Today's post is brought to you by CARBS.

Three things that are happening right now:

1. The end of the first week of year two of doctoral coursework. It's already been eventful. My feet and legs are sore. (Those things are actually related. i.e. Avoid running late to your first morning of teaching your new classes during 9am university traffic. Because then you will find yourself racing across campus in high heels to barely make it in time, and spending the first 30 minutes of class panting and wiping sweat from your face.)

2. I am eating potato chips dipped in leftover potato soup. I AM ON MY WOMAN TIME, OKAY?

3. Paydaaaaaaaay! 

Mkay?

BB's cuter. 

Why, yes, I did just post this on my course website for my students.

A week of momentous accomplishments.

Accomplishment #1 

After this past Summer of Surprise Unemployed Destitution, I am so pleased to announce that I have gone and gotten myself a part-time job working as an assistant for the office of our Director of Graduate Studies and the Director of Student Affairs at the College of Fine Arts. Huzzah! A friend, who had the job last year and has since gotten a new job at the fine arts library, tipped me off and recommended me as his replacement (His words: "She's cool and hyper-organized." Heh.) last Wednesday. I sent off an email to the directors on Thursday. Then I started work on Friday!

The job is literally just organizing the mounds of papers and files strewn everywhere in the office and placing them in their proper place. In other words, TOTALLY MY BAG. I am certain that my friend who had the job last year did a great job (they would have had him back if he didn't get the library job instead), but it is apparent that some other student workers have not been so...competent. At what, though, I wonder? Placing sheets of paper in the correct position (horizontal) in a file cabinet? Total mastery of proper alphabetical order? It's not brain science, as they say. I say this, because, after just three hours in the office, the two directors were already making comments about how well I was doing.  And I was like, "Uh...you know I'm a Ph.D. student, right...?" Just kidding. I just laughed and said, "Well, this is totally my thing - zoning out and organizing things." And the DSA was like, "Then you will do very well around here!" And then as he was leaving for lunch, the DGS said thank you to me for doing a good job, and the DSA followed up with, "Yes, I'm very encouraged by her already because she has finished a lot of tasks already without having to ask me questions every five minutes, so I've been able to get some work done myself!" And then I was like, "Who in the hell needed to ask you questions every five minutes?" (Just in my head.)

Also, I am apparently sworn to secrecy in that office - What happens in the Graduate Studies Office, stays in the Graduate Studies Office - because those two TALK - and I mean TAAAAALK - about students and faculty nonstop in there. Hahaha. I love it.

Anyway, it's only ten hours a week, since that's the maximum amount I'm allowed to work on top of my teaching assistantship without getting in trouble, but it's a decent hourly wage, so the little bit of extra income will help. Plus, any more hours than that and I'd get paranoid about sacrificing my seminar reading, paper writing, and studying time, especially since I have my qualifying exams coming up in January. (OMG EEP.)

And did I mention I will totally get to hear all the college dirt and gossip? Muahaha.

ps. The DGS and I spent the first 10 minutes of meeting talking about my and Schmoobs' previous place of employment in Texas. Turns out his first job was at that school as well and it was where he married his wife, like 3 decades ago. Awww. Small world! We even worked with some of the same people, including the two hundred year old tenured professor who inspired this classic bitch and moan blog post. (Remember?!)

pps. I would also like to add that when I initially talked to DSA about the job, she said, "Yes, we have a lot of work that needs to be done around here because we didn't have {my friend} during the summer so there's a lot to catch up on." And then I was all, "ARGH! I CONTACTED YOU MULTIPLE TIMES AT THE BEGINNING OF SUMMER EXPLICITLY SAYING I WAS AVAILABLE TO WORK AND YOU NEVER RESPONDED GODDAMNIT GRRRRAAARRRR!" (Also in my head.) Oh well, unorganized people be unorganized. Bygones.

Accomplishment #2 

For the last I don't know how long - year? two years? - I've been completely frustrated at my legs becoming overwhelmingly itchy and irritated all the time, especially after I had just shaved my legs. It seemed like I had constant itchy bumps and irritation, which totally cramped on my shorts-wearing plans during the summer, and I am sure this is all completely interesting to you.

