Halloween Begins

 My roommate altered the caption after I drew this. It now says "The beautifully drawn pumpkin says: Happy October!" with 'beautifully' in fancy cursive. Anyways, a vampire-esque pumpkin seemed like a necessity today so, ta da, there's a vampire-esque pumpkin.
Speaking of my roommate, (scratch that, flatmate) she would probably say that Halloween has been going on ever since our calendars hit October the first. She says (and I don't quite know if she's joking) that "Halloween is a mindset". It's an interesting concept to have a mental state equivalent to a holiday. I'm not sure how much we've been Halloween-y thus far this month (though there has been an upwards trend in how much we listen to the amazing tunes provided by "Rocky Horror Picture Show"). I wonder what that graph would look like..."Number of Rocky songs listened to vs. Time of Year". It'd be a line graph for sure, with lots of colors. I like colors :)
Coming back to the point, if we allow that maybe Halloween didn't quite start on the 1st of the month, I think it can officially start tonight. At least for me. My flatmate's Halloween may start tomorrow. Tonight is the first of what feels like many Halloween parties that I will be participating in. Begin the parade of costumes (of which there are actually six--oh my). I think I'm most excited for the costumes (no, the plural isn't a typo) that I'm going to wear on Halloween itself.
Side note: there are "free hugs" people in Red Square :) I love the "free hugs" people.
Also, wow, I'm a ridiculously large fan of parenthetical statements... whoops
The other reason that this weekend should be amazing is that I have an out-of-towner coming up! Namely, my brother :) I feel like I haven't seen him in a while, so getting to spend the weekend doing all manner of fun things should be quite wonderful.
So the conclusion of all of this is that Halloween and midterms shouldn't happen at the same time :/ but that this weekend and this coming week are going to be fan-freaking-tastic!
And now I'm going to go giggle about how that's a reference to my linguistics class... Happy Friday! 

4 Hours of Sleep + Quiz + Test = Good Day?

Newly realized pet peeve: when someone walks slowly and doesn't pick a side of the sidewalk! I'm all walking behind them and don't want to be a jerk about the fact that I walk faster, but they make it so hard to pass politely! All I ask is that people are aware of their surroundings!
I've had a lot of strong feelings this morning...sometimes sleep shortages are great for brain blasts. But only sometimes. I promise not to make short nights a habit. Pinky promise, even!
Okay, a few deep breath...in...out...in...out... And moving on
For any who don't know, people watching is practically a hobby and, dear goodness, the Underground Coffee House on campus is just bursting with interesting people to observe. I find myself legitimately unable to concentrate on story planning (NaNo is 8 days away!!) when chilling in here because there's always someone doing something that I'm curious about. Extra points to the girl who was at an adjacent table for having a sweet tattoo :) Like, I have so many characters and character relations to sort out but I won't be doing it here because people are interesting, man! Perhaps they can function as inspiration later...
Though, speaking of adjacent tables, I've decided (officially) that getting to know someone is seriously the biggest favor you can do them. Or yourself for that matter. Like, there's this pair of girls in my Spanish class that have a history of giving me grumpy feels because of how much they whisper and chatter in class. They always seem irked about the material, which is confusing to the nth degree in my book. Anyways, after the Spanish test today, I ended up in the Underground (for the WWU cats who don't know, the Underground has a sandwich with apples on it. It's amazing. Go eat one). After I sat down and sort of settled, it clicked that one of said pair of annoying girls was sitting at a nearby table. We said 'hey' and chatted about the test/class. Now, let me be clear. I don't think this one interaction is the key to me never being annoyed again, it was nice to touch base and get to know a bit of what makes her tick. (sidebar: I feel obsessed with clocks at the moment).
I'm sort of in this "I love people" daze at the moment. This week has been kind of a whirlwind in regards to how much friend/people interaction I've been involved in but I'm at a very happy place in the storm--if you'll pardon the analogy. Like, Monday was blah but last nigh and today have been exceptionally lovely. New friends (or rekindling older friendships) are quite rewarding. And nice.
I should maybe stop calling them 'new' when I've known of them for a year... Maybe. I shall have to reflect on that

