Damn I hate paranoia.

Today is the Ludi Tarentini, a three-day celebration. It started out as a private celebration funded by a man whose children were ill. It consisted of three days of stage plays held every hundred years to honor Dis Pater/Hades and Proserpina/Persephone, the king and queen of the underworld. In 17 BCE, Augustus converted these days into the Ludi Saeculares, when all free men would pray and fast, then gather at the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus at the Capitolium (if they were Roman citizens) or the Temple of Diana on the Aventine (if they were Latins, which were the rustic types).

They offered the first fruit and various sacrifices on the first day, today, and the festivities would begin tomorrow evening.

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Went to Curves for the first time this summer today. I remembered everything well enough, and, bonus, it didn't require the amount of energy that it did last year to start so I haven't become totally sluggish after my year at college.

Tomorrow Shrewd and I are getting the bikes back from the shop and then I'm gonna try to bike to Curves, for some extra exercise.

Oh, and I ran into my old boss there-- the one from the day care. Apparently they need help for the summer. She asked me to consider coming back, but I'm torn-- on the one hand, I really want to see the kids again and if I can't get a better paying job it does pay more than TJ Maxx; but on the other hand, I had nightmares about the kids getting hurt or into trouble because of me the whole time I worked there. It was kinda stressful. And I kinda swore I wouldn't do childcare again. Not that I ever keep oaths like that, really...

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The Brother was inviting his girlfriend over for dinner, and while Mummy went out to get groceries and worked on a problem for work and The Brother did homework, guess who fulfilled the "Can't have non-immediate-family over without cleaning all parts of the house they might see" rule? Oh, yes. Me. I mean, she paid me $20 for it and I wanted to get this pigsty clean anyway, but it's the principle of the thing, in that if I had asked to have Ryter or even Vivacia (who has known my family for FOREVER) over, my mom would have made me clean the whole place or refused to let them visit. She wouldn't have paid Shrewd or The Brother to clean it for me, unless they offered.

Basically, until I get a job, my mom's gonna give me new chores every day to help out around the house, and as much as I like getting paid, cleaning this house is a bit like shoveling the sidewalk in the middle of a blizzard.

Oh, wait, she makes me do that too.

Some dude gave me "one last chance" to save the world today. Hmm.

Today is the Ambarvalia, an agricultural fertility rite in honor of Ceres/Demeter. They took a bull, a sow, and a sheep and led them in procession three times around the fields before the sacrifice.

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Ryter and I went into Harvard Square today, since he had an appointment with his psychiatrist down there anyway. He picked me up a little late and we spent the next half hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic along I-93, thanks to the stupid highway committee that okay'd the painting of middle-of-the-highway lines in the middle of the day.

But we arrived, I read Calvin and Hobbes for forty minutes when he talked to his psychiatrist (who I kinda wanted to see-- didn't, but wanted to-- because apparently he looks like Maury), and then we wandered around and looked at stuff. Ryter got a chair with a giant British flag on it and a nifty ice thingy... It's an ice tray that makes a big block of ice with channels in it, so you pour the drink into the channel and it travels down over the ice into your cup. Both of those were from Urban Outfitters. Oh, and he was totally asked to be in a rap video by some random dude who liked his shirt. Because those rap videos, they LOVE the pasty Jewish kids. I mean, really.

We ate dinner at the Malaysian restaurant and I was adventurous, and while adventures related to coconut drinks are rather unpleasant when you get sugar shock from one sip, adventures in duck and veggie clay pots are pretty tasty, though the bones were annoying. Tasted delicious though. If you go to Harvard Square, go to Penang. It's interesting food.

Then we headed back to my town to hang out in the apple orchards and get ice cream from the little ice cream stand by the duck pond. Ryter had a duck eat duck food right out of the container and we had ice cream and then we just sat out by the pond by the cemetery (not IN the cemetery) and talked and watched for satellites. We were careful to avoid the other parked car, which we presumed contained 1 matched set of young people "making out," and by "making out" I'm offering a euphemism for "screwing their brains out." Or maybe, y'know, talking. But we like to assume the funniest of people.

