Scared of turning into a pumpkin?

Then you probably have apocolocynposis.

That's right folks. Apocolocynposis. It was at the bottom of my little brother's class agenda. It was one of the random facts at the bottom of one of the pages. I didn't realize 'random' was taken that seriously. Well, with great doubt I looked it up online and sure enough found a reference to this rather interesting word and its even more interesting definition. The word was not found in the 2 dictionary references I looked it up on but rather it was found on the site of Michigan's channel 13. Hmmm...if you don't believe me, see for yourself: http://www.wzzm13.com/triviadefault.asp?cmd=view&articleid=367

Now that we all know how to describe, quite accurately mind you, the innate fear of this particular fall fruit...I can carry on with other, less important news.

I am now back home in the desert land as most of you know (and if not, the renamed blog should have given it away) and the first thing I thought when I got off the plane was whether or not I'd survive the remainder of the summer back home. After my brother and dad called me a 'wimp' for feeling exasperated with the 100-some degree heat, I slowly regained my strength and tolerance for the um...slight change in temperature. Thankfully, it did not take me too long to adjust and I did survive (apparently), despite my first thoughts upon my arrival. Yes, thankfully the desert stock that I am made of runs strong in me (let's hope it stays strong!). Remember this Theresa when you get off the plane. Never fear, I'll be waiting with lots of Gatorade. ;)

Well, being back has had its ups and downs. It has been great seeing family and friends here...I was back just in time to see a dear friend of mine before she left to study out of town. Vania, you will be missed! I've also had time enough to get things ready for school and...well, the chaos of my room has yet to undergo some severe sorting and clearing up but alas, if I organize my days well enough, I will have the time for this. Since it's been used as dumping grounds while I was away, it should take about a month's worth of work...hehe. Just kidding, but it will be a lot!

Downs...well obviously the weather (yet I remember what I missed about the sky back in Seattle...the sunrises/sunsets...here, they are amazingly picturesque), also the family that I left and my friends, no foosball table here, and no kayak-able lakes or, well, no weather conducive to kayaking. How ever am I going to fulfill my mission of becoming a bum on a kayak? Well, there's always the upcoming winter (?) here to train in the art of kayaking.

My Italian class seems like it is going to be lots of fun. And thankfully, it seems quite similar to Spanish, so it shouldn't be too difficult, right? This is an online course in the truest sense: we will be sending audio clips to our instructor so she can grade our pronunciation and our final will require a web cam, which we'll need before the final if we want to drop by on our instructor's virtual office hours. This should be quite interesting.

It was the first day of classes and I had not yet heard from my instructor...no email, no phone call, no nothing. I was beginning to fear it was cancelled. I checked at school and it didn't seem like it was. Finally, halfway through Monday, I get an email from her. Hurray! Then I read it. It started something like this:

"Ciao Studenti!! Benvenuti al corso d'italiano 101 online!..."

Thankfully, of course, this all sounded familiar (Spanish or not). But I was beginning to hesitate that everything would be in Italian. My brother just laughed and said that the email probably read something like "welcome to the 3rd month of classes, I hope you are all ready for our midterm tomorrow". Hehe. Thankfully the rest of the email was not in Italian and it was the correct course and the beginning of the course.

Finance is, well, Finance. What can one say? Thankfully, my teacher is enthusiastic about the class and about getting this stuff through to us. I'm not sure how he'll do this, but at least he wants to try. Nice fellow. Naaa...it won't be half so bad and he's nice and clear about the course's difficulty. I just hope the students take him seriously.

Okay, I can't promise to blog often even though I seem less busy than before. You know I'm a miserable blogger. But I will do my best to keep you updated on...well, whatever I find interesting enough in the desert land to keep you updated.

P.S. Due to the warm (100 degree) welcome I continue to receive (quite reluctantly) and received just today as well, I melted several times. Thankfully each time was not beyond repair (no need to point out that there are not any pics with me in this blog...so please wait a while Theresa and I will upload more when it is safe, er, I mean, when I get the pics downloaded).