So this is me…writing again after not writing since…forever. I simply do not have the time to put in the work required for this blog while taking 6 classes, working 10 hours a week, and acting as a officer for the Tolkien Society (which I barely have time for due to classes and work, anyway). That and my computer is on its last leg. Note to self: Never buy Dell ever AGAIN!

 I am enjoying my classes this semester. WAY easier than last semester. If you will recall, I decided, in my ignorance, to take all the hardest classes I could pick…at the same time. How awesome is that? I barely made it with my life…and only two A’s. But I need to give myself some slack: I was kicked out of my house and forced to move in the middle of the semester (as I recall, the same week as all my midterms). I think I’ve overcome most of the emotional scarring from last semester. I think.

 My boss last semester got herself engaged (which was wonderful) and decided to retire (which was not wonderful) which left me with no job. Out of pity her secretary tried to find me as much work as she could and kept an eye out for potential jobs in the department, but it was no use. I had to find a new job, one that would get me more than 3 hours a week (!). I am now working in the faculty copy center for 10 (ish) hours every week (and it’s where I am as I’m writing this), and enjoying it a heck of alot more. Rock on.

My boyfriend and I inadvertently (*winkwink*) wandered into a jewelry store in the mall the other day and checked on my ring size…for future reference. Oh yeah and I also tried on some rings…OK!

Those are just some basic newsbytes for you to chew on while I figure out what to do with this blog. You can probably count on me dropping the literary focus and turning it a little more personal. That way I’ll actually write in it. But we’ll see.

Time to close up!

Since I’m so psyched about my classes this semester, I figured I’d write a little exposé on them…after a fashion.

LAT 201, Intermediate Latin, Dr. Smith - A continuation of the horrors of Latin 101 and 102. I have no idea how hard he’ll be on us this year, but the “if you don’t want to learn you can join the Army” comment does not bode well.

CAT 204, Catechetics, Bolster - I’ve heard Prof. Bolster is difficult, but I’m not too worried. He has us doing alot of work, and I have to write a 5 page paper due on my birthday, but I’m enjoying the class. He’s already had us read the entire Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) so I get the feeling I’ll be learning alot this semester.

THE 320, Catholic Social Teaching, Fr. Pattee - This is the class I’m the most psyched and simultaneously freaked out about. I originally was not able to take this class because it was full (like, really full) and everyone wants to take Fr. Pattee for this class because the only other professor who teaches it is not particulary liked. He has us reading a Church document on social teaching and writing a paper on it every week, which means I not only get to read most of the Church’s writing on the subject of social justice, but I also have to understand them too! It’s going to be scary/sweet.

THE 211, Principles of Biblical Studies I, Dr. Bergsma - I’ve always wanted to take a class by Bergsma because he’s just so darn cool. By the end of this semester I will have read the entire Old Testament, which I’ve always wanted to do but never had the self-motivation to actually accomplish. Again, alot of work, but rewarding.

THE 310, Comparative Religion, Dr. Healy - I just thought a class on the Philosophy of Religion (which is what the course is cross-listed as) would be really neat to take, and Dr. Healy is brilliant. This will be my easy class, hands down.

THE 213, Theology of Christ, Sirilla - I took Prof. Sirilla for Christian Moral Principles last semester and loved it. It’s a night class (6-8:40pm, ouch) but he’s so dynamic it really makes the time fly by. This will also be an easy class since I know how to study for his tests already.

Ta-da!

So you remember how I said that as soon as I got settled in Maine I’d start blogging again? Can you tell I didn’t keep my promise?

I didn’t do much of anything productive while I was home, actually. I didn’t even beat Twilight Princess. A week after I got home, I began work at my old job (Victoria’s Secret, please don’t flog me), and pretty much worked as many hours as I could until three weeks later when I started to pack for my trip to Lake George, NY with my family (and Nick!). Then it was fun times in a gorgeous farmhouse with enough room for the Trapp Family Singers to each have their own rooms. We went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, the Saratoga Racetrack, and The Great Escape. And now, six weeks later, I’m back at school.

To give you an idea of how often I’ll be blogging this semester, I’m taking 18 credits (6 classes) this semester instead of the customary 12-15 which, put bluntly, means I won’t have time to…well, you know. My classes are great, but they require alot of elbow grease. I will try my utmost but I can’t promise anything (I can’t even find time to make flyers for the Tolkien Society here on campus).

