bread mold is healthy, right? like penicillin?

I went to work again this morning. Organizing/editing wasn't as simple as last time, mainly because I finished the first few catalogue pages I was given, and more had to be printed out, except the new ones were kind of backwards, and still had the tags for html all over them. So that was fun. In short, I've now gone through boxes 1, 2, 3, half of 4, half of 6, 9, 10, and 11, which leaves four and two halves boxes to do on Wednesday and Thursday. That's pretty good progress I think. Then I can (hopefully) get on a computer and actually make the edits for real, instead of just on paper with a pencil. The library was also freezing this morning. I was wearing real shoes and socks, not just sandals, and my toes were numb by the time I was leaving.
Classes were fine today, except for some minor angst in my ling class regarding extra points awarded to those who showed up for class last Thursday instead of going on vacation. A fair point was made by a classmate, who brought up the syllabus and pointed out that we can all miss three classes without being penalized by the professor, according to 'the contract' that we are all a part of, including him. I think the argument was pretty reasonable, but it basically got shot down, with the professor overruling 'the contract' as if it didn't apply when he didn't want it to. That's his prerogative, he's the teacher, but I don't think I agree with him.
Okay, remember Sons of Admirals? I posted their video for 'Here Comes My Baby' a long time ago. Now they are apparently an internet sensation, according to the Sun newspaper. The had a live performance at the Sun, and recorded some acoustic songs, my favorite of which is posted below. Please watch the video, because it will make you happy. Or it will if you like these guys:

And these guys:

Sons of Admirals singing the theme song from Arthur? Yes please!
So, basically, hearing this song at school made my day. And then my day/month/year/whatever was made even more awesome by hearing what the teefury shirt for today is. In case you don't know, teefury is a website that sells a different shirt every day, for that day only. Once the day is over, you can't buy that shirt ever again. And this is today's:

Yes, I bought it. How could I not? Really? Of course, I won't actually have it for a while, since risking it in the mail to Egypt is not a good idea. I'll get it when I get home. A welcome home gift to me! And something to look forward to when I discover it again after I forget all about it in the next eight months.
The bus ride home today was interesting, because I got one of the very last seats on the bus, right up at the very front. I took the opportunity to film a bit of average Cairo traffic for you. Actually, this is quite a bit tamer than average, since at some points, you can see the road.

When I got home, I decided that instead of buying dinner, I would just eat some of the pita bread that I bought at the grocery store. The good news is, it tasted really good. The bad news is, I got through half a piece before I realized that what I was tasting was mostly mold. Oops. I don't know why I'm grossed out by stray cats but not by eating mold (at least not that grossed out), but I am. Go figure. Just in case I have to say it, I did throw the rest away when I found the mold, promise.
As a special treat to those of you who love Arthur, here's another classic. [warning: do not watch this video unless you are prepared to have a fairly annoying, if entertaining, song stuck in your head for a very long time.]

Also, if anybody noticed, sorry for the late blog tonight. I went out with friends and had fun instead of staying home and doing homework. I might have to make a habit of this, actually, since I had a great time. And now I'm friends with a bunch of Europeans who I never knew before. Good times.

alternate universes, some with socks (and porphyrophobia)

In a thousand thousand alternate universes, I'm climbing Mt. Sinai right now. Of course, if I'm going to go quantum here, in a few thousand universes, I'm wearing socks, or didn't do my laundry today, or slept in till noon, or didn't choose to listen to wonderful music on the internet all day while I did my homework. None of those things are true, and I can say I'm pretty happy that's so. Except for the socks, it's kinda cold in here.
Okay, now I've got socks on.
I've decided that if a song can make me laugh at the beginning and cry at the end and be 1 minute and 38 seconds long, it should be posted on my blog, and possibly be my new favorite song. So here. And here.

