So I’ve now been to all 3 of my final courses at JMU. The 1st (Signs, Symbols and Social Interaction) is alright … the professor doesn’t take attendance, has this crazy French accent, plays music at the beginning of every class … and if a cell phone rings, she will answer it. I can only hope that my phone behaves and doesn’t ring when it’s set to vibrate during those 50 minutes lol. The 2nd (Survey of Music Industry) seems cool … the professor is a huge Apple fan and seems to be one of those laid-back “music” people who wears mostly black lol. The 3rd (History of Rock) is definitely interesting. The professor moved to Harrisonburg from Los Angeles less than a week ago and thus has barely any knowledge of how things are done at JMU (i.e., students don’t have access to/can’t bring their own scantrons). But besides that, he falls into the same category as the previous professor, and today we learned about measures and bars by sections of the room clapping at different speeds and stuff. It’s also kinda funny … one of my first classes here was in the same 300-seat auditorium, and now I’m ending my education in the same place. Slightly bittersweet, but mostly I’m all for it. The sooner I’m done here, the sooner I can move on to bigger and better things

This week’s mutterings (when it says _____, I think _____):

1. Uneven :: Jagged.
2. Wonder :: Is It Any?
3. Spider :: Black crawly thing.
4. Emma :: Bunton. The book.
5. Swing :: Playground.
6. Orbit :: Gum. The space shuttle.
7. Flirt :: Giggly.
8. Donation :: A box with a slot in it.
9. Veil :: Wedding.
10. Atmosphere :: The blue glow of the Earth from space.

Finally went skydiving again this weekend, and it was frickin’ amazing Did another tandem yesterday, and since my instructor was Bobby (Mike’s friend from college), I got to do 180s and forward motion in freefall, pull the ripcord, and steer the canopy a little before landing! I also wasn’t as nervous, which made the whole experience that much better. Both Mike and Bobby said I basically did an AFF 2 jump, which means when I actually start AFF (in the spring?), the first level or so hopefully won’t be that bad. Meh, I wish the skydiving club at JMU hadn’t fizzled out so quickly … if so many other colleges have one, why can’t we?

Mike’s weekend ended up great as well — he’d arrived without his reserve repacked and didn’t know you had to preregister for the seafood dinner, but somehow everything worked out: a 2nd pilot randomly showed up so Keith, the regular one, had time for repacking (all the other certified people were busy), and that afternoon he was in earshot of someone saying they needed 2 more people for dinner, so he quickly went over and signed us up. I admit I initially wasn’t too excited about fresh crabs and fried catfish being on the menu, but after smelling the crabs cooking and tasting the catfish, I knew I’d be okay. Maybe my seafood phobia is slowly going away? Things were pretty much awesome from that point on … the weather cooperated by not raining (though we could’ve used the temperature a few degrees lower), Mike jumped twice on Saturday and twice on Sunday (including the load I was on), and got 6 free jump tickets for the group of tandems his friend brought, plus me.

Now I’m on the skydiving “high” and can’t wait to go again, though it probably won’t be this year since it does cost a lot at first, plus starting AFF at the “end” of the season at a place that’s 7 hours away (if I go through Richmond first) isn’t the best plan. But oh well … it’ll happen eventually

This week’s mutterings (when it says _____, I think _____):

1. Darling :: Country girl.
2. Majesty :: Royalty.
3. Pebble :: Rocky beach.
4. Fate :: Love.
5. Instant :: Second hand.
6. Screen :: Computer.
7. Unplugged :: Cordless.
8. Dairy :: Farm, cows, milk.
9. Benefactor :: Money money money.
10. Market :: Boston.

At least I’m sort of updating regularly with this

This week’s mutterings (when it says _____, I think _____):

1. Voyage :: Ship. Bon voyage.
2. Patricia :: Vance
3. Transformation :: Transformers. Makeover.
4. Vocabulary :: Dictionary.
5. San Francisco :: Bridge. California.
6. Edward :: Some anime girl. My grandpa.
7. Sawyer :: Tom.
8. Literary :: Book. Literate.
9. Tiger :: Cat. Woods.
10. Seal :: Crazy. The zoo.

This week’s mutterings (when it says _____, I think _____):

1. Voices :: In your head.
2. Have to :: To-do list.
3. Machine :: Rage against.
4. Seventh grade :: Swanson.
5. Beach :: Myrtle
6. Roommate :: Russ.
7. Cyclone :: Twister.
8. Theater :: Nederlander.
9. Pregnant :: Baby Spice.
10. Phoebe :: Friends.

Brownie points if you get the title reference hehe. If not, oh well … feast your eyes on me as a Simpson (sort of … took multiple tries for my browser to not freeze whilst customizing, thus detailed customizing could not occur):

Get your own here!

Edit: Found another Simpson-maker here. It’s definitely easier to use, but the graphics are a bit different and there aren’t as many clothing choices. Here’s me again: