Trinity University

I always dreamed of having a kitten. Unfortunately I have never been given such a wonderful gift. Kittens are cute. I thought for Christmas I should have gotten a cat. Well, rationally, getting a kitten now is very unreasonable. My parents do not like cats so much. So I thought that I would get a cat at Trinity. No such luck. Trinity prohibits pets (except for Goldfish and pet rocks, which to be honest do not make good pets). Of course Trinity has its own cats. They lay around all day and will even rub up against you if you pet them. They are very fat and Bianca swears they bear a personal grudge against her. I think they are attracted to her woolly clothes and her fabulous personality. I still wanted my own cat. My friend, senior English major, Allie found a kitten. She and her boyfriend handpicked every tick off its fur. That is kitty love. I came to visit and fell in love with the lazy kitten sunbathing on Allie’s bed. Allie, being an English major christened the kitten “Heathcliff.� I spent a long afternoon petting him and attempting to tie ribbons on him. Of course he bit me every time I touched him but I’m sure it was his way of saying he loved me too. Bianca dragged me away eventually and I have not seen him since. So a few days ago Alli e-mailed me and told me Heathcliff was a girl kitten. Really? Should we rename Heathcliff “Sheathcliff?� I don’t know. What do you do when that happens?

Sweet little Heathcliff getting ready to embed his claws into my hands...he's so cute...

So, my birthday is in April. Please buy me a cat mom and dad. Speaking of birthdays, my friend Nina had a birthday last week. She turned 20. Wow. I feel so old. At Trinity we have a fun tradition of kidnapping our friends and throwing them into Miller Fountain. Bianca thinks throwing someone in the pool is a horrible tradition so when her birthday rolls around I will make sure to douse her in water. Well, I would like to except her birthday is in July. I could do it before she goes back home or when she comes back. Unfortunately for my friend Nina’s birthday, we did not get to throw her in the fountain or pour water over her in the shower. We celebrated simply by giving her presents and letting her know she was loved. If Nina (or Bianca) loves me, they would buy me a kitten because I love them soooo much…

The tulips I got for Nina...they started wilting fast...

Posted by Nancy at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was the debut of the frying pan. What a wonderful way to start off a Sunday! Nancy and I made over-easy eggs and toast, an-oh-so-fresh change of pace from the microwave oatmeal. The kitchen on our floor was empty, not surprising, considering the early hour. I am beginning to think that Nancy and I must be abnormal college students to wake up before 8 everyday, or maybe we just don’t have neighbors. This whole dorm is really a palace for just us, the two princesses. Oh! If only that were true…to be told, oh that’s it, you can stop right now with all that work, you have a kingdom in need of you somewhere in the middle of a land long forgotten. Well, I can always imagine.

Eventually, reality sets in when you remember all of the little assignments and daily chores that need to be completed. I’ve been good with that so far. Of course, my sister has made it her personal mission to ensure that no one in the family succumbs to weakness this Lent with her dire text message warnings: NO MEAT TODAY. Only I think this is unfair – I’m enduring the worse temptation because the meatless days are always a Friday, the day Nancy and I go out to eat. We went out to La Fogata, the most disappointingly expensive restaurant I have ever eaten at and it even deigns to call the cuisine Mexican! Really, the only thing ‘Mexican’ about it is the appearance, the food was so bland and the spices were all wrong, but let’s not go there. That was last week. This week we were going to P.F. Chang’s (they have a meatless marvel called tofu). By the time Nancy and I arrived, the place was packed, swamped, an absolute crush, no getting in whatsoever. Never mind, we would go to Piatti’s, the next best place to heaven (oh, how I adore their appetizer bread!). But, yeah, you guessed it – others discovered how amazing it is and there was a one and half hour wait. We were getting desperate; it was already 7 o’clock and we were starving. Thankfully, the Quarry doesn’t lack for restaurants; across the street there was a place called 20nine. We decided to chance it because it was already on our list of restaurants to try.

