Late with Kate!

[I wrote this last night, and forgot to post it before I konked OUT for the night. Enjoy!]

Tonight, I'm blogging for your entertainment. And maybe taking photo booth pics. The challenge: write two papers, study for a geology midterm, and maybe even get some sleep. The post? Done in two minute breaks: a quick update, corny pic, and a little commentary.

Readysetgo!

This is what I look like at 12:48 am.

I just finished making a study guide for that lovely practice midterm. I've also consolidated the in-class "clicker" review questions with the study guide based on the test.

"Summer Girls" by LFO is playing on my iTunes. Oh, '90s...

"New Kids on the Block had a bunch of hits/Chinese food makes me sick/And I think its fly when girls stop by for the summer/for the summer..."

1:21 am.

Catholicism in the US Research Paper?

HANDLED!!

Bringin' it to Fr. Heft tomorrow so he can give me his preliminary opinion on the paper. I personally think it's awesome as it is, but considering what happened with the last paper (don't even get me started) I'm not taking anything for granted this time around.

(And please ignore the utter disaster that is my personal appearance. It is late, I am stressed, and the pictures were taken with my webcam in terrible lighting. Thank you. Thus endeth my disclaimer.)

NOW PLAYING: "The Best Thing" by Reliant K. A recent favorite, straight from College Kate's work out mix (speaking of, College Kate should probably start working out to it, as opposed to just studying to it...)

Stayin' hydrated at 1:54 am. Just re-reviewed the geology study guide.

Here's to ROCKIN' that geology test! 

(I am a giant cornball. I really can't help myself sometimes...)

And that paper for "British Literature to 1800"? Done! It's an examination of Milton's treatment of free will in Paradise Lost, in case you were wondering.

NOW PLAYING on my iTunes?

"...G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S....Flyin' first class up in the sky/Poppin' champagne living my life in the fast lane/I won't change..."

I seriously have the most random assortment of music EVER.

What I Needed To Hear

Today, after nearly losing my mind last night about the impossible week that lies ahead, I went to my American Literature class and totally lost myself in Melville. It was heavenly. (Have I mentioned I am a complete literature nerd?)

That enjoyable "down time" would have been enough to get me back into gear for geology studying. But Professor Kemp does one better: He's graded our essays, the ones that are worth 25% of our semester grade.

I wrote mine on Franklin and Jefferson's contrasting opinions on Deism's practical and theoretical applications, and the impact their opinions had on the development of American philosophy and government.

On the last page, in green ink:

"Excellent! Superbly intelligent. A."

Go Time!

Some days you just know it's go-time. And you can wake up and get things done and not be tired and generally just own the whole day. Every moment is productive. You're never tempted to stop and just surf the web, or check your news filters just to see what's happened. You have a list of what you need to do, and you GET. IT. DONE.

Today was that day.

Woke up twelve minutes before my alarm -- that's bonus time, friend! Bonus time I desperately needed before this insanity:

8am - Met with my TA.
8:45 - Impromptu group review session with TA.
10 - Catholicism in the US. .
12noon - American Literature.
1:30pm - Phone interview.
Study. Study. Study.
Paper.
Study Group.
Blog for five seconds.
Study study study study study....

Wish me luck.

What I'm Doing Today

So no big post about yesterday's outting, or my mental breakdown about upcoming tests/papers because I just have so much work to do.

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING ALL DAY, in preparation for Tuesday's geology midterm:


Note the lovely bars and metal grate covering my bedroom window. And the lovely view of the wall of the building right outside. How jealous are you right now?

THIS is what I WILL be doing all of TOMORROW:


More geology!!

AND MONDAY, starting at 8am, when I go to meet with my TA for a private review/tutoring session:



You get the idea.

Also, what is the worst view YOU have ever had out of a window some where you've lived?

BLOG-IT! Book Club: Moby Dick, Part II

So I know I said this would be short -- but it was a LONG book, okay? And now that you've been acquainted with all these crazies, I think we'll just pick up where we left off, with...

..MOBY DICK! The giant white sperm whale with a taste for human flesh!

Here's some stuff that's been said about M.Dizzle:


And here's my fave.

It starts out:

"ALL THAT MOST MADDENS AND TORMENTS; ALL THAT STIRS UP THE LEES OF THINGS; ALL WITH MALICE IN IT; ALL THAT CRACKS THE SINEWS AND CAKES THE BRAIN; ALL THE SUBTLE DEMONISMS OF LIFE AND THOUGHT --

[continues in Post-it]


I love that. Most of all I love the phrase "ALL THAT CRACKS THE SINEWS AND CAKES THE BRAIN." How great is that? Morbid, yes, but so vivid without getting all metaphorical or thematic (for once in the entire novel). It is a long, long book with many pages and countless words, but those eight words, in that order, are by far my favorite. Way better than "Call me Ishmael."

(I told you know one reads this book -- the only thing anyone remembers from it is the first line!! If they'd read farther or thought harder, people would be saying "CAKES THE BRAIN!" instead. You heard it hear first, since I'm the first person to finish the dang thing since Melville wrote it).

BACK TO THE BOOK. So it's long (have I mentioned it's long?) but extremely well written. All bajillion pages are packed with exactly the kind of stuff we English majors love ("CAKES THE BRAIN!").

