First Day of School

Good morning, all. Let me tell you a story.

Last August, I walked through the USF Sundome parking lot with rivers of sweat dripping off me in 96-degree heat and declared that I would NEVER endure a first day of school like that again.

Well, I got my wish. Today it's 20 degrees.

My driving buddy/neighbor is this guy who I can sum up in 2 words: Erich Eichinger. (We carpooled today because I thought it might snow- plus parking the first week of school is usu. pretty bad). My driving buddy reminds me so much of Erich Eichinger, it's scary. The hair- remember when Erich was in the growing-out-the-hair phase? That's how driving buddy Jason has his. Plus the hippie music and fuel-efficient car. I know Jason is different from Erich but that's the best picture I can draw for you all via blog. I am not an expert on hippie music but it's whatever all the kids were listening to in Alaska back in the day. Phish and stuff like that.

The campus is beautiful and there can't be anywhere close to as many students as there were at USF here. It's not as crowded as USF anywhere around here. I dare say the traffic isn't as bad either, but then again I live only 5 miles away.

I haven't been to class yet. That will start in about 1/2 hour. The building that most of my classes are in is really neat. It has a clock tower and it's made of brick. Plus, the inside has carved wood and other cool things like that- that make it look like it was built back in the day. I am currently in the "business and economics students lounge" which is a tiny room with 3 computers. The computer lab in the Business building at USF must have had 60 computers at least. So it's a different world!

Hee hee hee

The roommate is out and I'm going slowly insane in my new place. In the past few days I've watched a lot of movies. Heath Ledger and Keanu Reeves are my celebrity boyfriends this week. They are both unreasonably attractive.

Her cats are pretty interesting. I will never own a cat and here's why: kitty litter issues. One of the cats (the boy, I think) has decided to pee all over the floor instead of in the cat box. Typical male indeed, he also craves attention and drools excessively. The other one, the female, has been pretty cool since she stopped stalking me. I haven't seen her paws waving under my door for days. We used to play "hanger" in which I would put a hanger on the floor and she would try to grab it with her paw through the door. Minutes of entertainment, I tell ya.

I went to school to check out campus today. It wasn't too bad of a drive. I am learning about the buses around here in case it snows and I don't want to navigate these hilly, curvy roads. Also I think I'll keep the number for the local taxis at the ready. Expensive, I know, but consider the alternative: a $500 deductible for my car insurance. Taxi rides are way more reasonable than that.

If I read my horoscope today, it would probably say something like, Don't turn on your computer. The reason? I just went back and forth moving this over to new Blogger finally, and before that attempted to buy a parking pass online, to no avail. I kept getting kicked out of this one system where I'd have to be to buy a pass, but every other system for Towson U recognizes my username and password. Go figure.

The next 2 Saturday nights are booked, but what to do in the meantime? I have inquired about going in to the NWF (National Wildlife Federation) main office in Virginia to meet the volunteer coordinators and talk jobs and such. Hopefully they'll let me drop in on them before school starts. I need contacts like mad. Come June it'll be time to stop sponging off myself and get back to work.

My mom has a new blog- I put up the link, so check it out. She is really excited about it so far. It's for her breast cancer survivors group.

Had a chat with old amiga Ana yesterday. She is in VA but says she and hubby just missed out on living in NC, which is way more affordable. I told her yeah, I can't afford where I am either. Settling here would be completely out of the question with the housing prices, but I can get in a few good years of work, make some contacts, and then choose a good place for me to live and move there. I doubt it would be anywhere that is further north than I am right now. I'm not freezing at the moment and it's a mild winter here, but I'm just saying. I have my limits! Plus, there's the Mason Dixon line issue. Should stay beneath that unless I am OK with living around a bunch of Yankees, right? I knew so many Yankee transplants down in FL that it might not be that different, however!

OK, it's time to get back on task. Have a top drawer MLK day!

Gabi's new house

Hello from the frozen north! Actually, because of global warming it's not as cold as it used to be up here in MD. I guess that's a fringe benefit for Floridians who leave the state for any amount of time. But- it is cold! I am required to wear a sweatshirt or coat on days like this. Then again, it's winter! I've never really known winter.

Among my first purchases were a street map, which will come in very handy I'm sure, and lots of groceries. Then I came back to Gabi's house north (we can just call it GHN, and TDT's house in Tampa can be GHS) to put everything away and get these millions of shirts and pants I own organized. It's not easy having a tiny closet! But I am doing the best I can. I'm sure Martha Stewart would be proud.

The trip up here, in my car, was excellent. Mom came with and helped drive, and even "burned rubber" in the car once. We were in southern GA, so she fit right in. Somehow she forgot she wasn't driving her V-8 Mustang! Zoom zoom indeed.

We found out soon enough that we seem to gravitate toward the same pajama styles. There I was, with my polka-dotted flannels in signature colors blue and lime green, and here she was in her pink and green stripes. Nut doesn't fall too far from the tree, as she says.

The first day was punctuated by a trip to Cousin Tony's House, which he and wife Barb have made into such a sight! It looks like the kind of place you see in magazines only! They have a view of the marsh and a boat marina, where they keep their boat. There is even an elevator in the house that goes onto the roof, where there is a sundeck! Next time I pass through I want to stay at the Georgia Manny for sure. With 5 bedrooms, 5 baths, and a home theatre, they have room for me and about 10 of my friends ;) Darn the schedule- although, we did stay for a 3 1/2 hour lunch and just drove later into the night because we didn't get tired until 9 or so.

The second day... well, let's just say we saw a lot of DC and Baltimore due to the roads being a little confusing! Now it's funny of course- it was funny at the time too. We finally arrived in the afternoon, and my roommate (oops, I forgot to call her and let her know when we'd be here!) met us at the door with a quizzical expression. Finally, the 3 of us unloaded the car and I gave mom a tour of the place. We went to dinner, took showers, and went to sleep.

Today we went to the airport to send Mama home and I'm not going to lie, there were tears. I am a Cancer after all and although FL has a crappy job market and way-too-hot weather, it is still home. Little sister Marie called to check in and I blubbered to her a little bit, but then I got motivated and went out to get some food and the map (see above).

Soon I will get to see Boyfriend, and that will be fun! He has the next two days off. Hopefully I can catch him in the future while he's still dressed in his police uniform. As some poster I just saw said, "I love a man in uniform. It means he has a job!"

Ha ha ha. Hope you are doing well. Have a great day. I am going to listen to James Blunt and hang up a bunch of shirts now.