Wednesday, June 24, 2009

If I could have anything . . .

...anything at all right now, I would simply wish for 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Is that so much to ask?

Between traveling to Boston and back, the boot-camp-like regime of BU's orientation (even us parents had our every waking hour scheduled to the hilt!), and the "what-fresh-hellish-muckup-will-strike-next" motif that underscores my workdays these days, my body seems to have decided that the hours of 3:30 - 5:30 a.m. are best spent awake. My brain does not like this.

But Boston was lovely, and only slightly rainy. Once freed from the rigors of the indoctrination program at the University (we didn't drink the Kool-Aid), intellikid and I had a day and a half to further explore the city she'll call home for the next 4 years, financial assistance package willing.

On Friday, her shiny new college ID card got her free admission to the Museum of Fine Art, where we spent several hours before heading to Chinatown for dinner. Saturday we breakfasted at a coffee shop that was NOT Starbucks, and overheard the fellow at the next table say to his companion, "Sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but -- damndest thing -- I came down with the swine flu." To test the stalwartness of our own immune systems, we then went to the New England Aquarium, jammed ourselves in among the thousands of other visitors, and made inappropriate lip-smacking sounds while viewing tanks of crabs and other seafood.

To date we exhibit no symptoms of the H1N1 virus. But we're already sick of life back here in Bubbaville. Sadly, I am too tired to do anything about it.

8 comments:

  1. Considering what you have told us of Bubbaville, it's probably best that you aren't fully awake.

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  2. Wow. I only went to interviews at one university (Cambridge: hangover affected interview and on offer was not forthcoming), and parents weren't part of the package.

    They do appear a little more often at my current university, partly because the majority of students are local, but in general prospective students do it all on their own. We certainly don't need older, wiser heads counteracting our spiel!

    I've only visited Arkansas, but my parents have been to Boston several times because they were so impressed.

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  3. jaded, you are probably correct.

    PV - This orientation was for those who've already been admitted. We do have a sub-species of parent over here, however: the helicopter parent. These go so far as to write their children's admissions essays, call professors to appeal grades, and run all sorts of interference so that they "get their money's worth" out of the higher education system. The result is a bunch of whiny-assed juveniles who feel entitled to a college degree because they - or their parents - have paid for it. Is your uni hiring ? :-)
    (Too bad you didn't interview at Arkansas - the hangover might've been considered an asset!)

    Barnesm, exactly!

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  4. Everything I know about university I learned from Animal House.

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  5. IntelliW... I know how you feel. In my lottery winning fantasies, I dream of going off to some place quiet and sleeping for a week. Then, refreshed and loaded with cash, I can proceed to make an even bigger ass of myself. Probably, at least partly, in Boston, which along with San Francisco and Savannah is one of my favorite places in the country.

    Enjoy your blog and will hang around if you don't mind.

    P.S., I don't believe I would've told that part about smacking sounds at the aquarium.

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