March 20, 2000
When Spelling Goes Bad

It is 4:30 PM and I am sitting at my computer wondering whether I am going to be motivated enough to change my clothes and go to dinner. I have been reading out initiation schedule for this week (someone finally remembered that the ordeal is supposed to last that long) when I noticed the phrase “black hoes.” Blink, blink. Someone has got to learn the difference between “hoes” and “hose,” thankyouverymuch. We are supposed to be college-educated women here and we don’t even realize when our spelling turns an innocent sentence into a derogatory comment. I plan to show up at the initiation activities on Friday wearing the recommended black dress and shoes, but I think I will substitute my black pantyHOSE for the other item listed.

After that little commentary it’s time for the weekend update. “Not another boring glimpse into the life of a twenty-one year old nerd,” I can hear everyone saying. That’s exactly what these diary entries are for so deal with it! Relax, there’s not much I can say about a weekend where I studied and read books the whole time. Stuart went home for the weekend and we had a bet to see who would study more on Saturday. Due to some unforeseen activities he participated in I won the bet (I studied about 6 hours on Saturday). Hey Stu, I think that makes TWO bets I have won (the other being about my dynamics grade)! So I spent a lot of time studying for my circuits exam on Wednesday night and working on the three homework assignments that were due today. Funny enough, I only finished on of those assignments. That makes me feel terrible – like I have been a total slacker when that couldn’t be any farther from the truth! I think we are in the middle of the midterm slump – when classes seem to drag on forever and work keeps piling up everywhere. Someone in my astrodynamics class this morning said that “the ship is sinking and I am trying to bail it out.” Drowning may be the next step, but for now my head is still above the water…most of the time.

I finished the third Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, last night and now I can’t wait for the fourth book to arrive in stores. It’s been a long time since I devoured books this fast and it’s hard to come to a grinding halt at the end of one when you don’t have anything else to start on. I just read on the Internet that the fourth Harry Potter book will be available on July 8. I will be in California then - what will be roommates think of a twenty-one year old engineering intern who craves children’s literature? My favorite books when I was younger were from Lloyd Alexander’s Pyrdain Chronicles and Harry Potter reminds me of the main character in those books. If you like J.K. Rowling’s work you should read some by Alexander or C.S. Lewis or Susan Cooper, but’s that’s just my two-cents.

Dinner is fast appraoching and I am still sitting here in the clothes I wore to class (jeans and a white t-shirt). I guess I will just go to chapter and skip dinner tonight. I’m not that hungry anyway.