Lately...

Lately I have been...

... writing papers and taking tests but that will end VERY soon!

... dreaming of all the things I will get to do in September and beyond.

... lying awake at night mentally packing... for tubing/camping, for Europe...

... feeling like I'm taking advantage of my wonderful husband as he does way more than his share of regular life.

... braindead and irritable.

... rediscovering the library even if so far it's just through cheesy YA books that I can read in 6 hours (Uglies triology [with 4 books, go figure] by Scott Westerfield - highly recommend them).

... ignoring just about all housework (see above).

... eating like crap and only vaguely worrying about the fact that I haven't worked out in months.

... doing hardly any work that they actually pay me for - wait, that's all the time.

... procrastinating - wait, that's all the time too.

... finally feeling the weight of grad school lifting off my shoulders :-)

thanks to Amy Jo for the inspiration (and further procrastination) for the post!

Sightings

I saw something on Metro last week that I thought was great and wish would catch on here.

A European family getting off at Foggy Bottom - didn't catch what language they were speaking but it wasn't English - and Dad had a nice leather messenger bag - yes, a man-purse - slung across him while his wife and, not one but two, daughters weren't carrying a thing.

Why is it only acceptable for European men to carry stylish bags and all the stuff? Why do we American women feel the need to carry everything but the kitchen sink? And why when our men do carry all the stuff it's in an unattractive backpack?

Pet Peeves

So for a bit of a mental break from the h*ll that is called "wrapping up grad school during the most beautiful summer we've had in DC in the 7 years I've lived in the area" - my pet peeves.

By now people may have realized that while I don't hold a grudge (most of the time - there's 1 or 2 exceptions), I am easily annoyed and irritated particularly when stressed. So I have a few pet peeves.

DC specific:

• people who wait for the gates to close after the person in front of them when entering/leaving Metro even while holding a SmarTrip in hand -- they should know better!
• people who either don't wait for passengers to get off a train before trying to get on or who wait patiently but only leave space enough for people to exit single-file.
• people talking on their cell phones at loud volume -- actually make that anyone talking loudly -- in the morning on the train.
• standing on the left on escalators -- there are few escalators that I don't walk up: Rosslyn, Dupont Circle... the tall ones cuz I'm lazy.
• tourists who will one day get themselves or someone else hurt doing any number of dumb things on Metro -- don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy chatting with the tourists on occasion but, man, they can be dumb.

Work:

• when my coworker has his computer speakers up loud, making me think that I've got mail when really it's his mail.
• people who send e-mails from the next room -- get up and talk to me! only acceptable if I'm not in the office.

Weddings:

• INCONSISTENCY! there are ways to pick a theme - be it a theme (western, medieval, Disney) or a color scheme or just a concept (simple, elegant) - and keep it going. It really doesn't take much thought.
• just because you can register for it doesn't mean that you should - hello, toiletries.
• poorly sized bouquets whether too big (think head-sized) or too small (they get lost).

General:

• people (particularly women) who manage to look crisp and put together in the heat of the summer -- seriously, I want to know how they manage to keep their shirts crisp and tucked in, their skirts from twisting around, and their hair and makeup flawless.
• people who can't park properly so you have to park weird and then they leave and you look like a jerk.
• the way fun events always seem to pile up on the same weekends.
• the word "obvi" -- Sorry, Liz! Not that you didn't know that.
• professors who think they are the end all, be all and you have nothing else going on in life - like life, a full-time job, etc. -- thankfully, this won't be a problem too much longer!
• people who don't apologize (no matter how briefly) for stepping on or running into you

Oops... school kind of riles me up and makes me angry so this got a little long.

Battle Cricket

We have HUGE crickets in our neighborhood and every once in a while one gets in the apartment (they're common in the basement) and annoys the heck out of us by chirping very loudly. Well, several times this week I have pulled the shower curtain back to get dried off only to find this (see picture) staring back at me from the middle of the bath mat.


He always promptly disappeared into the basket next to the toilet. Made me a little leery of going near the basket for my hairdryer and flat iron. He would disappear for a few days and then came back, disappear for a few days and then.... this morning, there he was before I got in the shower.

Clearly, he was weakened by the time spent hiding out in the bathroom as I was able to go get a cup from the kitchen and catch him (I don't do bug killing - sorry, Will). Now, I did maim him in the process - he lost a back leg - but he was alive and kicking many hours later. For perspective on the hugeness of these crickets, check out the next pic.


Humans: 1, Crickets: 0

Our new time suck!

Helloooooo blogosphere!

I know what you're thinking - *groan* not another couple blog. Well, too bad!

We've been talking about starting a blog at some point in the future for awhile but I got bored (ok, in reality I'm seriously procrastinating on a paper I should be writing) so we're going to get started NOW! Soon you will be able to read all of our musings, adventures, travels, and whatever else we deem important. It'll probably be pretty easy to figure out which of us is writing but for a clue -

Marcy will generally be fairly well spelled and grammatically correct and yet fairly rambling. Lots of parenthetical phrases.

Will will (hehehe... that always makes me laugh) have perfect spelling and grammar and will generally be considerably more thought out and concise.

ENJOY!!