Seventh semester at SUNY Binghamton, I got an angry notice from the administration building demanding that I choose a major.
Up until then, I had just been taking all sorts of random liberal arts classes without any plan. And now, the meanies in the administration building were demanding some sort of commitment from me. I had courses in History, Anthro, Philosophy, Computer Science, but as I went over my transcript on lilne in the administration building, I realized that I had the most credits in Rhetoric and Literature and in Political Science. Now I had to choose between those two majors. I had an equal number of credits in literature/rhetoric as I did in political science. My grade point average was about the same. I was next in line and had to make a decision fast.
I chose political science. Why? Because the guys were cuter. How many life altering decisions have I made based on my weakness for the opposite sex? Don’t ask.
One of the pluses of our new home purchase, at least from my parent’s perspective, is that they get to dump in our attic all the boxes that have clogged up their attic for years. In one of those boxes are all my short stories that I wrote in those creative writing classes in college. They all start pretty much the same. Something like… Jane drove up Pleasant Lane past the identical white Cape Cods with their neatly trimmed lawns all green and square and sighed to herself that wouldn’t it be nice if one of the homes had painted their shutters red… Get it? Suburbs = Conformity. Boredom. Banality. GET IT?
So now, we’ve moved into a banal little suburb and immediately took down the multiple flags in front of the home, which surely offended our neighborhors who all have gagillion flags and lawn ornaments in front of their homes.
But there is more to the suburbs that flags and lawn ornaments. There is certainly more here than I could have picked up as a college sophomore. I’ve only been here for three days, so there’s not much to report yet. Except that I’m loving the dishwasher and washing machine thing.
Apt. 11d 
Ergo, the guys in Literature and Rhetoric must be truly hideous.
(And welcome to the new digs! Now, I’m off to karaoke…)
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Do you have a garbage disposal as well? You’re living the dream!
Enjoy the new home.
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Chris: No, the guys in Lit/Rhet are plenty cute; it’s just that they’re all queer. At least in my school.
After 7 years of living without, we got a dishwasher when we moved to California. We call it the Domestic Happiness Machine, because with it, we argue about twice a year, whereas without it, we argued about twice a month. And I never want to live in Laundromat Land ever again.
Congratulations! I feel your elation (even though we just moved *down* a step — d/w and w/d, but broken refrigerator that the college says we have to replace out of our own pocket).
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Hey! I commented this morning, but it isn’t showing. See, that’s why I will still probably resist ever putting comments on my blog–they’re nothing but trouble.
Anyway, welcome back! In eleven years of marriage and nine places of residency, Melissa and I have had a dishwasher roughly half the time. Don’t ever go back and forth, if you can at all avoid it. Dishwasher is definitely better than no-dishwasher.
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You must be on to something RE: Pol Sci guys, since I ended up marrying one, lol.
Ah, I am envious of your functional dishwasher. We do have one in our house, but it ends up taking more effort to use it than just washing the dishes by hand. The water in Germany is very mineral and you have to add special salt, detergent, clearing rinse and what not.
Welcome Back!
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I agree with prim. Dishwashers do take up too much space. I just heard about one that converts ones side of your sink to a dishwasher. Very cool. I think it’s called a Briva. Next house or at least next remodel, this one’s going in!
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Laura is back
Laura at Apt. 11D has successfully completed her move to the suburbs. Her new blog is up and running too! Go check it out. And leave a little note saying hi – she now has comments….
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Poli Sci? Well, from the anecdotal evidence of myself, a software engineer who’s a total hottie (and my wife will vouch for me), by extension, the Computer Science major always has the cutest guys of all. Too bad you didn’t have enough credits to consider it. Your loss!
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Wow, that story sounds familiar. 6th year in my undergraduate program (at UC Irvine) and I got a message a bit more stern: pick a major and graduate the following quarter or I was going to get the boot. I went to see a counselor, and she explained that I needed one course to take a degree in political science, two for Japanese lit, drama, or computer science, and four for economics. Drama had the cuter girls, but Poli Sci was easier. (The course, not the girls.)
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Last week at a family reunion, I asked my grandmother about how she managed to do laundry for 11 (yeah, eleven) kids–she told me about her first washing machine, which doubled as a dishwasher. They kept it in a closet and hooked it up to the kitchen sink when needed. There were interchangeable innards–a big tub for laundry and a tub with dishracks built in for dishwashing. I can’t really picture it; there must be a Museum of American Domestic Machinery somewhere!
Anyway, welcome to the land of dishwashers–glad you’re back in the blogosphere.
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