I don't really know why it made me cry, honestly. It's sad, but it's cheerful, so I'm a little bit confused. Maybe that's why.
Today was a good weekend day to spend at home and not on vacation. I got all my laundry done in a timely fashion, except for the last bit that I left in the dryer for 45 minutes too long. Oops. Thankfully someone was sensible and put it on top for me, so I didn't feel too bad. I used the sixth floor washer and dryer today, marking the first time I have done my laundry all on one floor. The sixth floor washer has its  quirks, just like the fifth floor one does, except instead of the door not opening properly, on sixth floor, it doesn't close. I tell you, every day is an adventure here.
I got all my homework done today, and managed to catch up on my television shows too. Big Bang Theory is excellent, as usual, and so is House, but Bones leaves a little bit to be desired. Can they finally just get together already, please?
Aside from work and tv and laundry and cleaning, I really didn't have anything else to do today, which was a little disappointing. My friends were busy, so I couldn't go out, and today just wasn't the right day for me to wander around getting stared at and possibly harassed all by myself.
Here is another song for you, one that I've been waiting to post forever, because it has obvious spoilers for the Doctor Who series 5 finale, so I had to wait until Maggie finished watching the series. She'd watch it anyway, spoilers or not, and I'm strictly anti-spoiler, so that just wasn't going to work. But now she's done, so (finally) here is The Big Bang 2, by Charlie McDonnell:

Listening to this song honestly makes me miss my ukulele. Out of all the things I left at home (sunscreen and extra peanut butter included), my uke is the one I most wish I had brought with me. I was worried about packing it, and taking it on the plane, which is silly, because now I would gladly risk it on a plane, just to have it here now. That would give me lots more to do in my free time than take naps, and would have the benefit of being entertaining and productive for me, and simultaneously horrendously annoying to anyone within earshot. Win-win, right?
Anyway, I really want to learn to play Big Bang 2 when I get my uke again (hopefully at winter break), and I've actually already learned all the chords for it, that's how pathetic I am. Sad. I can wait three months, though. Since I have no other choice. Unless Geoff lets me borrow his mandolin... (Just kidding! I can't play mandolin.)

complaining - a good way to get what you want?

Sometimes, complaining seems like the only way to get stuff done at AUC. If you talk to the right people at the right time and tell them your problems and make a big enough deal about it, your problem will most likely get solved. This is fairly contrary to the way I generally go about getting things done in the States. It does seem to work in Egypt, though, sometimes in magical ways.
For instance, I was talking to my friend today about scholarships, and how I hadn't even been told of the result of the largest scholarship I applied to, even though it was long past the notification date. Not three hours later, I checked my email in the library to find that I had been accepted for the scholarship. Clearly, my complaining about it made it happen. What else could it be? Crazy random happenstance, maybe.
The scholarship is for international students studying Egyptology at AUC, and I didn't really expect to get it when I applied, because I'd heard that the competition was really intense. I'm so excited, though, because I've never won anything like this before! As long as crazy Egyptian/AUC-ian bureaucracy doesn't screw things up, everything should go great. It's a big relief since I was starting to wonder about money for my travels around Europe this winter break, but now I don't have to. Yay!
I also studied for my map quiz in the library today. Thankfully the quiz turned out to not be today, but at least I've already started studying. Here's one of my practice maps, and my tempting alternative to studying, no matter how many times I've already read it:

which looks like a better use of my time?

Today on campus all the students in the plaza, including myself, were treated to an impromptu guitar and singing duet of that classic American tune "Rockstar", by Nickelback. I'd post the video here, but I really can't stand that song, so I won't. I'm sure you know it, though. The guys who were playing looked like they were having fun, though, so good for them. I certainly wouldn't be brave enough to play that song (or any other, for that matter) in public that loudly.

yay for enthusiastic covers of sucky songs!

After I got home, I met up with my friends to go out to dinner. Well, I say dinner. I mean waffles. Well, I say waffles. I mean waffles covered with chocolate. Well, I say chocolate. I mean nutella and ice cream. Yeah. That's what I mean. It was delicious, and while I probably won't substitute it for dinner again, I'll definitely go back for dessert!

waffles and nutella = love (probably a bad life strategy...)

