I study on campus to avoid distractions?

As I have mentioned to some of you already, I've basically moved in to the library at the UW. My senior thesis is due in six days, and I still have a lot of work to do. I find that I generally get a lot more done when I study on campus because, for one thing, the library atmosphere is much more conducive to studying than my apartment is.

This is not always the case.

There is usually a low buzz of student conversation in the Odegaard library, the one I'm currently studying in. However, a few hours ago, that buzz grew to a steady hum. As I looked around to figure out what was going on, I thought I caught the word "police," then I heard the unmistakable squawk of a police radio. A group of students sitting next to me decided that one of them should go to the desk and figure out what was going on, otherwise, all hope of accomplishing anything was lost. When the messengerboy returned from his errand, I discovered that there had been a shooting on the Ave and the police were checking to see if the suspect had entered the library. He hadn't. And I wasn't scared, anyway. Things like this don't usually scare me, I stay as cool as a cucumber. Except for this one time, I was almost attacked by a squirrel...

Anyway, here's the full story.

The Way I See It

For anyone who frequents Starbucks, or even just drops in once in a while, you are probably somewhat familiar with the little blurbs that now appear on the sides of the cups. They are little quotes on a wide range of topics from a wide range of people. Some of these have ignited a fair share of controversy.

It has sort of become a habit of mine to read these little quotes as I drink my caramel macchiato on my break. Generally, I find them to be overly sappy, pseudo-profound, and/or simply annoying. However, I read one recently that brought a smile to my face. I instantly sprang out of my seat and quickly got the attention of the baristas that happened to be working so that I could share this quote with them. I was truly impressed that Starbucks had finally managed to find that vital ingredient to a quote-worthy quote...sarcasm. I present to you the pièce de résistance:

The Way I See It #103

For all those parents who wonder, How do I get my kids to read? – here’s a simple, earth-shaking notion: give them a book. For gosh sakes, give them a couple books.

-- James Patterson
Author

And it's so true.

Squirrel tried to kill me

No, seriously. I was kinda freaked out.

It all happened just moments ago. I was sitting outside on a bench, minding my own business, eating my dinner (which consisted of a Veggie Delite sandwich from Subway and a Diet Coke - yum). Then I saw this squirrel, just a-scampering around on the path. "He's a cute little guy," I thought to myself. Then after the guy walked by, I noticed the squirrel again. "Aww, the squirrel is cute, too," thought I, "but in a different way."*

Let me just reiterate here that I am sitting on a bench, eating a sandwich. This doesn't involve a lot of movement.

The squirrel starts coming towards me. He's getting really close. I start noticing that he isn't really that cute after all. He looks like a big, ugly rat. A big, ugly, mean, crazy rat with razor-sharp teeth. As he grins at me menacingly, I notice that he is also wielding a switchblade, which he tosses back and forth from one tiny little hand to the other.

By the time he's about 2 feet away from the bench, I'm getting kinda edgy. You see, he's a quick little dude, as squirrels generally are. And I realize that he could close that distance in less time than it would take for me to shout, "Help! Crazy squirrel!" So I start moving around to try and scare him off. He backs away a little, but as I continue to eat my sandwich, he starts closing in on me again. So I quickly finish my dinner and beat feet out of there. This is not a joke. It really happened.* I could have died.**

Tune in next week for more animal adventures at the University of Washington. What creature will I run into next? Maybe a husky? Better not be a cougar...

*Parts of this story really happened. Other parts may or may not have happened.
**This is clearly not true.

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!

Just in time!

In my last post, I said that I was hoping to post more information about my trip in the coming week. So, for anyone who has been wondering why the post hasn't appeared yet, it may be useful to note that the phrase "the coming week" has been redefined by the Board of Definitions and Redefinitions of the English Language. It now means "the next 19 days." Therefore, this post is just in time - not late, as you might have imagined.

The trip was great; I had lots of fun hanging out with Homeskillet and Strong Sad (a.k.a. Victoria and Kelly) at their place on Holy Spirit Street. Jess and I also got to go visit Jonathan in Los Hueros (which is a.t.p.e.c. - I'm giving a whopping 50 points to whoever is the first one to figure out this acronym), and he hung out in Madrid with us as well. The trip mostly consisted of hanging out with friends and visiting the places we used to frequent, for example: Casa Mingo, el Rastro, Ricci's, etc. Jess and I both spent a substantial amount of money on clothing, I made Bailey's brownies a couple of times, and we (Victoria, Kelly, Amy, Jess, and I) watched the entire collection of "The Office" - which amounts to about 8 hours of fun... or should I say, the equivalent of the average day at the office? I also got to see Troy and Heather, Ana, Shawn, and Nicole Trabes. Plus, I got to know V & K's roommate Amy, and meet some of their other friends. It was an all-around good time. Also, Matt 3 came to town the day before I left, so we met for some wonderfully minging food at Casa Mingo. Here are some pics from the trip:

Jess, Jo, Vic, and I, at La Finca de Susana, which is a culinary school where you can get amazing food for a very reasonable price. Jonny and I on the Madrid Tour bus. Jonny "working hard" at the office.This sort of reminds me of Gareth's phone holster. "Did he make 5 calls, or six? You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, punk? Well? Do you?That Uncle William sure has one big Tub O' Mayonnaise.
This place has the best mojitos in the world.

This is the most amazing chocolate in the world. Seriously.
Jonathan? Playing video games? There's a shock...