It felt like I never left. I arrived on campus about 40 minutes before class, so I stopped by the administration building and picked up my new student ID. The picture, I must say, is a vast improvement to my undergrad ID. Ick! I was certain to wear something colorful (in this case, my orange jacket) so I wouldn’t look washed out.

My Intro to Literary Research class meets in the UNO library. With only eight students, we’re a small group. Our professor is interactive and funny. Years ago, he had aspirations to be a newspaper journalist, which gets him an A+ in my book! After the first 30 minutes, we made introductions and learned about our fellow grad students. After a break, we were assigned to map the library, as a means of getting to know our surroundings. With the number of papers and projects we’ll be doing over the next few years, it’s important we know the library like the back of our hands.

I can tell already that I’m going to enjoy a smaller class. I feel more comfortable speaking in front of just eight people than, say, 28.

The walk back to my car (about a 10 minute jaunt), was nostalgic. It was dark, and most of campus was quiet, with it being past 7 in the evening. That little walk reminded me of my five years as an undergrad, and how I’ve changed since then.

Tonight, class No. 2: Culture of the 1960s. More later.

From the New York Times…

From Simmer to Boil for Alternative Rock Survivors
By DAVID BERNSTEIN

CHICAGO, Jan. 13 — Two hours before the White Stripes and the Flaming Lips ushered in 2004 with their double-bill New Year’s Eve concert at the historic Aragon Ballroom here, the Flaming Lips were onstage blowing up oversize balloons, posing inflatable robots and setting up a giant video screen and confetti machine for their extravagant multimedia show.

By contrast, Jack and Meg White, who make up the White Stripes, were mostly backstage until performance time, their roadies, in black suits and bowler hats, guarding their dressing suite. The White Stripes are rock stars, and stars are not supposed to do stagehand work.

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For the past few days, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time listening to music that’s ideal for playing in the background: Postal Service, Sea and Cake, Boards of Canada. Longing for a little Rufus Wainwright, I selected “Dinner at Eight” from my iPod on the drive to work Monday. I quickly realized how emotional his music is. All those other artists, despite being wonderful and near perfect, were just audibly delicious snacks I unconsciously devoured throughout my day. But Rufus? Rufus made me feel. Rufus got inside my heart, shook things up a bit. Rufus told my insides: “Feel something!”

“Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest human beings infinite distances continue to exist, a wonderful living side by side can grow up, if they succeed in loving the distance between them.”

— Rainer Maria Rilke

It’s off to the dentist today for my six-month check-up. I’ll know more about the fate of my wisdom teeth. I’m hoping the inevitable will be delayed for a few months. We shall see.

A side note: To those (few) of you who text message my cell phone, please know that my messaging service has been down while I’ve switched cell phones. I’m told it’ll be up and running by tomorrow. So, send me messages!

The official start of the spring 2004 semester at the University of Nebraska at Omaha is tomorrow, but my first class doesn’t meet until Wednesday. I’m so excited, I could spit.

(For those joining us late: I’m returning to UNO to earn my master’s degree in English.)

On Tuesday, Jason and I are having lunch somewhere in Dundee, then it’s off to the UNO Bookstore to purchase my books. My cousin checked out the books I need, and said they’ll only cost me around $30. Not bad. I recall many a semester as an undergrad at UNO, spending upwards of $350 on books. Ugh. No thank you.

My classes meet Wednesday and Thursdays evenings. I’m taking a research and methods class, required by all grad students in the English department; and Culture of the 1960s. Both sound wonderful, and I can’t wait.

It’ll be fun to take notes, read books and join in class discussions again. Meeting new faces — or, perhaps, seeing familiar ones — will be a bonus, too. (Can you tell I’m excited?)

And, I must thank Matthew for giving me — for free — his parking pass. A $60 value, I’ll be able to park anywhere on campus for the spring and summer semesters. Thanks, Matthew :-)

In the words of Spin magazine: “Let’s do this.”

LiveJournal and other blog Web sites have taken the world by storm. Need proof? Look no further than this week’s issue of the New York Times Magazine.

My So-Called Blog
By Emily Nussbaum

When M. gets home from school, he immediately logs on to his computer. Then he stays there, touching base with the people he has seen all day long, floating in a kind of multitasking heaven of communication. First, he clicks on his Web log, or blog — an online diary he keeps on a Web site called LiveJournal — and checks for responses from his readers. Next he reads his friends’ journals, contributing his distinctive brand of wry, supportive commentary to their observations. Then he returns to his own journal to compose his entries: sometimes confessional, more often dry private jokes or koanlike observations on life.

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I’m ready for spring. I’m sick of the snow (my car is filthy). I’m sick of the cold (my hair and skin are so very dry). I’m sick of the early evenings (I feel like I can’t run errands when it’s pitch black at 6:30 p.m.).

My friend, Molly, emailed me the following snippet on my name, and its definition. Do you agree?

Wendy:

Famous people with this name: Wendy (Peter Pan) Darling; actress Dame Wendy (A Man for All Seasons) Hiller; “Wendy, the Good Little Witch” comics; Wendy’s hamburgers; singers Wendy O. Williams, Wendy Wall

What about your name? Click here to see what your name means.

Let me start by saying few winter meals compare to tomato soup, a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of cold milk. That’s what I had for dinner tonight, and I’m so pleasantly warm and full. It’s wonderful.

On to today’s keynote at Macworld:

For starters, I stayed home from work this morning to catch the keynote online. I joined a chat room during the keynote and watched it via Apple’s streaming audio/video. On a dial-up connection, the audio sounded great. As for the video, it wasn’t as clear as I would’ve hoped, but what can I expect on a dial-up connection?

The biggest announcement today was the new iPod. Known as iPod mini, this 4 GB MP3 player comes in five different colors. Unfortunately, the price point isn’t as low as I or other Apple enthusiasts might have hoped for. The new (little) beauty rings up just below $250. When you can purchase a 15 GB iPod for $299, why bother with something so small? If I’ve learned anything about hard drive space, bigger is always better.

In addition to the new iPods, Steve Jobs also announced GarageBand, an application that allows any musician with a Macintosh the ability to own their own recording studio. It’s pretty nifty and a huge step forward in Apple’s direction of music. At the keynote, John Mayer lent his musical talents to demo GarageBand, which is now part of Apple’s iLife software family.

I must admit, I was somewhat melancholy about not attending the keynote and Macworld in person. However, the buzz around the World Wide Web this time of year makes up for it. Perhaps I’ll attend Macworld Boston this summer :-)

For more details on today’s keynote, check out the articles at MacCentral.