But nothing really interesting happens - aside from Queequeg, in a fit of morbidity and possibly swine flu, carving all his tattoos into a coffin pre-made for him -- UNTIL THE LAST THREE CHAPTERS!!

So after you've waded through 129 chapters of Ahab's insanity, you get to this:


THE EPIC FIGHT SCENE, BABY!! IT'S (FINALLY) HERE!!!

In it, Moby Dick goes all Sissy-Spacek-in-CARRIE (just without the pigs blood. Or the suicide. But still. This probably WAS Melville's delusional dream) and kills several boatloads of people.

Ironically, Moby (CARRIE!) Dick doesn't kill Ahab. He's accidentally harpooned by his own boat. (He's there on the left - HARPOONED!!).

Ishmael floats away on Queequeg's coffin (Q's not in it, his body is at sea) and is later rescued.

Moby Dick swims away in victory.

As for the Pequod's crew, and all those other boats that came after Moby Dick...

...EVERYONE DIES.

And I am not even kidding. Even Queequeg dies, which really bummed me out.

The Inaugural BLOG-IT! Book Club: Moby Dick, Part I

SO I READ MOBY DICK. I really did. All 133 chapters and gazillion pages (I'm serious about all those chapters) and let me tell you -- nothing REALLY exciting happens 'til the VERY, VERY, END, but there are plenty of wackos to keep you entertained in the mean time.

Here are some of them now:


(You can click it to make it bigger and see my lovely artwork up close! And yes, these were doodled on a Post-It note. Hence the name "BLOG-it! Book Club" -- aren't I clever?)

That happy, regular old joe up to the left is ISHMAEL. He's the narrator, but he doesn't really do much. Notably, he started the book with the line "CALL ME ISHMAEL," which seems pretty regular, but a lot of people think it's a big deal. I don't, because the very next thing he says is, "SOME YEARS AGO...I THOUGHT I WOULD SAIL ABOUT A LITTLE," which is pretty random right after introducing yourself, and makes the start seem all choppy.

(Next time you are talking to someone who is faking they read Moby Dick - trust me, they didn't - and say something about the beginning, throw that little morsel out and feel intellectually superior. From College Kate to you, friends.)

ANYWAY, THAT HOMEBOY there next to our pal Ish is QUEEQUEG. He's inked. He's also from the South Pacific, which kinda freaked Ish out at first, but then they became BFFs.

They went off to become whalers and work for CAPTAIN AHAB, the yoo-hoo with the pirate hat. He has a peg-leg made out of a whale jaw because he's an obsessive egomaniac whose compulsions LITERALLY sink the ship. More than one actually.

STARBUCK is his first-mate. Starbuck considers killing Ahab at one point because he realizes Ahab is nuts and is going to kill them all, but doesn't. Other than that, he just has a really cool name. I gave him a striped shirt because he reminds me of an emo Mr. Smee from Peter Pan.

The fella with the mean stink-eye is Crazy Pip. Pip went bonkers when he was accidently left to die in the ocean for a few days. After they found him again, he had become a lunatic (hence the fun joker hat) but some of the stuff he said was oddly prophetic. He and Ahab got real tight there towards the end.

Those other little guys are FEDULLAH (in the crown) & FRIENDS. Ahab hired them on as mercenaries for the sole purpose of hunting down Moby Dick as vengeance for stealing Ahab's leg (and sanity). Told you he was whacked.

ANYWAY, ALL THESE PSYCHOS get on board the PEQUOD, which is decorated with bones and teeth from whales (which probably should have been a sign) Later they meet a bunch of OTHER BOATS FULL OF CRAZIES and they all sail off together to catch

MOBY DICK!!!! He's giant white sperm whale with a taste for human flesh. He's also a romantic symbol, which means he doesn't actually symbolize anything at all.

TO BE CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!!

Face Lift!!!

So I promised a fun and shallow post for today.

And because I love you, and I promised, I pulled through for you. See that up there?? At the top??

I MADE THAT. And I used my own Google-skills to figure out how, and then more Google-skills to figure out how to put it in my blog (it's actually way easier than I thought. Who knew?).

And I did it all because I love you. But mostly because I REALLY REALLY wanted a cool header, so I could be like All the Cool Kids out in the blogosphere. Did you know people PAY MONEY (a LOT of money, like up to $150) for custom headers like that?

They sell them in "packages" of blog-wear: buttons(see my DIY-version at the top of the right column - it's fabulously cheesy!), backgrounds, etc. For those of you unfamiliar with blogs, the idea is that if someone likes what they see, they put your button on THEIR profile, and then THEIR readers are exposed to your blog. But mostly, they're just fun to make!

Anyway. College Kate has a whole new makeover. Be sure to check in on holidays, etc. because I plan to make holiday-themed headers, just because it's fun, and that's what Google does.

Oh, and heads up -- tomorrow is going to be a little busy for me, but I'm going to try really hard to get that Moby Dick thing up. (Do you KNOW how long that book is? 133 chapters!!).

HINT AS TO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON FOR ME TOMORROW: Who is the only man for whom Christian Louboutin has ever designed a custom line of shoes???