overwhelm.

greetings.
as you may have heard, my roommate moved out unexpectedly. i had no answers until literally right now. she just officially checked out and turned in her keys, and apparently moved to another apartment in the same building. so i finally have the place truly to myself. which is a relief because now i can actually get stuff done. we can now check that off the list of stressors in my life.
basically, i'm taking a lot of really interesting classes this semester but i have so much reading i feel like i'm constantly drowning in homework, regardless of whether or not i actually procrastinate. so that's really overwhelming.
i am currently snowed in. we got lots of inches. today was a snow day, but we go back tomorrow. this would all be fine and dandy if only i had a microwave. roommate took that with her (rightfully so; it was hers). so i have to cook everything on the stove or in the oven and i've been eating leftovers cold. it's not awful, but i do like microwaves so it's damned inconvenient.
i would like to leave you on a positive note, so i suppose i'll share something i'm looking forward to. hart is coming up here valentine's weekend (next weekend!) and he's staying through monday because he has president's day off as well. yay!
till next time,
tori

i haven't fallen off the planet yet

just wanted to let you all know that i'm still here.
sorta.
i'm up to my ears in research and it's due two weeks from tomorrow (freaking out a little bit).
and when i'm not doing that, i am probably sleeping, eating, or showering.
or watching netflix on skype with hart.
i'm also applying for a summer internship at the truman presidential library, so wish me luck with that.
that's all i have to say for now.
have a lovely day :)

my life is crazy/awesome

this semester is insane, but i kinda like it.

the insanity is mostly because i just started my research. all the deadlines for this project are pretty tight, so that's the main source of all my stress. well, that, and still having four other classes to take care of. 

anyhow, here's the skinny on my research project:

• final product (due at the end of the semester) is 20-25 pages (the longest thing i will ever have written in my life)
• i just narrowed my topic yesterday to the roles of women in fascist spain under general franco (his dictatorship was 1939 until his death in 1975)
• i have an annotated bibliography due tomorrow and a historiographical essay (8-10 pages) due next thursday and then two weeks until my first draft is due (!!!!)

so. welcome to the insanity. i'm just really glad it's something i'm genuinely interested in.  if you don't hear from me for the rest of the semester, you can probably find me crying and drinking wine in my bathtub trying (unsuccessfully) not to die of an anxiety attack.
*****
anyhow, life is otherwise great. being 21 is wonderful for obvious reasons, as referenced in the previous paragraph. (i don't actually cry and drink wine in my bathtub. my life isn't that sad. though this research may drive me to that point.)
amnesty is doing pretty well, but i'm too focused on research to be wholeheartedly involved in curing the world of injustice. though i wish i could be.  
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in other huge, giant, wonderful news, as of the end of september, i am now dating my best friend since high school. we've known each other for five years and were strictly friends for a long time, so that's pretty solid. he's basically the greatest person ever. his name is hart. yay!
*****
that is all i have to say for now. if i don't update for a long time, just know that i am drowning in research and will probably come out alive. maybe.

welcome back!

i bet you thought i wasn't going to post, didn't you?
i've actually had a post-it on my desk about it for a couple weeks now...
but as i always say, better late than never.
so, junior year. here we go.
*****
classes are pretty good so far. i'm doing my research for history this semester (modern european women). i haven't actually gotten into the research part of the class yet, so i'm expecting my semester to get really busy around midterm. besides that, i'm taking oral history, astronomy, foundations of education, and american national government. most of those aren't too intense, so that's good, considering the whole research thing.
*****
amnesty is working on getting it together this semester. we don't have a campaign that we're working on yet, but on friday we had a table in the student union to raise awareness about/petition the human rights violations in syria. if you're interested in amnesty international's stance (which we were promoting), you can find that here.
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as for spanish club, i am not able to attend this semester. my astronomy lab is at the same time. hopefully next semester.
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as you may remember, this year i am living in an on-campus apartment with a stranger i met on the internet. she is interesting. she has never slept here because she always sleeps at her boyfriend's house, so that's really nice. he is here almost as often as she is. i can't decide how i feel about him because he is nice enough, but a little weird and kind of annoying. but my roommate i don't mind so much. she is very quiet when she is here, and provided some nice things for the apartment. the weird points: (1) she is really into my little pony, (2) by and large, lights do not exist to her, (3) she leaves food out all night when she isn't here/sometimes it stays there for day(s). i am mostly entertained by these things because, let's be honest, they are rather comical.
*****
i am preparing for my 21st birthday. and by that, i mean i'm freaking out because i don't know what i'm doing so that's annoying. i'll let you know how that one turns out.
*****
that's all i have for now. life is not that exciting up here so far.
have a lovely amount of time until i post again

how could i forget?!

i remembered when i was in class just now.
another thing i miss about america:
free water and free bathrooms.
that's right. you have to pay for that shit in spain. every time. it. sucks.