I was sitting in Epistles yesterday for the first time in at least a week and doing my very very best to stay upright and conscious (it was a struggle). I noticed that someone sitting beside me had a paper on their desk, ready to present should the opportunity arise. And in the paper, my esteemed classmate has name dropped Tertullian. All well and good - I occasionally enjoy name dropping Tertullian. Except that it was not all well and good, because she spelled it Tartulian, instead of Tertullian. After a while, when my mind started working properly again, I was baffled. At first I thought perhaps she had heard it in class and sounded out the name. That happens. But a logical sounding out of Tertullian would have to include the first 'e' - there's no way to make the jump to an 'a'. So it would have been Tertulian, unless she had heard it from someone who couldn't pronounce it. But that is unlikely, as most people who are aware of Tertullian are at least marginally aware of Latin pronunciation, and the name Tertullian is anglicized from the very similar Latin. I concluded that she must have gotten it from a written source, which also made more sense with the context of the sentence. That means that she had read Tertullian or about Tertullian - which means that she had seen, with her eyes, the name Tertullian. I am still confused about this now, while sitting in Baked & Wired a day later.

This week I have pulled at least two all nighters which were not separated by a full and sufficient night of sleep. Hence the struggle to stay upright. I say 'at least two all nighters' because I'm not actually sure - there may have been more. Wednesday to Thursday I was trying to write two essays and also fit in a research assignment my professor had assigned me and only me on Tuesday. It wasn't a large one, but it would have been extremely daunting if I hadn't run into a reference directing me to the exact page I needed. One of the papers was for the previously mentioned Epistles class. It was due a week ago (more than a week ago, now) I missed class because I was sick, although I had been researching it. The idea was to finish the research and write the paper last night - but I was up all night using two to three times the sources I normally would because I couldn't find anything that related to the topic in the places where I was supposed to be able to find material relating to the topic. And then I went to class, prepared to throw myself upon the mercy of my professor, and found out I'd completely misread the topic.

At one point in that process I was so stressed out that I knew I needed a walk. So I combined the walk with the need for breakfast and coffee and went to B&W. This was on Thursday morning. I was stressed out enough that I got there before they opened (even though I shouldn't have, based on the time it was when I left). I waited on the bench outside of Barnes & Noble on M st. At 6:59 I heard sirens, and decided to wait on the off chance that there was a fire truck. (Just go with it.) There wasn't a fire truck, but there was a presidential motorcade. Which involves many many sirens. I have filled my siren quota for probably the next two years.

Very much awake, I continued on in my quest for coffee. There was a very well executed leaf in my latte. As for the umbrella cookies I mentioned - apparently there was something wrong with the shape of them? I'm not sure - it looked fine to me. They had white frosting and blue and clear sprinkles on the umbrella part. The sprinkles were reminiscent of snow and rain, but not in a gross wintery mix way. In an adorable way. The frosting was sweet, but not too sweet. Not as sweet as the cupcakes, at any rate. They had a homemade taste with interesting undercurrents of ingredients I won't tell you about. But you should try them, and figure it out for yourself. Because they are awesome, and unique.

This morning, I woke up to the sound of fire drill. For anyone not familiar with the sound of fire drill, it is much less pleasant than the sound of sirens. I live in a dorm designated for hearing impaired students, which means our fire drill is different. It is made up of multiple sounds, one of which is very distinctive. I don't really know how to describe it except that it's a bit lower, very grating, and it makes me lose my mind a little bit. Seriously. It is very difficult to remain coherent, and doing so requires lots of focused counting. Very fast focused counting. Lots of it. The first time I heard one I found myself outside without shoes, socks, outerwear, glasses, my room key, my card to get into my building, or my phone. It was also exceedingly cold. Today, I retained enough composure to decide that going out for coffee and breakfast was better than standing around in the quad. Either way I wasn't going to get back to sleep. I only forgot my ipod (for work) and socks, which I consider a significant accomplishment.
Anyway, I had a strawberry cupcake for breakfast at B&W. Awesomely good as usual, especially mixed with latte. The latte had a spade in the foam. I read Kaddish by Leon Weiseltier, which I had to abandon at the beginning of the semester in favour of classes.

I apparently have a ticket to be in the same general location as the pope. I had a rather high fever, and I didn't actually think I would get one. But it seems that it was a ticket-request situation rather than a first-come-first-serve-limited-number-of-tickets situation. They encourage us to wear Georgetown branded clothing. I think I'm going to try to get my hands on one of the 'I [heart] Jesuits' shirts that some group has been selling though - even if the idea is stolen from elsewhere. Word on the street is that when Georgetown people go to Catholic they get treated badly. No idea why. So, that may or may not be interesting. The ticket is strange. There is a dove on it, which is nice except for the part where the dove looks decapitated. And there's a photo of Benedict on it, which is nice except for the part where he looks like he's being held at gunpoint by an unseen assailant. While smiling.

I've ended up back at B&W this afternoon, because I'm predictable. Also because J-- is here. The hibiscus mint tea is great, and so was the carrot cake cupcake. Actually, the carrot cake cupcake might be my new favourite. It isn't as sweet as the others, and because it is carrot cake the texture and flavour are more complex. The carrot is definitely fresh, and the raisins aren't overly plump or overly dry/gritty. Good stuff. J-- for some reason has a problem with carrot cake cupcakes. He thinks carrot cake should only be in cake form. Perhaps it's the 'cake cupcake' construction he takes issue with. I don't know. But I do know that he's silly for refusing to try it.

I'm going to get around to blogging about the lemon cupcake and the red velvet cupcake. And the combination of red velvet cupcake and hot mint tea. Really. I swear.