last chances, last dances

I've always been a huge fan of random, potentially awkward personal risks, so I was really gratified last night to receive a facebook message from someone at my school who I have actually never met before. The message was a cute little note about how this person has always admired my personal style/comportment (yeah, what can I say, a little flattery never hurts), and that because the end of the year is fast approaching and an opportunity for a "natural" meeting hasn't come up, we should get together/get to know each other sometime.

Possibly creepy? Absolutely! But I don't tend to interpret things like that. I'd rather think about how awesome and brave it is to message someone you don't know and basically put yourself out there to possibly form a friendship. (Though I guess a full disclaimer would be that I have done such a thing in the past as well. The first person that I dated my freshmen year was a random sophomore that I had an international politics class with but had never spoken to, and the way that got started was that I sent the most hilarious and awkward email EVER.)

In any case, we'll see how the facebook friendship pans out. I sent back quite a long message and an offer to grab a meal sometime. Will I regret this? Possibly, but I really doubt it, even if it ends up going badly. As I said, I'm a huge fan of people who are willing to risk themselves and awkwardness to make a personal connection.

On a similar note, I got another facebook message today about a party that is being thrown this Saturday to celebrate seniors. Apparently the person who is throwing it wants permission to use my name/picture because he's "highlighting" some seniors. I'm pretty apprehensive about this because I haven't talked to this guy since freshmen year, but because it was such an intriguing request, I conditionally gave permission (contingent on him telling me exactly HOW he is using my name/image).

Finally, my oral defense went really, really well today. I'll write about this in more detail tomorrow after I get back from apartment hunting, but the main point is that it should be smooth sailing for me (fingers crossed!) for the rest of the year.

what is wrong with me/oh life

Chelsea Clinton is coming to speak at my campus soon, but I've decided not to go because I had already slated that particular day for shopping. Yes, those are seriously my priorities, and I am not ashamed to say it (plus, I've already seen her father speak, and in any case, I'm more interested in the parents than the daughter).

In less pathetic news, my oral defense for my thesis is scheduled for next Thursday. This is good because I'll have a week to prepare for the hour-long grilling, but is terrifying because I am usually dead in the mornings. We'll see how it goes. I'll definitely write up a more detailed explanation of my thesis and how the defense goes next week.

To bring the ridiculousness level back up again, I'm participating in a crazy scavenger hunt/event known as "crunkfest" this weekend (I mean, it's 4/20! And it's my last year of college. I have to do it up!). Events in previous years have included: a circle jerk, piercing of genitalia, getting Chuck Norris to call the judges, streaking as many on-campus buildings as possible, and getting a rival school's student to shave their pubes. As you can tell, it's going to get really fucking crazy.

My team's name is the ga(y)ze because we all identify as queer, and I think we're pretty ready to go all out since we're all graduating. We just spent three hours tonight working on our team flag (which is actually a huge structure made with a ton of stolen campus goods...SHHHH!), and I'd previously put in four hours cutting a bunch of eyes out of magazines (I know, so clever).

In any case, the opening ceremony for the event is this Friday at 6pm, so I'll basically be MIA from then til Sunday night. Good times!

if it isn't one thing, it's another

So to celebrate finishing my thesis (well, the first draft anyways), my friend Evan and I went on an alcohol and cigarette run yesterday to a nearby state with no sales tax on the stuff. 8 bottles of Andre (I shit you not) and four packs of Nat Shermans later, I realized that I essentially paid less for that haul than I normally do for a single article of clothing. Go figure.

Went to the student café that my friend manages afterwards and did my old, drunk self proud, but without the belligerence that normally accompanies. Unfortunately, I woke up this morning with a horrible rash on my face (wtf?), so I’m thinking that I’m either allergic to cheap alcohol (say it ain’t so!) or I’ve really got to clean my room because something is really messing with my skin.

I’m skipping class out of sheer vanity and crossing my fingers that this stuff goes away by tomorrow. I’m headed over to the student health center soon, so hopefully they’ll let me know what happened and how I can make it better.

In other news, I’m starting to worry about the oral defense of my thesis, which should happen sometime in the next two weeks. I have no clue who my second reader is, and my adviser (being overbooked and just back from maternity leave) hasn’t read anything but my introduction and the postmodernism chapter (this is also my fault because of my procrastination…she didn’t email me to make meetings, and I was totally fine with this because I basically hadn’t done any work). In any case, we’ll see how everything pans out…worst comes to worst, I’ll bomb it and have to make more revisions than initially anticipated. Regardless, I’m safely into grad school, so all that matters is actually graduating.

a more substantive post will follow later, BUT

71 pages without the bells and whistles of a table of contents, acknowledgements, and bibliography, 11 hours of sleep in the last 3 days, way too much pizza, convenience store chicken fingers, and energy drinks, and now, at 9:03 on this lovely Monday morning, I am motherfucking done with my undergraduate thesis.

DONE!

ah to be young (and free)

One of the best things that can happen to you at 3:45 in the morning whilst in the process of cracked-outedly writing your thesis (due Monday!) and chainsmoking: A call from an old friend informing you that ze has just done a line of coke and the ensuing hilarity of that conversation.

One of the best quotes in a night full of gems from others in the same thesis-fucked boat: "I told them that I had to go home and masturbate and they told me to do it in the bathroom, but I was like: 'I'm already sleep deprived. I need to use my sex toys to conserve energy!'"