Last night on Glee (yes, I'm sorry, stick with me, I promise it will only be for a paragraph at most), they tried to 'cure' the woman with severe OCD by attempting to force feed her unwashed fruit. While this did provide decent build-up to the Gaga cover, which was the sole reason for my watching, it also made me flinch. Just ... ouch.
Later that evening, I found myself standing in the kitchen watching my roommate tidy everything, and it got me thinking. And, as usually happens when I think, it resulted in me taking a dinner break from the final legs of my EHR paper to write a '10 random things about me only acceptable because there's some kind of context and it's not on FB' type post.
Things I'm not OCD about
- Putting everything in its place.
OK, so I like my room to be tidy, and I like my wardrobe to be organised, and I don't like clutter. (I'm pretty sure my home-home room is some kind of weird masochistic joke on my part). On the other hand, I don't usually find myself running around because someone left a pair of scissors on the counter or the lid up on the washing machine. Which I guess is good. Although I do make an exception if someone deliberately moves something out of place. That's just not funny.
- Laundry.
One of the girls tends to come around twice a month or so to use our washing machine. Watching her do her washing (that sounds a lot weirder than it actually is, honest) actually made me realise that in some respects I'm an irresponsible bastion of flexibility. I really wish I had pictures for this, because while she's all "unfold this and turn it inside out and match all my socks together and make sure everything's washing-machine safe - oops, hand-wash only, into the other pile with you!," I'm very much "put it all in! PUT EVERYTHING IN! It's probably colour-fast!"
I don't know if this is actually normality or simply some sort of weird and hampering reverse-OCD.
- Papers
Don't get me wrong, I suffer a lot of anxiety about papers, but I can't help feeling that if I were properly OCD this would be more caused by the fact that I missed my self-imposed, two-week early deadline and less by oh my god it's due in tomorrow morning and I really don't have an argument syndrome.
- Cleaning fruit and veg / Sharing food (unless someone gets saliva on it, in which case NO.)
I don't know why not. Again, possibly maladaptive, but I like to think that this is simply one of the few good by-products of my good old-fashioned mud-pie eating childhood.
- The whole fine-cleaning thing.
A bucketload of bleach and a sponge do me fine, thank you!
- Compulsive habits.
This one I'm not sure about. On the one hand, I thank the lord every day that my distinctly O-inclined personality keeps me free of numbered doorknob turns and the like. Seriously. Out of the two C is clearly the evil twin. But sometimes I imagine it would be nice to develop a permanent habit which saw me finishing my work promptly at 9, making myself a packed lunch for the day, and settling down to an early night's sleep. Although I think my cider-obsessed side might have problems with that.
Next time: last week's currently unpublished post detailing the things I can and cannot do when suffering from finalsitis. It's written by braindead!Jessie, and it makes normal(maybe)!Jessie giggle.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
I may have a problem
In hindsight, reading myself to sleep with a fantasy horror book when the birds in the attic started kicking up a fuss at 3.30 am was probably a bad idea. As it happened, though, I ended up having nightmares in which a tumblr blog (oh, the spelling, it kills me) went all Ring and began driving people crazy. Then I had one of those wonderful happy dreams where all I can remember is walking away from a group of people saying 'I love these fantasies,' but which was nonetheless still the best dream I've had for ages.
The problem is that my nightmare may not be as far fetched as it undoubtedly sounds. Let me explain. There is nothing to do in Hartford. Nothing. Much as I've enjoyed this year, Hartford is and will no doubt remain, the ghost town of America. My weekend activities are limited to going to the mall, going to the park, or going to West Hartford, which is pretty much like going to the mall except outside and prettier. So, as I've alluded to before, since coming here, I have watched more TV than I ever have before in my life, save for that stint when I was 11 and off school sick for a while. I am a dedicated follower of Criminal Minds. I have seen every episode of Downton Abbey. I watched the whole of the 2009 production of Alice. I'm up-to-date with my Family Guys. I've just started Pushing Daisies. And I am slowly being transformed into a so-called 'Gleek.'
Glee is probably taking over my life. It's an odd show. I imagine that had I started watching it when it first came out in the UK I would still be a fan, but one who catches up in her spare time rather than a dedicated, on the sofa at the same time every week type of fan. It's generally decent TV, at least as far as I'm concerned. It's set in hyper-reality, it is full of pretty primary colours, it has wonderfully snarky comments, and they randomly break into song at least twice an episode. All of these things are good. However, being in Hartford with nothing to do, all these things suddenly transformed into The Best Things Ever, and I transformed into a scarily dedicated, Tuesdays-at-8 girl. It's sad, yes, but generally I've been able to cope. The problem is that the show has recently taken a break with all sorts of unresolved plot lines, and well- I have an obsessive personality. More so when writing essays, and desperately so when bored solid. Which leads me to tumblr.
Tumblr is a terrifying place. It reminds me vividly of the days when, as a 15/16 year old girl who liked Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and shinies, I joined online groups in which 'squee' and 'OMG' constituted appropriate conversation starters and making fan posters was a legitimate use of one's spare time. Tumblr, much like those groups, is also desperately shiny and, more importantly, full of people who are also struggling with Glee withdrawal symptoms. Now I think I need an intervention before it's too late, because I'm beginning to scare myself, and I'm getting online jokes which no one should ever be able to understand. I actually know what 'Klaine' means, and if that isn't a cry for help then what is? Besides, there is never any excuse for following fictional characters' Twitter feeds.
