Summer Vacation!

It is nice to be on summer vacation for a few weeks, though I am teaching a month of summer school closer to the beginning of the fall semester. I've been at my parents' just over a week, though in a way, it seems a lot longer.

Of course I miss Jerome. Once again, I cried at the airport, but I am doing better now, since he talks to me daily.

I played a lot of Pokemon on airplanes, and continued to do so at my parents'. However, I have also been expanding my horizons a bit, and have decided to watch several movies (some on DVD, others in the theater). Jerome and I have plans to do a long-distance date to see X-Men: First Class when it comes out. Also, I watched Saw on DVD just today. I am considering watching A Clockwork Orange today, as well.

Regarding books, I do have several that I would like to read, but my main goal is to finish Brave New World. I started the book several months ago, but I just can't find the time to read it. But then, like 1984, the book takes a while to digest, and hopefully like 1985, I will like it all the more for having taken a while to read it.

Gaming! As I've said, I have been playing a lot of Pokemon, though I'm only to Route 5 in Pokemon Black right now. I think I'm about the same place as Jeremy. Jerome considered buying a DS and a copy of the game so that he could play it with me, but he hasn't done so yet. Also, I've played quite a bit of Puzzle Quest 2 on my iPad. I have been giving serious consideration to starting up my WoW account again, but I'm afraid that if I do that, I won't accomplish any of my other goals.

Such as exercise. The weather has been all over the place this summer, so I have yet to start going on walks. However, I might start that soon. Also, Mom has a Zumba video here at the house that we should probably start using soon. I certainly need to lose some weight.

We are planning a vacation for next month. Hopefully it will be fun. Part of the vacation could include a hike, so that might help me get back into shape. Also, vacations are good for...

Writing material! Obviously, you can see that I am trying to get back in the habit of writing, and perhaps going on a trip would inspire some more creativity. After looking at my resume, I see that I also should really start trying to get things published again and/or attend/present at some conferences. Busy busy!

And on top of this, I have some cooking/baking and craft projects to do. Oh and I'd like to listen to some podcasts and watch PBS. So many things going on.

Got that Bitch a Meme. Bitches Love Memes

There was once a time in the dim, distant past when all you needed to be cool was a Blogger account and a working knowledge of Urban Dictionary. Or, at least that was the case where I attended college. I used to be one of those cool kids that was sorta on top of things. Not sure what happened, exactly, but I think grad school can shoulder some of the blame for me losing my coolness.

Anyway, as implied, times have changed. And for me to once again regain my status, and add to my cred, I have to keep up with these ever-changing times. This is not always easy as I now work many, many hours a week as a college instructor. Well, and the fact that I'm soon to be out of the "cool kid" demographic.

But apparently, my students don't think so. One of my college students suggested I check out Reddit a few weeks back. I'd heard of it, but Reddit was one of those things (along with the geeky/nerdy websites and webcomics that my boyfriend and his brother frequent) that I simply felt I did not have the time for.

Around the same time, Jerome, Jeremy, and I all started looking at Reddit. Not really sure what spawned it, but it has been terrific. I have been sending comics like a boss, laughing at rage faces, and picking up on Internet memes.

Reddit seems to be the place where all the hipsters come to hate on the other hipsters and all claim to not be one. The hipster must be the most elusive creature known to mankind, for s/he cannot admit to being one without simultaneously losing the status. It is the ultimate form of irony, which hipsters nationwide aspire to, but of course they can't because that is so yesterday. Hipsters always have been and always will be hipsters before it was cool. But they won't, either.

So am I a hipster? Absolutely not. Accuse me of being one and I'll send you a rage face with f7u12. But am I regaining my former coolness? Possibly. I have two and a half years left of being a 20-something. Hope to have to creds to prove myself to the disinterested cool kids.

That Awkward Moment When...

...you run into that kid that works at the comic shop... while you are at work... and you work as a college instructor. Yeah, that happened to me today. This guy is used to seeing me in ill-fitting Disturbed shirts and equally ill-fitting shorts, browsing Dungeons and Dragons books, Warhammer miniatures, and Magic: the Gathering cards. He's also seen me at a friend's house for a birthday party. Where I was failing miserably at the Scott Pilgrim video game because I was looking at the wrong character. This guy isn't supposed to see me as a professional English instructor.

But he did. As badly as I wanted to talk about Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 and other various games, I forced myself to talk about end of the semester work stuff and then duck up the stairs to hide in my office. Another crisis narrowly averted: between this and my day of playing Puzzle Quest 2 in my office hour, I am dangerously close to being found out as a nerd by my colleagues.

Office Etiquette

I work as a college instructor. But since I'm fairly new and the school is growing by leaps and bounds, I am currently housed in a cubicle room. Being fairly antisocial, it's not ideal, but I'm just grateful to have a job.

Usually this office sharing isn't much of a problem: I come in, log onto my three email accounts that students may use to contact me, and turn on Stuff You Should Know podcast on my iPod and commence to reading/responding, etc.

But the other day, I literally had no work to do during my office hour time. It was a welcome relief after having been stressed to the brink of emotional breakdown off and on during the past several months. Anticipating that I would have very little to do during this time, I decided to bring my iPad to my office hour.

I have 3G capability on that bad boy, but haven't ordered a data plan yet, as I have unlimited Internet most places. However, I didn't want to waste the school's nets (and we were kinda asked not to anyway), so I decided to play Puzzle Quest 2, which is an app that doesn't require online communications.

Do you realize how difficult it is to pretend to be doing something productive while actually playing a game? First, I plugged in my earbuds so that no game noises would accidentally occur. Then I sat in my chair, facing my computer (while legitimately checking email), with the iPad in my lap. Periodically, I would sae my game's progress to refresh my email pages, but that's about it.

It's not like I would have gotten into trouble. I mean, I had nothing at all to do. I'm not sure if I was hiding my iPad out of game-playing shame, or because I didn't want to have to talk to anyone about it.

ETA: This was a lot funnier when I first had the idea (while iPadding in my office) than it was in writing. Sorry everyone.