and then there was Winter

Winter quarter was sadly not much of an improvement over Autumn. I didn't do any theater, so I got out less. Perhaps I was less stressed, but as things ramped up with my thesis, I didn't notice, and was only aware of my ever-narrowing social life. However, I still had my delightful quartet, and only went to the doctor once and the hospital not at all. This was an improvement over my bi-weekly doctor's visits and one ER trip in Autumn. :) I was more or less over the mono, and returned to my daily gym work out, until one fine morning, hives appeared on my arms, and spread and worsened. 'Oh, hullo, hives,' said I, 'and where are you from?' 'Wouldn't you like to know,' they replied coyly. Having rid my apartment of allergens, at least to the best of my ability, I betook myself to the doctor, who said, 'oh, well, it's probably stress.' I felt like this was a bit unfair, not of the doctor, but of life, since the hives had significantly raised my stress level. Sadly, this saga is not completely ended. The bad hives only continued for two weeks, defying a course of antihistamines and the first round of steroids, succumbing eventually to the combined powers of atarax, steroids and calamine lotion applied three times a day. However, they still take any opportunity to reappear, such opportunities including but not limited to: hot showers, scented lotion/sunblock, and heat such as that which is currently afflicting the midwest. :( While I have always had sensitive skin, this is a bit absurd.
But having that be essentially the only health problem for the quarter was still an improvement. My classes were interesting. I continued with ASL (joy!), and took my last Core requirement: math. Actually, I took geometry, and loved it. It was a tiny class, and the professor was engaging and patient, despite being a genius (he had a PhD from Columbia at age 19). He said he had no interest in failing any of us, but in teaching us as much as we could learn in the time allotted. I was also reminded of why I loved geometry (it makes SENSE unlike the rest of math). Since he didn't really fancy giving an exam (well, for finals, there were two midterms), he suggested we write papers. As I was writing enough to be going on with, I didn't like this plan, so instead, he suggested I write a series of proofs, and I did this in the best main lesson book style. Once a steiner student, always a steiner student. I did a cover page and everything. :) I also took my last degree requirement, the one and only American lit course I took in my college career: the poetry of Moore, Bishop, Lowell, and Plath. I enjoyed it more than I expected, again mostly due to the brilliance of the professor, a young PhD candidate, who clearly adores these poets. Her enthusiasm was infectious. Moore was my favorite, with her carefully constructed poems and stunning imagery. I liked Bishop for her emotion, some of Lowell for the crazy, but not much of Plath. Both Lowell and Plath, but especially Plath, occasionally took too much joy in being shocking simply for the sake of it, with no other point than the shock. In fact, if I'm remembering correctly, my favorite poem of Plath's was the one about Ted Hughes (I forget the title), in which she imitates his style. oh well. We read their letters at the same time, because they all knew each other, and were friends, and Plath's letters were delightful, and I enjoyed them much better than her poetry.
At some point, I met with my thesis adviser, and made the mistake of asking for an extension on an intermediate deadline (not the final deadline), as I had been so ill. She said she couldn't do that, and offered these alternative options as comfort: I could not graduate in the Spring, and thus have until July to finish the thesis, or I could give up and not finish it at all, seeing as how it wasn't necessary for the English degree. I didn't think much of either of these suggestions, and in fact, they just increased my stress level, since I felt in them a judgment (almost certainly imagined) of my personal ability to finish this project. In reality, I believe my adviser was trying to give me the options of ways out of my situation.
On the positive side, Winter Quarter did include the Brent House retreat. We went to St. Gregory's abbey in western Michigan, and it was lovely. The monks there do all of the daily offices, starting at 4am, and I made it to several (not all of them this year). The services are comfortingly regular and straightforward, meditative. There was also a lot of snow, and we went sledding, which was loads of fun.
Oh, and I forgot about Winter vacation! I went straight from school directly to visit Kate in Texas, where I got in lots of good riding. A highlight of that was when I was doing a course, probably of five small jumps, and as I was coming up to the last one, the instructor called out that I should add on the roll-top, something I'd never done before. Not having time to panic, I just sailed over it like it was nothing. Ok, so maybe to most riders it *is* nothing, but not to me. And I did it. :D From Texas, I went to California to visit Jayne and see the San Francisco Dickens Fair. I loved it! It was indoors, and quite similar to Renaissance festivals, but the entertainment and costumes were, of course, different. A lot of the vendors overlapped though. My favorite part was Pickwick's Warehouse, where they had dancing. Sometimes, it was groups performing, and sometimes it was open dancing, when you could either dance with the people who were there (and knew what they were doing), or with your friends if you preferred. It was great fun. Caroline joined us for that, looking elegant as ever. Here is a picture of the three of us:
My dress was courtesy of the wonderful Helen Welford.
From there it was home for Christmas, the comforts of home, my family and my cats. :)
And with that happy memory, I will leave you until later, when I will return with the final catch-up post, covering Spring quarter and the first month of the rest of my life, post-graduation.