SnOw DaY!!!

so...today was a snow day. it reminded me of the snow day movie, because when i first found out, i was sure that i was going to have more fun than any other day in recent history. i was confident that i was going to understand and really bond with the misunderstood kid from school, and i had an inkling, just an inkling, that i could possibly fall in love. or at least maybe get kissed as the credits come falling down from the sky.

instead - none of the above. i lounged around, yes. i made myself breakfast and even allowed myself to nap lazily in front of the tv. then tragedy struck. well...not exactly tragedy...well...you can be the judge.

3:59 - amy calls. i debated answering and then said, why not? and picked up the phone. she starts by saying, "so, word on the street is that harvey kale just called you and you didn't answer your phone. is that true?" (background: harvey kale our composition theory professor. there is not one reason that he should be calling my cell phone. or so i thought.) anyway, amy goes on to explain that a candidate for the composition position is visiting maine today (on MY snow day) and harvey would like some of us to meet with him. so, to amy i say, "i don't know...what time does he want to do this?" she says, "i don't know...oh...hold on, he's calling me right now. i'll let you know." she hangs up. i continue to sit on my bed in my snow day haze.

4:06 - phone rings. unknown maine number. my heart rate increases substantially and i answer the phone to harvey kale. he is with dylan, the phd, and he is wondering if i could meet and talk with him for a bit. he knows i'm doing my own stuff, so he understands if i'm busy. i say, "actually, i'm just working on my annotations, so it's nothing i can't leave." (background: in harvey's class we read 4-5 articles per week and annotate each one of them. this was the homework i was just beginning when he called.) harvey tells me that this is a special circumstance, so i can turn my annotations in late. i tell him that won't be a problem since i have tonight and tomorrow. he says, "i think i live very close by you, amanda, could we drop by and pick you up?" i explain where i live which is not where he thought, but still close. he is very excited that i have agreed. he says, "well, we'll just get our coats on here and we will be over around quarter after four."

my heart is probably beating at this point, but it's so fast that i can't really tell anymore. the time is now 4:08pm. it's a snow day. a SNOW DAY. i have not showered. i have not gotten dressed. i have not done my hair. i probably don't smell good. i had tuna for lunch and i live in a studio apartment. and i have seven minutes to right all of this in order to meet a dashing young phd candidate named dylan. great.

here is an old pic of harvey for your mental pictures. his hair is now all the color of his bear, just about. he wears chuck taylors and rolls his pants up so they are short enough to see his socks when he is standing. he also usually wears a baseball cap when he is out. today he was indeed wearing one.

oh, right. he is the one on the right. :)

so - as you can imagine, i begin flying around the room, flinging sweats off and clothes on (the closest/easiest option is the outfit that i wore to class last night. on it goes. my hair was slept on last night, then again this morning (remember the snow day nap???) so it is atrocius. i have no choice but to hairspray the dickens out of it. so i'm hairspraying, plastering, blow drying (which, in a pinch, actually works - note to self) when the phone rings! so, i run back to the bed and answer the phone to *drumroll* matt. matt wants to know "how it's goin". i say, "harvey kale is on his way to my house and i haven't showered or anything!" "Ooooh," he says "well, i was going to see if you wanted a ride, but i guess you have one. i told amy that i would only go if you did." still spraying my hair, i say, "you HAVE to come." he sighs like we are known to do and we say our goodbyes. i continue to run around like a hot dame out of vassar.

i look outside to see the worst conditions i have ever seen in orono, maine or elsewhere. last weekend we had rain that turned to ice. the ice is thick and completely covers the college park parking lot, because we don't plow. we got a few inches of snow on monday which was good b/c it provided a little bit of traction on the ice. this morning we got another 6 inches of snow that returned us to normal snow depths, but then it got really dangerous. mid-day it turned to rain and now everything is flooded. the snow has blocked all drainage systems and just holds the rain. the ice is still below in some places. so...puddles, could be all water, could be slush, could be solid ice. beautiful.

longest seven minutes of your life? well...they were pretty quick on my end. anyway, at 4:15pm, i went out to the breezeway, like i said i would and fairly soon after, harvey kale pulled in in his red pickup truck. great. dylan the phd got out of the truck and i thought i was going to have to sit in the middle. instead he opened the little half door behind him to reveal one of those sideways, flip-up chairs, which i quickly climbed into. we then did awkward introductions. he turned around to shake my hand, of course. harvey grabs my arm and gives it a squeeze like you would expect a proud grandfather to do at a graduation or achievement of some sort. instantly, i am very glad i came. so, we have awkward conversation in the truck and arrive at school in approximately two minutes. harvey dumps us (me and dylan, phd) off at the door and amy lets us into neville.

the rest of the story is not terribly exciting, i think phd and i have a comraderie of sorts thanks to our soggy pickup truck ride. he thanked me in a very sincere, eye-contacty way when the whole thing was said and done. now - i know you are curious. i have seen the other two candidates for this position. i do not know which way i am leaning completely, but i can tell you in a word why this guy should get it and that word is 'suspenders'. that's right, he was wearing hot suspenders. this guy is young, thin, pants perfectly tailored, but he's wearing suspenders. that is okay by me. however, his tie was tied very awkwardly which suggests a partner of some sort that did not make this trip with him. i just refuse to believe that his ties are always so badly tied. i really wanted to just fix it. it was a good tie. nice pattern, worked very nice with the suit, but ugh...that knot.

alright, i guess that is enough of my life in blog story form. A+ to those of you who actually read the whole thing. i'm sure my tenses were all over the place.

a snow day!