Missing: One Princess (or standing in a creek again)
**yawn**
That's really about all my brain is capable of right now.
It's that garbled end of semester madness, with a splash of "holy crap I'm moving in weeks!" thrown in the mix.
Despite being a class full of PhD students with many, many years of memorizing and reciting back textbooks (which we all thought we had officially moved past), my clinical neuroscience prof is not convinced by the general norm of not giving final exams at this stage in the education process. As such, I have regressed to 20 again, snoozing over my textbook as I repeat over and over "serotonin acts as a neuromodulator at the caudate nucleus in the OCD loop... or, crap, is it dopamine?"
I find it exceedingly ironic that they ("they" being the omnipressant "man", or perhaps just the clinical program in general) still feel they need to make me jump through the multiple choice hoop while, the day prior, they have me writing pre-sentencing reports or providing psychotherapy.
And does anyone have a solution to the epic moving dilemma of finding enough boxes?
Moving boxes have to be symbolic of something. I can't think of anything so valuable that a person will traipse about the city, inquiring at random liquor stores for, or even pay $3 each, which is in turn so value-less in matter of days.
So, yeah, life is fun.
And I am sleepy.
As such, in a blatant cop-out, I'm providing you with one of my favourite posts of yore. It makes me smile, at least!
Standing in the creek with my shoes on
We were ten years old.
His name was Stuart.
My parents, being of the hippy denomination, took us most years to an annual May Day celebration. It involved pot luck lunch, themed quests through the woods (Alice in Wonderland one year, with my aunt dressed as one of the card guards), and, yes, a dance around the May Pole.
There was also some sort of parade, lead by the May King and Queen. All the girls yearned for the part of May Queen, though the boys really couldn't care less. This honour was bestowed merely by selecting the right card.
And, when I was 10, it was my lucky year. As May Queen, I wore a crown of flowers, and led the parade with Stuart, the May King, one of only three boys who volunteered for the task.
After the mini-parade, him and I take a walk through the woods. We stray from the path, and decide to walk through a creek with our shoes on.
As we're sloshing through the creek, he turns to me and says "I like you". He then pauses, and says "Like girl-boy like."
I hesitate. "I like you, too."
He then spits out the kicker: "I want to kiss you."
I stand there, motionless, water rushing by my feet. For some reason, with my heart pounding, I agree.
And, standing in that creek, we count to three, and then quickly press our lips together.
He, being the more experienced one and having kissed a girl before, declares that we should kiss again for longer. We again do the count down, and hold our mouths together for a count of six.
We then decide we should probably be getting back to the party, and emerge from the forest, with no one the wiser, not then not for years to come. This was my darkest untold secret for more than a year.
I never did see Stuart again. I couldn't even tell you what he looked like.
However, I think I will always remember the feeling of wet socks between my toes.
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29 comments:
Awww.. that Stuart story is adorable.
Also? Boxes? Suck. For the exact reasons you mention. I mean, you could go to stores and ask for the ones they're throwing out - but depending on what *kind* of store will make a huge difference in the quality of the box.. and me? I'm paranoid about bugs. So, I have to keep my choices to a minimum.
And paying for boxes? Say what? Recycle, Reuse...Re-something.
Wishing you the best of luck w/your studies and LOTS of good sleep! As you can tell, I'm wide awake @3am. No bueno.
This Stuart sounds like quite the player. Never trust a Stuart. They're all trouble.
I have to do the moving boxes thing also.
Oh thats sooooo cute. :)
Sweet story. My first and I counted to three, smacked and ran. Cute.
It seems to me that the search for the extra scrolls is as much about learning academics as it is about jumping through hoops; it's maddening, but impossible to avoid if you want to reach your goals. Hang in there, and good luck!
Boxes: is your program near to/at the same University as any laboratory research labs? Go there. That's where I get all my boxes - we get deliveries daily (multiple, in fact) and at least one a day is in a fairly large, useable-for-moving box... They just get thrown out otherwise, so you should be able to acquire plenty, either by asking around the labs or just hanging around their recycling area ;)
I love that story. So sweet and innocent :)
And I finally graduated from liquor store boxes to Aldi's boxes..hells yes. You can pack more stuff in them!
Super cute story! Sounds right out of a movie.
