South Korea's Got Seoul!

Ahhh!! I'm so excited to go to Korea!

Incidentally, no, I have not heard back from State regarding test results. But even if I pass the test, I'm really not banking on being hired as an FSO in the next year.

But, interestingly enough, I happen to live nextdoor to a couple who spent four years in Korea. They have a little girl that is a year younger than the little girl that I take care of, so we see each other at the bus stop almost every day. I've gotten to know the mom a little bit.

When I told her I was going to Korea, she told me that she had lived there for four years and she had plenty of books that I could borrow. She gave them to me at the bus stop last week.

Cool, right?

Between this Bag 'O Books and the Amazon shipment* I got this week, it's Book-a-Palooza at Chez Marianna. Maybe I'm getting old, but spending my Saturday reading books was fun (I also had a date - does that help my case?). I was so excited about all of the books, that I piled them up on my bed and took turns reading a couple chapters out of each of them.

In other news, remember the opossum that graced our garage last winter? He has been replaced.

Now, I don't know all of the specifics. It could be that he found greener pastures (darker garages?), or maybe there were roommate conflicts (roommates can be catty...) All I know is that I haven't seen the opossum since last winter, but there have recently been multiple sightings of a raccoon.

That's right, a raccoon.

I'm going to be honest, here, I don't feel that he's going to be a good roommate. He's clearly just after the food.

But whatever. It's not my decision.

At any rate, I've decided to call him Bandit - between those black eye masks he's always wearing and the fact that he's always sneaking food, I thought it was appropriate.

Staring contest, you and me, right now...

*"Realities of Foreign Service Life," Volumes 1 & 2; "Bush Hat, Black Tie"; "The Expert Expat"

The menagerie that is the University of Washington

The title of my blog, as you may have noticed, is "Marianna'a Random Ponderings." And I am really tempted to post just a whole bunch of random ponderings today. Here's me giving in to temptation.

I saw a duck about half an hour ago. I was walking to the writing center to get some advice for my senior thesis, and he was hanging out right outside of Mary Gates Hall. I came within about 6 feet of him and he didn't even look at me. How weird is that? I wonder- If I threw something at him, would he have ducked? But anyway, the duck made me think of my senior thesis. When ETA was first established, their name was almost something different. I don't remember what it was, but the acronym would have been ATA. Then they realized that "ata" is the Euskera word for duck. So they changed the first word.

I almost wrote, "But I digress," just now - then I realized - that's the point. This whole post is one big digression - Yay! What fun!

I saw a raccoon a few days ago. I was walking across campus on the way to my car the other night after studying all day. The little guy was on his way up/down (I'm not sure which) a tree right in the middle of campus! I know where the duck came from - Drumheller Fountain. It's always full of them. But what was the raccoon doing hanging out by the library? I think that's the first time I've ever seen a raccoon in real life. I came within about 12 feet of him. It was cool for me.

Thanks for the birthday wishes yesterday :D I loved the songs, comments, and messages. Whoever this "Victoria" is that keeps leaving me comments and written birthday songs - thanks. I don't exactly remember who you are, but I appreciate it anyway.

I just found out today that I share a birthday with Sigmund Freud...

Just prior to the Duck Sighting mentioned above, I spied a bird snacking on a worm. The funny thing was, he would just kind of peck at it a couple of times, then look around for a few seconds, then peck at it a couple of times, then look around for a few seconds - you get the idea. It didn't seem like a very effective way to eat a worm. If I were bird, I'd just eat him and be done with it. Actually, if I were a bird, I would change the way birds eat. Birds would drink coffee and eat candy bars.

I'm hanging out in the writing center right now, waiting for my turn.

I've basically moved in to the library now. I'm going to try to be signed in to MSN Messenger more often so I can chat with you folk. Even if my status is "Busy," you can interrupt me and we can chat for a bit :D

I'm becoming addicted to energy drinks. I like them. They're great.

I graduate in just over a month! That's mental! If anybody wants tickets to the ceremony, let me know. It's June 10 and the tickets are free, but I need to request them by May 21.

I may post some more pics soon and I may try to blog more often, but then again, it may not happen. So I'm not going to commit to anything.

I may be here pretty late tonight studying. The more I am able to write tonight and turn in tomorrow, the more I will be getting feedback on.

In light of that, I think I will close now. Gotta get back to writing!