(no subject)

Man, if I ever really want an alien-sounding name, I'm going with Etruscan names, the non-Latinized version. Larth Tetnie and his wife Tanchvil Tarnai, anyone? (Sarcophagus of Larth Tetnie and wife Tanchvil Tarnai, alabaster, Vulci, c. 350 BCE. agh, studying.)

I guess while I'm talking about the sarcophagus, I should link to a picture of it. That's the lid.

Latin test is over, now I've moved on to studying for my Etruscans & Early Rome test at 1:00. Slide ID, baby. (That's actually all there is, which means I need to memorize these slides, ah, fairly quickly.)

Eh, while I'm here, have one more sarcophagus: The Old Couple, an ash urn lid from Volterra, from the 1st century BCE. Lids with couples on them aren't that common; the oldest we have dates from the late sixth century (Sarcophagus of the Married Couple, Banditaccia Necropolis, Caere, 530-510 BCE), and they don't appear again until the mid-4th century, though it could just be that we haven't found any examples from the fifth century. With the sarcophagus of Larth Tetnie and his wife Tanchvil, as well as the Sarcophagus of the Married Couple, note that they're both young and handsome, relatively speaking. The Old Couple isn't; there's a trend towards realistic portrayals, although not always -- with the sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa (Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, Poggio Cantarello, terracotta, c. 150-140 BCE), she's portrayed as young and bridal, but (and this is a rare case) the remains that were found in the sarcophagus are those of a much older woman, so she probably chose her portrayal. But then we have the Old Couple. Maybe it's just the angle they're at, but they look pretty happy, don't they?

Anyway. That bit was kind of like studying, yeah? Since those are all sarcophagi that might be on my final. (You'll notice that I also kept noting the material as well as the location, date, and name. Yes. I kept accidentally typing "tufa and pain" on my notes, instead of "tufa and paint." WELL IT'S PAIN TO ME OKAY.)

*

I'm keyed up and stressed out; I'm starting to get into pre-packing stress because I KEEP FINDING STUFF OMG and I have more books than anybody reasonably needs to have -- I'm selling back (hopefully) some of them, taking some to the used bookstore on Maple Street, but the vast majority are going to need to be shipped home and I'm estimating four boxes of just books. Plus all my other stuff. AND MY PANTRY. ARGH.

If I'd gotten enough sleep last night I'd probably be slightly less stressed; right now I'm in one of those moods where food is repugnant, which is less than helpful. And I know I've been more stressed than usual over the past couple weeks because I picked up some kind of jaw-popping tic -- not the one I had all through last year where my jaw kept locking, thank the gods, a different one -- and because I've been picking my lips a lot more recently, which is bad, bad, very bad. (It's a bad habit I've had since middle school -- peeling the skin off my lips, sometimes until they bleed. I've gotten better over the past couple years because of frenzied application of lip balm, but when I'm stressed I go right back to doing it. And then I have to explain to people why my lip is all bloody.)

Anyway, back to the Etruscans.

I feel like I may be repeating myself

Three finals done, just the one to go -- my Age of Reformation final is Friday afternoon, so I shall spend tomorrow alternately studying for it and packing. I keep thinking I own less stuff than I actually do, you know? Or at least that it will take up less room than it actually does: I am not looking forward to somehow try and fit my comforter in a box. Bulky items = hate. Those should be staying with pinesandmaples, though.

SO MANY BOOKS. Four boxes of books, full, and probably enough to fill a fifth, though I'm not sure if I'll put them in a box of their own or stick them in another box with whatever else ends up getting shipped home. Plus another box full of books that will go to the bookstore or the used bookstore. I spent a stupidly long time today trying to fit all my cookbooks and my Norton Shakespeare into the same flat-rate box before finally acknowleding that it just was not going to happen; the Shakespeare will probably go in my checked suitcase. I will probably pack all my clothes tomorrow, just to make sure that everything fits in my suitcase, and then start taking things to Loyola's post office or to FedEx to ship.

(I only brought one suitcase this year, instead of two like I have before. My smaller suitcase is just a hair too big to fit comfortably into overhead bins as a carry-on; several flights spent eyeing the bulging door of the overhead bin waiting for it to suddenly explode outwards was too much stress for me, and checking two bags gets expensive, so I only brought my big suitcase this year. I've gained more clothes than I had when I left Washington in August, though, so I'm not a hundred percent positive that everything will fit with room for books and whatever else there is left over. But for once I'm leaving at a reasonably hour in the afternoon, instead of wtf o'clock in the morning, so I'll have time to run another box over to FedEx before I leave if I have to. THANK THE GODS.)

...erk, I keep forgetting about my rainboots. Normally I'd just store those, but since I'm going to England this summer -- will I actually need rainboots in England? It's definitely not something I need in Washington, especially in my hometown. *muses* (Shoes! I have to remember that I have to pack all my shoes, too! And I don't even have that many shoes -- one pair of heeled boots, one pair of pumps, one pair of wedges, one pair of heeled sandals, an extra pair of sneakers + the pair I'll be wearing.)

Ugh. I hate packing. I suppose next year I shall try to be more minimalist than I managed to be this year. (I really wish I didn't have to pack and panic on top of study+test and panic. That would be lovely. Alas, it is not to be.)