Sleepily

Today has been a rather hectic day. I just keep repeating to myself, "I will not be crushed, I will not be crushed" and "Do not be the dunce." You know, those happy little phrases you say over and over to make the day go by. I need to be in the schools right now observing, but I'm having issue getting in to see the teacher I have been assigned to. I have TONS of papers due, and other equally important stuff. But I didn't want to write this to vent; I wanted to write it to say how much I appreciate my family. Not just those that I'm related to, but the fantastic people (okay, okay, "person"--I'm not fooling anyone 'cause I'm a loser and everyone knows my one friend is Jed) that stick around. They're screwy and mostly crazy, and if I could change some things I definitely would. But at least I have them. Even though I am a terrible brother/son/friend, and don't speak to my family very often, or tell them I love them, or do other normal brotherly/son-ish/BFF things I think that they all know how I feel. Just knowing they are there is enough sometimes. I don't want to come off to sappy, but it's how I feel. Goodnight.

Questions

Yesterday was a pretty great day. Although the procrastination bug bit me pretty hard last week, I really feel like I have some things figured out and recharged my batteries. Here are some pics I took at the Farmer's Market yesterday. E. and I woke up early (11 ish) and went to brunch at Muse. Then we came home and groaned for little bit before setting off to the market. They had a great pumpkin house, and some incredibly amazing plants that reacted when you touched them. It was sweet. I bought some clay monks because I'm weird, but not as weird as the guy who sold them to me. He told me that I needed to feed them "monk"fish, and that I should keep them away from keys or there would be "monk" key business. Ha ha. I love puns as much as the next guy and I will admit I was delighted with this 65 year old guy in camouflage suspenders feeding me bad puns. I still haven't done any homework and feel guilty but happy about that. Emily thinks that I should try to just get my history degree and get out, and I really think I'm considering it. It's really scary to think about, but she thinks that I should maybe get out with a bachelors, and go to grad school for librarian stuff. I know that's a good idea because even if I still want to help kids the school librarians (according to statistics I found) make almost twice as much as a teacher. I know that it's not all about the money, but sometimes I get kind of tired of being so poor and constantly having FRUGALITY as my watchword. Don't get me wrong, I know that I lead a very safe and privileged life, I'm certainly not going hungry, and there are many people WAY worse off than me. But sometimes I want more. Maybe I'm not so great a person for feeling that way, and maybe I'll change my mind later, but right now I feel happy but hungry (not literally, figuratively).

Biltmore and More

I know that I haven't written anything for a while, so I thought that I would take this opportunity to not only post but to update everyone on what's happening right now. This week is my fall break from school, and I'm very excited that the semesters halfway over. I have a C in English, a B in Educ., an A in Hist. and an A in Math. I think I'm going to become a history/math major. I haven't gotten on the ball with all the work I need to do over the break but I plan on starting today. The first day of break I worked and Tues. and Wed. were "ME" days.
On Tues. Emily and I woke up bright and early to drive to Asheville to see the Biltmore. It was beautiful, but I had for gotten how commercial the whole thing is. I know that they are privately owned and not government funded, but the sheer amount of crap made me cringe the whole time. There was a remarkable lack of true history involved in the tour. I really wanted to learn something besides how much crap cost that the Vanderbilts owned. Everyone seemed to get into the spirit of it, but for some reason I just could not stand it. Everything from the $3 drinks, and $8 ham sandwiches to the photos taken inside the museum (where I couldn't take photos since flashes prematurely age the artifacts). The photos the staff were taking photos that you could buy with cameras that had miniature suns for flashes. Once we were able to get outside the house things were much better. The conservatory and the gardens were gorgeous and I wish that I could publish all of the picture I took. The flowers and the greenhouses were simply amazing. I put out one picture of a rose and another of a "chinese lantern." After we left the flower gardens we explored further out. We walked the 30 minute walk to the bass pond only to find that the waterfall bridge was closed. But being outside on such a beautiful day made it all worthwhile. There definately weren't as many people outside, even though the true wonder of the Biltmore Estate is the surrounding areas. The farm and the animals were definitely a high point of the tour. They even had a miniature donkeys and a blind chicken with a wooden leg! (Okay okay, the leg was in a cast, but it looked like a fake leg!) I was further saddened by the fact that the Biltmore has off-roading tours in land rovers that you can sign up for. I want to know who the hell goes to the Biltmore to off road?
On Wed. I slept until noon (ha ha ha!) and then woke up and went to lunch with Emily. We had food from our across the street Thai restaurant and then went and played all day long. I got to go to the comic shop, and E got to look at sweaters at Target. Then we had delicious homemade burritos for supper. Emily can make a mean burrito!
Here's a review of one of my favorite restaurants by a great guy named Ian. I'm the one that said "you have to try the chicken soup!" His blog is listed in my sites to got to area, and is MUCH more interesting than mine. Anyhoo, here's the site:

http://media.www.guilfordian.com/media/storage/paper281/news/2007/10/05/Features/Pho-Hien.Vuong-3016664.shtml

I posted a few pictures of the Biltmore that you all can enjoy. Make sure to leave a comment so that we can communicate! This doesn't have to be one sided you know.

More Notes from the ds

Hello out there. I'm working on my midterms and quietly freaking out. The math midterm is almost finished and the english paper is in some sort of semi-written form. What is really hard is that the paper is about one of my favorite authors. I know that it seems like that should be a good thing, but instead it feels more difficult because I want the teacher to know that I really get Gibson. The big timeline project is all done except for the execution (yikes!). I feel pretty confident about the history midterm but I still plan on cramming my ass off tonight. I feel so stressed but I know that everything will work out all right. So I'm off to have a smoke and then back to work!

Pad Thai

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Today Emily and I went to the new Thai place across the street. It was actually better this time than the first time we went. The wait staff is really nice. I'm not sure that it will/can replace Tara Thai as my favorite Thai restaurant, but the dishes are delicious. The lunch specials (at $5.95) are pretty reasonable and there's a good selection. Every lunch comes with bowl of soup (or a vegetable spring role if you're a vegetarian). This Tues. I had the Larb Gai (minced chicken with onions, peppers, and a chili lime sauce) and Emily had the Masuman curry. Here's some photos to make your mouth dribble. I have to go make moves now. More later.

Just a Note

Here's a picture of Emily all dressed up in her old salem garb. She certainly does look dashing and historical doesn't she? The new computer is working like a dream, which is a huge relief. I got it all set up last night and finished my history paper on it. Although Emily and I are trying to really watch our finances, we plan on going to lunch at the new Pad Thai place next to us. They gave us some great buy one get one coupons last time, so lunch for the two of us will be about $5. I bought my sister and my brother in law's birthday presents yesterday. I think that they both will be delighted. With Christmas right around the corner I'm trying to plan ahead financially and get most people's presents early. So far I have most of the list planned or bought. One thing's for sure, this is NOT going to be a very big Christmas. So people won't feel like they got screwed, I think I'll just ask for toothpicks and complimentary mints for myself. If you get the same from me don't feel to bad. Now that the new computer is in I plan on blogging with more frequency so please don't stop reading!

(also, I hear you got a new car Dad, congrats!)

At Last, a Dell

So the new computer is finally here! So far it hasn't crashed on me, which is great. This week I feel really bogged down. I need to write a history paper, work on my english midterm (an explication of a William Gibson article, and an english lit. timeline), get my application to the educ. department in, work on my big english project, write a paper for my math class, send back my old computer, get in touch with the elementary school I'm working at so I can do a visitation, prepare for my history and math midterms, and read Kozol's book Shame of the Nation. Whew!!! I'm off to work on my paper now so bye!