(7) Wed Feb 02 2005 18:37 PST Well: I gave my two-week notice at Russo's on Monday. I have been thinking about it for quite some time, sue to my lack of just that, and I realised that if I want to be serious about pretty much any of the other, more important, things in my life, I needed to stop spreading myself so thinly, as much as I loved working there. So I told my manager this, and she was really friendly & understanding about it, saying of course she would give me wonderful references and I still get my employee discount and anytime I want to come back I have an open door. Yesterday everyone was so nice to me, telling me what a good employee I am and how much they will miss me and I better be sure to come right back the second I have time again! Overall it was a real ego-boost. Maybe I should quit more often? Haha.

What else... we are getting a new computer for the office here, which is exciting because this one is ancient and now we will have Office 2003 versus Office 5000 B.C. and all sorts of other good things. We have a new research assistant, her name is Aly and I quite like her. She is a European Studies major too, and from Bakersfield, although she's younger than me & went to a different high school. She also has an iBook and a pink iPod mini and likes Harry Potter and is generally cool. We are all wishing we could have bought an Apple for the office instead of a Dell, but such is life.

February is well under-way, but unfortunatley FebRuWriMo is not quite so much. I wonder if I can reset the wordometer and go on with it again this month? But I think I might not count words, and instead write everyday, aiming to finish some sort of a vague first draft, then set to the re-writing in March. We'll see. So far I have about 30 words. But I have decided (as suggested in No Plot No Problem, though not so specifically) that the snow leopard ears that were in my stocking will be my "writing" ears.

Thu Feb 03 2005 14:40 PST This rather reminds me of someone: “Orman had been taken to the hospital the day before with jaundice, but hadn’t liked it and had walked home in a downpour, cadging occasional lifts, which seemed to have cured her.”

Mon Feb 07 2005 13:15 PST Ahhh: I'm up to my ears in loan papers, and I can't make heads or tails of any of it!

(3) Thu Feb 10 2005 15:16 PST Query: Does anyone know of any good freesource software for cataloguing a home library?

(5) Fri Feb 11 2005 09:22 PST Woe!: Arthur Miller is dead. (I wonder how many people will go to his funeral?)

(3) Sat Feb 12 2005 23:03 PST I'm a nerd, and this just proves it: I spend most of today reading. I'm totally wrapped up in this book, The Balkan Wars, about, you guessed it, the Balkan Wars. I can't wait to find out what happens next!

I still remember the first time I was so wrapped up in a non-fiction book I wanted to stay in all day reading it. It was this summer, for work, The Roses of No Man's Land (I think I even wrote an entry on it, but am too lazy to look for it now.) It actually happens quite often now for work (which is awesome, cause I can read in bed all day and get paid for it!) Well, this is the first non-work book that I have stayed in with all day, and I can't wait to get back to it.

Coming tomorrow: Birthday wish-list. (Amazing, related to the rest of this post. You'll see.)

(2) Sun Feb 13 2005 22:31 PST Birthday Wish-list (something for everyone): Well, one month from today is that special day, my birthday. “Yippeee!” I am sure you are all thinking, followed by, “what should I buy Rachel?” I’ll make it easier for you (I have helpfully omitted such items as “a trip to London” and “my student loans paid off” from this list):

Books
Something from my Amazon Wishlist (searchable by rachnmi@gmail.com). I don’t mind used books as long as they are in good condition (price compare at bookfinder.com to find the cheapest on the internet!
A gift certificate to Russo’s. (This will come in handy for buying my copy of Half-Blood Prince.)
Something for my brand-new not-yet-begun rare book collection! That’s right… see the bottom of the list for details.

Yummies
A box of peppermint Dewars chews
A bag of milk chocolate with caramel Ghirardelli squares
Trader Joe’s Gift certificates

Vanity
A pair of editor pants from Express, size 1/2 reg, in any color but black, grey, icky brown or cream. Perhaps a cute pinstriped pair!
Something from LUSH. I use a lot of Retread and Veganese.

Here are some rare books I would like. I have been checking bookfinder at intervals for these with limited success. Perhaps those with rare bookstores in their vicinity might have better luck.
McLauren, Eva Shaw. A History of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals (1919).
Hutton, Isabel Emslie. With a Women’s Unit or Memories of a doctor in War and Peace.
Aldrige, Olive M. The Retreat from Serbia.
Corbett, Elsie. Red Cross in Serbia.
Anything by Freya Stark
The Letters of Gertrude Bell, any edition.
Actually, I'd like any rare-ish book written by a women or about WWI, or Europe in general... Old books are cool!

(1) Tue Feb 15 2005 16:52 PST Well, that was fast: I got three emails from schools today saying they recieved my application. They went out last wednesday, so thats 6 days at the most. Good job, airmail! Now I just have to wait.

Wed Feb 16 2005 19:40 PST Hey: I fed you pie; I’m allowed to betray you—Becca.: Well, today was a second sucessful writing session with Becks. Only she cheated, by not working on her story, but a different one (hence the quote). We only spent minimal time arguing about I-forgot-what (literary devices, maybe?) and were generally productive. So, ta!

Today I also went to a pilates class at le gym, and now I feel fab, and mom & I went to lunch at sushi place whose name I don't know. Yummers. I also went back to Russo's to buy some B-day gifts and was generally productive. Now I'm working on my summary for work.

We got a new computer for work and it is gorgeous. I love it. It could only be better if it was, I dunooo... a G5, maybe? But one can't complain. Of course, this means Access 2003 which I can't wait to play around with, and I will be super dedicated and get the database all nice and shiny and up-to-date. After that life will be a breeze! All we have to do is write an article, and then a book!

