Meal At The Fish Whistle...

Today was spent having classes and cramming in research for the World War II paper where I could. Now, the essay is pretty much planned, so I will write as much of it tomorrow as possible to keep up with the one paper a week schedule. 

This evening I went with a small group to the Fish Whistle, so my parents had chance to meet some people and put faces to names. We went back to KC and I did my usual round of tea for everyone, learning how Marcela and Ellie also have their drinks. 

I returned to Worcester and continued editing book chapters when a very happy Addison returned to tell me that the Red Sox had won the world series - as an adopted fan I was happy that my new team had been crowned champions.

The Return Of The Wrath...

Today was officially the longest day of classes since beginning the year here at Washington College. The film class continued all the way up to 5:00pm, after over two hours of The Grapes of Wrath. You would have thought that watching the film would have been more enjoyable than reading the book. True, some depressing characters were left out along with a couple of deaths, including that of a baby, and it took less time then reading the book. However, at least whilst I was reading, I could picture the story in colour. The only thing more soul-destroying then watching over two hours of continual depressiveness, is viewing it in black and white, or more accurately, grey. The grey numbness of utter boredom that more than once caused me to dose off. 

Aside from the return of the Wrath, the rest of the day's classes passed quickly enough and I began on some initial thoughts and ideas for the next essay, which needs to be written this week. I also caught up on the new Modern Family episode and chilled out at KC for the evening after dinner. 

A New Coat...

With many deadlines on the horizon, I'm back to juggling work for different assignments. Before class I began researching for the World War II paper and afterwards, I read in the car for the upcoming Early Republic discussion class on slavery. 

Having met up with parents after class, we headed out to buy some walking boots with a predicted cold and snowy winter. As is so often the case when I'm shoe shopping, however, they had some boots I liked, but not in my size. So, to compensate, I was treated to a new winter coat after my current coat of five years is starting to give up the go. 

I came back to campus in time to join the others for dinner and then we went over to Lenka's to chill out with some Game of Thrones, which we have been neglecting lately. Sean came round for a while, which was good as we haven't seen him in some time, and then Shannon, Eoin and Pip joined us. 

Working around Lenka's suite mate raising the thermostat to near tropical conditions, we had a relaxing evening after a busy start to the week, with many plans in the works for the days to come.

Passing Time In The Past Time Bar...

I went for a brief brunch today before heading down to the B&B to meet with parents and God-parents, who were in Chestertown for the day before continuing on their coast-to-coast drive. 

I gave a slightly different tour of campus, trying not to be repetitive. After picking up a drink at Java George to keep us going and bumping into a couple of people, I finished the campus tour and walked them into town for lunch and a drink at Sam's - I hadn't realised that there was outside seating out the back, which was nice as the day warmed up. 

We made a stop in the Bookplate and walked down to the waterfront where a tall ship was sailing into dock for the Downrigging Weekend next week. From there we walked through an historic area of town I hadn't previously been to, and then back to the B&B.

Making use of the car, we went on a drive to Rock Hall where they have an amazing retro ice cream parlour that also does food, which I intend to go back to with people at some point. That done, we drove back to Chestertown and relaxed for a while before heading to The Lemon Leaf for dinner. From there, we went next door to JR's Past Time Bar for some drinks and to watch the world series, where we ended up chatting to the bar tender for ages - I even played a while at the red piano in the lounge. 

(I am depending on donated photos for the blog post today)

Parents, Pumpkins and Publications...

An early start to the day, despite it being the weekend. I got up and went down to the B&B to meet up with mum and dad. No sooner was I through the door, then I was seated at the table with a mug of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and a warm pumpkin scone, which was an excellent start to the day.

As it is Saturday the market was on as usual, so they got to see some of the regular town life of Chestertown, which was good. From the fountain square, we walked down past the old railway station, and to the college pavilion and boat house.

Here, we parted for it was time for me to head back up to campus for brunch whilst mum and dad continued walking further along the river. I ate brunch with the others and at midday, I walked back down to the B&B to go out for a drive with parents. We went back to Galena to show mum and dad some of the antique shops. I picked up a 1936 edition of 'The New Republic', which is a very useful source for two of my courses, and a vintage Red Socks baseball card for Addison, which he doesn't know about yet. 

Planning to spend the day and meals out tomorrow, we arrived back at campus for me to go to the dining hall for dinner. I ate with the others and caught up on the day's events before we went over to KC to chill out, along with some of the chocolate supply from home that mum and dad had brought over. As expected it was gorged on like the zombies of The Walking Dead that we watched, going after the desperately fleeing humans. 

The Parents Are Across The Pond...

The big highlight of the day was seeing my folks for the first time in a couple of months shortly after breakfast. I had just enough time to give them a general tour of campus before classes started. The reaction to the college and Chestertown in general was overwhelmingly positive, which I had suspected, but the confirmation was still pleasing. 

After classes, they returned from a drive out, to pass over some things I had forgotten/needed for semester, and took away some summer clothes that are now redundant with the sudden drop in temperature this week. Most importantly was the big stash of good chocolate that came with them that is now hidden away in my room. I will drip feed it to people so that it does not go in one evening. 

I walked my parents into Chestertown and we had an earlier dinner at The Lemon Leaf, which was great. After food I headed back up to campus to go and see a senior thesis show, 'Almost Blue', written by Keith Reddin; a man who can always make me laugh one way or another - his show was no different. The performance was great and afterwards, inspired to continue writing, we went over to KC for wine and The Walking Dead, whilst I continued with the 1920s crime thriller. 

Jedediah Meth-Head...

Lots of small tasks done today outside of class. I did laundry after breakfast, read some last bits in Black Hawk for discussion class, wrote a letter home to Sara after going to find my package of envelopes myself after the post room neglected to email me, gave the borrowed video camera back to the library, printed off a first-draft essay, and went to Walgreens to get some supplies.

After dinner, we went over to the basement of East Hall for some pumpkin carving. As usual there was a great array of faces and as Lenka had never done it before, I let her dictate what ours would look like. Sufficed to say, it was our most beautiful creation, dubbed Jedediah the meth-head. 

We took the pumpkins back to KC and chilled out with some wine and The Walking Dead - I am struggling to see how they have made three seasons out of this. Now, with everything done for the rest of the week, I will get some rest before the long Friday of classes and seeing parents when I can.