rachael

this is my friend Rachael, her and my friend Tiger share an office downstairs. Rachael has been in the PhD program here for a good chunk of time and she also received her MA from here as well, so she is a consistent source of information, inspiration, and motivation for all things school-related (plus she usually drives when we all make Chipolte runs from time to time!). Rachael is currently working on her dissertation about magical realism and really likes a lot of the same literature and film that I do--recently we've been talking a lot about Murakami and Karen Russell (an amazing author that Leah got me on to several years ago--you absolutely must check out her short story collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves). Indeed, in today (even though I wasn't teaching or had class) for a good meeting with Penny and to work on my essay for tomorrow night...as well as get some much needed dreaded grading done. Saw Rachael around and needed a Blip--friends are good for that, eh?

Leah and I have a hot date night at Central Market for some grocery shopping and we will probably round out the evening at the library as we have been doing lately. But that is okay--it is a nice thing in that we get to spend some quality time together and be productive. It might sound silly, but I really our errand time together, walking around the grocery store is such a great way to hear about each other's day, what we have to work on, where we still need to go for the semester.

Well, going to try and get a few more hours done on this paper. It is nice on Wednesday here, my office mate is gone--I can just shut myself in here, be focused and driven. So, on that note, byebye.

Oh yeah, yay for Obama!