Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in enigmedeminuit's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, March 22nd, 2006
3:42 pm	parting is such sweet....relief! Yay! Turned in the essay-question part of my written exams a little while ago. Hopefully I kicked some ass! Now to begin studying back up for the orals in a couple weeks.... (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 20th, 2006
10:19 am	and so it begins... First part of the MA written exam is today from 2-4 pm, so send me goodsuperwonderfulextrahyperpowerful memory vibes right about then. It's stupid, we had all weekend to write a commentary on this passage from a play, but then instead of just turning in what we wrote we have to go reproduce it from memory in a computer lab on campus. Silly, but them's the rules. Then, at 4, we turn in this part and pick up the essay questions for the second half of the written exam. We have until Wed the 22nd at 5 pm to do them. We can think about them as much as we want, but then we have to (on our honor) put away our notes and just sit down for 4 straight hours and write our answers. Luckily, we can take that anywhere to do. Then we find out early next week whether we pass or fail the written. Then, on Friday April 7th at 9:30 am I go in and take my orals. Yikes! Now back to memorizing a 5-page paper.... Current Mood: bring it, biyotch! Current Music: rien, nada, nicht, nein, zilch, none (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 16th, 2006
9:11 pm	caught in the brackets Stupid assholes messing up my bracket! Current Mood: pissed Current Music: new placebo stuff (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 11th, 2006
12:37 am	grassy blues Spent all day studying again, and then my roommate invited me out with some friends to hear a local irish-inspired bluegrass band at a greasy little redneck bar called Durty Nelly's. Wasn't inclined to go, did anyway, and I'm glad I did! Twas a nice change of pace from the cloistered little intellectual hipster bar normally haunted by the French department. Band was pretty bad, but who really cares, right? And they played "Whiskey in the jar" on my request, and that was pretty damn cool. Current Mood: groovin' Current Music: replaying "Whiskey in the jar" in my mind (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 7th, 2006
10:29 pm	tu sais... Tu sais que quelquefois je me sens seul et perdu. Tu sais que quelquefois je me sens loin de toi, parfois je m'en sens trop proche. Est-ce que tu te souviendras de moi? Est-ce que tout ça va changer? J'ai trop besoin de t'avoir.... Ensemble nous irons jusqu'au bout.... Tu sais que quelquefois j'ai peur de moi. Tu sais que quelquefois j'ai peur de toi. Tu sais que je me sens que je suis ton prisonnier...tu as tous les droits sur mon temps. J'ai trop besoin de toi. Peut-être que je suis un peu trop rêveur? Current Mood: inquiet Current Music: Georges Brassens - Putain de toi (Comment on this)
Friday, March 3rd, 2006
6:23 pm	can't quite believe it... ...but the start of MA exams is now only two weeks away! I finally finished the last class-related thing I'll have to do between now and the end of the written exams on March 22nd -- at 2:30 this morning. Spent most of today beginning to get into my serious studying. Not to jinx myself, but it seems to be going ok so far. I feel like, esp for the part of the reading list for my orals, I really am starting to get a grasp on things. The written list is still much shakier for me, but hopefully that part of the test won't be as hard. Wish me luck! Current Mood: zen (Comment on this)
Saturday, February 11th, 2006
7:08 pm	... A quoi bon? (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 12th, 2005
9:51 pm	yet another reason to leave town... ...and/or the US of A... On the local evening news tonight in C'ville, which I never watch and saw only by accident, they had a segment about how local churches and some people here are mad about retailers that say "Happy Holdays" and not "Merry Christmas." The anchor lady said "some christians are concerned that Christ has been separated too much from advertising and shopping." Um, I thought a couple years ago the worry was that a religious holiday and time of personal reflection had become too commercialized.... Then they interviewed one lady outside a Wal-Mart who said "well, it offends me, because it's Christmas time, and I refuse to shop anywhere that doesn't realize that!" Le sigh. Current Music: Phantom Planet - Candlewax (Comment on this)
Friday, December 9th, 2005
12:02 am	fine... Having received several complaints lately about being MIA, I'm posting just to spite you all. And, contrary to the archetypical livejournal poster, I'm happy right now. Still riding the "I just turned in a final paper so now I can stop thinking about it" high. One more paper to write, and 17 exams to grade between me and a whole month of......days dedicated entirely to studying for the MA exams. Chapelhillage coming in the near future, beginning and ending on a date which has yet TBA. Sois donc content de moi, je t'ai accordé tes voeux. Ou pas...à vrai dire, je m'en fous de toi. Je me kiffe, c'est déjà une victoire. Current Mood: hapextathusioned Current Music: Mozart -- Confutatis Maledictis - Sentence on the Damned (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 29th, 2005
3:29 am	and so what? ...maybe I have filled my heart with smoke...what if it's better that way? Current Mood: struggling Current Music: silence is all I can handle right now (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 21st, 2005
