We'll Start With An Awkward Conversation

I'm going to start out this post with a fun little exchange I had with my Chinese professor on the first day of class that I may or may not have forgotten to tell you about last week. Ready? I bet you are, you rascals: I walk up to my professor to ask her if she still has my workbook I never picked up last year in her office (Spoilers: she did. Best professor ever.) and she gives me a sort of conspiratorial smile and leans in and whispers something at me."What? I didn't hear you," I reply, a bit confused by her general change in demeanor. She repeats herself. This time I hear her. "Did you lose weight?" she whispers again, an excited gleam in her eyes. "What?! No. I don't think I did at all..." I stutter. If anything, I've gained weight from not moving around this summer. My professor continues on, nodding her head as if certain "Yes. You did."

This conversation flabbergasted me for a couple of reasons. One, how could I have lost enough weight for my professor to have noticed after 1. not seeing me for like four months and 2. actually noticed at all. People notice only when you lose a good amount of weight or look less chubby than before. Had I looked chubby before? I'm pretty sure I didn't. Like. I'm pretty darn sure I looked fine. So 3. do I look emaciated now and that's why I look like I've lost a lot of weight? I'm going to assume that the reason the professor thought I lost weight is that I was wearing lots of clothing and heavy jackets the last time I saw here. The other reason I was flabbergasted is that WHO SAYS THAT?! NOT A PROFESSOR! Or at least I didn't think a professor would.  It's a Chinese culture thing, I get that. But if she were a man I would have been completely freaked out. 

Okay, now that I'm done with my little rant, let's talk about my weekend. So on Friday I woke up early for breakfast with Ashleen even though I could have slept in until 10 am instead of 8 am. But we sacrifice sleep for friendship even when we’re in dire need of the former. Anyways, it was nice, and we talked about things that don’t need to be elaborate upon in a public space, so carrying on to the next part of my day…In Anthropology I was quite proud of myself because the professor gave us this article talking about the weird, foreign lifestyles of the Nacirema tribe, and I was one of the only students who realized that the article was actually about America and it’s culture (as well as about how you can skew anything to make it seem foreign and “exotic"). So that was something that happened.Then I had my second Chinese quiz (on the second day of class) and got back my score for the previous quiz (99% DAMN IT). I got another 99% on the second quiz. I should be happy with such a good grade, so I am,but when I get so close to perfection and do not reach it, I get a bit grumpy.  Every time I'm in my Chinese class I realize how much I enjoy it, even if sometimes studying and doing homework for it is a pain. The class is just too fun not to take. The professor is hilarious, and so are the students. It’s a battle of wit in that classroom. Too bad double majoring in English and Environmental Studies is going to mean I'll have to give up minoring in Chinese. Unless...doe anyone have the phone number of a good time-turner salesman? After Chinese, I had lunch with the blondes, Pernilla and Victoria, my good friend who lived on the same floor as me last year. We started talking about Democratic beliefs vs. Republican beliefs, the change in platform over the past 30 years, and the current problems with how socially conservative the Republicans have gotten. Pernilla described our conversation as a “Democratic Circle-Jerk” because we were all just affirming each other’s beliefs without much critical analysis or defense of the other side  (I tried for a bit, but then I just started getting really angry and upset). But we’ve started having meals just the three of us more often. It’s fun and comfortable. I feel at ease with these people. I sort of want us three to be a “thing” when it comes to close friendships. I’ll make it happen.

Then a friend (probably best not to name names) came over and we talked for a bit about her guy problems. I have this feeling that most people have guy/girl problems, even if they’re in a closed/open/loving/friends-with-benefits relationship or single or whatever. It’s just a constant in people’s lives. Well, actually, after I think about it some more: it's not that everyone has problems no matter what relationship status they're in, it's that certain people always have problems no matter their relationship status. Bam. Hit the nail on the head.

After that, I trolled the internet and then Skyped with Colin for a few hours. It was fun, even when I was just being Skype Trolled for minutes on end. He would pretend that his screen had frozen and would stay really really still while I yelled at him, telling him he couldn’t fool me. My roommate thought I was crazy. Especially when I started talking about some really weird topics that she could only hear one side of. This has actually been happening sort of often with my roommate (as I would tell my sister:"IT'S A THEME!" Monique, this is now a test. Write a comment down below if you're a good sister and have read this post. And mom and dad, don't cheat by telling her to read this so that she'll know to comment on it. She must do it herself. SHE MUST LEARN TO LOVE AND APPRECIATE ME.) 

Anyways, I’ll be talking about something severely inappropriate or weird with a friend (either on skype or in person), and she’ll suddenly be in the room and the friend will keep talking about it or I won’t notice my roommate and…well, at least I seem interesting?

THEN IT WAS BED TIME.

On Saturday I woke up at 10 am and got Brunch with the people who were on my floor last year. I then went home and practiced for my Crosstones’ audition, signed up for a spot and then performed a few hours later. The audition was actually quite fun. I did all the exercises well and I sang my song with no trouble at all. The place where the auditions were being held was in an auditorium, so my voice sounded really full and gorgeous (I know I shouldn’t brag about my singing, but it wasn’t me that was making myself sound especially good, it was the ROOM.). 


