Dorm Life, part 4 November 11, 2008

So, I thought I should make a separate tag for my roommate, but I’ve decided not to, as roommates are transient, but dorm life is at least for the next two and half years of my life.  Anyway, I’ve learned over this last semester that I got lucky last year with my last roommate.  She was quiet, she studied as much as me, and when she was loud, it came in bursts of three hours or less, and I could usually sleep through them.

This roommate is a freshman, but she’s a freshman who seems to have totally forgotten she is in college.  Thus, she’s usually gone from Thursday/Friday to Sunday night, and when she’s here, the TV is on ALL THE TIME.  I kid you not.  She comes in from class (or doesn’t go to class at all), gets into bed, and turns on the TV, usually to E! or TLC or MSNBC – god, why won’t Keith Olbermann shut up?  Seriously!  And then she wonders why her grades suck so much!

Anyway, I would ordinarily not care, except for the fact that I can’t get any sleep and I can’t study.  I’m reduced to pulling out books I need, going to the library, and studying there – which would be alright except for the fact that at 2 in the morning, you get a helluva lot of strange people hanging around outside, and it’s, like, 50 degrees Fahrenheit inside.  Also, I’m writing a 20 page paper on the crusades that references nearly two dozen books.  I can’t do that at the library – my backpack isn’t big enough to carry my books there!

*sighs*  Maybe it’s petty, but goddamn, it’s driving me crazy.

Anyway, she’s finally gone.  Maybe I can actually get some work done while she’s out…

Dorm life, part 2 October 25, 2008

My favorite thing about my new RA is how concerned she is about “women’s issues”.  When I moved back into the dorms in August, the doors had these helpful little name tags.  They were really pretty – the RA is some kind of art major, so they were essentially very pretty fashion plates.  So far, so good, right?  Everyone loves pictures of thin, faceless women in georgous clothing!  But in a lovely example of cognitive dissonance, the name tags also had helpful little feminist quotes on them, many of them castigating those who don’t understand that women aren’t clothes horses, have a special internal beauty and light, and need a man about as much as fish needs a bicycle, etc, etc.  It was a little jarring…

Now there is a display comparing McCain and Obama’s policy positions on – you guessed it! – women’s rights!  Women’s rights as in abortion, daycare, birth control… apparently, as a woman, I vote with my uterus.  It’s particularly strange considering we’re in the middle of a war and recession…

But remember – the uterus comes first!

Random anectdotal evidence, part one September 28, 2008

Hmm.  Not much to post about this weekend – not because nothing is happening, but because midterms are destroying my will to live, and the only thing that compells me to continue on is the near, dear hope that the Muppets Show will be revived soon.  The only thing that’s happened is ACL is going on, and every crazy music-loving nut from here to Minnesota has suddenly appeared, ranting about the eternal battle of Jesus and devil on the bus system, sacking out on the sidewalk next to the trashcan crawling with cockroaches, and just generally being strange and disturbing.

Of course, the only reason this is notable is because the last three weeks have been remarkably non-dangerous.  I suppose this is because the cops need to keep the city reasonably safe for ACL attendees – it’s a prime source of revenue for the city, after all – but I wish they did it all the time.  On the other hand, I think it must be worse than usual.  In the space of two days, two not-particularly-safety-conscious friends have told me to be safe when I’m walking outside, and also, girls don’t take night classes because it’s not safe.  Hm.  News to me.

It was very sweet of them to be concerned, but considering that last year, they were wandering around campus with their mp3 players turned up full-blast after dark while I was avoiding the Drag and carrying pepper spray…well, I think it’s a little overdue, isn’t it?  On the other hand, I’m relieved they’re actually taking note of what’s going on around them.  I don’t want my friends to get mugged.

So, what’s going on?  Is Austin just unusually lousy with crazy homeless people this year, or are people just noticing the situation more?  I mean, I don’t really notice a difference, but I was carrying pepper spray from before the April ’08 robberies, so I don’t think I’m the best judge.  Too paranoid.