Exhausted

I am so tired.

Just complete and utter exhaustion.

I feel like I've ran mile after mile of a marathon, hour after hour, day after day for an entire week! I'm so tired that I feel like I'm not even here.

I haven't slept well this week. And when I haven't been sleeping poorly, I've been studying, which did not help me much.

I'm absolutely disappointed. Mostly in myself, but I am also thoroughly disappointed in this week.

All week long, I kept telling myself, "It's going to be okay. You'll get through this week. And then, on Thursday night, you have the season premiere of Alias to watch. Everything will be fine."

Wrong. Everything is not fine. Life sucks and then, you die. Big, fantastic yay-ness for that.

And I thought that I was doing a pretty good job at hiding how tired and stressed I've been this week, but wrong on that account, too. My French professor pulled me aside after class yesterday to ask if I was okay. And this poor lady has had a rough week! Probably even more so than mine!

I probably failed my French test miserably. I probably let her down with my score.

But again, I kept thinking, Alias is on tonight. It's new and fun and it'll make up for your bad week.

Wrong.

Michael Vaughn was violently killed off the show. Like, extremely violently killed. I don't know if I've ever seen a more brutal death on television. I mean, who knows? They may eventually bring the character of Vaughn back. But I really don't think I want them to do that. Then, the show will be just one giant soap opera, with people coming back from violent deaths all the time. (Of course, usually, no one stays dead on Alias for long.) I love the character of Vaughn, but if they're just going to bring him back to torture him and kill him again, I'd rather they leave him dead.

I'm going to quit telling myself things. I'm just a big ol' liar.

And I'm going to quit thinking, too.

Thoroughly Frazzled

Well. Three exams down. Two to go.

I was originally supposed to have another exam today, but fortunately, that class was cancelled. I now have two exams on Thursday instead of two today.

That may not seem like much of a blessing, but let me tell you, it is. It's a wonderful blessing.

My poor, smushed brain can take a rest for the day. No more stuffing information in today. Brain is in release mode.

Yes. That does not make sense, but whatever.

Yeah.

Oh, the Horror!

Mr. "Are you married? Do you wanna be?" has forgotten all about me! I saw him today, holding hands with someone who definitely does not look like me!

I am so distraught over this shocking revelation. I was sure that his proposal of marriage was as truthful as they come. And now... I feel like I don't even know him!

*sob*

Dead Animals = West Nile

So, there's been an increase in the amount of dead animals one sees on campus. Most of these dead animals are birds, which only backs up my theory that West Nile is running rampant on campus.

No one seems to think about moving these animals to a place where they will not be disturbed and thus, are less likely to spread the West Nile that I am sure they have.
The poor squirrel that died underneath its favorite tree laid there for almost two weeks before someone came along and moved it! Two weeks! It makes me shudder to think about it. There were probably crazy college students doing God-knows-what to the little dead squirrel.

And you can't tell me that college students don't mess with dead things. I know they do. For example, there's been a dead bird behind one of the buildings on campus. I pass this bird daily. DeadBird has been there since school began a month ago. Each day, as I pass the decomposing bird, I find that it is in a different position.

Some days, it's against the wall. Others, it is right out in the middle of the path, just waiting for some student who isn't paying attention to step on it. Some days, it's two to three feet away from where it was the day before!

These kids are seeing this bird and moving it! They're kicking it around and stuff. Who does that to something that's passed away? I bet they'd get mad if I went to a graveyard and danced a jig on a family grave.

These kids are stirring up the West Nile business. And they're kicking around this poor bird, thinking no one knows that they're kicking it around. I know! And everyone will know when they get diagnosed with the West Nile.

So, have your fun, you DeadBird-Kickers. Your time is coming.

/end of random rant

The End Is Near (Random Rants)

I have a bit of a catch up to do, it seems.

* * *

Last Thursday, the resident geekling came by to visit me at the convenience store. This time, he spoke to me for ten minutes! He saw me highlighting my government book and felt the need to comment that he "doesn't destroy valuable property."

Yeah. Well, I paid for the book and I'll do whatever I darn well please with it. So, shut it!

Unfortunately, I saw Mr. Geekazoid again today. He was walking across campus and felt obligated to shout out salutations to some passer-by.

As one would imagine, the passer-by did not respond.

* * *

Younger Claus was back tonight. He did not distribute any gifts. Apparently, the Younger Claus has not learned the Way of the Claus.

It was another long class that had scattered information of importance throughout. I am exhausted.

After class was over, Mr.I-Talk-To-Walls stood up from his seat beside me. In horror, I realized that he was wearing a floor-length black cape. His entire body was covered by this mammoth cape! All that stuck out was his head and the crazy hair on it.

Now, I don't know if he thinks he's Dracula or Harry Potter or what-have-you, but full-on cape business in this humid weather is more than a little bizarre. It's downright terrifying.

Last week, I learned that this fellow enjoys carrying on conversations with walls. And today, I found out that he is a floor-length cape wearer.

I am afraid of what I will learn next week.

"Do You Want to Be?"

This cute, young adultling comes into the store today. He's looking for something "snacky." He asks if I can be of any assistance.

So, I offer, "Skittles or Star Burst would be my choice."

He perks up. "Star Burst! Look at you, all kinds of awesome! Are you married?"

"No."

"Do you want to be?"

For whatever reason, it just made my day.

Does That Make Sense?

So, Santa Clause's younger brother teaches my World Religions class. He is not quite as rotund as the senior Clause, but he does have an overall jolly, round appearance. He has a graying beared and salt-and-pepper colored hair.

