It’s November, which means it’s National Novel Writing Month, the real one, not the fake one I do in June by myself. Since I didn’t quite finish in June, I thought I’d do another month of writing, or at least of rewriting. That has yet to start. It’s effing busy around here, kids. I had two midterm papers, which was unusual. And I’m not overly interested in either of the two classes. They both tend to assign things periodically and add shit on all the time (like a paper proposal) and, to be honest, I’m not particularly interested in doing any more than we already have to do. The one has very little work, but it’s all theory and the professor is a million years old and quite particular about things. He’s not a hard grader, but he doesn’t engage in any sort of conversation, at least not with me, about what we’re discussing in class. It’s like he half-hears what I’m only half able to get out before he interrupts and gives his own version or ask someone else. Yesterday I finally talked over him. I have no incentive to give a shit about that class that I’m forced to take. And I learned that he’ll be one of the readers for my field paper this summer. Miserable.
I thought there was no way I could be more busy than I had been last year, but no, I was wrong. As usual, things always seem better in principle than in reality. That’s why theory is so worthless. Perhaps that’s a stretch, but still . . .
I’m trying to give a shit about the class and the professor, because he does work on some interesting things, but he makes me want to hate everything he stands for, things that I do personally care about, just because he’s a bastard. This might suggest that I don’t really care about those things, but I’d like to think I do.
Since last time I posted and now, I’ve been doing more than just get increasingly annoyed with half of my coursework, the half that’s relevant to my proposed dissertation work. I’ve taken trains and buses and taught GRE classes and tutored GRE students and met new friends and started doing adult things with J so that he can be on my health insurance when he moves here. We had our last “visit” over Halloween and it was fun, although we missed having Didi and Tom there with us. In an odd alignment of gay sensibilities, Tom and J unwittingly almost went as the same thing, but J added some props to his costume and changed from a ‘50s man to a professional geek with Ethernet, USB, and A/V cables. I was Trainer Bob, which went over well to those who had seen the show. People in different cities have said I look like him and considering that both sets of people were fit, I was thrilled. Sadly I don’t actually look like him, neck-up or down, but I have “a similar neck to head ratio” and similar length and color of hair, facial and cranial. So that was great. I got to spend money on new gym clothes and not on a costume I’d never wear again. But since I haven’t been to the gym recently, it can still be considered merely a costume.
The train and bus rides have been fun. I’ve learned that there are some trashy motherfuckers out there. Starting from the train ride to meet J for a short road trip to St Louis, I encountered to drunkards who had “a little boo boo” in the last city they lived in and had to go back to take a class or go to jail. Well, take those facts and add to it that they were drunk and on a train and you can guess why they didn’t just drive where they were going. We can all be thankful for that. And for the class they’ll be taking. Hopefully they get something out of it and hopefully I never find out. The man also started groping the woman and yelling about her boobies to the whole, sleeping train. He also sprawled out with one foot on top of the seat in front of him, in which sat an old biddy. She didn’t mind until he started kicking in his sleep. On the way back, it was packed and hot and I was next to a heater that ruined my life. It didn’t help my being sick at all and it didn’t really allow me to sleep, which I desperately needed after a sleepless, paper-writing train ride there, pre-wedding weekend and all.
Since then I’ve been on the bus. Taking the bus was at first really annoying, because I didn’t understand how it worked. And it still drives me crazy that even at its most efficient, with the earlier, less crowded and less frequently stopped bus arriving just before a bus to school leaves, it still takes me about as long as walking would. And it costs money. I seriously miss CM’s situation with its “free” bus pass. I also miss only having to take one bus to get anywhere, but I do love my apartment, so I wouldn’t change it, except for a loft. I’m having people over on Friday, which will be something. I had avoided having people over until I had a couch, but my grad program needed a host for a monthly get-together, so I agreed. I’m looking forward to it and have invited a couple of people not from the program. I have a feeling that, since last weekend was a “party weekend” with grads hosting parties on two different nights, a mandatory thing we have tomorrow during the day, the fact that no one lives nearby, and that it’s paper crazy times up in here, a lot of them won’t come. Or will forget. Or will conveniently forget. I won’t be overly concerned if that’s the case, as long as a few people show up. God knows I’d rather have eight people over than twenty-eight. We'll hopefully play all kinds of fun games though, including Bananagrams, which I just bought. J already fell in love with it, I think.
For the evening, I’m making some noshing food from my darling Alauna’s site. She told me what I can and can’t substitute and still have things work out. I have class in a little bit and then it’s off to the grocer’s, because I have no food in my apartment, although I did buy some breakfast stuff. And when I get home, it’s time to do as much of my reading as I can fathom before this weekend, which will be filled with paper-planning and proposal-writing and all that non-reading shit I used to be good at but I’ve since forgotten how to do because I haven’t been able to breathe between reading assignments. I think I’m just not going to do them anymore (except to skim), unless they’re relevant to my later work or they seem fun or there’s nothing else I’ve bothered reading for that class.
I can’t wait until Thanksgiving break, when I help my honey move in, and then we only have a week or two of class, which is brilliance.