ANYWAY. Long story not as long, I tried everything from applying hydrocortisone, eleventy hundred different types of lotion, antibacterial gel, switching to allergen-free detergent, and using all different sorts of razors. Nothing seemed to help.  I even got super scared that we had some kind of invisible mite infestation. (GROSS.) It blew. And then, finally, I came across some websites that talked about chronic hives. All the descriptions of it seemed to match what I experienced - recurring itchy red and raised welts that resemble bug bites of various sizes that come and go without warning and can last from a few hours to several days - and I was like, "Ah ha! That is me! Dr. Google is talking about me!" So, I zoomed over to the drugstore and got what Dr. Google recommended: Zantac and Zyrtec. I took one dose of each as soon as I got home, and, lo and behold, the welts were gone within the hour. I haven't gotten them since.

Crazy. Medical mystery solved. So...chronic hives? Really? Why?

Accomplishment #3

You guys. I totally finally figured out how to apply eyeliner on my wacky Asian eyelids. It only took three decades. High five.

Accomplishment #4

I survived band camp week!

Well, really, Schmoobs survived another band camp week!

But, no, seriously... I survived band camp week!

This doesn't really mean much since the end of band camp just signals the beginning of the semester and marching/football season, but still. At least we get a day off together tomorrow. That'll be our last one until...December? Something like that.

Anyway, the band had a picnic yesterday. I didn't want to go (read: anti-social) - especially since I know that Schmoobledoos will always be obligated to do band directory things during - but it was actually really fun. Year two in a place means you know more of the students and vice-versa. Also, I brought BB and she is a wonderful buffer between me and other humans. Here are some pictures.

Accomplishment #...4.9?
I am this close to finishing my syllabi and course outlines for my classes this semester. But I keep getting distracted by the Internets. Oh well, you got a blog update out of it. Mazel tov.

Eeeep! *slight trickle of pee*

I just submitted my first article to a scholarly journal, you guys!

It was totally spur of the moment. I decided to open up two of the seminar papers I wrote last semester to read them over and do some edits. And then I remembered that our division head emailed us a notice about an interdisciplinary music journal announcing a call for papers recently. And then I noticed that the deadline is like in three days. And then I was like, "I'm proud of this paper. Maybe other people will like it." So then I made some quick edits and submitted it!

I'm not perfectly sure that my subject matter is 100% what this journal is looking for, but...what the hell! It's worth a shot.

Also, I am totally practicing German and Tagalog at the same time this morning (while concurrently refreshing Facebook like a madwoman and going through my favorite fashion blog) while drinking my coffee. I am a veritable whirlwind of productivity!

BAND CAMP 2013 rulz!

Hi.

It is day two of Schmooblins' Band Camp Week, otherwise known as The Week Where He Has To Work For 23.95 hours Every Day And I Become SO BORED.

I've already taken BB on long extended walks three days in a row.

Also, I spent about 6 hours in the kitchen yesterday doing productive, delicious things. Yesterday, I walked to the farmer's market with BB to pick up some radishes, pickled said radishes along with some carrots, marinated some chicken to prepare for making banh mi sandwiches, and made a big batch of split pea and lentil soup.

I guess Band Camp is a good thing, after all.

Anyway. In addition, when I am not a) walking BB around the neighborhood, b) cooking dishes for which there is nobody here except for me to eat, c) spinning in circles on my side in a corner of the living room chanting repeatedly, "bored bored bored bored...", I am also preparing materials for the upcoming semester of teaching. I think I've mentioned that I have a desire to completely overhaul how I teach my Introduction to Music classes this year. Less lecture, more class participation and current cultural and social relevance, etc. etc.

Part of what I'm toying with is the idea of no tests or quizzes this semester.

WHAT THE EFF, CAN I EVEN DO THAT?

