it’s amazing what a hot shower can do at the end of the day.
i always have to walk to my car after class because the shuttle to the parking lot for cheap-o grad students stops running at 3:40 pm (i will refrain from climbing up on my soapbox here about the dangers of requiring students to walk alone to their middle-of-nowhere cars at all hours of the night). by the time i manage my way past the football stadium and through all the other commuter lots, i am swimming in my own sweat. it’s truly disgusting. that parking lot is like the surface of the sun. i can’t wait until october.
the weirdness is this: within this boondocks parking lot, there is an oval, paved bike track. there is nothing special about this track. in fact, when walking to my car, i liken it to the seventh level of hell. why you would want to spend your time circling this ring of fire is beyond my comprehension. kind of like the desire to read derrida and recipes that include brussel sprouts. yet every day i find bikers there. and serious bikers, with the weird handlebars and the funny spandex sperm suits and everything. i suppose biking on the track allows them to better judge how far they’ve gone, but it’s such a shame when the streets surrounding campus are so bike-able. they’re shady and lined with huge old trees. very much like queens road west, a comparison native charlotteans will find very pleasant. there’s even a bike lane, people! as in, a lane for bikes!
these bikers. they continue to laugh in the face of all that is logical and good.
in any case, i have officially begun my second week of classes. and my third novel. although i will be rewarded this week by watching hugh grant and his very foppish hair in sense and sensibility on wednesday in my jane austen class. this is good not only for the pure entertainment but also because it will force the snooty undergrad in that class to keep her trap shut for a minimum of an hour and a half.
i’m hoping my sleeping habits improve in the coming week, because as of late i have not been able to fall asleep until 2 or 3 am (very unusual for me). i’m thinking it’s a symptom of stress or different noises in my new environment, but whatever the reason, it sucks. any suggestions for falling asleep? i’m kind of desperate.
speaking of new sounds… i was making a ham and pickle sandwich in the kitchen on sunday when i heard a car accident on 610 (the belt around houston). granted, i can see 610 from my bedroom window, but it’s not close enough that i should regularly here car accidents. there were at least 6 cars involved. it was a little scary, although i don’t think anyone was hurt. the ambulance had come in gone in about 10 minutes.
well, i should go read the book of boredom that is waverley.
three things i’m looking forward to, in chronological order:
1. tomorrow night, when i can watch sex and the city.
2. next week, when we’ll be reading vanity fair instead of waverley.
3. april, when danny comes home from iraq. in theory.
running with carrots 
Benadryl?
Interestingly, I have a hard time sleeping in my house, because it is bigger than our old apartment and it takes longer to do the fbi-type check of the house with my fake gun made out of my thumb and pointer finger. The serial killer article in cosmo did not help. You’d think cosmo could refrain but I digress. Tylenol PM if nothing else works…but I have some psych books from the 70’s that could be pretty could insomia antidotes.
I’m so glad you got the job! Yee-ha for ten hour a week gigs. I don’t spit on them. Puh.
Re: Benadryl?
See, I briefly entertained the idea of taking Nyquil, which zonks me out every time. However, I’m a little worried about developing a Nyquil dependency. Last year I was using Nyquil to fight off a particularly dastardly cold I caught from the Kentwood kiddies, and I found that when the malady had subsided I still had an overwhelming and life-sucking urge to take Nyquil. If the insomnia continues I may have to resort to medication, but I think it’s getting better already.