Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas, everybody. Or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanza, or happy winter solstice, or at the very least happy time off of work/ school!! :)

I'm at home for a couple of days and it's very nice. My parents got a new kitten who is very friendly. She likes to cuddle up next to you and purr and nuzzle your face. My kitten, Alice, isn't too thrilled though. She's grouchy with me, so I just gave her a ton of catnip and now she is purring and has consented to sit on the futon that my parents bought to replace my bed (since I took it to Platteville and all). Went to midnight church service with my sister... that was very fun as always. Did the family thing earlier... can you believe I got a *HANNAH MONTANA* shirt from my grandma? In her defense I doubt she even noticed it was H.M. or even knows who she is. But it's still funny. >:)

Good night everyone!!

Break!!

It feels so strange, honestly. I go to work and get home late and I still have this vague sense of... having things to do, like school-wise, but I'm *done*!! For a month, anyway. It's a very strange sensation. Hard to get used to... after four months of like, pressure and stress. Time to relax, and I don't even know how!!

I have off from today through Christmas Day, so w00t for that. :) I am going home today after I get my lazy butt up and get a few things done. I need to go to Tomah sometime as well, to see my friend who is back from the army. That will have to wait till after Christmas though, I think. *sigh*

I hope you all have a lovely break!

Update

Milio's does in fact deliver. Other places that deliver include:

Los Amigos

Asian Cafe (no soup with delivery though, which is why we always go to the restaurant--can't miss the soup!!)

Chicago's Best (possibly)

Pizza Hut/ Dominos (obviously)

That's all I know on that, for now!! :)

Exams Week

The snow is probably not going to interfere with any of my exams, which is good. Fortunately last week there was a bad freezing rain situation that prevented two of my classes from taking place, which rather saved my butt in some respects.

You rarely luck out like that, though, so listen to me when I tell you to do your homework, kids.

Really, just mostly keeping up with your homework--and your READING--does wonders. If I had read the three Shakespeare tragedies that we studied the 2nd half of the semester more carefully, I probably wouldn't feel so uneasy about the exam I took yesterday afternoon.

I have only a few things left to do. I have my Minority Women Writer's exam tomorrow (need to look over notes for that one), my Major English Author's exam on Thursday (need to prepare for the essay question on that one), an assignment for Tech Writing, and a paper for Major English Authors. I need to go to the Writing Center for that one, first. I need to do that tomorrow. I also need to get my furniture moved tomorrow. My roommate's cat pees on a lot of my stuff, and rips her claws into the expensive furniture that my parents/aunt gave to me. Ugh!! I rented a storage shed and need to get that stuff transfered. Hopefully my father remembers to bring his truck up tomorrow. I should text him.

More later!!

<3>

More up

Platteville Dining Options :)

By the way, have I ever mentioned what *is* available for eating places in Platteville?

We have a couple of good ones. Supposedly we're getting an Applebee's eventually, but that might just be a rumor.

Anyway, for fast food we have the usual: Taco Bell/KFC, McDonald's, Culvers, Dairy Queen, Subway (one at Wal-mart and by itself), Pizza Hut, Dominos, Unos, etc.

For medium type places we've got three main ones: Asian Cafe, Fiesta Cancun, and Chicago's Best, all of which I love to pieces. Asian Cafe is the most popular as they have a spectacularly fantastic lunch menu: soup (egg drop or hot and sour), rice (fried or white), and entree for only $5. It's amazing. Fiesta Cancun is Mexican of course, and Chicago's Best is sit down sandwiches style.

And for late-night eateries we have Milio's and Los Amigos and Steve's Pizza. Milio's is subs of course, Los Amigos is a smaller, less fancy version of Fiesta Cancun, and Steve's Pizza is, well, pizza. All three of these are on or very near Main Street, so generally within walking distance of campus, in case you don't own a vehicle. And of course Dominos delivers late. I think Milio's delivers, too, but I'd have to check with my pals Jerry and KC on that one. :) I'll get back to you and let ya know!! :) :)

Laura

Dubuque

Dubuque.

It's where all the cool kids go for their shopping needs. Ones that can't be met in P-vegas (as it is so affectionately called), that is.

Scott and I went there tonight, to do a little Christmas shopping. The clearance section at Hot Topic is great. And Spencer's is right next door! Then Scott got blind-sided by one of those guys selling nail kits, so he bought one for his sister. He called his brother and found out that a similar thing happened to him (his brother) the other day, haha!

Before that we went out to eat at Cici's. It's like a pizza buffet. It's OK for a once-in-awhile thing, if you really feel like pizza. The brownies were good. Personally, I prefer the Olive Garden and the Ground Round, both of which are also in Dubuque. If you like sushi, my friend Zach found a really nice sushi place there. It was good, but I was still hungry when we left, and the smell of steak sizzling from the other side of the restaurant was more tempting to me. I'm really more of a red meat girl. My family is mostly German--I was raised on meat and potatoes.

These restaurants can get a little pricey though, so if you're looking for something cheap, I'd suggest... Arby's!! You can never go wrong with an Arby's!

A lot of people complain about the lack of eating/shopping that's available in Platteville, but really it's not that bad. Dubuque is only a 20 minute drive away. In Monroe, where I'm from, you have to drive at least 45 minutes to get to Madison or Janesville or anything like that. So a little skip across the Mississippi really is no big deal to me!! :)

Laura

Tired!

I am so tired. Obviously, it's 4:20 a.m. and I still haven't gone to bed yet. I'm so tired that I haven't even the energy to do my usual fun and fancy font, as you can see!!

I'm working on my poems for Poetry Writing right now -- the ones that will go into our anthology. I think they are actually good. Which is a shock, since I am terrible at writing poetry. I think the class really helped me: workshops are a fantastic way to learn. Everyone writes a poem once a week or once every couple of weeks, and then we all discuss them. Have I talked about this before? Anyway it's an excellent method of teaching and learning, and I truly love it. Everyone's ideas sounding off one another and zooming about the room--it's amazing. Wonderful. Glorious. And this isn't even me being sarcastic, I really mean it!!

If I'm ever fortunate enough to achieve my dream and become a writer/professor, I want to run lots and lots of workshops.

I'd like to do one right now, actually. I was a part of the Writer's Guild last semester, but our schedules are all too different now, so I'd like to keep it up online, but I'm having trouble getting my initially enthusiastic followers to, uh, keep following me. Anybody have any suggestions for me?

Laura

Snow, Snow, Snow

It snowed!! Finally. I love snow and winter. I'm lucky that I live on a street that only has parking on one side of the street, so I never get confused about which side to park on, or have to worry if I forget to move the car. Which is unlikely anyway, since I have to drive to work and class practically every day, but you know.

The nice thing about living on campus is that you don't have to worry about alternate side parking as much, either. They still have it, but only on specific times when it snows a great deal. Then they send out e-mail notifications and put up posters. It's not that hard to deal with, really. It's nicer than having to move it every day if there's no snow.

Of course, last year that wasn't the case (what with the ridiculous amounts of snow), so I always parked in a parking lot and only had to move the car when they plowed the lot. Again, they give you plenty of notice and reminders. It's not hard.

Call me crazy, but I rather hope this year is like last in the snowy respect. I *LOVE* snow. I couldn't get enough -- last year was a wintery paradise for me, if you can excuse the lame expression. Here's hoping for another ridiculously white winter wonderland year. :)