But it was a very good day, and while for some reason we were completely incapable of kissing successfully on the first try without one of us tripping or bonking the other on the nose (I blame uneven ground), we got to talk about a lot of things-- some fairly important ones. And while I shouldn't really talk about it here, I'm guessing I will write a looong private journal entry tomorrow.

Adventures in Lawncare

The Brother has one regular chore in this house, and he gets paid for it and he works at it and doesn't do much else because he's scheduled down to the last second between the school band, the school jazz band, the drum corps he does after school and his girlfriend. But now he can't even do his ONE CHORE, he's so busy, so guess who agreed to take it over?

Problem: It's mowing the lawn.

First there was the safety lesson from my dad, with such gems as "Wear your heavy hiking boots or you'll hit a rock and break your ankle" and "Don't spill the oil on the ground or you'll rot in federal prison." And little chemistry lessons thrown in like "gasoline evaporates quickly." Because there's no way that someone who took a college chem class with a focus on organic chemistry would know that, I mean, really.

Then came the actual mowing, in the hot sun for hours, followed by going over the edges with a weedwhacker, hauling sticks in a wheelbarrow, carefully leaving the wildflowers on the lawn without leaving the grass around them, then going over the thing with pruning shears just to make sure I got all the obvious missed spots, and all the while I'm thinking Shit, between the gas exhaust spewing out of the mower and the fact that I'm contributing to the negative impact lawns have on natural ecosystems I'm basically raping Mother Nature's corpse right now.

This means that while I will probably do well in Ecology because I think things like that, I basically have proven that I will sell out for $32 (all that work and he said "Oh, you missed some spots" and took off $3 for it) and a lawn that doesn't make the neighbors want to evict us.

So I feel sweaty and gross, STILL, and my ankles are beat up and sore not from rocks, but from the fact that it was too hot to wear wool socks and my ankles were banging around in those stupid boots. I took them off as soon as I stopped using things with spinning sharpnesses.

I bet I have to do this the week after next, too.

How the heck did it get to be so late?

Today I baked a batch of cookies and went down to Massachusetts with Ryter for a cookout with his aunt and uncle and various other family members, most of whom he doesn't particularly care for. But while I did pick up the traits he warned me about, I thought they were all very nice. Family is never as annoying for those outside of it. Though his uncle did basically flat-out ask if I was Jewish, which was a little weird.

Their kid was at that question-age, where they want to know everything that's going on, which got Ryter in trouble like three times and his dad in trouble once too. Luckily I think he'll forget it all, if he understood it at all, but you have to be sooo careful around kids, you never know what they will repeat or internalize.

But it was okay, and they liked my cookies, which didn't flatten or become crispy for a change, and afterwards Ryter and I got to hang out and watch TV and just chill, which was nice. A pretty good day, I'd say.

How Erudite of Us

Today was the Brother's prom night, so we dolled him up and took a bazillion pictures. He was very patient, in his schmancy tux. A year ago, I was going to my senior prom... wow. That's kinda daunting. Only a year-- I feel like it's been so much longer...

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But this morning, before that, Shrewd took us over to David's Bridal so she could try on bridesmaid's dresses. I have to say, there is no place on earth with more estrogen than a bridal shop. Build-A-Bear pales in comparison, even. There were four males in the entire shop; one worked there and looked very effeminate, and the other three were nursing.

I've decided that the thing for me to do is have a Roman wedding. Girls get Grecian dresses, very pretty, guys wear togas and get to carry weaponry because that's the only way you get a guy into a toga when he's not going to get plastered with his frat, and at the reception, couches instead of normal chairs. Awesome, no?

Come on, TOGA WEDDING. How can you go wrong?

(PLus, togas are MUCH less expensive than tuxedos.)

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This evening, Mummy, Daddy, Shrewd and I went out to dinner and then to see Shrek III, which was not as good as either of the previous Shreks, but I hesitated to see Pirates because there was talk, a while back, of me and Ryter seeing that together.