I guess it was too good to be true; there was no line outside the door and we were seated immediately. We just weren’t so sure we wanted to be seated. Looking around we realized why they called it a wine bar. Everyone had about ten glasses of wine on their tables and there was no food to be seen. Oh dear, why did they let us in? Nancy and I can’t possibly look old enough for this. I mean, she was wearing a bright yellow baby Gap sweater with an apple on it. Hardly the attire of the mature sophisticates we saw around us. But there we were, handed two wine menus each. They were menus of just wine. Where was the food? How embarrassing would this get? I was even considering going to McDonald’s I was so hungry at this point. When the waitress hurried over, she was pleased:
“It looks like y’all already know what you want! What will you be having tonight?�
“Um, some menus of the food please?�
“No wine tonight?�
“No.�
“Okay…�
Was she not going to card us? Maybe she just wanted us to blend in more or something. We really were the only ones in there without wine. Ewww, how awkward, I could hardly taste the grilled tuna and mixed greens I had while Nancy was playing devil in disguise by offering me duck. I had never tried duck before. Was it considered meat? It doesn’t really walk the earth, it waddles…

What a relief to be finished. Looking back, I don’t know how we missed the signs, but hungry people aren’t as observant as they should be, they see only their main goal—food. Still, I hope I don’t ever have to sit through another such dinner where Cat Stevens is the musical entertainment. Time for going back to classes, where I belong.

Favorite Quote this week:
"Love is the irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." Robert Frost

Posted by Bianca at 11:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think everyone on campus must have a Facebook except me. People are always checking in and posting things and getting messages, and it all seems to waste their time. My theory has always been: if you know me, you know how to contact me. I do have an email and a cell phone (I guess I’m not lost to the world of technology after all), but lately I’ve begun to reconsider my stance on the whole Facebook thing. When I go studying abroad (I plan to go to Spain a year from now), how am I to keep up with the goings-on of the campus? Or will I be so busy with my studies in Spain that I won’t even miss it? I don’t know, sometimes I’m tempted…

Since I am only a sophomore, it seems a bit soon to start making generalizations, but I will say that both spring semesters so far have been the busiest. I’ve been getting up at 6:45 every morning to either go to yoga or my education practicum class and I finally get to stop working at 5:00pm. (Sounds almost like the real world, right? Getting up early, working all day, coming home, cleaning and stuff…) Even on the weekends—and this weekend Sunday was an all-day Calculus notes marathon—there is some schoolwork to do. Oh, the college life…

Other news:
I just got my placement for the Education practicum class; I’m going to be an aide for a bilingual kindergarten class! I haven’t even started yet (first day is Thursday) and I’m already thinking about a teaching career. To be honest, I think I’m just in love with the idea of a teacher’s wardrobe, well, my idea of their wardrobe.

But before I stepped out onto the “field," I had to go shopping for dress pants because we’re not allowed to wear jeans on assignment at the elementary school. When I had brought back about 5 pairs of pants to try on in the fitting room, I wanted all of them but limited myself to two pairs that would go with every color. Thus victorious, I was prepared to pass by the dressing room attendant (how often do you get to do that?), when some unknown force caused me to look at the price tags. Who knew that dress pants could be $108? I turned around to hand back 4 of my fabulous finds, no, no they didn’t work out after all…thanks. Well, at least I don’t think I’ll have any problem getting to the school, but lately I’ve had bad luck with directions.

Nancy and I were restaurant bound about two weeks back (the trauma of it all has subsided enough that I now feel calm enough to write about it). It was a seafood place that seemed like a straight shot up the highway, turn right, you’re there. And we made it. The only problem was the big FOR LEASE sign on the building. So we turned around and headed back the way we came. Only we ended up in Helotes, way west of Trinity, outside of San Antonio. Many circlings and stops later, we found La Cantera, the most expensive shopping center ever. Thankfully, we are both addicted to shopping and had been there before and could find our way back. Or, should say, I found the way back. Nancy is no help as far as directions are concerned. I just wanted to state that for the record in case anyone should get the idea to hire her as a campus guide or something. Not that I should talk, I hardly know how to get around all of El Paso. Gosh, what a picture we must have made: two nuts in the car, hopelessly lost and hungry…I guess somedays Mabee is the safer, if more bland, alternative. Hopefully our future ventures are successful. I’ll let you know.

Favorite quote this week:
"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing." Johnny Carson

Posted by Bianca at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)