What is happening to me?

Meat pile from the new graduate student welcome BBQ

The last week has felt like an eternity and yet every day feels like a fleeting moment.

I've been to all my classes once and feel pretty good about all of them, but still feel weird about only meeting once per week.

But, let's back up.

Ever since orientation I've been meeting a ton of people. Good thing I am freakishly good with names.

Here you see Carin, Meg, Helen and Catherine. Meg is the cake artist.

ISchool students seem to come from every background. I've met history majors, three music majors/opera singers, biology majors, art majors, engineering majors, you name it, Information's got it.

The last week has been mainly focused on scoping out the student groups. I'm an official member of the Student Association of the School of Information (that's not optional, but I'm still happy to be a part of it) and the Society for American Archivists. I didn't intend to go into archives, but the archives stuff here is well, the best in the country, so I should give it a shot. I went to an Artex meeting today, which is the group that meshes the arts with information. Tomorrow I'm going to an ALA thing so who knows? I might be a member of another group. My gut is telling me to choose one or two and be more involved than doing a little bit in all of the groups, but I seem to be a Jack of All Trades by nature.

Not school related: Hot Sauce Festival! Whyyyyy do they have it in August???? And at 11AM? I remember the hot sauce being good, but I was too distracted with the buckets of sweat dripping out of every pore in my body. Every pore.

Much more pleasant: Austin Symphony's free Concerts in the Park. In the evenings. It was the last weekend for this unfortunately. I got a group together and we brought picnic food and some wine and chatted as the sun set.

Things I have made:
Back to school. My official schedule with a thought on each class:

Monday: Organizing Information

I feel like this class is going to be interesting, but I'm disappointed that it's 40+ people.

Wednesday: Intro to Research

Probably going to be my more challenging class.

Thursday: Lab Techniques

Got in! This is more what I'm looking for vs. Intro to Preservation, I think. More hands-on. We get to make the enclosures and learn about how materials affect the books. Intro to Pres seems to be more about managing a Preservation program, which is beyond the scope I'm currently interested in.

Friday: Intro to Information

Five weeks. One credit. No big deal.

Anyway, I have work to do. Expect my future posts to be more sporadic and unorganized. Such as this one.

Last Day of Summer!

Perry- Castaneda Library

All that complaining I've been doing about having too much time on my hands is going to come to a sudden halt come tomorrow.
Here is what I registered for:
Organizing Information (Monday)
Intro to Preservation (Tuesday)
Intro to Research in Information Studies (Wednesday)
Intro to Information Studies (Friday)
Waitlisted: Lab Techniques for Non-Specialists

I'm still trying to remember what it's like to be a student. But let's not think about that yet.

Some things I've been up to:

The Encyclopedia Show
How do I explain? Every month they put on a show that centers around a certain topic (this month: mythical beasts), and "experts" sing/act out/read on the topic and a "fact-checker" keeps tabs on how much "fact" is being given by the "experts". "Get it?" I want to say it was comedy, but some parts were not funny. Ok, one guy who read a poem was not funny (nor was he trying to be, he choked up a little. Awkward).
I thought it was a great show. Best of all, it ended with a marching band and parade!

Including an appearance by the Austin Bike Zoo (they're on the rattlesnake). The audience got to march around the block with them. I had a moment like "I can't believe this is happening". We were not celebrating anything. It wasn't even a Friday or Saturday night. This is the kind of thing that just happens on a Thursday night in Austin.

And Meagan put on another Crafternoon, this one titled Camp Craft

I made my first God's Eye, which Meagan is displaying in her right hand. She made the one around her neck. The Friendship Bracelet station took up the rest of my time.

There was also a rock painting station. I skipped out on this one in order to not embarrass myself next to these works of art. Meagan's good friend, Ashley made cupcakes with fortunes in them for the occasion. It was a really crafty crew that showed up.

Probably not important, but I just got my hair cut by Francoise, the cutest Parisian who owns a little hair shop in a Mother-in-Law in the back of a mansion. I will never go anywhere else. If any of you visit, make sure you're in need of a haircut so I can take you there.

So back to thinking about school. I met a lot of really nice people at orientation and I already have a trivia partner (29/50 and we won "Funniest Team Name". Not bad for only two people, eh?). I didn't meet my advisor because she was out at a conference, so I will probably swing by to see her this week. And I've been applying to jobs (still unemployed). I just found out that if I work on campus, I get a tuition waiver so that I only pay in-state tuition. Cross your fingers that I get one!

I just finished this dress to wear my first day:

That's all that I can think of for now, just wanted to send out a bit of an update after my most eventful week in awhile. I will try to post another one this weekend.

I'm back!

My computer is back home after three (!!) weeks in the repair shop. Thanks for the comments on the last blog, Mom and "Not" Abbie. I wasn't sure how a discussion post would hold up. Perhaps I will try again in the future if the inspiration is found.

My days have been spent not unlike Eliza from Jane Eyre, who "spoke little; she had evidently no time to talk. I never saw a busier person than she seemed to be; yet it was difficult to say what she did: or rather to discuss any result of her diligence". Inconsequential activities I've been up to:

Sewing

Baking

Listening to all the songs on my iPod

(of course the last song makes me look like a total dork)

Watching DVDs with Ghost

But don't think I've simply been living the life of a single housewife. I apologize in advance for the lack of Austin-related photos. I've an aversion to looking like a tourist in my own city, so I've been a little shy about photography around town.

The 100+ degree heat has made it hard to explore the city (for example, my bus today was 3 minutes late and I gave up and walked home). You may be wondering, how does one explore a city with basically no money and in such intense heat? And no computer with which to check bus schedules?

Answer: one swims.

