it's like this, cat

Congratulations to me, I woke up on time today! I ate my breakfast, caught my bus, and even had time to get coffee and print out my essay in the library before heading up to the third floor for work. I was right on time, but my boss was running a little late, so I hung out in the reading room in the archives and learned about papyri. It was pretty cool. Then I finally got to work for the first time, editing the catalogue list of documents owned by Hasan Fathy but not written by him. He was a famous Egyptian architect, you can read more about him here. The catalogue was legible, but inconsistently formatted and with a lot of mistakes made by the person who wrote it out, who definitely wasn't a native speaker of English and had probably never heard of MLA format. I basically have to work through the whole thing (twelve boxes of documents) and double check all the information between the catalogue, the folder labels, and the documents themselves, then fix all the mistakes in some consistent way. Should be fun. And for two dollars an hour, the Rare Books and Archives department is certainly getting their money's worth.

On my way to the bus this morning, I ran into a car and hurt my hand, scraping a bunch of skin off. Ouch. It'll probably be an impressive blue or purple tomorrow. I hope so, at least. Bruises aren't any fun if no one else knows they're there.

poor hand

My worst class (Egyptian Lit) was actually moderately interesting today. I don't know what made it that way, other than the fact that we were discussing the most hilariously negative pieces of literature I've ever read. Apparently, when things went wrong in ancient Egypt, they went really wrong. The lamentations we read included mentions of crocodiles eating women and children, all the stored grain being stolen from the tax collectors, and the Asiatics from the east invading and killing all the good Egyptians. Tough luck, huh? A lot of what we read was allegorical, but it was still really interesting to see what the Egyptians viewed as the world turned upside down.
Maggie and I ate dinner in the cafeteria tonight, and met a new friend. Yay.

courtyard cat decided to join us (no, i didn't give him that food)

The cat from the courtyard (at least I think it's the same one) somehow managed to get inside the cafeteria and was stalking its way between all the tables meowing incessantly and stretching out its claws. It was really freaky, and I didn't want it anywhere near me.* Unfortunately, the cat seemed convinced that I would give it food, and it stayed pretty close.

going to stalk someone else for scraps

Eventually, he lost interest in me, and moved on to other tables to beg. At one of those tables, he actually got food, and the girl sitting there even started petting him. Ew, ew, ew, ew. I can't really imagine anything more gross to do in Egypt than petting a street cat, except for maybe gargling with Nile water or licking the street. Did she want to get fleas or rabies or goodness knows what else? Did she have a death wish? I'll never know. Eeeeeewww.

That was pretty much my whole day. Fun fun fun all around. On the other hand, after tomorrow, I get a whole day off, with no essay to work on or anything! As long as I never see that damn cat again.

*You know that kid's book It's Like This, Cat? My version goes It's Like This, Cat: Get Away From Me And I Won't Call Security to Kick Your Kitty Butt Out of the Dorms For Good. Pretty catchy, huh?