Anonymous Superheroes in the Harry Potter room

For some reason, I find it really entertaining to listen to EDM in the "quiet" areas of the library. (clarification, I do use headphones). I just think it's funny how often I hear that silence is better for studying and then feel like the odd one out for liking to have some sort of noise happening around me when I study/do homework. Fun fact, "CSI: NY" functions really well as background noise. I honestly think it helps my brain focus if it has two things to focus on. Otherwise, it wanders to random-whatever or just kind of shuts down. The former tends to lead to another thing to focus on (over the past few weeks, it's been running off to NaNo planning whenever it gets the chance). The latter, however, gets me into some trouble. If you look at my notes, you can definitely see the moments in class where I start drifting off.
I thought I was supposed to get less fidgety as an adult, not more. Seriously, it is much harder for me to sit through a boring class now than it ever was in middle or high school. Though, I admit, some of that can probably be attributed to the fact that I was getting more consistent and just more sleep than I do now.
Speaking of NaNo planning, I think it's okay to start the count down now: 16 days until I can actually start writing :) Between then and now, I plan to finish sketching out all my characters and their relations to each other, map out their city, and flesh out my plot. Lots to do in between all the homework and Halloween plans. My roommate's enthusiasm about the holiday is pretty infectious and, since Halloween is as good an excuse as any for a party, I have the need for five costumes. Let me say that again. I will be wearing five costumes over the course of the last week of October. And I have an idea for a sixth, should the need for it arise.
Confession time: the inspiration for this post came mostly from desire to not to more homework. Sorry if it's a little scatterbrained :P
But can I tell you about the other cool thing that happened today? I stopped by the international studies office here on campus and picked up some study abroad research things. Spain sounds fun.  Potential summer plans, right there.

Also, just in case anyone was curious, here was my music of choice this afternoon; it's one of my favorite sets: Adventure Club -- "Superheroes Anonymous Volume. 3"

Oh Dear. Mondays.

Here's what today has looked like up until this point:
1) Alarm at 7:00 a.m.
2) Snooze until 7:20 a.m.
3) Prepare for day until 8:00 a.m.
4) Leave for campus at 8:00 a.m.
5) 8:30 a.m. to 9:50 a.m. is Linguistics
6) 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. is Spanish
7) Catch bus home
8) Watch episode of "CSI: NY" while making/eating lunch and dinner
9) Leave (again) for campus, catch bus at 12:40 p.m.
10) Meeting with academic advisers at 1:00 p.m.
11) Finish meeting at 1:30 p.m., head to library
12) Complete Spanish homework by 2:05 p.m. and wonder about Linguistics

Oddly enough, this is not any more busy than a typical Monday. Usually my step 7 is to go to the gym, a shower is added to step 8 and I don't catch a bus back to campus until 2:40 p.m. -- just in time to make it to my class that goes from 3:00 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. How I'm going to stay awake in that class today, I have no idea. I used to be able to just zone out but now my brain automatically tries to go to sleep. All I want to do with my afternoon is go on a run, plan for NaNoWriMo, and watch "Hemlock Grove". Alas, I shall be stuck in class -- trying not to plan for NaNo. (Perhaps failing not to plan for NaNo.

Honestly, if there has to be one day a week where I am out of my house practically all day, Monday is probably a good day for it. No one likes Mondays anyways and then it's all over. The rest of my week is always pretty nice.

