January 1st is when I made the move, and the weather was great. I took that as a good sign.Then for the next 4 days it was rainy and windy, which was okay I guess. I was surprised to find that it did not put a damper on my joy of being at a new campus. It is pretty spectacular here. Old buildings, great trees, and it is just the right size I think.
Undoubtedly and to not much of anyone's surprise, the library is my favorite building on campus. It has a great study room in it with old, weathered desks that just scream "many smart people have studied here". But I am sure other, more notorious things have gone on in the library as well. I mean, that's what libraries are all about, right?
This is my view of where I study at on campus. I guess it goes by the name of the "Harry Potter" room.
I was out on Saturday with some friends we ended up going to a little Irish pub called Uisce. Nothing but pretzels are offered to munch on, so I ate before hand. It was packed with some swanky dressed college aged people and older people were there also. It was rather crowded and my party could only find a small table by the dart boards. Some people, who were playing at said dart boards, asked if they could use our table to rest their beverages upon while they played, to which I agreed only if they agreed that every time they lifted their drink after having set it down they owed us a round of drinks. I was of course joking, and they knew it and we became fast friends. They actually did buy us a round of drinks and invited us to play a round of darts with them. It was very jovial and splendid.
That wasn't even the best part of the night. I ran into two friends of mine that I used to work with at PCC some five years ago, in an Irish pub, in Bellingham WA, on a Saturday night. It was great to see them and catch up. An amazing coincident to say the least and, again, I took it as a sign from the Universe that I as in the right place doing the thing I was supposed to be doing.
A short time later we wandered over to The Copper Hog, of which I had heard of and was keenly interested in. It was great, the kitchen is open late, and best of all they have bone marrow on the menu for only $8. Bone Marrow! The best stuff on the planet! It was just amazing. I mean, the only way it could be better is if the animals the bones came from were grass fed and raised local, and they could have been for all I know.
The rich, buttery marrow was warm, easy to spread on the small bread that came with it, and oh so satisfying after a night of drinking and playing darts. The best bits were two slices of bread the bones were resting on, just catching all the goodness that seeped out of the bones, soaking up all that nutritious good stuff. Man, what a treat.
I have a good class load this quarter, taking 4 classes at 15 credits. They are fairly standard so far, with lots of good reading assigned. My English 202 class, Writing about Literature, is great. We are reading these books:
The Hobbit
The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft
Pontypool
Habibi (a graphic novel)
Threshold
Ready Player One
I did not buy a copy of the Hobbit as the library had a really neat old 1966 edition that I just had to read. I have already read Habibi over break by a shear stroke of luck. It is another graphic novel from Craig Thompson who also penned Blankets. I highly recommend both of these works as they are amazing.
Then, we write about the books we have read. Seriously, it is a fun class. The prof is a little wacky, a self confessed gamer (one of the first things he said to the class was that he was addicted to playing Skyrim) and internet junkie, and very much into teaching about literature.
Okay, I am off to study, but here is a little something has been inspiring, funny, and stuck in my head for you all. Enjoy.
I'm on the path, chopping up bodies, hacking, and slicing, and look at me now.
With loyal friends, joining my party, each step I take I'm fulfilling my vow:
Crush your enemies
See them driven before you
and hear the lamentation of the women
ps. Ready Player One is a very good read, especially if you are all into 80's culture. You know who you are.