 That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it. Once I get into the swing of the semester I’ll probably have more time, so until then!

Welp, summer classes are over (Praise God!), and it is time for Amy to enjoy what’s left of her summer. Right now I am on Hilton Head Island off the coast of South Carolina with my boyfriend Nick and his family, soaking up way more sun than I really should and swimming in the warmest ocean water I have ever come in contact with. I can see the ocean from our condo. I am content.

Then, the day after we get back, I am off to Maine and home!! Mom’s cooking, soaking up some northeastern sun on the slightly colder but no less beautiful beaches of southern Maine, and finally beating Twilight Princess on Gamecube. Can life get much better? I think not.

Finally, right before fall session begins and I am again immersed in a sea of classes (18 credits this semester!) I will be travelling to Lake George, New York with my family and Nick for a week of food, poker, baseball, and general Manocchia/Flewelling/Joler/O’Brien/Hardesty (can we add any more names onto that list?) crazyness. What a great way to end the summer…yes.

That’s the plan. Expect to hear from me after I’ve settled back at home. Have a great summer!

I would like to report myself a missing person…because I haven’t been to my blog in over a week! Honestly, Spring Break hit and I spent so much time sleeping and playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess that I couldn’t find time to post. But here I am, though with little of value to post…as of yet. Here’s what has been occupying my time:

• Midterms: The week before break I had three midterms in a row and a paper due, and right after break I had to turn in my short story for Creative Writing, so I was rather busy.
• Weddings: My sister, Laura, is getting married in 3 weeks! So we had her bachelorette party and I got fitted for my dress, and things have been kinda crazy.
• Websites: My boyfriend, Nick, has finally purchased a domain name and I’ve set him up on my account so he now has his own website: Phatcatholic.Com. It’s not actually fleshed out yet, but when it is, it will be awe-inspiring.

That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. I promise to post something of value as soon as I can.

Well, after two weeks, I finally feel like I have the time (and energy) to sit down and write something here. Things are still settling down, but at least they’re settling down. Getting used to my schedule (eight o’clock in the morning…eeew) and getting everything set up down here so that I finally feel like I have things in order. Jennie and I still have to share an internet connection (we bought a workgroup switch, but she unplugged it because it wouldn’t let us log off the network) and we still have to live in the tiniest triple on the planet (ok I take that back…second tiniest). Welcome to college…wheee!

I still don’t have a job here. I was under the impression that the Job Fair at the beginning of the semester would pretty much guaruntee me a job somewhere, but thus far it has gotten me zilch. All the jobs were already taken by the time it rolled around. I applied to three places (Admissions, Enrollment Services, and Food Services) and got interviewed for Enrollment Services, only to be called back a week later and told that they had already filled all their student positions. Great. Why waste time interviewing me then? No one else has even called me back. So I applied to the cofeehouse at the bottom of the hill (Heavenly Grounds) to work weekends. There goes my life. Bye bye, life.

At least classes are going well. I’m keeping up with the homework and adjusting to the classroom setting better and better. We’ll see if my notetaking skills are up to par once exams roll around. I’ve only been late for one class (one of my 8 o’clock ones…I slept through my alarm), and bombed one quiz (Latin, but I made up for it with the next quiz). I guess that’s better than nothing.

For any members of my family (including “adopted” family members) who are reading this…CALL ME! I have so many minutes to use up before the 21^st it’s scary. And I’m so bad at calling people. If I’m in class, you can leave a message for me. That’s an order.

Just for my personal documentation and comparison, I will now here list my classes, the required books, the price for a used copy in the University Bookstore and the prices I paid for them (note that bookstore prices do not include shipping, while Amazon and eBay prices do include shipping costs).

ENG 204 Studies in Fiction - Justyna Braun

Norton Anthology of Short Fiction by R.V. Cassill

• Used in Bookstore: $45.00
• Price paid through eBay: $12.28

GEL 101 Intro to Geology - Philip Fitzgibbons

Essentials of Geology (9th Edition) by Frederic Lutgens

• Used in Bookstore: $69.75
• Price paid through Amazon Marketplace (8th Edition): $8.49