But while the movie was bad, we had a very interesting conversation on the subject of weddings, specifically the cost (Daddy thinks he has to pay the full cost of my wedding, to which I said, "I'll pay at least half" and Mummy said, "You may not be able to afford it" and I said, "If I can't afford it I'm clearly not ready to get married," meaning, if I feel the need to have an extravagant wedding despite being unable to afford one I'm clearly not ready for the financial responsibilities that come hand-in-hand with getting married and potentially having children).

The talk of weddings must have annoyed Daddy (well, specifically, the fact that I was saying that I wouldn't let him buy me a house as a wedding gift [he was probably joking, but it's the idea that he feels the need to provide a wedding and gifts as a sort of dowry] and Shrewd said she didn't intend to marry at all), because he changed the subject, and we started talking about religion via a question about Ryter's last name.

Now, follow me here... Ryter has a very Jewish last name... my mom then made fun of me and my sister for "always chasing the Jewish boys" (not fair, Shrewd's at Brandeis, that's all there IS)... I pointed out that he's just Jewish in lineage, but actually Buddhist... she began to pepper me with questions about Buddhism. Because you KNOW dating a person makes you an expert on their religion, I mean really.

Still, we wound up having a very insightful, intellectual conversation on literalism in the Bible, mistranslations, the original texts and the omitted ones, like the Book of Esther, I think it was, which was apparently too feminist for Peter-- and how all of this has led my father to view the Bible as a whole with a skeptic's eye. He's Christian, but he understands other influences on the Bible. It was just the sort of insightful conversation we used to have around the dinner table before we started having dinner around the coffee table, watching TV.

It helps when someone spilled jam in it

Today wasn't that exciting; I dropped off the applications and grabbed one more from Lane Bryant; I didn't notice their sign before. I'm actually hesitant to apply on account of one of the women working there seemed a little... brusque? She seemed like she was constantly in a rush and while she was helpful, she was like "Oh it's here now I'm going back to work over there." Which is okay, it's just not what I normally expect. I was kinda skittish about working there consequently, but I'm guessing it's more a long, busy day side effect than a sign that I would be unhappy there. I have the application.

The only issue with job-hunting is the clothes. Even when I'm not interviewing, just dropping off or picking up applications, I need to wear professional clothes because sometimes the managers come out and talk to you right then, and you have to look hireable, which for me means skirt (too hot for pants) and blouse. It's sticky and hot and vexing.

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We also had a Family Game Night and played Life, which I won. The thing is, I only won because I gambled everything and was victorious. Life lesson: It's okay if you're poor going into retirement, just gamble everything on a whim and you can win, as long as you remember that the spinner always sticks on 1.

I miss someone.

Today is a day marked Q.R.C.F., or Quando Rex Comitavit Fas. Basically, today is an unlawful day (as in, public sessions like court cases aren't allowed) until the the Rex Sacrorum declares a session of the comitia. I'm too tired to figure out what that means.

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You know where they have cell phone reception? Mount Everest. You know where they don't have cell phone reception? Anywhere within my house or yard, in wealthy suburban America.

Do you see the problem here?

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Today the job hunt continued as I applied at Home Depot and Sears, turned in my application to Partyrama, and picked up applications from a kiosk at the mall that makes those T-shirts with your face on them; Eddie Bauer, which is incidentally where one of my high school teachers works during the summer, and yes, that WOULD be weird; and a maternity store, which Shrewd, who was with me, seemed very uncomfortable about entering, for fear she'd catch the pregnant or something.

Then we went to another mall, a little farther away, so Shrewd could go to Lane Bryant to get some work clothes and I could hunt for more applications. That mall had more places hiring but they were all junior's boutiques like Wet Seal or Abercrombie, or else were really upscale places like Ann Taylor. Places like that usually want you to dress in the style of the store, so I didn't apply. I can't exactly buy a whole new wardrobe. But I did apply at a Hallmark-esque gift store and a Payless. Shrewd's going back to that mall tomorrow to go back to Lane Bryant and exchange some stuff so I'll tag along with her then and turn in the applications.