Well, it's my class, so I think, technically, I can. We'll see how it goes. Last year it just became so much of me droning ooooon and ooooooooon for the entire hour while I watched most of the class not listen to a word I said and just robotically write down word for word what I had up on the Powerpoint slides just so that they could spit back verbatim what I had projected onto the slide in order to collect the A they were felt entitled to at the end of the semester. Bleah. Over it.

So, I have a little over a week to get everything mapped out and planned and ready to go.

Regardless, it should be an interesting experiment. If it fails like the Hindenburg, I will no doubt write about it here. So...win win.

'Tis the season.

Or, 'tis a season, more like.

The season for band camp. The season for Schmoobles being at work around the clock for the next week and a half. And the season for me hoping that doesn't trigger a hormonal psychotic break as I also prepare to enter the monthly season of The Confirmation That I Am Indeed Without Child.

Eh, it should be fine. I'm an old pro (emphasis on "old"...gah) at this by now and, anyway, I have plenty to keep myself busy with as I prepare to tackle my third semester of doctoral coursework.

Speaking of seasons, it's chilly out today. Like, I needed a sweater as I sat outside waiting for BB to go number twos in our backyard. IT'S AUGUST. Was der waaas*??


* "What the whaaaat??" I've been practicing a lot of German lately.

Masters of Reason

At the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru for our coffee this morning:

Ys: "...Are you going to get a donut?"
Schmoobs: "No..."
Ys: "Ugh. Fine. Then I'm not going to, either."
Schmoobs: "Look, if you want to have a donut, have a donut. I'll get a bagel."
Ys: "No. That's fine. Let's just get coffee."
Schmoobs: "Well, I'm still going to have a bagel."
Ys: "Fine. Then I'm getting a donut!"
Schmoobs: "Fine then!"

The end.

Of acid reflux and bile loogies.

Hey, remember when I blogged about our new house and I mentioned something about our master bathtub being really nice but also very perplexing because it includes those random curved shelve-ledge things that don't make any sense because you can't really set anything on them without it toppling over? Here's a refresher:

Does this picture make the shower look really dirty? It's just the picture quality. I PROMISE. (No really. Why does it look like that? I swear, it's squeaky clean.)

I found a good use for that bottom ledge. See, when you have old friends from Seattle - who now live in Indiana - passing through town and you haven't seen them in over five years and they now have a three year old daughter whom you have never met, you have to drop whatever you are doing at 11am and meet them for lunch at a nearby Mexican-ish restaurant. Even if by the "whatever" you are doing is stuffing your face hole full of garlic parmesan pita chips and red pepper hummus. And so when you get to the restaurant, you have no appetite for tacos whatsoever and opt to have a margarita for lunch instead. And then several hours later, your gastrointestinal system organs will be all, "Oh, wait! I almost forgot! We are now over thirty years old and must punish our foolish host lady for having one measly margarita at lunchtime. Let's immediately put our bile production into overdrive and start shooting acid upwards. Esophagus, are you ready for this? Alright, guys, let's goooo!" And then as I'm standing there in the shower, an extreme bile-inducing nausea will overtake me and I will actually have to use that blasted bottom ledge to sit my butt down on in the middle of my bedtime shower with my elbows on my knees and head slumped over as I spit out bile loogies every 30 seconds.

Attractive.

Anyway, thank you strange bottom ledge of our master bathtub. You are now very purposeful. Also, being in your 30s is awesome. Wheeeeee!

Whoops.

And I was doing so well with the blogging, too.

Schmoobs and I are off to Indy for Nerd Corps finals week. It should be fun! It's been a while since I've played the role of small, strange, shadowy figure in the background, cursing at mosquitoes and tagging along with all the sweaty and burly men through football fields and parking lots in the dead of summer. At least we have a hotel room this time!

In other news, there are (I think?) three more weeks until the start of the new year. I've got plans to completely overhaul how I teach my Music 100 course sections, in hopes that it will be more interactive and varied for the students - i.e. less boring and stagnant for me. Hopefully, I'll be doing more blogging as these summer weeks wind down and my second year of coursework for my Doctorate in Fingers Toes and Fallopian Tubes Crossed That I Can Get a Job Afterwards ramps up.