10:47 pm	La Parenthèse de Sang ...the bloody parenthesis...that's the title of a play I just read for the MA exam reading list. Other works recently read include: The Mast of Cocaine, Philosophy in the Bedroom (by Sade), and The Fanaticism of Muhammed (by, of all people, Voltaire in about 1742!). So yeah, I haven't updated this in forever. Been busy as hell teaching little frosh French, taking my own grad classes, and reading for my upcoming exams. It's also taken a lot of effort to steer clear of the drama in the department. People liking other people, telling them so, other people lying about liking people, certain other people getting drunk and saying things they probably meant to keep quiet.... un vrai bordel! I've stayed out of that fucking mess so far, which is good, though unfortunately Allison and I are the targets of quite a lot of vicious talk about how much reading and studying we've done for the MA exams. We aren't in anyone else's study group, so there has been much whispering and bitching about us, but there's really nothing I can do about that. I just do my work, not anyone else's, and I would hope that we could all still be friends but evidently some are unable to realize that we're no longer in middle school. I enjoy my teaching, and I've been really getting into my own research and literary exploration this year in a whole different way, so I'm yet again reconsidering the whole "what's my future looking like?" question. Still no answers, though the director of grad studies met with me recently and suggested that I would likely be a strong candidate for continuing on to the PhD if I so chose. Also very into the idea of getting funding to teach and research in France for a year or two, so that's also probably on the horizon. Law school may still be in the mix somewhere, but I'm not as sure anymore. Oh, and I have a fucking nasty cold. Current Mood: sniffly Current Music: Bright Eyes - No Lies, Just Love (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
10:57 pm	Bonjour, je suis votre professeur de Français... and I did very well (I feel) for my first day on the job! My kids seem like a good lot, mostly motivated and alert for 8 am, and I think it'll be a fun semester. More later, lunch now.... ciao, tous! Current Mood: triumphant Current Music: Handel - Water Music (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 22nd, 2005
12:31 pm	C’est la huitième merveille du monde ! Je lisais depuis 9h30, moins peu de temps pour déjeuner et pour dîner. En outre, j’ai passé une demi-heure à la gym. C’est ça qu’est l’école graduate. Current Mood: brain-dead Current Music: Corelli - Concerti grossi (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 20th, 2005
10:08 am	the most hectic 3 weeks in recent memory Wow, ok, so much has happened since my last post. My week spent in CH was all right, although I had so many doctor appointments, dentist visits, and administrative life type things to accomplish that I was constantly on the go and yet still didn't get in as much time chilling with people as I wanted. Oh well, next time, perhaps. At least the couple of you people that I managed to see were the ones I most miss when I'm away! Beach week was pretty much a typical example of one of my family's vacations. Tensions between people ran especially high this year. I retreated into various books throughout the week, and that helped the time go by, with the added bonus that I felt like a good little productive grad student. As soon as I got back, I had to bolt back to C'ville for the start of TA Orientation. Our department has its own specific one that is complemented by two days of instruction in workshops run by UVa for all new graduate TAs. This week has been incredibly intense and particularly grueling towards the end of the week. I've arrived back home each night devoid of the will to care about doing much of anything. However, the confidence and skills that this program is building are worth it. Even more valuable are the connections I'm making with TAs in other departments. I've made friends with grads in architecture, German, Spanish, Sociology, music, etc. I also have begun to more intimately know some of my fellow Frenchies, especially one of the new MA students (despite the fact that she went to Duke). My first class is on Wed the 24th, so I'll be sure to post again with updates on how all of this preparation seems to come out in the classroom. And finally, my new roommate (also named Nick S) is working out extremely well so far. He, too, loves cooking, and we share a taste for Maker's Mark, microbrews, and the French conception of what "un cafe" is and how it should taste and be enjoyed. I have to admit, I've even become a "stirrer" in true gnarly old French man style. I'll leave you with my new favorite French curse (roughly translating as either "Fuck!" or "Motherfucker!"): Bordel de merde! Current Mood: overwhelmed Current Music: Quasi - California (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 1st, 2005
9:38 am	I'm even late wishing myself happy birthday.... So yeah, yesterday was my birthday. Big 23. Feels a lot like 22....which is to say, like nothing special, just another gradation within the ambiguous and oppressive "twenty-somethings" label. Happy birthday to me. Had a pretty decent weekend. The party that Allison and I threw was all right. Went to Mellow Mushroom, had good pizza and great beer. Company was ok, but there were too many people from different friend groups, and there was loud music in the restaurant so communication was hard enough anyway, and it all just felt kind of strained and disconnected. Then most of the people came back to my place for cake and wine, and the party got a bit better at that point, bc there was more mixing and chatting. Claudia, you rule, thanks for the sweet card and the Beaujolais! Tomorrow I drive down to CH, where I'll be for a week. Many miscellaneous appointments, plenty of people to see, and a plethora of pints to drink! If you're not on the schedule yet, and would like to be, you know how to reach me if I want you to be able to. Life plans update: decided not to apply to Cornell, Columbia or NYU after talking to people who are either in or who have intimate contact with their law schools. Still planning on submitting apps this fall to Harvard Law (henceforth HLS), Georgetown, Stanford and UNC. Current Mood: okay Current Music: Bright Eyes - I'm Afraid of Everything (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 13th, 2005
