I suppose I could update you on how I went home for Mother’s Day or how NPH had quite a successful birthday on Tuesday, but at this point: I’VE GRADUATED, BITCHES– and that’s really all that matters. If you are looking for a gift, please send cash, checks, yen, gift cards, IOUs, and spare change to my home address. I will also consider it a gift if you never ask me, “What are you doing after graduation?” “Ooh, what does that company do?” “Where are you going to live?” “Who’s going to take Fergus?” “What’s Neil doing?” or, possibly my favorite, “Are you two going to stay together while you live in different cities?” I’m quite seriously considering printing out the answers to all of the above frequently asked questions on index cards and passing them out at the graduation festivities my mother has planned that will span all three days of next weekend. Seriously, just say “Congrats” and pass me a beer. You automatically win the game.

Speaking of German stuff, Deutsche Bahn cancelled my Bahn Card. Cue the Hallelujah chorus! I’d emailed them a very painful, “Hi, sorry my German’s pretty bad, could you cancel my card since I’m not in the country anymore,” email on the day after it was scheduled to be renewed (oops) and today got a reply. Apparently you’re supposed to notify them six weeks prior to the renewal date, but were considering this an “exceptional circumstance” and cancelling it as an “act of goodwill.” For as much as those people love rules and reprimanding those who don’t know or follow them, this is all nothing short of a miracle. I hope they had a lovely guffaw over my email and lack of general knowledge about the runnings of their system, but I now retract everything I previously said in hatred about the Deutsche Bahn.

I made NPH and I spaghetti for dinner last night while watch the State of the Union (Obama rocked it) and Teen Mom 2 (boring episode) because I’m the epitome of domesticity. It was awesome, one of those foods I forget exists and never eat often anyway, but once I did I was all, “This is ausgezeichnet!” (Which Google Translate is showing me means ‘awarded’ but so obviously means ‘excellent’.)

…and for all of you Millenials over there, head on over to The Next Great Generation where it’s 90s week and you can read cool posts about Hey Arnold and stuff. I really, really liked Hey, Arnold!

The first week of classes went by pretty unremarkably (Wordpress is still me that’s spelled wrong, but Dictionary.com says it’s an acceptable adverb. Huh.) though I did get to do the add/drop slip dance on Thursday because one of my classes was already unbearable and not looking to get much better. I realize I could have just sucked it up, but it’s my last semester here, people; my lack of interest in the subject combined with the workload was setting me up for quite the uphill battle I had no intention of attempting. TURNS OUT the boyfriend and I have two classes together, one is a really fun elective that nearly everyone I know is taking, the other is a political science class from a professor I enjoyed last semester. At first I think we (ok, probably just he) were like ehhhh that’s weird, but it’s really not that bad. It’s not like we can sit there and gab like besties– we’re in a class like any other, it just turns out I might get walked home by the person sitting next to me afterward. I feel this will also work hugely to my advantage around test time because he’s a diligent student who does the readings, whereas I spend my time “studying” harassing him for pretzel M&Ms and checking out job opportunities in Boston.

Speaking of moving far away places, Roomie Lauren has some amazing opportunity to move to Dublin because she rocks socks at well, everything, and last night I was all omgI’llcomewithyou and we’ll make a fabulous life in Ireland together! Because ok, we may have been at a bar. We shook on and it were dreaming of Irishmen and lush hills of Guinness all evening, so this morning I decided to Google “moving to Dublin.” Turns out Dublin’s one of the most expensive cities in the world, and it’s not all that easy to just up and move to another country. She’s still sleeping so I won’t interrupt her clover-filled dreams, but I’m probably going to stay Stateside, at least for a while until I can afford more than a shack and a half-passable work visa.

Oh and shout-out to my family already in Hawaii and those will be soon arriving for a wedding!!

Today I’m thankful for our country’s service men and women– past, present, and future. I certainly don’t have the guts to do what they did, are doing, will do, so for that I commend them and say a very Happy Veterans’ Day.

And finally, if you’re looking for a much deeper, readable, kick-ass blog post than any you will find on this site, head on over to Meryn’s blog and get caught up on Stuff Black Ladies Like inspired by a brilliant hashtag on Twitter. Don’t get me started on Twitter trending topics, especially sponsored ones (or ones like, for example, #nicknamesinmyphone, which is currently trending. The only nickname I have in my phone is T-Bone for my mother. No one on Twitter would get that, and since all tweets are being documented by the Library of Congress, I feel I don’t need to waste their time with telling them so. I do, however, sometimes feel it necessary to tweet about what I’ve just eaten, any medical situations– real or imagined– I may be facing, and Fergus’ every move.) Uhhh, in conclusion, Meryn’s going places in life, whereas I just consider the fact that I had a bagel for breakfast a giant WIN.

“I know I would be if I had to spend that much time with the Jonas brothers.” –Rachael, on the likelihood that Demi Levato entered rehab for being coked out of her mind.

Yesterday I had my final pre-registration meeting with my academic adviser for my LAST semester of college. I had the dilemma of choosing between one really hard class that would most likely be quite beneficial to my eventual career, or choosing a pretty cushy class since the likelihood of me being able to give a damn any more than I currently do is about -500%. The jury’s still out on which I’ll get into/ register for. I’m pretty excited to fill up my final 13 credit hours with superfluous electives– fitness walking, anyone?

Fergus is three months old today! And he’s getting huge. And by huge I mean long and kinda fat, but only fat in really weird places. And by that I mean he looks pregnant.

I’m pretty excited about this week for many reasons. Tomorrow is my chance to redeem my less than stellar midterm grade because we’re having another one. Afterward, there’s a BIG EVENT for another of my classes– the thing we’ve been working on all semester, the thing I’ll be quite glad is over. After that, not to jinx myself, it will be smooth sailing until my one final in December. I’ll have regular homework and stuff for both of my jobs, but the big projects will be done-zo.
This weekend I went back to where I interned for the summer and put in some mad hours at their annual Halloween event. I was surprised to come back and find Fergus had grown a lot in like 72 hours. He’s taking to running/bounding/careening from room to room since his legs have finally grown a bit. I have zero interest in Halloween this year, but it’s the last weekend I’ll be in Iowa City until… December? so will make the most of it. I’ll half-ass a costume last minute at best.
OH and I got a B+ in one of my classes that just ended. While normally I wouldn’t be psyched about this, it’s pretty high for the amount of effort I put into it which was next to nothing (it was for my major which was now a minor which I chose to finish out only because it was just an eight week course.)
There you go, Natalie– not exciting, but a post nonetheless. Time to do my readings for my test tomorrow… ha… nervous laughter.