Here are some teacup bunnies for your Monday troubles

Welcome to Monday - Week Two

good morning pulmonic lungs, ridges, and egressives,
welcome to monday - week two
vocal folds not shown in class
but "glottis" is giggle worthy
do sexy voice. now do frog voice
have I told you how I love my professor?
articulators and tips, blades and hard palates
m as in "magic" and b as in "book"
welcome to monday - week two
conjugations and Spanish pronunciations
Si mi papá es profesor de ¿matematica?
I forgot how much I missed language
Even if that guy is in my class
I should probably tell mi profesora about Italy
welcome to monday - week two
surprise! another syllabus day
four hours class in one sitting
can't believe I haven't fallen asleep
well, mostly not
welcome to monday - week two

First Week of Classes, Year Three

It's surreal to think that I have officially started my junior year of college. Technically I crossed the junior-credit-level threshold at some point last school year. But it feels so different to cross that threshold than to walk into a classroom and think "This is my junior year of college". Thankfully, classes have gone very well thus far. Linguistics and Spanish are pretty up my alley, and my third class doesn't start until Monday so jury is still out on how that'll be. (Actually, the jury isn't even in yet because Monday is still three days away...anyways!)
I am happy to report that I feel a lot better going into this year than I have in previous years. Certain life elements feel more where they should be and it feels like I have a clear goal about what I need to be doing--at least on the academic front. Plus I get to explore the joys of off-campus living, which is pretty stellar so far. It was really nice to already be settled into my abode before classes started. Though, to be honest, it took until the last of my friends were back in town before I felt completely settled. I guess I didn't realize how much I believe the philosophy of "It's not where you are, it's who you're with". Retrospectively, though, it makes pretty perfect sense that I think like that. Some of my favorite vacations and cities are almost solely favorites because of the people I was with while exploring, and while I do have some amazing memories of me doing my own thing, I enjoy getting up to shenanigans with people more than doing it by myself.  Yay for friends!! :)
One of my goals for this year is to write significantly more than I've been over the past two. Sophomore year feels pretty successful since I did NaNoWriMo and I know that freshman year was affected by how swept I was with everything college. But I want to write with more regularity and increasing quality, la la la writer-goals. I don't know if I'll be doing most of my writing here or creatively in one of my many journals (seriously, I have four blank ones on my shelf at home). But I will be doing it somewhere. Fingers crossed, at least.
Basically, cheers to starting a new year and all of new chances this year will bring. Despite the homework I already have, I'm pretty excited :)

The Last 3 Posts of this Challenge

I've spent the last three days unpacking my new apartment and being on a train so I greatly apologize for the lack of blog posts but I haven't had internets until right now so I'm just doing the best I can. 
Day 29...Inside Your Fridge
There was nothing in my fridge on this day. Seriously, it was entirely void of any food stuffs. I guess that's what happens when it's the first day in a new apartment since there just hasn't yet been time to get food things. It's always funny to look at an empty fridge just because there should be so many things inside of it. I have a feeling that there will be so many things inside of it once I'm home in a month (many thanks to my flatmate cause she'll be the one stocking it this time mostly). Full fridges are happier to open so I'm very excited for things to start living in there.
Day 30...Nature
Feels like I haven't got to experience it for a while now--I've been doing a really irresponsible thing and spending all the time I can sitting about on Netflix. I did go swimming in a cove near school a few weeks ago and that was absolutely lovely (if a bit cold). One thing I'm really excited for about my new place is that it's one the ground floor and there is a nice grass patch right outside my back door. It's nice for me and the for the deer that like to snack there. It was very exciting cause the first night in our apartment was marked by there being a deer in our backyard. The previous tenants told us that they managed to feed the deer one time so I imagine the deer are comfortable hanging out there, which will be fun to see if they come as regularly as I hope they will.
Day 31...You, Again
Today, I am twenty years old. Happy birthday to me! It feels kind of crazy, honestly, to say that I am two decades old. Maybe possibly because of the fact that the past two days have been crazy and I am running on about nine hours of sleep probably. As suggested above, the last two days have been move-in days for my new apartment. It went really well but it was such a long process. Napping on the train today was a life saver. Now I just get to chill in Portland for a few hours :) Powell's is a block away from the coffee shop whose internet I'm stealing and I'm going to head over there in a bit. Probably won't buy anything but Powell's :) For any not the Pacific Northwest, Powell's is a ridiculously huge bookstore. Like, if you go with someone and split up, you might need to call them to find them again. It's this nerd's dream. Time to go explore the shelves :)