Sleep, Eternally

Also, I should probably go to sleep because I have to meet Leana at the crack of dawn tomorrow to hop a train to Cambridge, but I can't because I was just hanging out with Erika in the kitchen and eating Fruit 'n' Fibre out of the box and I accidentally swallowed a flake whole, and it lodged sideways in my throat and I got all watery-eyed, and now I'm worried that I'm bleeding internally and that if I fall asleep I'll choke on my own blood and die. And I should at least text Leana to let her know that I might not make it, because that's only polite.

Putting the 'Ho' Into Homelessness

So remember how I was excited to live in a proper flat next year, even if I was sort of living in a glorified closet? It turns out that I'm not. Apparently, I can't just get tacked onto the lease as a fifth roommate because the occupancy of the house is limited to four people and there are actually regular inspections to confirm this. Instead, the landlord wants the four people on the lease to pay the full amount of the rental, and then for me to pay about 300 pounds a month to stay as a "guest" (which may or may not be legally recognized as a category of occupant) in my cubicle-sized room. I got an email from Genevieve panicking about this when I woke up this morning, called to get the deets, and decided to stay in my college's housing, where I will a) have ample room to dance when the mood strikes me, and b) not have to do any extra reading about squatters' rights. I coped just like I always do - I lounged in my pajamas with toast and my study guide until I finally showered and put on my favorite ill-fitting muscle shirt and a different pair of pajama pants at, oh, 3pm. I punctuated it with episodes of Family Guy. Now that I'm typing this, it might be a good thing that I'm not living in a flat next year, because I'm not sure I'm grown up enough to do that. I'm actually kind of a baby.

Be Still, My Heart

If I was already ridiculously excited for the film adaptation of Get Smart in July and practically making an advent calendar to count down to the premiere of Nine in, um, about a year and a half, there is nothing on Earth that will keep me from seeing Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. I was totally one of those Nintendo playing boys who was always the Princess in Mario II and MarioKart, that angry girl with the rage problems in Guitar Hero, and Chun-Li in Street Fighter. (Whatevs, girl kicks so fast you can't even see her foot.)

Supernova

I just saw the headline "Star Dies an Explosive Death" on CNN and clicked on it thinking they were referring to Star Jones.

The article was disappointing.

In Which I Smother Those I Love

I half-jokingly said that I bought my fern to replace human affection, because it's sort of true. I hate the feeling of being the only thing alive in my otherwise sterile bedroom, and since I'm not exactly bringing in boatloads of overnight guests, I needed something similarly lively and potentially disposable. So I bought a fern.

Unfortunately, after about a week, I noticed that a couple of the fronds seemed really dry, and then they started to yellow and curl, and then they started to fall off. I emailed my grandma in a panic, and she suggested that ferns do best in the shade and I might have killed it by putting it on my windowsill in direct sunlight. Oops. So I ditched the pot in my bathroom so that it wouldn't leave a mess as it withered and died all over the place, and decided not to press my luck with a replacement for the last couple of weeks of the term. (I promise that I'm more attentive to people. I don't let them expire in a corner and sometimes, I'll even make them eggs.)

And then today, I got out of the shower and noticed that my fern is totally thriving in the dark corner of my bathroom, and looks awesome. It's not exactly where I would have put a plant if it were my choice, but everyone who sees my bathroom next to my tiny bedroom comments on how big it is, which sucks because I can't really decorate it or use it because it's my bathroom, not a surrogate lounge. Apparently, the answer is a fern. Who knew?

Primary Colors

I would pee if the ticket was Obama-Nunn in 2008. Not because I agree with Sam Nunn on a lot of issues, but because I spent the better part of my sixteenth year on the planet arguing about the wonkier ins and outs of nuclear disarmament policy and the man is a rockstar. If he lets everyone keep getting abortions and gay marrying, I'd let him keep me safe from accidental launches any day.

Insomnia

Although my hair hasn't started falling out yet (give it about a week), I've been sleeping terribly over the past two weeks because I'm stressed out about exams - I go to sleep around 1 or 2am, but then I wake up around 7 or 8am at the tiniest ray of sunlight or traffic noise and when I blink and think of all the work I have to do to be ready for exams, I can't fall back asleep. I tried resetting my sleep cycle with a sleeping pill and that didn't seem to work (and I'm not trying it again, because developing a prescription drug addiction is not a forward-thinking solution), and I've basically been forcing myself to stay in bed and nap until I've approximated a full night's sleep. Still, sleeping in forty-minute intervals sucks.

And to make matters worse, I saw my supervisor today and he expressed concern that I looked so well-rested and put-together. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not - and I'd normally just take that as a compliment, but a) he seemed to think I'd been spending my time tanning and watching lesbian sitcoms instead of studying, which I emphatically have not been doing since I finished the latest season of the L Word last week, and b) this means I must look terrible most of the year. Tonight, I was telling this story to a friend of mine who was like, "you do look very sun-kissed" and I was like, "thanks, you sadistic jerk."

I really need sleep.