matthew’s alibi

I got a surprising amount accomplished today. I met with my academic advisers from Political Science and Philosophy, and learned that I actually will be getting some credit from my time abroad, which is very good news indeed. I had feared there for a while that my year in Northern Ireland wouldn’t get me a bit closer to graduation. Actually, at the time, I kind of shrugged the prospect off, and said I wasn’t doing it for the credit anyway, but faced with the possibility of graduating imminently, I’ve changed my tune.

It looks like I’m only going to have to take five classes this fall, which will be about average, and I may try and repeat the chemistry class I failed back when I was a foolish freshman. I’m not so sure that I have more of a shot at it now that I’m a foolish senior.

I had dinner tonight with Jason at the Asian Garden, after the buffet was cancelled last night. I’m absolutely heartbroken that it will probably be my last Asian Garden meal before August, when I get back, so I’m trying not to think about it. After dinner, we went to the Tea Garden (I had never been) and chatted with Brooke. The Tea Garden is an awesome little place, lots of atmosphere and class.

I went to see my potential apartment for the fall. It’s a nice place, although perhaps a bit further from campus than I’d like to walk every day. I really like the potential roommate: a lefty, a vegetarian, and an epidemiologist at NIOSH. He seems like a very good guy, and I’m figuring a good roommate is the most important feature of a potential apartment, so I’m thinking it could be the one.

I also went to the Sprint PCS store on High Street, and heard the third different version of what it would take to get my Sprint phone working again for the summer. Every Sprint representative to whom I’ve spoken has told me something different. It’s absolutely maddening. I’ve decided to just see what I can do on the web site. (After telling me there would be a fee to re-activate the phone, I pointed out that the representative I had spoken to yesterday had told me that there would not be a re-activation fee. I asked if he had a comparison chart of plans. He referred me to the web site. “There won’t be a re-activation fee if you use the web site,” he assured me. I cant wait to see what the web site says.)

I’ve taken a turn for the worse in the whole broken-heart business. I was, if not getting better, at least successfully keeping my mind occupied elsewhere for a few days, but these past few have been rough. I wake up missing him. When I’m in Morgantown, seeing friends and walking around, I feel good, like I own the city, like I belong. But I’ve not been sleeping so well. Whenever I see something beautiful, something that makes me really happy to be alive (and I guess it’s a great blessing just to feel that way so often — West Virginia now seems full of things that inspire startling and unexpected awe, moments of majesty, in a way I never noticed before I was away) I always think of how much I’d like to share it with Tom, and there’s a part of me that’s not yet ready to part with the expectation that one day, he’ll see these things by my side. I would love to drive him through the mountains, and share a moment awestruck at the beauty and glory of the world. That’s when I miss him the most.

I guess I’ll sign off now. I’ve talked again mostly about events rather than thoughts, which is something I’m trying not to do, but I figure there will be plenty of less eventful days to write about things less tangible. I’m really pleased at my discipline, having written three entries in the past two days. If I can keep this up, I’ll be amazed. And perhaps one day, it may even be worth reading!