As I told my mother, this summer she can't nag me about not getting a job.

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Shrewd and I also decided to bring Mummy and Daddy's old bikes in for repairs, so we could exercise by biking this summer. We set out to put the bike rack on her car, as it has a trailer hitch to attach the trailer-hitch bike rack to.

Ten minutes of struggling and pounding later: "I think the hitch is too rusty..."

Switched to the beat-up old junky bike rack and my car.

"Won't go on..."

When we finally set off, the front wheels were in the trunk, the two bikes were jammed in the back seat, and the handlebars were sticking out the windows.

But we did it. VICTORY!

Gah, I need to consider normal bedtimes again...

Today is the Tubilustrum, which was a ceremony used to make the army fit for war. They sacrificed an ewe and the priests would dance in the streets. The tubae, sacred trumpets, were used in the ceremony.

It's also the Feriae Volcano, which were rites in honor of Vulcan and Maia.

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I had plans to meet KTMack and another friend from high school, who I will call Primaevus ("youthful," he can be a bit immature at times, but he's okay as long as I tell him when he needs to shut up) at 11:30 at the 99 for lunch. This was all well and good, but I woke up at 11:45. I got a querying phone call as I hurried about, trying to NOT resemble a she-beast of the planet Kromulon, but I made it only about forty minutes late so I figured it was okay... sorta...

Oh well. They waited, and it was cool, we got to catch up. I was actually concerned that it might be weird with KTMack, since I haven't really talked to him much except for the occasional wall note on Facebook since we broke up. But you know, it really wasn't. I think the fact that we were always better at being friends than significant others made the transition back a little smoother. I mean, us dating was like three months of frustrated awkwardness, and yet, he's an awesome friend and not the sort of person I'd want to lose touch with. He didn't even bat an eye when I talked about Ryter (I didn't bring it up, Primaevus did). Things are cool. Which is very, very cool.

After catching up for a bit I swung by TJ Maxx to figure out what my manager's name was, stopped in at Curves, which is in the same mall, to ask about summer membership, and then went home to shower and get dressed in my huntin' clothes.

Job hunting clothes, that is. As in, stuff that makes me look mildly responsible and adult. Skirt and a blouse sort of thing.

So I've officially applied at Shaw's and I got applications from Partyrama (it's like iParty only smaller), Hannaford's, and McDonald's, though I've had three or four people tell me that fast food is shitty, low-paying and dangerous, and I honestly don't feel like loitering around grease all day anyway, so I don't think I'll apply there. It seems like lots of places are hiring, at least. I intend to fill out an application to Home Depot tomorrow. I was going to go in today, and then I realized it was a hardware store and I was wearing a skirt, which was probably NOT the proper impression.

I hate this. I hate being petrified of not getting summer employment. I really don't want to spend another summer at home doing nothing but working out and watching TV, bored out of my skull. I need to interact with people. I can't spend too much time alone, I get depressed.

Beetlejuice is a weird movie.

I went to see my therapist today, and afterwards I went and spent a little time with Ryter. We went to the mall so he could pick up his new katana, which he was really excited about. It was cute. Now he has three katanas (katanae?), but the first two aren't "real," and no, I don't know how you can have a fake katana that isn't like, foam or something. He explained it to me, but... it's a sword. It's pretty and cool but I could never tell the difference between real and fake, myself. Something to do with the metal of the blade...?

Yeah, he totally just wants to be Hiro Nakamura.

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So I was talking to my therapist today, and I've basically decided that I need to continue seeing her this summer, despite the fact that I don't normally see a therapist in the summertime and it's a pretty far drive. But you know, I can use it as an excuse to visit Ryter afterwards, and more importantly, I'll be able to focus on only a couple of things instead of trying to deal with everything at once like I do during the school year. It should work out.

Back... hurts... blah...

Today is the Agonalia, a day to honor various divinities. A ram was sacrificed by the rex sacrificulus. The ceremonies were supposed to help improve the prosperity of the state.

