Prepoceros

I didn’t know a locksmith could make a key just by looking at the tumblers in a lock. I learned this interesting fact after my car key disappeared into the Raging River at Schlitterbahn* (it fell out of John’s velcro-ed pocket somewhere along the 45-minute ride). At the end of the day we called the locksmith, and an hour and 75 dollars later, I had two new keys to my car, inferior to the original key only in their lack of nice plastic heads and the ability to unlock the trunk. I also learned that the locks on my car are just for decoration and serve no practical purpose. It’s nice that no one has been seriously inclined** to steal my old newspapers, broken pencils, or radio.

I also didn’t know that asphalt takes less than a day to set. The parking lot in front of my apartment complex was repaved yesterday morning, and when I got home last night it was open again, cars parked on it and everything.

At school there are signs on the lockers that begin: “ATTENTION LOCKER RENTEE.” Every day I am tempted to unleash my red pen all up in there. At University of Houston, locker rents you.

Guy in my 3000-level Atmospheric Science class: So if there’s global warming, and the ice caps melt and the oceans rise, won’t that push the atmosphere up and make the air denser and change the weather?
Me: But the ice was already there, taking up space, before it melted.
Guy: Yeah, but it was in solid form.
Me: [sighs]
Prof: Also, there’s no “roof” on the atmosphere, so the air wouldn’t care if there were more stuff underneath it. Oh, and the sea levels are projected to rise a meter or so in the next hundred years.

Thanks to vacation, I now have something that could be called a tan. I wore a skirt today and was shocked to look down during class and see skin-colored things where my ghostly-white legs used to be. I may have spent more time admiring them than strictly necessary. Mmm, vanity.

Did you know that white chocolate isn’t real chocolate? This would explain why it’s so blah in comparison. It also means it won’t kill your dog. Sam is loving the white-chocolate-dipped milk-bones his mom brought back from vacation, but he only gets them when he’s been VERY VERY GOOD. Or, you know, when he makes the sad face at me.

I feel like my command of grammar has gone missing. Or not grammar, but…the stuff that lets you stick words into sentences without them sounding stupid. Right. You see why I’ve been posting less.

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* The original, in New Braunfels. The lines were so, long, unfortunately, that it wouldn’t have been worth the drive out there if we hadn’t been visiting a friend in Austin anyway.

** Once someone was casually inclined, it seems. One morning a couple years ago I found my car unlocked, with both front door locks ripped out, but nothing inside was missing or damaged. Maybe they were practicing to break in to a car with something worth stealing.

Tags: lessons learned, school

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 9:16 am and is filed under miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.