And that's it for this Monday. Tomorrow is my day off, and I'm planning on sleeping in for as long as possible, and maybe taking a trip to the Cairo Museum. I'll let you know!

(Also, since maybe my luck will hold, I'm going to complain about something else: my roommate goes to bed so early! I hate to disturb her, but to avoid that, I have to leave the room completely just to talk to my family on Skype or do my Arabic homework. I feel like I can't say that she's disturbing me by going to sleep, because I know that's a horrible thing to say, but still. I would rather her wake me up in the middle of the night by coming in late than her go to bed early and force me out of the room. I guess that's just because I'd rather have something real to complain about, huh? Yeah, I'll stop whining now. Sorry.)

borders recommended this to me today.
get your own ideas, james patterson!

a ramble on various topics

Today was ridiculously procrastination filled. I got up on time, got ready on time (probably because I didn't have to worry about my roommate, since I haven't seen her in three days - or does that mean I should worry about her?), and caught the bus on time.
Then I got to school, and promptly started procrastinating. In my defense, it's not like there was a lot of stuff I actually had to get done, but I sure didn't do any of it at all. I read the entire internet (the parts of it that I frequent, anyway), at least three times today - once on a library computer in the morning, once on a library computer in the afternoon, and once on my iPod touch on the bus ride home. I have to say, it is incredibly sad and pathetic that I get better internet on the bus than I do sitting in my dorm room. In my room, it can take ten minutes to watch a three and a half minute youtube video, not to mention how long it takes to actually upload one! On the bus, I can watch that same video in three and a half minutes, and that is how the internet is meant to work. Yes, I remember dial-up, and I know that almost any wireless connection I have is infinitely better than what we had with AOL, but the world has moved on, and my generation demands better internet. How else will we be able to watch our illegal US tv shows the same night they air at home (or rather, the same morning, Cairo time)? How else will we be able to skype with our friends and families without the call connection being lost, the sound fading out, or the picture freezing into hilariously pixeled parodies of our loved ones? The point is, I guess, while there may be nothing I can do about it in real life, whatever internet connection I have does at least allow me to post my complaints about it to my blog, and I guess that's all I need. (Except for the tv shows. We all need those.)
The three and a half minute video in question:

Wow, I really did not expect to write that much about really nothing at all. Sorry if that was really boring. The rest of this post probably won't be much better!
33.33% of my class time today was interesting, which I guess is okay, since some days, like Monday and tomorrow most likely, are 0% interesting. In Dramatic Literature we discussed Antigone, which I really liked because I haven't really discussed that play since high school, and getting a different perspective on it was neat. The professor for that class is hilarious too, and he's really good at getting the other students and me to get to conclusions ourselves, instead of just telling us what to think about the plays. I'm the only American student in that class too, so it's almost like my perspective on the plays is always a little bit off from what the rest of the class thinks from an Egyptian standpoint. It's kind of nice actually, because it means that I almost always have something to say. I'll be getting my participation points this semester! (Actually, it's a little hard not to get participation points in any of my classes, just because they're all so tiny. I guess that's a good thing?) For example, I used the word 'blustery' to describe a character in Antigone today, and got props for it. I almost wonder if it's just the fact that while all the students in the class are fluent in English, I may be the only one who thinks in it. That's almost weird to contemplate. Does everyone always think in their native language (outside of language classes, anyway) or do people ever think unconsciously in a language they didn't learn as a child? This is a serious question, my friendiss, one which will have to be explored as soon as I learn to read people's minds...
Well, that was pretty much the most rambling and disjointed blog post ever. Pretty sure there were some beginnings of thoughts up there that never got finished. Will I go back and check? No. I kind of like it.
My blogs for the past few days have been lamentably short of pictures, or at least that's how I feel. I'll do my best to take a few snapshots tomorrow if I see anything interesting.
I haven't posted a MIKA video yet, but I've been listening to his stuff a lot. Here you go:

Thanks for reading and commenting!