Sick (Literally) Of Summer

I must be some sort of control freak because whatever I can't control seems to get on my nerves. Take for instance the weather. In case you haven't noticed, I love to complain about the weather. The high for today is going to hover around ninety, and I know already that I'm going to complain about it all day long......and what I also know is that I'm going to be dying for this type of weather near the halfway point of winter. But for now, it's fall, and I wish the weather would behave itself.

But I'm not the only one looking forward to the change of seasons-the three trees in front of my TA honestly started changing colors overnight. [Sorry to disappoint you guys, but it looks like there are going to be at least a few more odd days until the cool weather is here to stay.]

The last day of summer is always kind of bittersweet. As much fun as it is to go swimming outdoors and wear flip-flops all the time (not that people don't mind frostbite on their toes in the winter, of course), you begin to look forward to a change from periods of infinitely many days worth of ninety plus weather. I can definitely say that I greeted fall with open arms this year. On the last night of summer, my friends and I lighted up my mini Weber grill and toasted marshmallows under what would have been the stars, had the night not been so cloudy.

It's crazy how fast senior year is going right now. I turned in a research paper proposal yesterday and my senior thesis proposal on Monday. Next week I have two short (as in five page) papers due, and my professors have already started talking about midterms in class. While I've learned a lot in my classes, I still kind of feel like the semester just started--every day and week seem to be divided up into moments I've spent in the library. Senior year is no joke, although it kind of seemed like it yesterday when I reached into my mailbox to find a couple small boxes of Nerds from the sociology majors committee, congratulating me on turning in my thesis proposal. Maybe by the time I turn in the first draft I'll have worked myself up to the "cupcake level." If I were a third grader that might be inspiring.

Just a couple of weeks left until October Break. I realize it's still early in the semester, but I'm in the mood for a break. Earlier in the week I became deathly ill (okay, I caught a cough and a cold....lame, I know) and I'm working on recovering at this point. Reading about Nazi Germany and racism in America isn't helping me feel any better, but my parents are visiting this weekend and bringing me cough syrup, so that should be good. If only they could bring me a couple more hours per day.... that would be worthwhile.

Books Are My Master

Quite miraculously, I think I managed to come up with a senior thesis topic. Even more miraculous? I think the topic might actually be good.

As the story goes, I was probably one of ten people who spent Saturday night in the library. Don't let the aspect of Saturday night in the library scare you-you know I definitely left at ten o' clock for a late night Stop & Shop run which eventually resulted in baking pumpkin pie-but sometimes it's kind of nice to chill out and go on book hunts instead of going completely haywire at some sort of Vassar concert. The best part is that you always feel like you did something productive after you leave, whether you actually did work or not. Don't believe me? Try it:

Cool Friend #1: Hey, where were you Saturday night?
Cool Friend #2: Yeah, seriously. There was a killer concert in Main featuring the Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Clash!
Me: Oh, I was in the library sleeping, I mean, SLAVING over books.
Cool Friend #1: Wow! You have so much motivation!
Cool Friend #2: I wish I could be you!

See? That's pretty much exactly how a conversation between my friends and me would go. By the way, The Clash actually did play at Vassar back in the day. No joke.

But Saturday was dedicated to finding a thesis topic. I had an idea of something I wanted to do along the lines of new media (such as the Internet, YouTube, Facebook, etc.) but I wasn't sure exactly what. Then, after leaving the library, I was talking to my friend about what a sociologist might write a thesis about when the words literally came out of my mouth, "Something like, I don't know, activism on the Internet...Wait a second... WHOA."

After researching the topic briefly, I realized that the topic had been researched just enough-not too much or too little for me to write about it. Now all I need is a 1-2 page summary of the topic, a projected outline and annotated bibliography for Monday.

T minus four days until my proposal is due-I'm in the clear.