I don't think anyone in the history of time has ever moved without the requisite struggle to find boxes first. My coworker is currently making a box collection near our cubicles for when she moves in May.
Boxes and moving, my brain hurts just thinking about it. Ask around at school/work, hopefully you'll find some good ones. I paid for boxes once when I was leaving school and moving back to Texas, ridiculously expensive and I felt bad.
Man, I need some boxes as well. Hate looking for boxes. HATE it!
I agree with the stupidity of professors. AS a former PhD student, I found it ridiculous that multiple choice tests were partof the curriculum. I mean really. Use some imagination.
And I can actually write prescriptions. But apparently still needed to be tested on my memorization skills.
I love that story. Possibly because it gets right down to the brass tacks:
"I like you"
"I like you too"
"I want to kiss you"
"OK"
PS Can't believe you're posting repeat stuff. What a cop out. You'd never catch me doing that.
neologisms are my life...my favorite is "schneep," defined in one of my posts. :) what's yours?
boxes are overrated. just put your shit in garbage bags!
Grocery stores will give you egg boxes for free usually. And my husband and I went dumpster diving behind like dollar trees, pet stores, strip malls and found LOTS of "free" boxes.
I loved the Stuart story. So wonderful in its child-like innocence :)
Ant, I'm stealing those chat up lines - just so you know.
I don't want to hear that you've been using them.
B and I went to Wal-Mart while they were stocking (after 10 or 11), and took some of their boxes that weren't torn to shreds. Big stores like that are always more than happy to get rid of their boxes.
Girl, just make sure you take care of the basics. Take care of yourself, and The Duke. Make sure you don't go crazy. You don't do any good to us anymore crazy than you already are! ;-)
Stuart...too cute!
When I moved, I went to the nearby grocery store, and asked for the extra boxes in the back.
sounds like you have a lot on your plate! moving is stressful...having to study on top of that! hmmm, i get boxes from work because i'm right next to the mail room. there has to be something!
Boxes - ugh. Well, you could marry someone whose parents are hoarders and keep tons of them in their basement. Or you could peruse craigslist, which I've heard has posts for just about everything. Good luck with the move.
Aw what a cute story!
And yeah I hate moving. But check out some grocery stores er or basically big department stores and sometimes they have extra boxes in storage, I believe my Aunt did that before.
Good luck!
I'm with QueenBee. Big stores have boxes.
At least your exam is over today, no?
Yep, exam is now done! And, like a true neurotic, I overstudied.
Thanks for all the box suggestions. The only problem is I am a very car-less Princess-- meaning I will have to trick a friend with a car into box hunting (man, that sounds dirty) with me this weekend.
I was a bit younger. In fact, it was in pre school. I was holding this girls hand and a lad named Ben came up and all the other lads started shouting 'kiss her', so I did, and they all went 'urggh!'
Mmm, box-hunting. Yes, there is a certain kerb-crawly undertone to that phrase...
Toast: use them wisely my friend. They are the secret to getting a good harem going...
I got most of my boxes at liquor stores this last time. I loved that my worldly items appeared to include many boxes of vodka, tequila, and coconut run. :)
Finding empty boxes while moving is always a pain!
That story was great, you are a very talented writer. :)
Oh, yes, I do like that story.
Liquor stores have always met my needs, from moving boxes to large bottles of vodka to be drunk during the move.
What a cute story!
That story is beyond cute! It sounds like something from the cutting-room floor of "My Girl"... in the best way possible! :)
As to boxes, this may be a strictly Brooklyn tactic, but do corner stores sell beer in your city? If so, they will be swimming in empty beer cases.
If you have a store you frequent regularly, go ask them. That's what I did, and a large chunk of my possessions were moved in beer cases. I may have looked like a lush, but my stuff got where it was going!
I also asked the building manager at my office. He coughed up a stack of really nice storage boxes.
Final suggestion: go to a Target or similar and get large plastic tubs. They're not that expensive, they're re-usable, and you can use them to store stuff in your closets.
Good luck with the move and the end of the semester!
cutest first kiss story ever. the experienced 10 year old. hahahaha.
also: i didn't know you were moving! where to?
BUT ds tells me you two are meeting up! (so jealous right now)
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