2:40 AM:

Aside, to the linguists in the audience: I'm finding it interesting how seemingly everybody has settled on "September 11th" as the official title for the events of the day in question. It'd be interesting to (a) trace how that consensus was reached, and (b) see what happens as time goes on, especially if the term is still in use by the time next September rolls around.

Holy shit.

So I just got my second phone bill.

Now, the first phone bill had been kinda high, but I wasn't really surprised about that. I'd just moved in, plus I did a lot of long-distance calling on and after September 11th. I'd kinda figured that month would be the high-water mark, and that this month would be better.

Well. It turns out that, so far as long-distance went, my last bill covered a period of about two weeks, through September 8th. Apparently, the phone company here has more of a lag for this sort of thing than the phone company in New York. At any rate, this month's bill did cover a whole month.

Ouch.

2:25 AM:

Must sleep.

Before doing so, however, here's an excerpt from an e-mail I sent to one of my professors, who doubles as my first-year adviser:

With that having been said, I very much want to speak to you, partly about the end-of-term project, but even more importantly about the question -- alluded to in class a few weeks ago -- of whether I really belong in the English program in the first place, or if I shouldn't be trying to somehow gain acceptance to the American Culture program instead, or finding a third alternative. I had a (in some ways harrowing) conversation with [the department chair] earlier today in which she asked the $64,000 question (given in the next paragraph), and strongly suggested I ought to be looking into the available options / parameters and figuring this out right now.

The main question concerning me is one that's been central in our class: if the "text" one is studying consists of television, movies, Web sites, newspapers, novels, pop music, and other aspects of popular culture, even granting a strong attention to linguistic change in all the above, and that one is employing techniques of literary criticism... can one really be said to be studying "English," in the context of the modern university? And if not, where does that leave me?

In other news, I co-preented in two different classes today, as foreshadowed a few entries back, and it went pretty well. Although, also as foreshadowed in that same entry, this did result in my missing They Might Be Giants in concert. Oh, well. I'm sure they'll be back eventually. Or I'll return to New York eventually, where they perform rather more often.

1:17 AM:

Happy Birthday, Erin!

8:13 PM:

The Yankees have a tendency to do their best in away games during the postseason. It's kinda strange.

But, you know, as long as they win the World Series, I don't really care how they manage it...

I'm not used to living in a place where picking up food requires a major shopping excursion. Let alone one in which making such an excursion involves checking bus schedules and blocking out a significant amount of time.

I miss New York.

At the local overpriced grocery the other day, I noticed that the pita was marked "PAS YISROEL." This indicates that the product in question meets a particular standard for kosher bread. The catch is that I couldn't find any indication of which supervising agency, if any, certified it as kosher.

The pita in question is from Canada, though, so perhaps I'm missing something. Research is quite definitely called for. Thus far, the only kosher bread I've been been able to find out here has been matzoh and Thomas's bagels, and there's only so long I can take either. (There's also Wonder bread, but the only thing that's good for is toast. Oh, and Pepperidge Farm's rye and pumpernickel, but I strongly dislike caraway, so that doesn't help me.) If this is kosher, and if it's any good at all, my quality of life is gonna go up another notch or two.

Okay... let's see.

I have an overdue take-home exam, which I was supposed to have turned in on Friday, but which I haven't actually started yet. That's the current crisis.

Immediately after that, I need to prepare for class presentations for two classes, both of which I committed to giving this coming Wednesday. This is because I don't have all my scedule information in one place, and didn't realize until a couple of days ago that I'd voluteered for both on the same day. Each is gonna take more than a little advance preparation.

As it happens, one thing I have had on my schedule since August is a They Might Be Giants concert, which is going to take place just a few blocks from my apartment. Guess when it is?

If you guessed this coming Tuesday night, just when I'll need to be getting ready for the following day's packed schedule, give yourself a pat on the back. My intimate relationship with Murphy's Law strikes again.

In other news, as regards the class that would take place on the Wednesday afternoon preceding Thanksgiving, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that it is, indeed, being rescheduled, making a trip back to New York entirely plausible. The bad news is that it's being rescheduled for a week from the following Friday... at 8:30 AM.

The possibilities for that class session, in order from least likely to most likely, are (a) I'll somehow get up in time for class, staggering in semi-consciously; (b) I'll stay up all night and go to class; (c) I'll be sleeping through that particular class session.

But I have over a month in which to worry about that little problem.