hike hike

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    Exhaustion!

    Hike was had last week. Best Friend arrived Thursday night and stayed 'til this afternoon (Sunday). Contra-dance studio was last night (Saturday). Gruesome papers and midterm exam last week are in the past. Up past my bedtime but I feel like bloggin'. Here are a couple pictures from the Hollywood Sign hike! There might be a couple pictures from the dance studio and/or of Best Friend and me appearing on the internet soon but not yet because I didn't take them.

PME was so excited to get going that he started the hike by running, so Upperclassman Galen started running after him so I started running after Galen and him

and we all like lines and views.

and I like big views.

and we are all tourists.

and yes I deeply regretted not wearing sunglasses or a hat with a visor.

L to R: PME deliberately ignoring camerawoman Shelli's request to smile at the camera, Galen being normal and handsome as always, me standing like an awkward person and laughing at PME

and almost all these pictures were taken by Upperclassman Shelli

and you will just have to figure out which one was not

and JP, Amoeba was allllllllmost as awesome as you said it was

    Bedtime now. There is apparently another hike (on a different mountain) coming up on the 29th but I have not yet decided whether or not I am going.


     Oh and also I did get to meet Mrs PME and though I didn't get to talk to her much she seemed like an extremely nice, matronly sort of woman and we are now facebook/skype friends. It was even weirder than I expected to see PME dressed in normal-person clothes and talking about relatively normal things, though. And he and I talked a little bit about the Northwest and then about hiking...I think he'd asked me if I hiked much and I was like "oh, no, I haven't done much hiking before. I mean, not in California. And not much back home, just at this daycamp thing for a few years. Mostly just the kind of hiking where you're in a forest climbing up a nearly vertical hill and you're twelve and your ankle is sprained and you're crying and way too ready for lunch. I'm really good at that kind of hiking!"
    "....That's terrible."
    "In the rain. Can't forget the rain."
    "Well, seeing as you were in Oregon, yeah."
    "Yeah. So hiking in California is pretty different so far."
    And it was.

guess who's going to a liberal arts college

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    One thing I was not expecting from college was the whole thing about everybody - including the boys - randomly singing Phantom of the Opera together. Sometimes with Freshman Danielle on piano.

    Also, glancing over the last couple of posts, I feel like I should probably note that I do in fact have more than one professor. Shocking, I know. Let's briefly talk about my professors. I haven't come up with names for them yet, I'll do that later.

    I have four professors for my five classes. I like them all. In no particular order, they are:

• Dr Mac. I will call him that because it doesn't actually name (full) names and because that is just who he is. Dr Mac is the Humanities guy around here. I'm in one of his ancient history/civilizations classes - I forget its full title - and his philosophy/theology class. He's kind of the college's show-professor, as he's not only one of the major Characters in the community, but I'm pretty sure visiting prospective-students and parents-thereof are usually made to sit in on his classes. He's youngish and handsome and brilliant and funny. Very, very droll. Great hair. Homeschools his three small boy-children, some of whom we see fairly often on campus. I'm quite fond of him.

• Communications Professor. I'm in his public speaking class this semester. He's in his late thirties, heavyish, very nice, very energetic and approachable. Not especially organized sometimes. History of working in the film industry (hey there, Los Angeles!) but now married with small children.
• Professor Mine Enemy. Teacher of Biblical and Theological Studies. I'm in his first-half-of-the-Old Testament class. Also one of the major Characters in this college. Actually a "Dr", not a "Prof.", but Doctor Mine Enemy doesn't have the same ring to it. Older. Sandy hair, glasses, scruffiness, possesses Parisian neckties. Aside from the usual line-up of B.A., M.A., another M.A., Ph.D. etc, has also studied in Europe and lived/studied in Israel. Married, three grown offspring and one grandinfant. Does not fully understand how terrifying some of us find him and his mind.* Obviously having a good time whenever teaching, perhaps especially in the face of maudlin freshman suffering. His brain is like a supernova made of diamonds and fire.
• Math/Business Professor. Adjunct. I'm in his remedial algebra class. Older, paternal. Kind. Patient with mathematical obtuseness. Good at explaining things. Enthusiastic about his work. Don't know much about his personal life yet.

    I'm also in a once-a-week freshman-only class that's all about surviving and thriving at college, which is taught by the dean of student life, but I'm not very interested in it so I'm not going to write about it right now.

    Oh frogs. Bedtime. Immediately. Why am I blogging. Gah.

*Last Wednesday, Freshman Danielle and I were in his class, and Danielle was trying to give her thoughts/feedback on something P.M.E. was talking about, and though he listened very politely, she trailed off with a smattering of "um"s and something like an "erm, nevermind".
    "No, go on," said PME.
    "I can't talk while you're looking at me," blurted Danielle. "It's really scary, I feel like such an idiot." She laughed weakly. Danielle, it is worth noting, is beautiful and loud and 6'2" and probably the most popular girl on campus. Danielle can talk in any situation.
     "What? I'm not that scary!" protested PME with an exasperated laugh which implied volumes of similar past experiences with intimidated students. I badly wanted to snort loudly or give an obvious hoot at this, but I was too scared of drawing his attention.

Wimsey covers: Five Red Herrings

    Dear Harriet Walter,

    oh this is so not the way my blog was supposed to be. it was supposed to have much more Harriet Walter love and much less shouting and much less experimental swearing and much less general idiocy.

    LET US HAVE WIMSEY BOOKS (to fight the late-night blues!)

    Five Red Herrings (1931)

    Olawd this one. Nevermind. But no, it must be got through. Completionism! Is that a word? No. Bah. Thoroughness! Completion-philia! My mother hasn't even finished this book, you know. She's read all the others but couldn't make it further than a few chapters into FRH. The stolen bicycles and train-time-tables proved to be too much for her patience, I think.

    So if one has to come up with a book-cover illustration for Five Red Herrings*, one has the general idea of an artist/fisherman-corpse-on-a-hillside premise to work with. So what's been done with it?

    *(you know you've got Astaire on the brain when you accidentally type "Five Fred Herrings" the first go-round. I would own sixteen copies of that book and read them all to dust and smithereens.)

     I like this picture. It's pretty. It is a dude in a beret and a long coat off to do paintin' things. I feel kinda bad knowing he is not long for this world. (I know the murderee in the story was a total jerkface, but...this guy! this guy is stylin'!)

    Annnd here we have a dude - probably Lord Peter - fishing...fishing in formalwear...which is always such a great idea...
    I still really love the minimalist covers, though.

    Not actually a book cover (again) but Ian Carmichael what are you wearing sir

     I don't fully understand this one but I could only find so many covers so here it is

    Is that fish lying on top of those paintbrushes or being stabbed by them? I am not even sure! But it is definitely bleeding from the corner of its mouth and that is hilarious to me for some reason.

    Preetee. I 'specially like le tree in yon background.

    I am guessing that this came from the same people who did the awesomely trippy six-Harriets-one-of-whom-is-in-a-bottle cover of Strong Poison. I really really like it! It is striking and minimalist and orange and has a very amusingly disjointed tagline. (also why is there a period both before and after the L in Dorothy L Sayers i would like to know)

    I WANT THIS TO BE PRETTY BUT IT IS NOT

    Clear winner!

    WIll add more if I find them. In the meantime, bed.