I'll Have History With A Side Of Swimming, But No Dance

......So I've been neglecting the blog. Ooops. But to be completely honest, I don't think I've ever had a busier semester. The classes I am taking are not that much harder than any of the other classes I've taken here (to tell you the truth, they might even be easier), but just as I suspected, writing a senior thesis is draining the life from my body. ....Okay, so that's a bit of a stretch, but only a bit.

I really want to do well on my thesis and so far I'd say it's coming along. But that also means that any free hour I have is spent working on my thesis and I basically have no free time left--weekday or weekend. I took off last Thursday night and Saturday night for hanging out with a friend/the campus Halloween Party (whooo!), but I really haven't had any time to just chill out and watch a movie or just do nothing. I'm like a hamster on a wheel...although much less fuzzy.

And now that I am back from October Break, it's time to start picking classes for next semester. Crazy, I know. FYI: Please don't remind me that this is the last time I get to fill in my little online sheet and constantly change my mind on courses and rearrange the order of the classes that are the most important for me to take--unless you want to make me cry. But on a more optimistic note, I'm pretty excited for my next selection of courses and I think that if everything goes according to plan, I can leave Vassar feeling fully satisfied.

One thing that I do not plan on taking again is dance. For the past three years, I have taken a dance course about every other semester. I took two course from modern dance, and right now I'm working on taking a jazz dance class. Actually, I take that back--I'm working on SURVIVING a jazz dance class. Why? Because I am the world's worst dancer. The title isn't exactly flattering, but trust me--I'd rather have that title than be forced to watch myself dance. When I was taking modern dance, I wasn't exactly good, but at least it wasn't painful to watch. But jazz dance on the other hand.... well, that's another story.

I'm a pretty athletic individual and I swam for six years between middle school and high school. But as soon as I step onto the dance floor, it looks as if I'm just learning how to walk as I stumble into what is supposed to be an arabesque but ends up looking like I tripped over an invisible staircase. I think most of the time the instructor tries to ignore me because if we spent the entire class going over what I did wrong, I don't think we'd get past the first exercise. Instead, she'll instruct those in the group who look like professionals in comparison as I sort of hobble along and make a sad attempt at what is supposed to be a dance move whenever I feel like it's safe to humiliate myself again.

Now, everyone has their on-days and their off-days, and you're all probably thinking that I just had an off-day today. But compared to the average person, my on-days are like off-days and my off-days are, well, extra-off if anything. It doesn't help my case that I had virtually no dance training as a child and my classmates seem like they've at least taken some form of classical dance. I'm pretty certain that the rugby player in my class decided to take it as a joke, but I end up making him look like John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever. When I walk into Kenyon Hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm not walking into my dance class, I’m walking into my own worst nightmare--where all eyes are on me as I trip over myself while trying to doing twirls across the room, saying as if I were Derek Zoolander: "I can't turn left!" What's even more humiliating is that my mom was a dance instructor at a studio in Cleveland when she was about my age, and performed shows at discos back when they were cool. But somehow I was born with two left feet and I have no idea where they came from; a recessive trait, perhaps? I'll never know for sure.

So right now you're probably thinking, "So why do you keep putting yourself through this if you think it's comparable to torture?" Good question. As a Vassar student, I guess I'm kind of masochistic by nature. But as myself... well, you could say I'm probably crazy.

Speaker In Lieu Of Midterm? Please?

October Break is next week, but you never get off easy around here before a break from classes. Oh no no. Between yesterday and today, I've studied for nearly 14 hours (almost) straight, but I still feel like I'm only going to "pass" my film midterm exam. Earlier in the semester I thought taking film was going to be a complete joke, but at this point my study guide indicates that I haven't really learned much--or paid attention in class, for that matter. After taking mostly classes that focus on theory for the past couple of years, memorizing dates, people, and concepts just isn't my thing anymore. Whoever it was that invented flashcards is my savior.

Thankfully, my exam is scheduled for noon tomorrow, so after that point I won't feel obligated to study--instead, I'll feel obligated to write a 4-5 page paper for my sociology class in lieu of a midterm exam. That really makes me feel special.

But no matter what happens tomorrow, John Amaechi is coming to give a lecture, and I am definitely going. In case you don't know who John Amaechi is, he's a former NBA star best known as a power forward for the Orlando Magic and the Utah Jazz. Now, I don't know anything about basketball, but John's story is pretty cool. In February he became the first NBA player to come out as gay, which was pretty groundbreaking. I learned about John Amaechi soon after he made his announcement, and at that time (as well as now) there were a lot of mixed feelings from players and fans about Amaechi's sexual orientation. Personally, I think his decision to come out was very honorable and proved for one--to put it bluntly--that gay men can play basketball. Not that that was the only thing that came out of his announcement, but you know what I mean. Anyways, I'm looking forward to seeing him speak tomorrow (as well as the free refreshments beforehand!).

We've had a lot of cool speakers during my three and some years here--to name a few: Tom Hanks, Tim O' Brien, Jeff Corwin (from Animal Planet!), Terry Gross, Ralph Nader, and Amy Goodman. But the real question is, Who is going to be my graduation speaker? I suggested Vaclav Havel, but I'm pretty certain that I'm the only student on campus who would be giddy about seeing the former president of the Czech Republic up at the podium, as my fellow classmates are sick with the welcome or unwelcome anticipation of receiving their diplomas. But what's more charming than a little Central European-style humor with a few "back in communist times..." stories on such a special day? Much to my disappointment, it seems to be unlikely scenario.

On the same token, it may be my missing the Czech Republic that has caused my recent sick obsession with anything and everything Czech. The other day I spent an hour looking online for anywhere that might sell or offer downloads of songs by the Plastic People of the Universe, only to find a minute and 30 second clip of a song that barely gave me the feel for any of their music. At that point, I think I felt a tear drop out of my right eye. Creepy, I know.

Interestingly enough, Vaclav Havel's favorite band is the Velvet Underground (who were the main influence of the PPU), and one of my bosses was married to a member of the band. When I told her about my obsession with Vaclav Havel, she said she could hook me up with one of his books, which practically had me drooling last week at work. I swear I'm not a stalker......