He speaks French and Italian...

It's been a little longer than intended since I last posted. I've got so much work to do I really shouldn't be posting now either. I dropped a class last week (or maybe it was two weeks ago... the whole thing has faded into the sleep-deprived depths of my memory) and I still haven't managed to go to bed before midnight once this week. The more demoralizing thing is that I wasn't really expecting midterms to be a hell week, but as of yesterday I realized that Spring Break starts in 10 days and I have 2 problem sets, two midterms, a German test, a lab paper, a lab presentation, and some research work that has to get done to do before the end of them. Gah :-{

On a lighter note: in German we recently had to write 100-150 word essay things describing the men/women of our dreams. I should mention that the essays we wrote before this were profiles of ourselves for a hypothetical online dating service... does anyone else sense a (slightly disturbing) common theme here? Anyway, I wrote a bunch of stuff about the ideal man but completely ran out of ideas at 99 words. This was bad because we lose points if we aren't within the target word count. So instead of thinking of another semi-intelligent sentence (i.e. "he doesn't wear skirts") I was going to add "very" to a random adjective (i.e. "he is very nice"). But that would have made me look like an underachiever, so instead "He speaks French" became "He speaks French and Italian." 101 words. Done, with word to spare. :-P

In which the protagonist fails to catch up on sleep

I'm still really tired. I've been going back and forth between (a) being too busy to get enough sleep (i.e. doing problem sets, studying, getting up early for class/work, etc.) and (b) having insane insomnia. The major problem is that to combat (b) I've completely cut my caffeine intake, but this doesn't increase the total number of hours I have free for sleeping and (a) kills me. If I go back to being a caffeine junkie (b) will kill me. I could go to the gym a few times a week to combat (b), but that will exacerbate (a). I could start abusing anti-hystamines/cold medicine/alcohol, but I think in the long-term that would be a more serious problem than sleep deprivation. Damnit.

Anyway, I had a second consecutive good weekend. I had work all day on Saturday but it was relatively awesome. It was like freshman year when everyone was cool and I could run errands while I was on the clock and steal food from the renters and nap and do homework. Sweet. And I got my $0.50 raise for the semester so it will be like getting extra pay, plus overtime for the 10 hour call. :-D

Insomnia... Woohoo!

Granted, I didn't attempt to go to bed until 11:45 and it's only 2am now, so it will be another three hours before this becomes a real issue. Still, I wish I had a) consumed less coffee today and b) a copy of Aristotle's Politics.

Controllable rage: a week in review

I haven't posted much recently for lack of things to post about. However, several friends have started making fun of my perpetually angry away messages. And in addition, the beginning of this week left me wondering whether one can voluntarily take anger management classes, or if one needs to secure a court order to enroll. So here's a day-by-day breakdown of the nearly insurmountable barriers to my having a cheerful, low blood pressure week.

Monday: I have to do German homework in an online workbook. This is the online workbook that goes with the textbook I paid >$150 for. The awesome thing about it, is that for my $156 or whatever it was I get access to the online workbook for 18 months. So, unlike a paper workbook which I could have to use as a reference for the rest of my life I will only have this one until I graduate. If I want to use it after that I will have to pay $34 per year. The other awesome things are related to the web design... It doesn't play nicely with Firefox in Linux or even Firefox in Windows. I have to use Explorer. Also, it requires enabling Java and JavaScript (both of which I disabled after the fits I threw about the Art Hum website last spring).

After calming myself and rebooting my computer I have to go to work... At the theatre I introduce myself to a house manager who, after more than a semester, still has no clue who I am and doesn't know what to do when I report that a patron wants a large print program. (Hint: it involves thirty seconds and the enlarge feature on the copy machine)

Tuesday: Work on programming homework. In Java. Which is a pointlessly bloated language in which everything has already been done by someone else and you have to sort through the monstrous API to figure out where. I will spare anyone still reading my complaints with the API web design.

Wednesday: Work at the theatre again. For the taping of some PBS program involving the business school. From 4pm-8pm... in the <50 degree lobby... without dinner. Apparently there *was* left-over food in the green room, but the crew people (whose experience was probably at least as hellish as mine, but less hypo[thermia/glycemia]-inducing) and my boss and others didn't offer to share it. I spend another five hours attempting to trick my German workbook into cooperating.

Thursday: Laughed at for away messages describing previous three days of frustration. By afternoon I am happy and calm, but the person who laughed over previous angry away messages is not online to see my happy and calm away message, thereby ruining my happy calmness.

Friday - Saturday: Both sufficiently good days that I can overlook the blatant violation of my personal space on the subway by morons who refuse to step into the center of the car or move out of the way so I can step into the center of the car.