Wednesday, September 30, 2009

We were talking about Mushrooms.

Today was my first day of my senior year of college. I am sitting on the stone steps of an old looking building, eating a donut hole and drinking an orange vitamin water (both of which were handed out in red square for free), surrounded by people who are already studying (what could they possibly be studying already?) or texting or eating muffins. The sun is shining down deceivingly as a breeze wafts by and warns me that it's probably time to start wearing warmer jackets.

I had History of Japanese Americans, in which my short, animated professor encouraged us to smell a handful of button mushrooms without explanation. Eventually it became relevant as he segued into a lecture about the Matsutake mushroom and how elusive it is to find and harvest and how secretive the Japanese and Japanese Americans tend to be about their location. He then passed around a Matsutake mushroom, which smelled significantly weirder and stronger. Apparently he paid $49.99 a pound for this mushroom, as well, and told us his wife demanded he bring it home after class to make soup.

So that was my morning.
So far I have learned that Matsutake smell weird.

I also made friends with an international student named Brandon who came in to class late and probably wondered for a good thirty minutes why there was a pile of mushrooms on his desk because he missed the smelling exercise. I leaned over after awhile and said "we were talking about mushrooms." He just kind of looked at me for a minute and then he laughed and said "oh", as if my explanation made it any less weird.

I had Consumerism in America next.
I walked into the class with my fingers crossed that it wouldn't just be another horrible econ class, because those bore me to tears, but the professor walked in looking like a hippie and started asking us if we could think of anything that wasn't a commodity. We spent a good half an hour listing things ("Love?" "A gift made of entirely raw materials?" "Experiences?" "Tickets to a sporting event when you go for social reasons and not for the sport itself?") and I was geeking out the whole time. I love this stuff. We're going to be talking about consumer society and the evolution of advertising and all sorts of great stuff, and I am actually really excited about it.

I am a person who is passionate about many things, but rarely do I find those topics within school. So the fact that I was on the edge of my seat for the entire 90 minute lecture was very promising for me.

Tomorrow I have my focus group for my major thesis, which should be interesting.

After class today, Justin came and picked up Eia and I so we could drive downtown and renew our parking passes. There isn't much significant to say about this experience aside from the fact that there was a globe hand sanitizer dispenser inside that auto-dispenses the sanitizer right into your cupped hands, and while Eia assures me that these things are everywhere all of a sudden, this was the first I have seen and it was exciting. Also, Justin's horoscope said he's going to meet a new girl today who is going to change his life so all afternoon we kept nudging each other and saying "maybe it's her," or "do you think it might be her?" No luck yet though.

Um. Then I had a chili dog. Why is my life not more interesting?
I need to go back to traveling around the globe. xD

Okay, no, I remember what else I was going to write about. In the last week, I have received FIVE phone calls of varying stupidity, including "Hello Miss Horner, we are calling to inform you that your auto loan has been approved and we just need your signature to put it through," or "Miss Horner, yes, we just wanted to let you know that the credit card sweepstakes you entered into online has been processed and we just wanted to verify your information," or "Greetings Miss Horner, we're calling on behalf of the information you requested online for our internet courses in the business degree here at so and so college," and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WHO PUT MY PHONE NUMBER OUT IN THE WORLD because I have no idea what any of these people are talking about and I am getting increasingly sick of it.

I don't want to change my phone number but if I keep getting these stupid calls at the rate they're coming in, I'm going to throw my phone out the window or bury it deep, deep underground.

Okay. I am going to go film a video and then I'm going to watch Glee. Oh, and the verdict on Glee is that I find it to be enjoyable, I like the chemistry between the main teacher and the red-headed teacher, but overall I don't think it's quite as amazing as everyone is saying on twitter.

22 comments:

Marissa said...

Sometimes if you sign a contract for your phone (I know for sure that blackberry does this, and probably about five more that I don't recall, possibly including iPhone) then they'll give your phone number away to telemarketers and you have to go to your phone company and pay a fee to be taken off the list. I know, it sucks.

Laura said...

