The World is a Vampire

I have Bullet with Butterfly Wings stuck in my head.

First week of school is going well so far. DQ came into CS today, and she came by my office and we chatted for a while. I made sure that my degree plan was okay and submitted it. So one thing off of my checklist. Woo.

First two classes I taught were okay. I had one student not show up to my last class on Wednesday but they were actually responsible and emailed me to say that they were sick with the flu and they can show me a doctor's note if necessary. I said it wasn't (I don't really want to be in the vicinity of someone that just had the flu). But it was nice to have a student that actually took care of their business when they missed class. Just one more class to teach tomorrow morning. I think I have my introduction to the class and webcom down.

In lab we're starting a recycling drive where students can bring in the caps from various bottles (water and soda, laundry detergent, shampoo bottles, gallons of milk, etc). Basically the hard plastic caps that are not allowed in normal plastic recycling bins are being collected, which is awesome because we show in the Nekton/Benthos lab that the main trash found in the stomach of birds and turtles and on beaches are those caps. I'll to bring it up at the TA meeting tomorrow that we could possibly boost the collection by making it competitive between classes. There are about 40 classes every week. I'm not sure what we can legally provide as a prize (remember in elementary school we could get a pizza party for pop tops?), but hopefully that will encourage our students to participate in recycling.

In wedding related news: I found my dress in the College Station mall, for about the same price as I found it for in Glendale. In my overexcited state, I said that I'd be okay to purchase on Saturday. However after talking to my mom, she said that it's too soon, she needs time to save money for it and we still have 16 months until the wedding. The store said that they can get the dress in in approximately 3 months. They don't do alterations, which is fine, I can take it to a seamstress/tailor in Galveston or the Houston area when we move in May. Sigh. I don't know when to order my dress.

*thought*

Maybe I should look in my many bridal magazines and Wedding Planning for Dummies. The Knot says 8 months ahead. I dunno. I feel like whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. It's happened to me in the past.

At least I know what dress I want, right? The hard part is over.



Innnnn other news... Yesterday was George's birthday. I made him peanut butter cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting to take with him into his lab to share. Mainly because I hate peanut butter and chocolate together and we're trying to lose weight, so this way I still got to bake him his special birthday cake, he got to enjoy it, AND we don't have to keep staring at a mound of cupcakes that only he will eat. Everyone wins! I think his lab-mates love me, haha. After classes were over we went over to Terrazzo Wine and Coffee Bar where we had yummy glasses of wine and an appetizer of hummus and pita bread.

Speaking of losing weight. We started an exercise regime where we exercise on MWF in the mornings, mainly by walking around Wolf Pen Creek at an aerobic pace for about 45 minutes and doing some push ups and sit ups or something. Or if it's freezing (like it is right now) we have a bunch of yoga podcasts to warm up in the morning. Sadly though, I hurt the arch of my foot while walking on Monday, so I've been reduced to limping around O&M and the house for the past few days. What's weird is I didn't realize that my foot hurt until Tuesday, when I felt REALLY sore. Now, not so sore, but my foot is being a pain by being in pain. I was hoping to take the bus this week so that we can cut down on gas expenses and also get some of the workout that we used to get before having our own cars.

I really want a balance ball now.

The other reason why I'm confused as to when to order my dress is when I tried on the sample gown at the mall, it was the perfect size for me... a perfect "10" as it were, because that was the size. The combination of that and my jeans being a bit tighter than they used to be spurned the exercise routine. So if I'm trying to lose weight, I should probably wait a few months and see if my measurements are different. Right? Siiiiiigh.


Despite all my rage I am still just a rat in a cage.