I need to post things but I have no time!

argh!

wherein julie tries not to eat a whole tray of brownies and almost fails

So I've noticed that this blog has had pretty much no baking adventures whatsoever and is all about boring school stuff so far - well, yes, I've been baking, but I either keep forgetting to take pictures (I love gorgeous food shots) or I can't sit down long enough to write a post about it. I'm too busy eating. Rest assured, there shall be food stuffs aplenty, once I settle in.

I'll tell you about my real first class (you know, the kind where the teacher actually decides to show up) tomorrow, but it's past midnight, and I'm hungry. Right now, we're talkin' brownies.

do-over

I'm waiting in a classroom with no number on it (Upon entering, each student asks "Is this room 172?" which garners a collective "muhhhhhhmeh," apparently the college students' word for "yes"), a minute to 12, one past, two past, five past.. and suddenly a woman comes blustering in. At first she sounds like she's out of breath, but after a minute, we realize that's just how she talks.

"Hello, hello.. is this English Writing 105 section... whatever? It doesn't matter. I'm the director of English Writing. Class is cancelled. You had one teacher, but I stole her. I put her in another class. Your new teacher didn't know he was assigned to this class until this morning, so... you can all go home."

So instead of going to class I got Thai food for lunch. It was excellent.

both feet

First class in 3.5 years commences in less than 3.75 hours.

Nervous as all hell.

More once my heart rate subsides a wee bit.

employment ahoy!

So yours truly has (semi-officially) landed a job at a bakery! It's a small, cute little place with the most delicious breads and sweets ever, and I've been wanting a job there for ages. I think the reason why I tend to be unemployed for so long is that I find myself holding out for the perfect job, instead of just taking the first thing that comes my way. And this (hopefully) is along those perfect job lines. 15 minutes away from my house, 10 minutes away from school, and so many yummy things to eat, hooray!

I'd mostly be doing counter work - helping customers, answering phones, keeping up with little restocking projects and the like, but there are a few opportunities to help decorate baked goods and oh man, am I going to have a field day. Ms. Amateur Homebaker steps foot into a professional environment with professional equipment and professional bakers.. excellence! Training starts tomorrow at the buttcrack of dawn and I couldn't be more excited.

Thank goodness I'll be doing a lot of walking at school, because this place is gonna make me one chubby julie.

parking.

One of the biggest problems plaguing good ol' MSU is the fact that they admit waaaay too many students than they can house & provide parking for. Guess who's one of the lucky freshman commuters who can't even get waitlisted for a parking pass? Gah.

So I've been tearing my hair out looking for other options but none of them seem too good:

• Walking - I don't live too far from campus, but I'd be walking just over 2 miles each way. Two hours total per day, in super cold winter weather. Uphill.
• Biking - Better than walking, I suppose, but every time I hop on one I fall over.
• Public Transportation - Bus/Train/What-have-you, except apparently NJ Transit only grants monthly pass discounts to full-time students. Alas - I am part time. And quite poor.
• Crazy Shuttle Bus Dance - I think the school's shuttle runs into Montclair proper, so (theoretically) I could drive in, try and find some unmetered parking (or maybe just a unicorn to ride onto campus), hop on the shuttle and voila! Edumacation time. Possibly the best option.
• Unicorn - I could tie him up to the bike rack, right?

dear god please get me a unicorn.

well, here goes!

I suppose you could say this has been the longest winter break of my life. 3+ years and counting since I've been enrolled in any sort of school, and this January (brr) I'll be heading back to gets me a degree at Montclair State (where, according to the masses, I will be screwed over royally before I even step foot on campus).

Regardless of the different varieties of screw - hooray! I've spent far too much time away from school than I'd like to admit, partly due to a slight bout of crazy that had effectively soured my outlook on every form of education possible until just a few months prior. As my old high school friends began their senior year of college (with one beginning law school at the tender age of nineteen), I got the itch to jump back into a college after one failed half-semester back in '06. I've spent most of my time since then working in coffee shops, watching awful movies (yes, for pleasure), doing a bit of reading (not as much as I'd like, unfortunately) and baking up a whole lot of yum (a day when I'm not covered in flour from my nose to knee is not a happy day for me at all).

And so, here we are. Less than a month to go before I start my re-freshman year and I'm not sure if this is a bundle of nerves or excitement tangling up in my stomach.

eep.