Day Nine: The haze of senses that is the ends of your nerves

My back hurts. Simple statement. Lots of implications. One: I may be carrying too many schoolbooks at once. I had hoped to rememdy this bad habit (formed years ago in those evil Asian private schools) and so I stopped carrying a backpack so I wouldn't be tempted to pack more than I need (because sometimes students pack what they want, such as some type of distraction to keep themselves busy between classes). But I woke up this morning and just thought *OW!* I mean, my back has hurt intermittently over the past week or so, and I haven't seen my chiropractor in about a year, so my back would have worsened its general condition, said condition having been exacerbated ny carrying heavy books and working giant locks on the canals in England. Why it chose to flare up now when the physical exertion upon my back is the least, I have no idea. But my back hurts. Two: my range of movement has been limited. I was supposed to go to a polynesian club meeting tonight (but I'd be darned if I knew when or where it was supposed to be since all of the offices in the centrum have been relocated) and hear about some possible dancing jobs in the future, but it seems that dancing is not in my future in my current condition (and I don't need Brad to tell me that) and so I suppose it was best that I skipped anyway.

I also seem to be having trouble sleeping, waking in the night for no reason at all, and usually at ungodly hours, and then a few more times within an hour or so of when my alarm clock is supposed to go off. I'm not stressing or worrying about anything, because I know that when I'm stressed or worried I'll wake myself up in the middle of the night to worry about things. Perhaps it is because I am still acclimating myself to my new surrounding. However, the ability to sleep any time, anywhere is in my blood, and if I can fall asleep in awkward places (such as economy class on a 14 hour flight) then why should a nice, comfortable dorm room pose any problems? Although I've noticed in recent years that I have become a lighter sleeper, and university students do tend to keep strange hours, so perhaps I wake up when I hear the others in the building moving around.

I have been very productive today, if I may say so myself. I am ahead on my reading in Beowulf, and so I will be able to complete the worksheet for it tomorrow. I would have finished reading Beowulf tonight, but I am strangely tired considering how early it is, and when I saw that his funeral lasted for eight pages I decided to take a break and tackle his funeral tomorrow. But I completed my French homework as well, which somehow managed to take the better part of an hour because I was a little rusty on some of the verbs and had issues understanding one of the questions...if it continues like this, I will have to ask the evil French professor to properly explain the assignments in the future.

I have noted that Rodney has not attended French class several times now, but today he missed Early British lit as well, and that surprised me very much. I have some questions to ask him concerning Beowulf and other such things, and I don't really know where he lives, and he hasn't seen fit to have his phone connected, so I'm rather at a loss at this point. On the other hand, I had a strange conversation with the Jeremy person and his friend in a wheelchair at lunch. They told me about RPG-ing, the poetry reading at Groovacious that I missed and other random things in life. I must confess, I am at a loss as to why Benten ever found that man attractive. But they were nice enough, so it didn't really matter.

So far I have managed to keep four out of the five parts of the pledge thing I made. I randomly played some DDR today between classes, but in no way has my exercise regime been constant. I've been slacking a little on the reading as well, as tends to happen when I don't have a in institute or seminary class over the summer, but baby steps, right? I'll have it all down eventually. But the praying is going well, so, so far so good, ne?

Poor Hinata. She looked to beat when she got back from the computer lab. Poor girl has been up since half past five this morning. But she got to talk to her man, at least. She tried a strange herbal remedy on Oniko to try and help fix his cough. It involved onions and sugar and him drinking the syrup the two made when mixed together. He ended up downing it like a shot, much to the amusement of Benten and I, but that remedy didn't work, so Benten tried one of hers...and that didn't work either. She is now on a quest to find a guidebook that would tell her which herbs are local to this area, and where to find them.

My mad family has been exceptionally well-behaved today. Now that I think of it, I haven't seen Schu today...his flame-orange hair is hard to miss. Because I was being so productive on school work today, Brad had to handle his own paperwork. As for Farfarello...well, he entertained me by reading my verse translation of Beowulf in his thick Irish accent (the man who translated it was Irish) so I could appreciate its rhythmic qualities more. Although I must agree with my professor when she says that Heaney's translation begins rather limply with "so".

And Oniko and I started up with the Japanese lessons again. (And I see many eyebrows going up and question marks flying through the air. Don't ask.) So far so good. It was fun, but a little awkward with only two students, so we'll be out recruiting. The girl in my critical methods class who loaned me Ororon...I'll see if I can get her interested. Ororon is cool...I had Hinata and Benten reading it the same day I had it. Now all of us are dying for the fourth novel to come out. I think I'll let the manga girl (whose name I cannot remember, for the life of me) borrow the fourth novel in Ghost! as a gesture of gratitude. It seems a rather large number of English majors are otaku geeks...scary.

Well, that's enough from me for one night. I need sleep.

And my allergies are kicking in again. K'so!