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I was roused at 7 AM this morning and after a quick bagel, egg, and cheese sandwich I was hauled down to Brandeis to help Shrewd clean out her room. We packed up the car to the brim with her things, plus her roommate's fridge which was going to be thrown out. All the seniors were moving out at the same time, and since they were all going to different situations next year, they were throwing out a lot of their stuff, when it was still in good condition. Thus, Shrewd and I went dumpster-diving. I mean, what would you do?

We got dish ware, mostly, and a TV table and some black plastic stacking storage boxes. There was a LOT of stuff, though. Lots of booze. Shrewd was tempted to grab some but we decided that there was really very little on this earth that's sketchier than taking someone else's half-empty bottles of alcohol from the trash...

"The Best Advice: Call Your Mother"

200th POST! WOOOOOOO! Okay, celebration over.

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Wow. What a weekend.

So Friday was the Convocation, and Saturday was the actual graduation for UNH. We didn't go, though; instead Ryter got dressed up in his cap and gown and we watched the graduation from his mother's hotel suite. We woke up when his favorite professor came by to apologize and say he couldn't go, and then we drove over and were treated to an excellent hotel breakfast followed by second breakfasts upstairs, delivered by his dad along with his father's father. So his mom, his mother's mother, his dad, his father's father, and his aunt for good measure all sat around the big TV and ate bagels as we watched the graduation.

H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton spoke, which was kinda cool. There were secret service agents everywhere. Apparently the interim president of UNH is a friend of Bush Sr., so she was able to get him to come. Clinton had to rush off to talk at Harvard after he spoke, though.

Anyway, after the graduation we all went back to Ryter's apartment for the graduation party, for which his parents brought basically enough sustenance for an army of teenage boys. There was a ridiculous amount of food there, and my pies were a hit, thankfully- I was worried that they weren't going to live up to the hype. Ryter did a shot with his dad and there were lots of photo ops.

After they left we just hung out for a while until Loquelo came over with his roommate and we played a board game and chilled until 10, when I headed home. I was tired driving home, which was bad, but I got here safely.

Then this morning I was roused early to go to Shrewd's graduation down at Brandeis. Grandpa, Grammy, my great-aunt, and Mummy and Daddy were all there; but with Grandpa in his wheelchair (he can walk, but not for distances and he can't stand a long time) and my great-aunt with her walker, we were a slow-moving group. I sat with Daddy in the non-handicap seats, up in the bleachers. I couldn't spot Shrewd in the crowd of graduates but we did see her when they plastered her face up on the big display screen.

The speaker was good, but I didn't recognize him, and apparently he's a part-time professor there so not particularly special for the graduates. The only reason he was speaking was because the previously booked speaker, a famous journalist, passed away a few weeks ago. Still, he did a very good job and I even stayed awake. The Benediction was particularly nice, as it was given jointly by the campus priest, rabbi, reverend and imam.

Afterwards we were given about an hour to get out, do a ten-minute walk over to the second, departmental graduation ceremony. Alas, it took forty-five minutes to just get out of the building, and we got separated-- Grandpa, Grammy, Daddy and I got there on time and saw it from the beginning but Mummy and my aunt were late. They still saw Shrewd walk up to get her diploma, though.

After a celebration at Bertucci's, they all went home and I stayed behind with Shrewd to help her pack-- she hadn't even started. That's what we're doing tomorrow, too-- going back and clearing out her place. Fabulous, no? I am so exhausted right now...

I will tell you all about today tomorrow night. I'm too tired right now.

Sleepy...

Tonight's entry shall be shorter than usual on account of I'm at Ryter's and he has the world's most annoying keyboard. But anyway, today was the Honors Convocation, so I was all prepared to wake up early and get over here with time to spare... and then the alarm didn't go off so I woke up late, and then as I was getting ready to go Mummy was like, "Clean up the kitchen," though she could SEE I was trying to go, so I had to do that, then she told me to finish unpacking the last of my boxes, which I did NOT do as I was already late. I moved it though.