11:59 am	caution: vehicle makes frequent abrupt U-turns Yeah, so it wasn't too long ago that I radically changed the course of my life by abandoning the physics major in favor of studying French. This led, of course, to my current PhD program in French literature. So, having gotten well underway with that, I have decided that it's probably time yet again for a seemingly unprecedented change of direction. I've always considered a legal career as a possibility, and the more I get into the hardcore study of literature, the more I feel like I'd rather do something else. I love French, but would rather use it as a tool than as an end in itself. I've learned that Cornell Law and Columbia Law both have joint-degree programs where I could earn a J.D. (American law degree) and a Maîtrise en Droit (French law degree). Carolina law school also has a concentration in International Political and Economic law, so that would be perhaps the strongest option. Cornell and Columbia are high-caliber schools, but both would leave me roughly $200,000 in debt after 3 years. Carolina, on the other hand, would leave me with anywhere from $0-$50,000 in debt, depending on scholarships and potential family assistance. And all three are top-25 law programs. Also, I love CH. I miss CH, and all the cool people who are still lucky enough to be living there. And how incredibly awesome would it be to get a legal internship in DC with John Edwards and the Dems?! Followed by a career in International Politics! Probably beats professing, I gotta say...at least for me. What this all means is that a) I'm excited about life again, b) I'll be studying for the LSAT this fall with plans to take it in either October or December, c) my professors will probably kill me, but hopefully they'll wait until after they write me recs, and d) I might be back in CH again! This is all stlll a bit premature, of course, and very tentative. I may start TAing, love it, and change my mind back. But it's great because there's no pressure, really. I'll see about teaching, take the LSAT and not be destroyed or optionless if I don't do well on it, and then ponder whatever choices I have by that time. Please feel free to comment and vote for either prof or lawyer. Current Mood: impassioned Current Music: David Bowie - "Changes" (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 6th, 2005
4:35 pm	just creepy So at work today I walked into the little boys' room and there was this older dude, maybe 50's, in a nice suit standing there pointing a camera phone into the stall. Right as I start to think "WTF?" he turns to me and says, in the most perfect yet undescribable voice, "It's just so pretty. I've never seen a stall like that before..." I don't know which particular feature of the stall had put him in such a state of rapture, but in any case, I felt like I was somehow profaning Nature after I walked past the dude into the stall, closed the door, and used it for its intended purpose. Current Mood: bemused Current Music: VNV Nation - Cold (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 2nd, 2005
10:59 pm	best coffee ever Greenbery's "Java" variety....mmm, delicious. Sitting around waiting for parents to show up, which should be within a couple hours. Life's been pretty good lately. Mainly just working, going to the gym and working out a lot, and reading. I decided yesterday that I'm going to quit my job, bc it's become vachement insupportable! So I'll work through about the 4th of August or so, just so I can keep paying my rent for the summer, and then I'm telling them to go fuck themselves, and then I'm going to the beach for 2 weeks. Because I deserve it. Also, PARTAY NOTICE: I will be co-throwing, with my friend Allison, a birthday party on July 30th (my actual birthday), which is a Saturday at the end of July. I'll be 23! It will be in Charlottesville, and it will be fun. Way fun. But it will be so infinitely much more fun if you all attend! Kudz, there will be UVA Classics ppl! And most of my friends are chill liberal people who like music, like all types of music, and are just generally cool. Current Mood: happiest I've been in a while Current Music: Corelli -- Concerti grossi (Comment on this)
Friday, June 24th, 2005
12:27 pm	ahh, vacation.... or, well, that's what I'm calling it since this upcoming weekend is the closest I'll be getting to a real vacation this summer. I'm heading off to the mountains with a couple friends to commune with nature and each other and generally be lazy in the woods and ignore the fact that we're all busy and stressed people. My Canadian boss is going to Montreal for la fête de Saint Jean de Baptiste with his wife. You can decide who you think has cooler plans. Otherwise, things are going well enough. My job continues to define the word "tedium," but at least it pays well. I wish more of you people had to live in this shitty little town with me, or that at least more of my friends from the dept were around this summer. I'm steadily chiseling away at the reading list, though as always I feel like I should be making more progress. Should be fine, though. Time now to go pack my car and get to bed. Peace out.... Current Mood: chill Current Music: Radiohead -- How to Disappear Completely (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 16th, 2005
12:33 pm	because I was bored and was inspired by Kudz, proving that she really might be "The Inspirer" Your #1 Match: ENFP The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. Your #2 Match: ENTP The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executive, or actor. What's Your Personality Type? Current Mood: bored Current Music: Radiohead -- Backdrifts (Comment on this)