I am currently sitting in a big mess of snazzy computers in the basement of the library here at the University of Arizona. This morning I attended a mostly pointless orientation for new graduate students, waited for nearly two hours to be told that I was in the wrong place, and turned in a form to certify my residence in Arizona--something I did not realize was in doubt until the college tried to charge me thousands of extra dollars.
I am one of 1600-1700 first-year graduate students at Arizona this year. That's right. 1600+. As in 30%+ more first-year graduate students than there are students at Hillsdale.
I made a sweaty mess of myself multiple times biking around this huge, abominably hot campus.
Contrary to the tone of this post, I am pleased to start classes on Monday. I will be taking Advanced Studies in Modern European History by an Ottoman-Empire specialist, an upper-level German course, and a class on historiography by Dr. Susan Crane, my probable future thesis adviser.
Caffe Lucé made me a rather delicious Americano, which I enjoyed while studying German and reading Lukacs and Mihail Lermontov's A Hero of our Time (which I really enjoy... the translation is by Nabakov and the cover art is by Edward Gorey... fantastic).
Well, now, I just love Titus Andronicus' Civil-War themed album, the Monitor.
"A Quick One While He's Away" reminds me that the Who were once known for bad-ass rock rather than embarrassing old-white-guy-half-time-show entertainment or background music for inane forensic-crime procedural dramas. Is it just a bit cliché if I now consider the soundtrack for Rushmore my third-favorite soundtrack?... after the Royal Tenenbaums and Snatch? Okay, I admit, those are the only three soundtracks I own.