So the moral of the story is that I need to get a life, and fast. A deeper moral is that if you find yourself in a place like Hartford, for god's sakes get a car, or join a club, or something. If I had joined an aerobics class instead of discovering Glee, well, things would be very different, wouldn't they?
Normal posting returns next week.
JJ
The problem is that my nightmare may not be as far fetched as it undoubtedly sounds. Let me explain. There is nothing to do in Hartford. Nothing. Much as I've enjoyed this year, Hartford is and will no doubt remain, the ghost town of America. My weekend activities are limited to going to the mall, going to the park, or going to West Hartford, which is pretty much like going to the mall except outside and prettier. So, as I've alluded to before, since coming here, I have watched more TV than I ever have before in my life, save for that stint when I was 11 and off school sick for a while. I am a dedicated follower of Criminal Minds. I have seen every episode of Downton Abbey. I watched the whole of the 2009 production of Alice. I'm up-to-date with my Family Guys. I've just started Pushing Daisies. And I am slowly being transformed into a so-called 'Gleek.'
Glee is probably taking over my life. It's an odd show. I imagine that had I started watching it when it first came out in the UK I would still be a fan, but one who catches up in her spare time rather than a dedicated, on the sofa at the same time every week type of fan. It's generally decent TV, at least as far as I'm concerned. It's set in hyper-reality, it is full of pretty primary colours, it has wonderfully snarky comments, and they randomly break into song at least twice an episode. All of these things are good. However, being in Hartford with nothing to do, all these things suddenly transformed into The Best Things Ever, and I transformed into a scarily dedicated, Tuesdays-at-8 girl. It's sad, yes, but generally I've been able to cope. The problem is that the show has recently taken a break with all sorts of unresolved plot lines, and well- I have an obsessive personality. More so when writing essays, and desperately so when bored solid. Which leads me to tumblr.
Tumblr is a terrifying place. It reminds me vividly of the days when, as a 15/16 year old girl who liked Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings and shinies, I joined online groups in which 'squee' and 'OMG' constituted appropriate conversation starters and making fan posters was a legitimate use of one's spare time. Tumblr, much like those groups, is also desperately shiny and, more importantly, full of people who are also struggling with Glee withdrawal symptoms. Now I think I need an intervention before it's too late, because I'm beginning to scare myself, and I'm getting online jokes which no one should ever be able to understand. I actually know what 'Klaine' means, and if that isn't a cry for help then what is? Besides, there is never any excuse for following fictional characters' Twitter feeds.
So the moral of the story is that I need to get a life, and fast. A deeper moral is that if you find yourself in a place like Hartford, for god's sakes get a car, or join a club, or something. If I had joined an aerobics class instead of discovering Glee, well, things would be very different, wouldn't they?
Normal posting returns next week.
JJ
Sunday, 3 April 2011
My life as it happens
I haven't updated for a while, no. I've had quite a lot going on, in Hartford and back in the UK. To make that sentence relevant to the study abroad issue- I think one of the hardest aspects of living in another country is that when things go wrong at home you really do feel the difference. Skype is amazing, but sometimes it doesn't quite cut it.Which brings me onto my next point, which is general marvelling at technology. My friend Dale, champion of all things shiny and technological, has a 'magic' phone, which allows him to use Skype / Google Voice etc, which means that we actually can have proper phone-to-phone conversations over the internet. If you're thinking about studying abroad, get yourself a friend with one of these! Hell, get yourself one!
As for my life: I don't like papers, I don't like editing, I do like talking to people and going out for breakfast, and preparing for Spring Fling (in two weeks, and yes, I'm wearing 5 inch heels), and cheering on the UConn Huskies (the varsity basketball team) in tomorrow's "March Madness" final, and sitting in the sun.
Oh, and I also very much like Law School sponsored trips to Washington DC. I've always had a soft spot for DC and Virginia (that's what spending the formative years of your childhood there will do), and it was fantastic to go back and see the place through adult eyes. Plus, a $300 / night hotel room is always welcome in my books! We did very much, and we took many pictures, and we saw very many examples of cherry blossom, and I'm now very much of the opinion that Justice Scalia bears a passing resemblance to Jabba the Hut.
I also got to see some very dear friends of the family while I was there, which was amazing, and made me feel very nostalgic, and I got to ride the AmTrak home, which was an experience and a half. That is:
Experience : Meeting a couple at the Harper's Ferry stop who had hiked the Appalachian trail over 4 days and got engaged just above the Harper's Ferry church.
And a half: Waiting for 45 minutes to cross a bridge in NY because "the President was flying over in his helicopter."
Here's a picture:
In other news, I have a house for next year, with a big yellow room and a boat in the back garden which I'm very happy about. And I'm debating, in the spirit of using my 'Bizarre' tag to its fullest extent, of uploading my 'Things I love / Things I hate' list which I drew up following a very odd conversation with Siobhan. Oh, and I've written a few more poems for my other blog.
JJ
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