HST 105B History of Civilization I - Fr. Seraphim Beshoner

History of Civilization (Combined) by Jackson Spielvogel

• Used in Bookstore: $83.75
• Price paid through eBay: $55.50

LAT 101A Elementary Latin I - Richard Smith

Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin by John Collins

• Used in Bookstore: $14.50
• Price paid through Amazon Marketplace: $17.99

THE 101D Foundations of Catholicism - Fr. Daniel Pattee

Catechism of the Catholic Church

• Used in Bookstore: $15.00
• Price paid: $15.00

Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft

• Used in Bookstore: $13.50
• Price paid through Amazon Marketplace: $14.33

The Truth of Catholicism: Inside the Essential Teachings and Controversies of the Church Today by George Weigel

• Used in Bookstore: $9.75
• Price paid through Amazon Marketplace: $8.39

Total price in Bookstore: $251.25
Total price through other vendors: $131.98
Actual price paid by me: $66.98

There’s something about being in a another time zone that just never gets old with me. Maybe it’s the fact that I have so little experience travelling. Who knows. I just roll with it.

The weekend of August 5th I travelleded (mispelled intentionally) myself to Kentucky for Nick’s brother Drew’s wedding. The wedding was in Owensboro, which is in the Central Time Zone, hence the reason for my excitement. I yet again have an amusing travel story, as is par for the course whenever I go to the Bluegrass State. My flight from Boston was delayed about 30 minutes, which still put me in DC in time for my connecting flight, but just barely. Thank God (and, paradoxically, how annoying) that once I got to Reagan International it was backed up so my flight didn’t board until 20 minutes after it was scheduled to depart. The interesting part was the return trip, but we’ll get to that later.

The rehearsal dinner was fun, and I got to meet alot of Nick’s family (including a myriad of uncles, aunts, and cousins). The wedding was beautiful. Rachel (the bride) looked like a princess. I told Nick I wanted to be a princess too. All he said was, “You will someday, honey.” I don’t think he realized that I meant I wanted to go out and buy a dress that very minute and dress up like a princess…tiara and all. But I digress.

We partied it up at the reception. I made myself a few makeshift Whiskey Sours (consisting of Wild Turkey and Lemonade) which put me in a lovely mood for the evening. Lovely. Nick caught the garter, much to my chagrin because if I didn’t catch the bouquet then some other girl would be paired up with him, however superficially. This tragedy was averted, thankfully, when I actually caught the bouquet. Everyone who knew we were going out proceeded to ask whether or not we planned it, to which we both responded, “Um, yeah!”

Sunday we went to Old Hickory for sliced mutton sandwiches and burgoo. Yes, I, Amy Manocchia, the hopeless New England Northerner, has tasted the marvel that is Kentucky burgoo (pronounced BUR-goo). It’s really quite difficult to describe, so I will just say that it is worth a trip to Kentucky. Yummy.

So now we come to the return journey. The drive back to Louisville was hot, sticky, and sweaty since Nick’s car doesn’t have working A/C (which needs to be fixed ASAP). We got to the airport in just enough time for me to get through security and board (I was the last passenger on the plane). Now we got out of Louisville alright, but once I got to DC and got myself situated for the interim between my arrival and the connecting flight to Boston, my flight was delayed by about an hour and ten minutes due to weather. As if the wait between six and nine o’clock wasn’t long enough, they had to go and extend it. So while I was waiting I made friends with an adorable negro child who took a shining to me and tried to steal me away from Nick. I told him he was too young for me (he was about a year and half). When we finally boarded it was close to ten o’clock at night and my poor uncle and two of my brothers were waiting for me in Boston. To make things worse, once we actually got onto the runway, we sat there with about fifteen other planes for 45 minutes waiting for our turn to take off. Apparently there was a line of thunderstorms moving between DC and New York, right on our route to Boston, and due to the problems at LAX air traffic was retarded and the skies were too crowded for Air Traffic Control to abide by. So they wanted 60 miles between each plane. Whatever. Long story short (haha, too late) I landed in Boston around 12:30am and got into Portland around 3am. It was a long night, to say the least.

So that’s the story, morning glory.

In other news…MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED! EEE!!!

End outburst. Begin pictures. Au revior!

I just bought a $263 plane ticket. Someone please tell me I’m completely mad.

I wish I could say I was in a good mood, cause I really should be, and I really want to be, but in all honesty, I’m in a rather melancholy mood. A mood only made all the more melancholy by the music I’m listening to. Meh.

I’m having trouble coming to terms with my communication faux pas. I used to think I had a pretty good handle on male-female communication styles, but as things progress, I’m finding I really don’t know anything at all, and that I’m just now learning it all.

And I feel alone and isolated.