the cultural effects which pepper my vocabulary and conversations. So yeah, I have a weird aversion to Protestants. It probably has more to do with stereotypes, so it's really more my problem than theirs. I can't stop thinking about WASPs and fundamentalists, and I strongly dislike both of them. But for this class we're reading The Scarlet Letter (snooze city, but I guess it's important), Elmer Gantry......., Winesburg Ohio (hell yeah), and some other stuff (Flannery O'Connor, James Baldwin) that should hold my interest.

There's going to be a lot of reading this semester that I'm just not going to do, so that kind of sucks.

Mondayish I go back to work for the arts fair. Thank god. Meaning in my life. I can't wait to reacquaint myself with my old friend the water cooler. I was never so hydrated as when I worked there.

Thesis due in less than a month. Woof. Johnny Mac put me at ease today, though. I was expecting a rough meeting, but he was pretty encouraging, despite the fact that I have so much work to do. I have no class on Thursdays or Fridays, so that's a plus. Also...No Finals!!