Anyway, set off on the road with two homemade apple pies in the passenger seat, got on the highway and realized that my passenger door was open a bit. In dealing with the door I missed my exit, so I had to pull over, fix the door, and turn around. So I was late.

Once I arrived, we got some balloons and I started to decorate, and Ryter's mom and grandmother showed up. Ryter's grandma is very cool. WE all went to the Convocation together, so I wasn't sitting on my own, and I fell asleep during the keynote speaker's address to the students but I was at least able to remain alert for the calling of names and I snapped a shot of Loquelo, Ryter, and Inconcinnus as they each went up to get their Honors cord.

Afterwards Ryter's mom, dad, and grandmother went with us to this really cool Indian restaurant, and Loquelo came too because he couldn't find his folks and thought they hadn't shown up. They were appparently there, they just couldn't find each other. But then after an exellent dinner Loquelo came back to Ryter's with us and we all didn't pay attention to Serenity together. Much fun.

More tomorrow, the Big Day.

Yeah.

Hmm... I don't think I have anything to say today... or the will to say it.

Gah, I need to consider normal bedtimes again...

I'm at home, and the summer has OFFICIALLY begun. Well, almost. I start doing summer stuff on Monday, when I begin.... job hunting. Oh, fun. Until then I'm booked almost solid; Sunday and Saturday are devoted to graduations, I'm going to a honors Colloquium thingy for Ryter on Friday and tomorrow, I bake PIE.

(For the graduation party. I'm not just randomly baking pie. I do that, sometimes, particularly when I'm stressed-- I use baking as stress relief-- but this time, I have a real reason.)

So yes, summer begins. And yes, I am soooo glad that month from hell is over. Tests done, projects over, everything taken care of. I doubt that the Chem test gave me much of an advantage; it might give me like two points higher of a grade but I doubt it will make a big difference. That was a lot of information to process in only a week or so. We'll see.

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Today, after my exam, I ran around like a nut loading up my car with a year's worth of shit minus the three boxes and the assorted appliances and clothes that already went home. Meanwhile it was raining. Luckily I employed the method of stuff-moving that my dad always suggests: recruit a strong young gentleman to assist. Luckily I had one on hand, though I did have to bring him back before I was done packing as he was preparing for his last meeting with Inconcinnus, his awkward friend, who is moving back to Georgia. However, Inconcinnus may be getting married, in which case I will bet money that Ryter goes to Georgia, and hopefully gets roped into wearing a suit or some fascsimile thereof. In which case, I WILL obtain pictures, even if it requires stalker-like movements.

Anyway, with the car packed up to the brim with crap and Menelaus secure in the front seat, packed in with pillows, I set off for home in the rain, remembered that I had some Tupperware of Ryter's, left it ninja-like in his door frame, then headed home, calling my mom as I went. "Hey, Mummy, I'm headed home now."

"Oh, really? I thought you weren't coming home until Wednesday!"

"..."

"It... is Wednesday..."

Is it any wonder this woman forgot her own daughter's birthday (Shrewd's, not mine)? Actually, she says, she didn't forget the birthday-- she forgot the month. Because that is so much better.

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My grandmother is here, so I'm on the fold-out on the couch. I like how I spend a year away from home, I come back, and I'M the one on the couch, instead of just putting her into Shrewd's room, which is empty. Oh, wait, that's right, I actually cleaned my room. Damn, I hate being a dutiful daughter.

Okay, so I admit it. Most of my dutifulness lately has been an unspoken bribe for NOT having the "So... you're spending Friday night at a guy's house..." conversation. It's not that my mom would care, but she would tease me for it; my dad would look at me disapprovingly and also tease, but his would have an element of "I don't think this is really appropriate for you to be doing" to it.

But I am TAKING A STAND! I am Making My Own Choices to not have to drive to Durham reaaaally early on Saturday morning. Actually, I believe what I am doing is called "hiding and hoping that it doesn't come up." I mentioned it once, in the context of "I need the car." But... I'm going to be on the couch, so they can't complain. Except they can't KNOW I'm on the couch... Bah. Parents.

