Plaintively Pondering Pushkin's Poetry

I have my last exam on Monday! Hoorah! First, however, I have to revise like a mad person. Perhaps I'll revise like Poprishchin in Gogol's Diary of a Madman. Or I could end up like poor Phaedra in Racine's work. She was a bit off too. If you couldn't guess already, my final exam is on European Literature. It's fun! Today I read Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Have you heard of it? Almost the entire thing is written in "Onegin Stanza," which has iambic tetrameter and AbAbCCddEffEgg rhyming. Interesting!
Here's a painting by Repin. (Don't worry, its copyright has expired!) This could be interpreted as Onegin's and Lensky's duel... or as the men doing all the things that are more enjoyable than studying!

I first read a translation where it faithfully translated his exact words, but I switched to and enjoyed one that used that stanza form, and had pretty rhyming. This sort of worries me when I think of the saying that translations are like mistresses-- the faithful ones aren't pretty and the pretty ones aren't faithful. What does that say about my literary choices? Shame on me!

So. Back to England. I played tennis today in the lovely sunshine. Apparently there's a heat wave going on. This means that the temperature might just clear the 70 degree mark. I think I'm going to melt into a blob of irritation when I get back to Arizona. Although I do sort of miss the feeling of deliciously dry heat. But after tennis I revised for my exam. (And watched a movie, but that's irrelevant.)

My exam is on the first. On the second I'm going to London. On the third I'm going to find the scene of a nice painting. More details should follow about that one. And on the fourth I'm going back to London! Now all I really have to do is get through tomorrow so I can get through the exam. Then? Frighteningly Fantastic, Fun-Filled Freedom!

Radically Cool Root Canals

I took another exam today. Want to know what the subject was? Do you think I’ll tell you? Well, think again! Since the last one was a bit easy, here’s a (hopefully!) more difficult version of the fun puzzle game from last time. The rules are the same. But to recap: For each pair, fill in the blanks with THE SAME two letters to make the top word read forward and the bottom word read backward. Then write the two letters added to each numbered pair (in the order given) into the blanks at the bottom.

1. _ _ ugh
suol _ _c

2. s_ _ ll
el_ _ t

3. In_ _ te
cit_ _ rf

4. _ _ nial
erehpsi_ _ h

5._ _ nk
eta_ _

6. en_ _ se
k _ _ lb

7. i_ _ ubstantial
pa_ _

8. re_ _ rn
re_ _o

9._ _ ary
_ _ uqs


10. se_ _
se_ _ (yes! Another palindrome for the final one. Though this one’s a bit obvious.)

Answer to what the class was: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!

It went quite well! Yesterday I had a root canal and so had to ask the invigilator if I could take drugs of the pain-killing variety during the test. I liked this guy a lot more than the previous invigilator because of his response. He said “yeah it’s fine as long as you don’t take out pot and start smoking it or anything like that.” Oh well.

The root canal also went very well. I asked my Endodontist if he’d done a lot of root canals. He said that he had. I then asked, like a nervous patient trying to keep her mind off the coming procedure, if he had always wanted to be a root canal specialist. “Did you want to be a root canal specialist when you were a kid?”(Yes, I did actually use those words.) Surprisingly his answer was no. He only decided 10 years ago that root canals were the thing for him after becoming a bit bored with general dentistry. “Was that because you wanted the challenge?” I then asked with a mini fist-pump to accentuate the “challenge” part. That was the reason, or so he said. Maybe he just wanted more money.

Either way he did a wonderful job. Today at 8 49 a.m. I had my first drink of cold liquid in 5 months without either protecting my tooth or wincing in pain. It’s like a magic trick every time I do it! It’s so fun! Speaking of fun, today I get to celebrate my completion of another exam by seeing Night at the Museum II, and then having pizza and relaxing with friends. Hokey Pete. Life is good.

Exams? Excellent!

Well, today was pretty lovely. That’s not completely true. It began with studying, worrying, calling the dentist to get an appointment to irrigate my tooth’s nerves(or something scary sounding like that), dancing because I get to go in tomorrow at 10, some more studying and some more worrying. Then, after a quick lunch and a perusal of a lovely letter my grandma sent me, I went in to my exam.

Exams here eclipse finals in the states when it comes to uptightness. To get into the room you need to show your official Examination Entry Form and student id to the invigilator. (Yes, the people who preside over these exams are called invigilators. Can you imagine? Excuse me, invigilator, could I please use the toilet? And, yes, you must be excused to go to the bathroom.) After this you sit down and cannot open your test booklet, or even write your details on the outside of the form.

Interestingly, I almost got a zero on my exam because I didn’t realize that I couldn’t have my bag by my chair and, a minute before the test, asked if I had to move the bag to the front of the room. The invigilator took it, rolled his eyes, and asked if anyone else had bags “mysteriously hidden behind their desks.” Needless to say, this did nothing to help my nerves.

When the test started, though, everything went right. It wasn’t too bad! I actually took the full two hours on the test, though I finished 29 minutes early. Why is this, you might wonder? Well, students cannot leave during the first 55 minutes or during the last 30 minutes. (Why? Why!?) During the time left I redrew my graphics beautifully. No exam will be prettier than mine, I’m sure.

After that I “studied” at the SU Bar, had dinner, played quiz machines, and then played English Pool. Well. That part of the day, and the actual exam, were grand. Tomorrow I will have no feeling left in my tooth. Life is good!

Umbrella Etiquette, etc.