Anyhow. The younger Clause's favorite phrase seems to be "Does that make sense?"

The class is interesting, despite the professor's resemblence to Santa Clause. He does tend to ramble. A lot. He rambles about for long lengths of time. Long rambles causes me to get sidetracked by other thoughts.

Younger Clause likes to ask if we've been to different places in the world. "Have any of you been to a big Gothic cathedral in Europe?" Insert crickets chirping loudly. Or he'll ask, "Anyone ever heard of Hans Juergensmeyer?" Again, with the crickets.

What is bizarre is that he seems confused by our lack of knowledge at times. But isn't that why we're taking the class? For him to impart his knowledge to us? How often do students come into a class knowing all there is to know about that particular subject??

And then, Younger Clause decides to show us a bit of a film. He tells us, "I don't know if there's anyway to turn half the lights off..." But half the lights were already off in the room! They'd been off for the entire class! What is that all about?

But honestly, he is interesting.

The other classmates, however, frighten me to no end. I am afraid to open my mouth at times, because I am sure that they will suck the soul right out of my body. I became even more sure of this when the guy who sits next to me began talking to the wall on his way out of the building. He already looks frightening to begin with.... and then, he starts trying to carry on conversations with walls??

And I am so positive he asked the wall a question. The WALL!!

Tick Tick Tick... BOOM!

Yeah, that's me. I'm going to explode in two weeks time.

Why? Because I have an exam in every one of my freakin' classes in the same week. This has never happened to me. My brain is going to explode. I promise you.

So, if you happen to see cortical or subcortical matter flying about, don't worry. It's just my exploded brain matter.

* * *

Teddy Grahams are not a balanced meal.

* * *

I'm getting tired of seeing people's stomachs. Why can't they wear their shirts long enough? Is that too hard to ask?

I'm also getting tired of all the name-calling and blaming that is going on since Hurricane Katrina. You know what? We're all to blame. Mankind has been meddling with Nature for years. Nature finally got some revenge. Payback's a bitch.

Get used to it.

"Do You See A Retainer?"

Apparently, this institution of higher learning that I am attending seems to think I wear a retainer. If they don't think that, then they do think that I'm a thoughtless teenager - a reckless individual incapable of taking care of themselves.

For tonight, I was forced to sit through over an hour long assembly. Forced to sit through a mandatory alcohol & drug awareness meeting. There were five speakers in total. Two of the speakers weren't that bad. However, the other three made me want to jump off the cliffs behind Ladybug's house.

My brain seriously aches from the punishment I have endured. The main speaker spoke to us like we were idiots. She acted like we had absolutely no concept or understanding of what she was saying.

Well, understand this, Lady! I understand that there are repercussions for drugs & alcohol use. I'm not four years old. Nor do I need to be spoken to like I'm sitting in a time-out corner or the "naughty stool," as practiced by SuperNanny.

I have little to no patience. Making me sit through a "stern talking to", as you so eloquently put it, makes me thoroughly unhappy. And then, when you throw in the fact that I had to sit through this same assembly last year, it makes me hostile.

And since we were obviously unable to comprehend what they were telling us, we had to watch a skit. A meaningless skit where they changed the words to Green Eggs and Ham and made it about doing drugs and alcohol on campus. The skit was meant to "lighten the mood."

As you can tell, it really lightened my mood.

The Geeking Hour

Did you know, that between the hours of 4 and 5 p.m., the geeks come out to play?

And not just any geeks. These geeks put the -eek in geek and are geeks of the geekiest kind. They wear socks with sandals and flip-flops, tape surrounds the middle of their glasses, and when they find a word math problem particularly funny, a snort erupts in the midst of giggles.

They attend every class, diligently soaking up any and all information they can from their professors. Then, they begin the homework they've set aside for themselves, working away most of the afternoon.

But at four, they come out to play.

How do I know?

Because while I was at work today in my little convenience store of fun, I saw an increased amount of geek activity. Between the hours of four and five, ten of the twelve individuals who came into the store were mega-geeks. Geeks that are so geeky that your Geek-dar doesn't even have to warn you of their geekiness. You already know.

One geekling that came in was wearing socks with sandals and ankle weights. Ankle weights! This is the only time I have ever seen ankle weights being worn in public!

Anyway, he enters. He paces the store. I'm doing some homework. He stops right in front of me and says, "I see you're working as a student while you work as a citizen."

Who says stuff like that?

He then continues to ramble. "I also thought about finding a job on campus. But most of those jobs are already taken by students like yourself."

I thought he was a student! If he's not a student, what the hell is he doing, wandering a college campus with his ankle weights?

"How does the purchasing happen in this store?"

Well, you see, it's a fairly simple process. You pick out something you like in the store, and if you have enough money, I'll trade you the item for your cash.

"I was going to drop in to see my advisor, but she's been extremely busy and did not have time for me. At least, that's what the note on her door said. I'm going to check back in a few minutes."

By all means, go check now! And don't come back!

But no. He stayed for quite a while, talking to me. Me! What in the world have I done to deserve this kind of punishment? He continued to speak at me. This poor child has had little social interaction in his life. And while I would like for him to have some practice in social settings, I do not have the patience to help him.

That was only one of my ten encounters with geeklings for the afternoon.

I know that I am a bit of a geek myself. But I don't think that I could ever be as geeky as these children that I saw today. When I find myself in situations with incredibly geeky individuals, I usually exit the area as quickly as possible. But I couldn't do anything but stand there and take the geek-torture.

It was someone's idea of a very cruel joke. I'm sure of it. It's a damn conspiracy. *nods*