You could try putting your number on the National Do Not Call list. I did a couple of years ago and these days I only get those a couple of times a year.

https://www.donotcall.gov/

Cody Hotel said...

Those Hand-Sanitizer globes freaked me out too the first time I saw them at my school.

And I'm pretty sure that if you don't love Glee as much as everyone else yet, you just need to watch each episode multiple times until you do.

Ravenclaw2313 said...

I have my mom's old cell number and I get those kind of calls all the time. I hate it! Don't say that your life in Seattle is boring. Remember last blog where you decided to be more active at home? Not boring at all.

We have those hand sanitizer dispensers all over Iowa State too. It's actually kinda ridiculous and I imagine quite expensive.

eibbore said...

Your Consumerism in America class sounds like a lot of fun. But that's coming from a Marketing student who has a skewed idea on hat fun is.

Ana said...

Really? I actually really like Glee.

You always take such interesting classes, you should definitely talk about this one in your future blogs :D

Crystal said...

I changed my phone number almost three years ago, and now, I get random calls for someone named Daniel. A few weeks ago, this Hispanic guy kept calling me back, asking for Daniel, and I kept telling him I'm not Daniel, but he obviously didn't understand because he ended up calling me six times.

So, the moral of the story is, I hope that doesn't happen to you, as it's v. annoying.

comelygrace said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
comelygrace said...

Is Shaniqua there? Hell no! Shaniqua don't live here no mo'! lolz.

Your mushroom experience sounds...fun. And your Consumerism in America class sounds way more exciting and fun than my Microeconomics class, which I have an exam in today. Ugh.

Ew, I mad typo-ed on my first comment so I had to edit and make it more coherent.

Fedorapandemic said...

Being a huge choir nerd, I love Glee. But they overuse autotune, which is really, really annoying.

Elayne said...

I am feeling very excited to be able to follow you through your school year!

Good luck in your classes!

(Captcha code is: retold)

Melanie said...

If you have ever put your number on face book, even if you deleted it now, face book keeps all of your info and have been recently selling it to large companies. Not to make you paranoid or anything :P

Ajayrious said...

I know what you mean about Glee. I like it enough and the characters are nice. But its one of those shows i have to be in the mood for, A musical sorta mood.

Have you started Gossip Girl Season 3 yet? and what do you think of it if you have? I found it a bit weird for the first couple of episodes as though i needed to get to know the characters again. But last mondays episode was right on the money :) .

Stephanie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stephanie said...

I love spelling mistakes.
My old phone number was similiar to a taxi cab number. I used to get calls all the time at 2 in the morning asking for a cab. I normally told them one would be there in about 5 minutes. Ha.

I enjoy glee too.

Maria said...

Oh, Glee isn't as good as people scream. I really like the show, but people tend to get a little... caught up. I really love it when they sing... I'm a music loser. =)

Kristi said...

Haha, it's Matsutake. And I agree they smell weird, but to my parents they're a delicacy!

VicMorrowsGhost said...

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this in the other comments (there are a few) but there is a "do not call" register you can go on to stop those calls.

Kat Dennings actually tweeted it today "888-382-1222 is the national DO NOT CALL number to block calls."

Worth a shot?

Anonymous said...

Your classes sound so interesting. I wish mine were. The only class I even remotely enjoy, is orchestra. But yeah, like everyone else is saying, you should put your number on the national Do Not Call list. That's probably your best bet. :)

~Kayla

Anonymous said...

"The sun is shining down deceivingly as a breeze wafts by and warns me that it's probably time to start wearing warmer jackets."

Is it okay if I steal that sentence for a song? I totally understand if you don't want me to, but I would really like to. :)

Angela Leigh said...

The National Do Not Call list worked wonders for me. My cell is my only phone number and after about 6 months all the calls completely stopped.

Abbyforth said...

Hi Kristina,
I had Matsutake and chicken for dinner and I agree, they smell weird but good at the same time!
(My dad is part of the Mycological Society and actually gathered the mushroom.)
Hope you're having a good day!
AbbyT