Anyways, after that I went home to chill, had dinner with the blondes again and then watched Doctor Who with them (and had a few more awkwardly-over-heard-by-my-roommate conversations.) After they left, I hung out with Jillian in my room while I moped around waiting to see if I was getting call-backs, feeling a bit down-and-out. But then I got the email saying I made the cut and decided to party hard. And by party hard, I mean stay the only sober person but enjoy myself despite that fact (see photo below).

Why yes, that is me stuffed in a dryer. Why yes,
I am quite proud of the fact that I can fit in it.

I spent some time in Hayes House meeting and getting to know some new people, and then went over to Frye Street Union where I spent some time with a Crosstone member, some non-debater friends (Mike and Nick) and then hella debaters. I made an extraordinary amount of puns with John and Mike, and then walked home with Mike while a house started blaring it’s fire alarm and lights started flashing on and off. It reminded me of how certain houses during Christmas time have the blinking of their Christmas lights timed to the beats of a holiday song. Except the song for the fire-alarm went "BEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEP. LET ME PLAY YOU THE SONG OF MY PEOPLE".

So then I got ready for bed, texted Mike a few more puns and then got on tumblr. On Sunday, September 9th I woke up early for my call-backs. Five sopranos (out of like 30? 20? I don’t know. A lot.) were called back (including me), and we learned our parts for this a cappella song that the Crosstones sing a lot. And then we each went in, one by one, to perform once with a Soprano who was already in the Crosstones, and then singing our part alone (with, you know, the other parts as well- Alto, Base, Soloist). I had the song down, but I was extremely nervous, so my voice shook. Which sucks, because  any type of vibrato (even unintentional, haha) was the worst thing to have for the part given to me. The singers were like “Please no vibrato for this part” at the beginning of the teaching lesson and in my head I was thinking “Nice! I've got this! I am a master at not using vibrato” but, you know, sometimes your body wants to shake so hard that it forces vibrato into your voice. Thanks, nerves.

To add to my problems (which, luckily, are not actually big problems at all. I mean, what is this but a silly little try-out in the grand scheme of life?) the Sopranos got a BONUS ROUND where they had to sing a super high part of a harmony for the song “Chicago”. Normally, I would have brushed the invisible dust from my shoulder and blasted those notes like I didn’t even realize it was tough for normal people to do. But I was so freaking nervous that my vocal chords were all strained and I wasn’t utilizing my diaphragm. So I could reach the notes, but they sounded ghastly as all get out. So I was like “LET ME TRY AGAIN” and so I did it a bit better the second time, but with hella vibrato instead to make up for it. There response was in between “uh, that was different” and “well, she’s very dedicated to getting these notes….SHUT IT DOWN".  


And so, I waited in great anticipation for the email which could only have bee  a notification of rejection. Which was fine. I expected it and I've been rejected before by this group after callbacks, and everything turned out great. If I had gotten into a cappella last year, I wouldn’t have gotten so invested in debate and then I’d have had a very different year. And by different, I mean a lot less fun, interesting, and exciting. I love new experiences even if they’re dangerous and scary (i.e. skydiving, debating, what have you) and I made some excellent friends that I would not have otherwise had.So, you know, bright-sides are prevalent if you just look for them, my droogs. I’m not going to make a sad post about how I’ve been rejected from The Crosstones, just know it is sure to happen. 



Now for the first installment of "Does Nicole Have a Job?"

Q: Does Nicole have a job?Y: No. She has three. ElaborationL: So I interviewed for two jobs... and I got both jobs.
But one is sort of “freelance writing” so it’s not a steady job because sometimes I might not even work for the week, while other days I might work for around 10 hours.
So I thought, might as well take both the steady job which is being the assistant/Human Relations officer at the student employment office ( helping students and faculty with forms, interviewing and writing pieces on workers at our college, taking pictures, updating Facebook with all of these things ) and the sporadic job of going to events and writing about them (basic journalism, story-telling, special projects).
 
But before I had gotten those two emails, I had received one previously asking me to write, copy and submit my notes for one of my classes for this student who is going to have difficulty in it (due to absences or whatever). And I accepted. It’s only an hour and a half of work a week, but it’s a job.
 
So, let’s count the jobs again, shall we?
1. Journalist who fulfills writing assignments, both event coverage and also stories that require more extensive reporting for 0-10 hours a week.
2. Student Employment Office Assistant/HR person who does stories and internetz stuffs for 5-9 hours a week.
3. Note Transcriber for my Anthropology Class for 1 1/2 hours a week.

THREE JOBS. Count them, THREE.
But I can handle it, because Bates only allows students to work 20 hours a week. And I should be fine. I have been so far. Although I have been super busy with school, BAG (including starting a radio show), debate and work. We'll see how long I can go for.
Okay, I’m out. As you might anticipate, I have a lot of things to do.

- Nicole the Busy Bee