(1) Wed Feb 16 2005 20:25 PST Kitty: Cuddle muffins. So soft and cute.

(8) Thu Feb 17 2005 14:14 PST asdrtfgyhjkl;: Dear Rachel,
Further to seeing your application, the department has decided to make you an Unconditional Offer for a place on the Modern History MA starting September 2005... Best wishes,

Departmental Secretary
History Department, Room 336
King's College London

Does this mean what I think it means? I can't believe it... It looks too good to be true. I feel like someone must be playing an awful trick on me.

(1) Mon Feb 21 2005 13:08 PST Ugh: Gretel stepped on my purse this morning and now my phone is kind of broken, and I called Walgreen to refill my perscription, but the insurance won't cover me anymore.

But on the other hand, Susie helped me do henna last night, so I am a red-head again!

(1) Mon Feb 21 2005 23:57 PST Hum: I feel like someone raided hangers from my closet. Either my clothes have never all been cleean at once, or there aren't as many as there used to be.

(4) Tue Feb 22 2005 18:00 PST Check check: Ever since I stopped being a student, Wells Fargo is charging me $5 a month for the privledge of a checking account. I don't have direct deposit anymore, so I don't even get the $2 discount. This is really irritating me, and I want to move my paltry sums to a bank that has truly free checking. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Tue Feb 22 2005 18:48 PST STAB: Have wasted the last hour trying to apply for loan consoldation, filing out form after form only to have it dissappear into cyberspace, and than reaapear after I have filled it out again, in a most bizarre and terribley frustrating fashion. I HATE YOU DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't technology supposed to make our lives easier? STABSTABSTATABSTABSTABSTABSTABS

(3) Tue Feb 22 2005 22:56 PST Dear MS Word: Please stop complaining when I spell such words as "colour" with an extra "u," and PLEASE stop auto-correcting my realisations.

Anyway. Today was a productive day. I went to le dentist (also known as contributing to Robert's college funds) and to see Spongebob Square Pants at the dollar theatre (50 cent Tuesdays!) with Amanda, dragging her out of the house. I managed to get enough of my loan consolidation application filled out to request a paper P-note before giving up on the website (I even tried using IE to appease them!), which is a hugh cross-off on my to-do list. And, I'm almost done with my summary of Elsie Corbett, and I get to start writing in a new journal tonight since I filled up my last oen last night, which is always exciting, so yes, overall, a good day.

(4) Wed Feb 23 2005 17:34 PST I have a nice sister: When Susie & John were here this weekend we went to see Grandma. Grandma asked Susie to go through a box of earrings she was getting rid of, just as she had asked me to when I visited her two weeks previously, only at that time there was much more stuff in the box, such a stationary etc, hiding a ruby & gold ring, once belonging to Great-grandma Rachel, my namesake. I failed to notice the ring, but Susie didn't. Too make a long story short, after much squabbling Susie agreed to give me the ring if she never wore it; but then a few hours later she just gave it to me. Isn't she nice! I told her, I would have done the same, if it was her namesake's ring.

And thanks for all the Word advice; I actually knew I could do all that stuff, but then, I can't find that preferences area on my version of Office for Mac. I hate the smartquotes, they drive me crazy.

(1) Thu Feb 24 2005 12:07 PST I also have a nice brother-in-law: Who did my taxes even though they were a huge pain, and who convinced Susie to give me the ring :) Merci beaucoup.

Fri Feb 25 2005 14:42 PST Some good advice: Maud Mortimer (A Green Tent in Flanders), on difficulties in getting a travel permit: “At last in despair I go to Headquarters and all difficulties vanish. Always go to Headquarters. This is quite a tip to remember whenever you are most harassed by the creative genius from obstruction of lesser bureaucratic ways.”

Sun Feb 27 2005 22:30 PST The Balkan Wars (I should totally become a book reviewer): I finally finished reading it! I think it took me a while because it could have been a lot better written: it was repetitive in some sections, there were some simple fact checking that had not been done, it jumped around a lot chronologically with little explanation, and a lot of the military descriptions were dry and systematic, with lots of cities that weren't placed geographically, and no maps!

Also, while the book did a really good job of analyzing the Ottoman era and how this lead to a culture of violence and created territorial tensions that lead to the Balkan conflicts of the twentieth-century, the book basically stopped after the second Balkan war in 1913, only dealing with WWI, WWII, and the Balkan crisis of the 1990s in the epilogue. It was a great set-up with very little follow-through; I felt he could have done a lot more with exploring how the history of the region set-up the conflicts, and how they echoed in each other.

So yes, as predicted, I am now wanting to read The Balkan Wars II. I went through the bibliography and added a bunch of books to my wish list. I bet I can get most of them from the library, but I love to buy books from Amazon when they're el cheapo used but in good condition, because then they're MINE! Anyway, my birthday is two weeks from today!

But anyway, the thing I loved most about the book was the very end, in the last paragraph of the epilogue, when I was delighted and surprised to learn that the author, Andre Gerolymatos, eloquently espouses my own pet theory on how to establish peace in the Balkans:

Ultimately, the answer is not NATO occupation but economic peacekeeping, the integration of the region into the European Union. The blurring of frontiers will provide the political, economic, and social security needed for distinct and ancient communities to adjust their cultural, religious, and linguistic boundaries without fear of retaliation. Only then will national chauvinism and insecurity die a quiet death.

(3) Mon Feb 28 2005 17:39 PST "22 is old, isn't it?":
no,not really
it's old for say kindergarden
but for life
not so much
well maybe if this was 15th century england
itd be old

--My favorite Stacy, who is older than she was--but not old--today.