Poison Ivy!

Yesterday I got home from work and realized just how itchy my upper right eyelid was. Looking a little closer in the mirror, I could see that the entire surrounding area was pink & raw. I decided to just 'not touch the affected area' for the night and see if it went away.

Of course, this morning I woke up and realized that I *had* been scratching all night while I was asleep. Of course, this has happened to me before. In 2002 I was at my parents' house and got a facefull of airbourne poison ivy.

So, I went to the walk-in clinic at Mass General Hospital, which opens at 9:30. I was #6 in line, and did some of my Organizational Behavior homework in the waiting room. Now, 2 hours later, I look like a half-moon cookie, as one half of my face is covered in calomine lotion.

I've also got some steroids, extra strength benadryl pills and aveeno lotion. Plus I've been wiping down everything I touch with Clorox wipes to prevent spreading poison ivy to anyone else.

So, now the question is will this get better before Monday? I don't think I can show up to work with a huge rash on my face.

Sick already (and it's only mid-September).

Yup, I've got a cold - along with a few other people in my office. I guess we're trailblazing this season's latest cold strands. I've been drinking lots of green tea and I just took a dayquil.

Truthfully, this is terrible timing, as I'm still getting into the swing of going to school again, and I really need enough energy to:

a) Work 40 hours a week
b) Attend class 6 hours a week
c) Complete 20 hours of homework a week
d) All the other errands and things I need to do (like grocery shopping and laundry)

School is great though, and I really love my new classmates. It's nice to know that I chose the right graduate program. Anyway, now it's time for some homework.

Painting problems.

A good friend of mine just moved into an apartment above me. She and I went to Bennington College together for two years (she transferred in her Junior year). At any rate, I think it's safe to say that she's the only person I've kept in touch with from college.

Well, yesterday I helped her paint a small room while she took on another small room. When she was finished with her walls, she realized that the green she had purchased make her bedroom look like the inside of a summer camp cabin.

We went back to the paint store to get a new shade, perhaps the equivalent to Restoration Hardware's "atmosphere blue." Of course, what ended up on the wall can be best described as "baby blue."

Needless to say, she'll probably have to make a third trip back to the hardware store for yet another slew of paint samples. This time last year I was doing the exact same thing - I painted my room "swimming pool blue" by accident. Within 12 hours I was painting it back to antique white.

Today was my first day of class. It's so exciting to be back in a traditional classroom environment. Although I'm very proud of the amount of learning I've done through my professional work, it's very exciting to finally get a nuts & bolts MBA.

My undergraduate experience was quiet different. Classes contained no more than 20 students and being an active participant involved speaking anywhere between 5 and 10 times per session. Now, in a much larger school, I am finding that classes contain over 50 students, so I will probably only have one or two opportunities to contribute per class.

Another huge difference between undergrad & the MBA program is that I was primarily a visual arts student. Classes typically involved presenting our work on a bi-weekly basis and receiving critical feedback from our peers.

In the MBA program, we will instead be focusing on team projects. Gone are the days of working in strict isolation. But this is good - it's important to be able to work with others to create a product or solve a complex problem.

So, I'm still buzzing with excitement, but now I need to try to force myself to get to sleep. I still have to work a regular 9-5 tomorrow.

Well, the summer is pretty much over. Here are some movie lists:

Movies that I saw:

1) The Lake House
2) The Devil Wears Prada
3) My Super Ex-Girlfriend
4) John Tucker Must Die
5) Scoop
6) Prairie Home Companion


And of course, a list of movies that I plan to see this fall in theaters:

1) The Illusionist
2) Little Miss Sunshine
3) Lassie

Now, just for the record, I know that it seems strange to put Lassie on a list with those last two movies. However, reviews for this remake have been extremely favorable. Currently Lassie is in a very limited release, but if it comes to Boston, you can count on me attending a late screening (to avoid the kids, of course).

Yesterday I was on the phone with my parents. We talked for a few minutes about a restaurant in Middlebury, VT that had mysteriously caught on fire and burned to the ground. It's stunning, because we have so many memories of that restaurant. I still remember hunting for easter eggs in the creek behind the restaurant when I was 4 or 5.

Back in the 80's, we used to spend a lot of time in Middlebury. My sister and I took pottery lessons at a renovated mill on Saturday mornings. We'd usually also end up at this old soda shop (no longer in operation either) or in one of the several bookstores.

At any rate, I haven't lived in Vermont in well over two years, and it's really strange to see just how much things can change. Even though I spent 19 years in Northern Vermont, I feel a much stronger connection with the southern half of the state. Less people, fewer strip-malls, more trees, small brick towns, white houses. I was only there for four years, but it feels like home.