Patiently waiting

I think that my greatest passion in life is making plans. I plan parties, I plan nights out, I plan my day. I have 5 or 6 post-its hanging from the bookshelf above my desk: movies I want to see, grocery list, possible jobs, possible apartments. I'm obsessed with planning my life. I have an excel spreadsheet on my computer with every class I want to take during college planned out, along with a list of activities and clubs to do, and a list of possible graduate schools (if that's the way I end up going). I look at apartments and furniture and part-time jobs on Craigslist practically everyday. I even like to go to Target.com and pick out dinnerware sets for next year. It's a sickness.

So tonight, while Chelsea's at home for a funeral, Heather's on a date, and the women's figure skating finals were on (side note: way to fuck it up, Sasha Cohen. Add therapy to that training regimen), I tackled my excel spreadsheet some more. Actually, I have to back up, because this planning was spurred by my sudden inspiration to get back into my sports, because I'm hella lazy, as they say, in college so far. I pretty much go to class, go to the gym, and party. So I looked up the public session times at the Yerba Buena ice rink downtown (it's a 40 minute Muni ride but whatever) and after I bring my skates up here this summer I want to try to go at least twice a month, hopefully once a week. I also found a good dance studio downtown, printed out their class schedule, and put it on my wall. I'd like to take one ballet and one jazz class a week, but that's pretty ambitious, so I'm thinking maybe one of each every other week. A block of four classes a month costs $42, not too bad. And drop-ins are $13, which is a nice option. The only hitch I've found so far is the four block walk back to the Muni station after night classes, because SOMA isn't exactly Carmel Valley. Note to self: make friends with classmates.

ANYWAY. I filled in the class times I want for next semester (which I got from last fall's schedule, which is usually the same every fall) so that I only have classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, all day. Hopefully I can pull this off for the rest of college. It's sometimes nice to go to a school that caters to working people. So this would leave Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays for working, the gym, dance class, and skating. The chances of all of this happening every week is low, but at least half is fine with me.

Which brings me to the job hunt. I'm pretty set on getting a job soon and working during the summer in San Francisco and coming home for a few weeks starting right before my birthday. Hopefully this summer I can get into a skating/dance/working routine. Right now I just want to get a job at Stonestown (the mall next to campus) because I really don't want to commute. Plus the gym is at Stonestown so I have no excuse not to fit my work out in before or after my shift. There are a bunch of job openings at the mall, the most promising of which is Bath and Body Works. I'm thinking two or three shifts a week to start, more in the summer. We'll see.

Yeah. We'll see about all of it, actually. It's a nice plan, though, don't you think?

To end, I'll tell you about a strange experience I had today. There's this little old Russian man at the gym (not gonna lie, he's creepy) who keeps asking me, in Russian, if I speak Russian. Up until today I pretended that I didn't hear him, but he caught me on the elliptical. He said "stravutsya" (that is the most phoenetic spelling of "hello" in Russian I can manage), and I said "I don't speak Russian." "Oh, what do you speak?" "English." "Do you speak anything else?" "French." "Ah, tu parle francais, Madamoiselle." "Uh huh." "Do you come from France?" "No." "Well, wherever you come from, you are very beautiful." "Thank you." It sounds cute in theory but you had to be there cuz it's creepy. Anyway, I know I look like I'm from the shtetl, my mom likes to tell me all the time. I'd be a sex goddess back in Poland.

Speaking of the Eastern Bloc, I'm thinking of Eurail-ing to Vienna, Berlin, and Prague for winter break junior year. Yes, I've thought this far ahead. You should come with me.