Skype cannot replace hugs. I miss my boy.

9:30 AM EST: I'm in class and I am not paying attention and I was looking forward to Rich's post. )=

3:21 PM EST: Everytime you check the blog something will be different!  Right now I am adding this Little Bee quote about tea because Jason and I miss tea!  Backstory: She is a Nigerian refugee talking to someone from Britain.

“Tea is the taste of my land: it is bitter and warm, strong, and sharp with memory.  It tastes of longing.  It tastes of the distance between where you are and where you come from.  Also it vanishes- the taste of it vanishes from your tongue while your lips are still hot from the cup.  It disappears, like plantations stretching up into the mist.  I have heard that your country drinks more tea than any other.  How sad that must make you -like children who long for absent mothers.  I am sorry.” (emphasis mine)

All this tea talk makes me want to call my Mom!

I love that: "like children who long for absent mothers".  Has tea ever made you feel that way? Me neither, but it's a beautiful image.  I highly recommend the book.  And to clear something up: Nicole said it's no Middlesex, which is no Name of the Wind.  I haven't read Name of the Wind and I know I won't convince anyone who's read it, but I'd assert that Middlesex is better than Name of the Wind.


9:28 PM EST (I wrote this hours ago but whatever)

Happy weekend once more!  Do the weeks pass by quickly or what?  It’s almost Thanksgiving (read: cha!) time.  I can’t wait.  I’m pretty happy here but I’m ready to go home and see you guys and my family and Devin Christopher.

Last night I had my pledge exam that all of us have to take to become full-fledged brothers.  My Big didn’t get a phone call, which means I passed!  That’s good news.  On Sunday I’ll have my initiation ceremony (at 6:30 in the morning!  I haven’t been up that early in ages!) and that night there will be wild parties that I will only a partially enjoy.  Unfortunately my boozehound friend won’t be present to drink my alcohol for me, but my Patrick (my Big) assures me that he drinks enough for both of us, much to the chagrin of Devin.  Well, me too.

The best/ fake-est show ever.  Probably the fake part.

Last weekend was his (Patrick’s) birthday and I went over to his house on Sunday, the day after, and met some of his housemates and gave him two presents:  sixteen cupcakes in a Parisian box, reading “Let them eat cake” and an artsy print of the Eiffel Tower, because he’s going to study abroad in Paris next semester.  He liked it all.  I met some of his housemates and we watched television, “The Colony” and “Weeds”, the latter of which is rather relevant to Patrick’s life.  He lit up said television show namesake while I was there and asked me if I smoked and I said no, I didn’t, and I was sort of hoping he’d ask if I would prefer he go outside/ in another room but he didn’t.  So I didn’t say anything.  I got a headache afterwards and maybe a secondhand high, if such a thing exists.  It didn’t feel good or anything. Just headache-y.  I told my ex-pot-using sweetheart about this and he said that behavior was totally out of line and disrespectful, that Patrick should’ve offered to leave the room.

Recovering from that, I talked to Derek on the phone briefly and told him about this aforementioned exchange and we sorted out our sass quandary in the comments of the blog last week, where I called him mean.  Sorry.  Miss you!

I like being at the end of the week, because I can look back on each of your posts, minus busy bee Rich.  I love keeping up with you guys and can’t wait to see you all again.  Nicole will have to show us her debating ability!  I’m sure she can best Rich by now.  Nicole, I would like to see the following case argued: “Why Bloggers Should Post On Time”.  Thank you.

This week hasn’t been worthy of detailing day by day.  On Tuesday, I helped Devin make the final decision as to which colleges he’s applying to.  His top three are: University of Deleware (DE), Ithaca (NY), and DePaul (Chicago, IL), but he also has a college in Derek’s own Vermont: the University of Vermont in Burlington.  And state-school wise we have at least Santa Cruz, but maybe Sonoma State because it actually has some stuff going for it.  Or I think so, anyway.  Regardless, if any of you are interested in the full list or anything I’d love to talk to you.  It’s been quite an effort, as you guys likely remember (unless you’ve blocked it out, as I’ve tried to).  I think we chose some great schools, and I’m glad we made the decision without biasing it toward the D.C. area.  It just wouldn’t be right to ask him to follow me when I didn’t have to tailor my decision to anyone before me.  I didn’t want that.  They’re great schools, though, and mostly on my side of the country anyway, so that’ll be nice.  It’d be deliciously ironic if when he visits me in February he fell in love with AU.  Delicious like bitter medicine!

Oh, books from childhood.

I finished Little Bee, and read a book from my childhood (Nicole- a Tamora Pierce classic!) this week.  And I’m working Eugenides’s first novel, The Virgin Suicides.  I’ve been doing more pleasure reading than school reading and it’s been mighty fine.  I’m going to catch up this weekend.  I really will.  Hopefully.  I’m volunteering for 4 hours tomorrow and then I’ve got Initiation on Sunday.

Well, alright, friends.  I love you all and miss you all, and it’ll be just barely over two weeks before we meet again!  You ready, you ready, la-la-la be ready!

-Rachael

P.S. Loved the Easy A reference, Nicole.  That movie makes me giggle like a smitten schoolgirl.