Deep Eddy: $3. Love this pool. Another natural springs pool, but not shockingly cold like Barton Springs. Jim Jim's Water Ice and Daily Juice are nearby, both good ways to end a swim. And had I stood on the correct side of the street, it's a quick 20 minutes by bus.

Ramsy: free. Very close, but uncomfortably warm. Usually I like to swim until my internal temperature drops a bit and then sit out in the sun and read, but Ramsy was pretty much a constant back and forth between swimming and sunbathing. All was not lost, though. I did discover a cool bar, The Draught House which is right next to my bus stop, just in case, you know, the bus flies by before I get to the stop like it tends to do (oh shoot! Guess I should go get a beer).

Shipe: free, but closed on Mondays. If you didn't guess, that was the day I decided to go. So close that I decided to take Meagan's bike out there and lost any interest in wanting a bike for myself. I'm just not big on exercise. Also, it hurt my vagina. And if I want to get to my destination sweaty, I can always wait for a bus and not have to wear stupid pants or lose out on reading time.

Here's what I've been reading by the way:

Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood

Part two of Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy. Centers around the Gardeners (who I described in a previous post), specifically Toby & Ren, who have survived the demise of the human race. Enthralling.

Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood

Part one of the MaddAddam trilogy. I read this last fall, but had to read it again after finishing Year of the Flood (did I mention my copy is signed by Atwood's own hands?). Centers around Snowman/Jimmy, who has also survived the demise of the human race and was partly involved in the demise. Atwood is a genius.

I Know I Am, But What Are You?, Samantha Bee

Bust magazine said "Samantha Bee could be the love child of David Sedaris and Chelsea Handler, if such a thing were possible". So I had to read this book. Bee is a freak. Which makes for good reading.

Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian, Scott Douglas

A librarian's memoir. Made me question my career choice. Also reminded me I need to stop reading books by bloggers. They read too much like blogs. Read his blog instead.

Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

Should I be reading War and Peace first? Too late, I'm 200 pages in. And. It's. Amazing.

Just want to say thank you to the family for the care package. It made my day on an otherwise difficult, lonely one.

Oh! And Obama gave a speech at UT! But I couldn't go because I'm not a "student" until I register. Too bad for me. His visit didn't cause any problems the way his visit to Seattle did, though.

I promise not all my blogs will be so long and detailed! More pictures, less talk next time!

Orientation is tomorrow and I register on Thursday! It's making me a little anxious, so hopefully I won't throw up.

How many men does it take to show a woman around a hardware store?

It's generally a bad idea for me to go into a hardware store when I'm not in the best of moods. This is what I did Wednesday after being sold a crappy computer (which thankfully was refunded on Thursday- I'll save you the story). As I walked down the aisle of said hardware store, going to the Nuts and Bolts and bolts aisle, which is where I knew I needed to go for one of my items, I approached two male employees who were chatting. They simultaneously looked up and instead of saying "May I help you find something?" I got a presumptuous "What are you looking for?", because of course, female in a hardware store = lost. As it turns out, I did need a dowel pin which I didn't immediately know the location of. So Man #1 takes the cab out of my hand (which I did not ask about) and said "I don't think we have any of these", to which I replied "I've bought one here before". This comment was ignored while the man asked Man #2 "Do we carry these?"
"Yes, in Nuts and Bolts".
Man #1 leads me to what I know is not Nuts and Bolts, but hey, he's the employee, right? He searches the boxes and Man #3, who was present during questioning walked by and says "Nuts and Bolts is down one aisle". So finally Man #1 shows me the cabs (which, remember, I wasn't in want of directions for) and takes me to another room, shows me the door and says "dowels are up there". I walk up the stairs and yes, I see dowels, but not dowel pins. Man #4 walks in, "Are you looking for something?"
Yes. I am.
"I'm looking for dowel pins, is my only option to make one out of these?"
"We should have some this way".
Another aisle.
"Looks like all we have is these big ones and you need about a 5/16". I'll go ahead and make you one".
Nice enough offer, but I look down and on the shelf is a whole bag of 5/16" dowel pins. Man #4 laughs as I pick up the bag and later I can hear him jovially telling this tale to Men #1, 2 and 3.
"I told her I'd make her one and then she sees a whole bag of 'em!"
Leaving the store made me think of the women out there who say "I actually like being treated like a lady". Women have said this to my face as if it's a convincing argument that all this feminist stuff I'm into is actually just making my life harder. I can't help but wonder, If I was a man, would I have been asked "What are you looking for?" or would I have been given the statement "Let me know if you need any help." The question puts me in an awkward situation. I guess I could have said "Well, I'm looking for a cab and a dowel pin, but I know where the cab is, and perhaps I can ask you about the dowel pin if I can't find it myself." Phew! But I guess I can't come up with a long winded answer unexpectedly.
If I had gotten the statement, I could have said "thanks" or "ok" or "sure enough" if I was feeling peppy. Then I could have found the cab, maybe found the dowel pin myself or else asked ONE employee to help me find it instead of being led around by four men who were more lost than I was. So, in the end, being treated like a lady was less beneficial (as, in my opinion, it usually is).
Now I know you skeptics are going to say "you can't prove you'd be treated differently if you were a man." True, it's difficult to turn back time in order to take testosterone shots and re-visit the hardware store as a man to see what they say. But as they pound into your head in Intro to Women Studies, "the personal is political". My personal gut says I got the Lady Treatment.
Do any of the women who read this blog have an experience where you suspect you were treated differently as a woman? Men, how are you treated in a traditionally male environment- perhaps like you need less help? Or more help if you are in a traditionally female environment? Anyone want to comment besides Abbie?