Hokey. Pete. this is the answer to the question "How is that new Star Trek movie?" I almost wept. In one of the first scenes there's an explosion from a ship to space. Guess what? The explosion doesn't make noise in space! It's like they know! I'd recommend that you start trekking to a cinema as soon as possible to trek it out! (I know I don't get any star for that trek pun.)

Unsurprisingly enough, the weather was far too gloomy today for me to go to the castle park. I thus just went to town at 3:30. My umbrella got to enjoy freedom for only the second time in its admittedly pathetic life. I found out about umbrella etiquette. When an umbrella holder(who shall henceforth be referred to as Sue) passes by a non-umbrella holder, (who shall be called poor-soaked-guy) Sue should lift up her umbrella to kep from hitting poor-soaked-guy. when sue passes another umbrella holder, though, there are no definite rules. The two must non-verbally negotiate the easiest possible way to pass without getting an umbrella spike in the jugular.

To be honest, the world of umbrella etiquete was a bit daunting for a desert-dweller. I also felt a bit chilly and, after stepping in a few puddles my shoes became somewhat damp. I also had to walk uphill. Both ways. I was miserable. And I loved it.

Now, since I should be studying, I've made a word puzzle. Here are the rules:

For each pair, fill in the blanks with THE SAME two letters to make the top word read forward and the bottom word read backward. Then write the two letters added to each numbered pair (in the order given) into the blank at the bottom to complete what I should be doing. (Note: it's a British thing to say!)

1)CA_ _ FUL
NOISSIM_ _ TNI

2)RE_ _ LE
YLE_ _ L

3)_ _ NK
LUFS_ _ LB

4)TA_ _
TA_ _ (ooh! look at that! palindrome for the last one!)

What I should be doing instead of making puzzles: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Good luck!

Blatantly Bad Blogging

Well, it's 4:23 in the morning, and it's as good a time as any to reconsider the title of this blog. Remember when I said "Brits in the Mist" was a good title because the weather's miserable mistiness manifested melancholy moods? (Perhaps with less sleep-deprived alliteration?) I accidentally slandered the lovely East Anglian weather.

It's sunny almost all the time! It's a bit windy but, frankly, I was expecting properly bad weather. I'm a bit depressed about the whole affair, to be honest. I wanted stories of running into things because the fog was so darn foggy. i wanted humorous anecdotes about the climate but "yes, the weather was grand again today" doesn't seem to cut it. Could the title have the same effect being "Brits in the Sun"? I think not! That just sounds like a feel-good pop song. Oh well.
What depressingly perfect weather! We shouldn't be climbing cherry trees, but morosely drinking tea and watching rain. But then again, of my threescore years and ten, 20 will not come again. And since to look at things in bloom, I think you'd agree, 50 springs are little room. So instead of complaining, about the woodlands I will go to see the cherry hung with snow! Well, I'll go right after a few other bits of news.

In other news: A few days ago I played tennis with some friends! The only weather-related problem involved the sun shining too brightly in our eyes.

In other news again: today I'm going to study by the lake in castle park in town! The weather should be magnificent.

In other-other news: I really like dentists' offices over here! Some (like the one I frequent) are in the residential areas. Thus, when one goes to the dentist the experience is similar to visiting a friend. (That is, of course, if one has the type of friends which cause intense pain and steal money afterward.) (So I guess it's more like getting mugged, or, I suppose, having a nightmare about Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Whatever you do, don't agree to being his neighbor! Don't trust him!)

In even more other-y news: I'll be visiting the dentist on Thursday. But he's nice enough! Speaking of "nice enough," my tooth has stopped hurting so I'm going to exercise my basic human right to happiness. (Which, as we all know, is a synonym of sleep. I even looked it up.) Goodnight!

Revision Time...

Well, I have been spending the last few weeks enjoying myself as only one who is procrastinating truly can. Watching movies, playing English-style pool, and walking to town leaves a sweeter taste when one is simultaneously dodging the drudgery of drumming facts into one's head.

I have also gotten the statistics on my computer's freecell to (are you ready?) 900 wins, 2 losses. Sometimes I astonish even myself with my coolness. Oh, I have also been spending some time playing quiz machines. You may not have heard of these. You have to answer nearly impossible questions correctly a nearly impossible number of times to get money. Yes, they take and pay out real money! I made 2 pounds playing Word Soup.(That's a game similar to boggle. I knew all that practice was good for something!)

But now I should really start revising (aka studying) as my first and most difficult test is in eight days. So I'll start! Right after finishing this. And checking emails. And going to lunch with my friend. And... well, I think we all know where this is going.

Birthday Bashes!

Birthdays are nice, aren't they? On Wednesday two of my friends had birthdays, so we had a pretty rockin' party. Then on Thursday I went to fencing and watched Peter Pan. Friday was another birthday celebration including karaoke, MGMT(which is a band) a toy wrestling thing, and an hour long walk.

Wednesday was particularly nice because I planned the party and actually had a pretty good turnout even though quite a few people are sick or frantically writing essays. I decorated with toilet paper streamers and black trash bags over the lights. It was fun! For the first hour there were only around seven of us, but it was alright because we played dodgeball with bits of paper. Then some more people came, and some more, and before we could eat all the food there were over 30 people in the small flat kitchen. It was certainly standing room only.

We went to Sports Fed(aka dance party!) to end the party which was also fun and dance-filled.

But before all the partying Madeline, Rossen, Chris and I went for a walk in the Essex countryside to try to find a spot of a famous painting. We didn't find it, but we did get to traverse through farmlands, have a grass throwing fight, and walk through a field with horses in it. It was lovely! Now I'm going to go have a picnic including tea and sandwiches at the lake. Have a lovely Sunday!