11 February 2003 - 00:58

Everything has been so amazingly fun for the past two weeks. I will write it down so that I do not forget it all.

The Friday before last, Blazer came over, which is always really nice. That Saturday morning we (Wheel & me, Blazer & The One) met Pairodox and Oregano downtown for an audiance participation showing of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Yeah, really! Part of the Sarasota Film Festival, it was free. People were encouraged to come in costume (which of course we did), they handed out prop bags (with glow sticks and bubbles and confetti... they held up signs for when to use what), and they turned on the captions so everyone could sing along. Lots of happy kids came. And Paige O'Hara, the voice of Belle was there. She introduced the movie and then afterwards she was in the court across from the movie theater, singing and signing autographs. There was free orange juice and cookies. She called a girl (maybe 12 years old) dressed up like Belle onto the stage to sing the first song with her. It was so cute! It was a lot of fun.

Immediately after that was Crucial Bar-B-Que back here at New College, so we came and got more free food, and helped a friend who doesn't have a nickname here yet move from dorm to dorm. Or provided moral support, at least... I actually never moved anything, but it went well anyway!

That evening we went to Pop Comics. We love Pop Comics. Lots of happy people-are-back-for-Spring-Term energy.

And then classes were good. I'm only taking Biopsych, really. And senior seminar, which is mostly related to working on my thesis. I actually turned in my ISP on time, that Friday, and it was really well received, so for once I started with a clean slate (except for that thesis thing, but I'm supposed to still be working on that).

This past Friday my beloved advisor Gillian and I went to hear a presentation about dolphins at the USF St. Petersburg campus. We met a friend/colleague, Wendiops, who graduated my first year and is now working at Epcot. There were a few interesting things in the talk, but it was mostly a very broad overview. It's the sort of talk that I would have given, oh, five years ago, if asked to give a 45 minute powerpoint presentation on interesting current topics in dolphin cognition, and given a few weeks to prepare. I wish the presenter had spent more time on her own work. It was good networking, anyway, and I bought a new book about dolphins from its author, which was really cool. I love adding to my collection, especially things with stories associated with them.

Gillian and Wendiops and I went to the campus pub and Gillian treated us to nachos and lemonades, and we talked about things delphinic. And I talked to Gillian all the way home, after we got a bit lost trying to find the turn on to the interstate. And we got to campus and were still talking, and sat in the idling car in the parkinglot and talked for half an hour more. And in the end I felt much, much better about my thesis and my life and what I think I can perhaps begin to refer to as "my career," present tense. I felt worse about finding an ideal graduate school situation (we found out from someone at the talk that one of the people who I am applying to work with might not be sticking around, and is discouraging new students). But that wasn't Dr. Baskin's fault.

So finally I slipped off into the night with a box full of more data, a new dolphin book, and my last academic contract (now signed).

Then that night was Oregano's Goblin Market Party. I gathered people up with Pairodox and a crowd of friends was greeted at the house with a table piled high with fruits (sweet to tongue and sound to eye... sweeter than honey from the rock). Also veggies. And chocolates! sauces and chips and big gooey cake. And much wine and ice cream. We ate and talked and lingered late and long. I was much more maiden than goblin.

Saturday I popped up to campus to talk about my ISP for parents' day. That night was a festive viewing of Joe vs. the Volcano with R1 and her varied roommates. It's one of my all time favorite movies. I think it's a real masterpiece. I wish there were more movies done in that style: strong, clear, colorful pictures; simple but clever and specific visual imagry. I think the movie uses symbolic tools that are best developed in comics and rarely seen in movies. Of course, that all fits in with the movie's genre, which is (in my mind) "Modern Fairytale," and somewhat underappreciated.

Last night was our first Rocky Horror rehearsal of the year, for the show this Friday. Always a treat. I forget how much energy it takes... but it gives back, too, and I'm looking forward to more rehearsals, and then the performance. Yay.

And then after two hours of shouting out songs, lines, and call lines, I came home and spent nearly two hours on the phone with Jade, as it was her 21st birthday. Talking to her was wonderful. A delightful reminder of why we are best friends. She gave me the best love advice I've gotten from anyone. She read me her poetry. And today I got a valentine from her, with photos of the children.

Turquoise wrote a poem, and it makes me sad, because it is in a style very much his, and I always loved his poetry. And because it is sad.

And I wrote a poem as well. I like it. It makes me feel better.