Lunch with a classmate

This was another one of those days that started out unpromisingly and soon became a good day. At dance I was tired and lacking energy. I said I was hungry, and Sarah said she was hungry too. So I asked her if she was craving anything in particular. She said pad thai. That sounded good to me, too. Over the course of a few phrases and runs across the room we worked out a plan (I needed to go home and get money) to meet and have lunch.

I rarely get a chance to really chat with class acquaintances, and I’ve been really curious about my dance classmates, so this was an extra-nice treat. It’s funny, but Sarah-in-normal-setting seemed quite a different person from Sarah-at-dance. Fortunately I like both Sarahs. We had a pleasant and interesting chat, then she had to go to class. I was all energized and didn’t feel like going home yet, so I lingered. I tried on clothes at Bancroft Clothing–a pale yellow bias-cut linen skirt, a dark pink and black striped cotton ribbed tank, and a slinky black dress. Didn’t buy anything, but it was fun to play dress-up. Then I stopped by Bath and Body Works and washed my hands with their ginger soap, then lotioned them with their fig hand cream. It’s a pretty color, that hand cream. Also didn’t buy it, though. I’ve been itching to buy, though, lately. I’m not sure why. I think maybe my money shortage of the past few months has made me feel deprived, and now I want to make up for lost time. ;b Ugh, how horrible, I know. So I went to the Friends of the Library Bookstore (in that alley by Cheese’n’Stuff and University Copy) and spent $3.00 on four books and two old postcards instead. 🙂 I love used-book stores, and library-run ones have the best deals. One of the books I bought was a new-looking paperback copy of Tracy Chevalier’s Girl with a Pearl Earring. I also bought an old postcard that had been written on just because it struck me as such a mysterious and interesting historical document. That sounds fancy but it’s like this: there’s a painting of a girl on it, Robert Henri’s “Dutch Girl in White”. On the back, a handwritten message reads: “This girl has a quality that reminds me of you –” and that’s it. No address, no mention who the card was to or from, or what their relationship was. So I bought it to look at and think about. Only twenty-five cents after all.

After I got home I didn’t feel like going to classes, so I showered and hung out here instead. At five I had to go to Haas to participate in an experiment I signed up for. Nothing fancy, you just play a computer simulation of an auction. They want to know how people react in economic situations. The experiment was not well run or explained, and had a glitch in it, so they just paid us all a flat fee of $7.50 (we’re supposed to get paid based on whether we make good decisions in the simulation), which is just enough to cover my lunch with Sarah and leave me twenty cents extra for my trouble. 🙂

I think I should also mention that I have a job now. I just started this week, though officially I was hired the last week of October. I work in Doe Library, but if you want to know in what department you will have to ask me. It’s not a job where I deal with patrons directly, so there’s no chance of dropping into the library and seeing me behind the desk. But it’s a fun job for me because it’s in a department I’ve had some interaction with, thanks to my research, so it’s really fun to be behind the scenes for a change.

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]