Monday I went to Psychology of Personality to discover the head of the Psychology Department addressing the class. My professor had become very ill and could no longer teach, so she quit. We had had a large paper due this coming Monday and a major test. But no professor, means no paper, and no test. Everyone was in good spirits when they heard of the Professor's illness. The greed and bad will filled the room. It was positively delightful... er... I mean evil. Yes evil. Not delightful... :) Wednesday a Professor Emeritus from SUNY Brockport was brought in. He is 81 years old, but seems like a really good guy. He is a proper scientist and I like him much better than the hack English teacher we had before. I am pleased.
Did you ever have a nightmare where you went to class and discovered that there was a test you did not know about? Perhaps that test was the final. Perhaps you thought you had 4 more weeks of class and had no idea why you would have a final then. Maybe this final was over reading from a book which, but you had not gotten the reading assignments. What if you had never even opened the book? This actually happened to me on Monday! I went in to First Aid and CPR as usual. Got my mat and dummy. Sat down and began talking to my partner. Then I noticed some papers being handed out. I overheard the assistant mention something about the last class. I was confused. When I got the paper that was handed out, it was a final. At this point I began to panic. I looked about the room and saw half the class panicking as well. As it turns out, we were supposed to have been reading the book all for the last 4 weeks and the course was only to be 4 weeks long. This was the last day. No one knew this. Except for the Professor, who did not tell anyone. We were less than pleased about the situation. Granted, I realized early on that this Professor was exceptionally clueless and had absolutely no organization skills, but I figured he would at least tell us when the course was to end or when we would have a final. I was wrong. I took the final, which covered what we had done in class and the First AID material from the book, and probably aced it. I remembered the First AID material from Boy Scouts. So the course is now over, and despite one of my worst nightmares for the last few years coming true, I probably aced it.
This morning the Fedex man brought me my gift from Mariah. It is the White Knight sword from By the Sword. It is a version of the Black Knight sword I have had for a few years, but has a bronze hilt and pommel. It is absolutely beautiful! I was floored. I'll put up pictures next week. Wow.
I'm just about to head out the door and travel to the land of Cleveland, where I will see Eddie Izzard and Carolyn. I'll be back Sunday evening, hopefully with some good pictures.
Things with RIT are going pretty well, but I have a TON of work in the next few weeks and a lot of other non-RIT things to get done as well. Psychology of Personality has gotten better, it is actually a personality class now. Computer Security has gotten worse, I've already missed two classes on purpose to avoid having to sit through the lecture. Blah. The others classes are very good, and I am enjoying this quarter.
Things with the brewing are going well. The first batch has been a huge success with our friends and we have named it Baby Brittan. The second batch is now bottled and should be ready to taste this weekend. The third batch was brewed last weekend and is fermenting in my closet. It is an India Pale Ale and is doing some very odd things with layers of colors and rocketing wood chips. A most interesting experience. Our next batch (batch 004) will probably be an Oktoberfest, so we'll use lager yeast and ferment in a refrigerator.
I've put up some pictures of stuff taken between July and October 2003 - cute ferrets, random humans, a REALLY messy room, pie making, pirates, ninjas, violence, branding irons, and other things as well.
My birthday was a lot of fun. Rob, Melissa, and I were going to go out to Scotch and Sirloin on Monday but we discovered that it is open every day but Monday. So we went to Friday's instead. Then out to the Old Toad for drinks. I highly recommend Wee Heavy Scottish Ale, give it a try if you are in an English Pub somewhere. I received an Edward Gorey calendar from Melissa, six pairs of bluejeans from my Mother, several drinks from Rob, and a Branding Iron with my initials from Carolyn. Why a Branding Iron? To brand things of course! I can now brand my initials into steaks, leather goods, human flesh, and wood - a very useful tool for marking my possessions.
Last night I made Gumbo for the first time. I combined technique and ingredients from several different recipes to get something that looked good to me. It turned out alright, but I think I burned the roux at the start and that gave a slightly burnt-bread flavor. Rob suggested some garlic, and that helped, but it was still very noticeable. It was also much more oily than it should have been. I will try again next week, use butter instead of oil, and go for a lighter roux to avoid possible burning. Not bad for a first try though.
Melissa has almost finished moving out of the house and has been living in Owego with Burton for over a month now. We are sad to see her go, but it does mean a LOT more room in the fridge, so I can't really complain. :) I am sure she'll be up fairly often to see people over the next couple of years. We will be needing a replacement house mate, and it looks like Rob may be taking her place. This means the R&R Barton Street Brewery may kick into high gear.
Things are going well with Carolyn and we'll meet in Cleveland next weekend to see Eddie Izzard. So I am looking forward to that. Due to our odd and busy schedules lately Carolyn and I have not gotten a lot of time to talk, which I miss, but we'll make up for it by locking ourselves in the hotel room all weekend when not at the show. :)
On a "wow, that's fucked up and confusing" note: I got a birthday card from Cassie. As you may remember, last May Cassie left me after almost 3 years together. She asked me if she could still talk to me, and I said no. From experience, I know it is not a good thing for me to talk to someone if I am very upset with them and the thing upsetting me cannot be resolved. This is the situation with Cassie. I had gotten her out of my mind for a while but the card brought a lot of things back and I have been very upset for the last couple of days. It was a nice card, and I am glad she wishes me a happy birthday, but it was signed "Best Wishes and Happy Birthday! Love, Cassie" which is just not good. I am confused about her feelings and intentions. I cannot decide whether to respond. I am still very angry and upset about the events leading up to the breakup. I do not see the two of us talking doing either of us much good. If I do not respond she may think that I hate her. I don't want her to think that I hate her, but I am definitely not feeling forgiveness. Things were nicely settled, I am an INTJ - I like settled things, now I am confused and unsettled. Frink.