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Okay, I really feel I need to share something I find very, very odd and mildly disturbing. My dad so old-fashioned he holds firm to his belief that people should be allowed to take "defective" or unwanted newborns out to the rain barrel and hold them under until they drown.

Yeah, I assumed he was being extreme to make a point about freedoms too. I figured he was be hyperbolic. But I mentioned that right to die vs. abortion debate to him, and he reiterated that point, so I asked him. And he confirmed that if such practices were not illegal, he would have been willing to do that to his own progeny had we been obviously deformed. Has to be done within a few hours of birth, though, he said, as if that makes it better... I'm pro-choice. But that's infanticide, not abortion. I wonder if he would have been pro-exposure if he lived in Rome?

Honestly, I don't care if the kid has two heads and only half a brain between them, if you let it actually get out of the birth canal, there is NO EXCUSE, it is a human being and that's murder. What I like is that my dad's a Christian, too. Congregationalist, you know, that faith that descended from the Puritans.

Actually, wait, that means nothing. According to the Bible:

"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life." -- Exodus 21:22-23
and
"And if it be from a month old even unto five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver." -- Leviticus 27:6

Basically, a fetus or infant becomes a person when it's a month old, according to the Bible. Wow. Hmm.

Blech. Studying.

Today is the Mercuralia, a festival honoring Mercury/Hermes, god of messengers, merchants, and commerce, and his mother Maia, for whom the month of May is named. The day was celebrated by merchants sprinkling their heads, their ships, their merchandise, and even their stores or other businesses with water from a sacred well at the Porta Capena.

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I studied today. Also bought some really tacky graduation decorations for Ryter's graduation party. It's slow going, though-- I have summer-brain and I can't concentrate on intermolecular forces and equilibriums. Hopefully I get over an 85 on the test tomorrow, thus increasing my grade in the class... but if not... *sigh*

I hate this empty room...

Today is a day honoring Mars/Ares.

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I didn't study enough today, though I did move my car from the visitor's lot over to Ryter's and hung out for a while with him and Loquelo. I'm only seeing him very briefly tomorrow, so we can get stuff for his party. He wants to get it sooner rather than later. Other than that... nothing, really. Just studying.

Viking Funerals

The ghost [of Deiphobus] replied: "Your piety has paid all necessary rites to rest my wandering ghost; but cruel fate, and my more cruel wife, betrayed my sleeping life to Grecian swords. These are the monuments of Helen's love: the shame I bear below, the marks I bore above. You know in what deluding joys we passed the night that was by Heaven decreed our last: for when the fatal horse, descending down, filled with arms, overwhelmed the unhappy town, she feigned nocturnal orgies; left my bed, and led the dances mixed with Trojan women. Then, waving her torch high, she made the signal which called out the Greeks from their ambuscade. Overworn with watching, I had lain down to rest unhappy, with my cares oppressed, and my weary limbs possessed heavy sleep. Meanwhile my worthy wife mislaid our arms, and carried my sword from beneath my head; she unlatched the door, and with repeated calls invited her former lord within my walls. Thus she placed confidence in her crime, that she would redeem the past with new treasons. What more must I say? They ran into the room, and cruelly murdered a defenseless man. Low-born Odysseus led the way first." ~Aeneid, Book VI

Deiphobus died last night; found him this morning. I had a feeling this was coming; he was very sluggish and not really eating anything, and he used to be a real glutton. At least he died here at school and not like, mid-route home or anything.

My shoulders are ow.

I spent the day cleaning my room to grandmother-suitable levels, unpacking the first wave of boxes, and then going out to dinner with my mom. I didn't get back to campus until 11:00, and then I had to walk all the way from the visitor's lot, where I still don't know if I'm allowed to park... I intend to move it tomorrow, but I was too tired to drive around to find a lot I would be permitted to park in. But honestly, there's so few people here any more, they better not ticket me for taking someone's spot.

I have also discovered that I hate this room when I am the only one in it, and there is no signs of any roommate except the unused, empty furniture.

Zombie Walk

A video of the march! Much better pics than my own.