Feeling Romantic? I Am

Well, Romantic in the British poetry sense. I've been working on a paper that has to do with Shelley, his time in Dublin, and a poem he wrote "On Robert Emmet's tomb." Kind of interesting, but I'm running out of steam for the semester. Like an idiot, I told my students I would have their research papers back to them by Monday. I haven't graded a single one yet. Friday night I have an awards dinner that I'm going to with Josh, a First Year Composition party afterwards (where Josh tells me I'm to be his DD); Saturday I'm going to Chicago to see Erasure (yay, 80s synthesizer music...I hope they play two of my favorite songs they've covered: ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" and the Weather Girls' "Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight)"). But that doesn't leave me for much time to grade and I'm a grading turtle! I hope it gets easier when I get to design my own assignments, syllabus, due dates, etc.

A New Wardrobe?

Or actually a new job? I have been very busy today, but rather non-productive academically, which is not good two weeks before the semester ends. I dropped off an application to work at Ann Taylor Loft, and had a pre-screening interview. Then I bought contacts, got my oil changed, and came home to do a computer personality assessment for Ann Taylor. I then called the store to tell them I had completed this and an hour later they called me back to set up a second interview! Because Wednesdays are my long days (14 hours at school), I had to have it this afternoon (the head manager is leaving on Thursday). I went back and interviewed again; all went seemingly well--she told me one of my answers was rather impressive for never having worked in retail before. So...I should know soon. I hope I get it. I love their clothes.

British Franchises: Tea and Bond

I'm sipping my delightful English Breakfast tea brought to me from England and reading a news story about the next James Bond. Of course, there is no official word that Pierce won't be returning to the role, all is just wild speculation at this point. That being said, wouldn't Clive Owen make a delicious Bond?

My Powers are Too Weak to Resist the Narrative!

The last time I remember being this fevered to continue a narrative was with Harry Potter. When I first started reading the books, I couldn't stop. I was painting my parents house that summer, and I made my mom read aloud to me as I was working because I couldn't not know what was happening next. I read the first three books in two days or so. Now with Buffy, I have the same need to keep going, but there's so much that it really is distracting me from other life activities I need to be doing.

Last night, I watched The Incredibles, and, at first, I was thinking, "I could be watching Buffy right now, why am I not holed up in my room?" The Incredibles is rather incredible (sigh, will either Pixar or Disney produce the like again, now that they've split?) and soon I was able to stop my fretting. So, now I feel like perhaps I've regained a small semblance of control. I was empowered to find that I can watch/do and enjoy other things, and Buffy will still be there when I come back to it (I watched two episodes later last night). We'll see.

In book news, I've finished reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is an enjoyable quick read. It has lots of one to two page chapters/sections, so it was perfect bathroom reading. I've been reading Shelley for my British Romantic Poetry class, and need to write a paper on him (or Keats) this weekend. Shelley traveled to Ireland in 1812ish and distributed pamphlets he'd written about why the Irish should revolt against the English, as well as a couple of poems to Ireland. Being a celtophile, I'm trying to find a paper in that, but it just hasn't happened yet.

A Brief Respite

Yesterday, I turned back the last of my students papers that I've been struggling to grade for the past few weeks. Today, I get their research papers. That leaves a few hours in which I don't have the axe of grading hanging over me. Of course, I've been really productive, finishing season three of Buffy and starting season four. I'm considering buying them. Season one is on sale at Wal-Mart for 14 bucks! Tempting.

Only a few more weeks left in the semester. For my classes, one paper and two finals left in my career as an MA student. Then I also need to be designing my composition class for the fall. Another girl and I are going to design a course together, and we think we're going to use Harry Potter books for our reader. Another composition teacher has done it quite successfully and she's given us some of her materials. It should be a lot of fun, at least as far as rhetoric courses can be.

Language

As I'm actively not writing my paper, I am reading the blogs of many an academic (Sometime soon I'll post links to the ones I read and lurk at). Lots of them are doing this fun little quiz, so what the heck, I will too.

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Midwestern

0% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I first saw this at MFA.

Quick Happiness

The Cold Stone Creamery near me opened yesterday. I couldn't make it until today, but when I did, imagine that my joy at least equaled this.

Too Much To Say

I've been itching to get to a computer and post, because I've actually been doing interesting things the past few days, but I was so occupied doing that I didn't have time to write about them. So, the next few days may be catch-up.

On Friday, I bought three pairs of shoes. I'm not normally much of a shopper, but shoes are my vice, and my shopping friends were persuasive. One is just a black dress sandal from Wal-Mart; the other two are from Van Maur, but drastically reduced. Both are Chinese Laundry. Check them out here and here.

Next, we ate a Buca de Beppo's, which was tasty as usual. I had limoncello there and thought of Cinque Terra! Martha has a recipe for it in her latest Living, and I'm considering trying to make it.

The purpose of this excursion was actually to go downtown for a Tori Amos concert. I quite enjoyed it. I probably only recognized a fourth to a third of the songs. But still, she was good. We had the very furthest seats away possible. We had to walk up six flights of stairs and then were in the back row. It made it difficult to hear because of silly screaming people and the fact that she doesn't enunciate all that well to begin with. She impressed me playing a piano and an organ at the same time, but her odd writhing made me feel like she was giving birth to the piano bench she was sitting on.

The bonus surprise though was Matt Nathanson opened for her! I haven't thought about him in a while, but listening to his four songs (I even knew one!) made me realize that I need to buy his album.

I have lots of grading to do, but I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope I can reach it before the cave-in! More exciting things from this weekend to come--think fat Elvis.

"You speak nonsense, I'll speak the truth. We'll see what comes of it." That was one of my favorite lines from Ran the latest film from my IAC class. It had that epic (long), delibrate (slow) feel that most Kurosawa films have. Rather enjoyable overall. Confession: I've never read King Lear, which this film is based on. I'm a fake Englishy person.

On the bright side, I'm slowly getting grading done. I've made a little deal with myself, which I rarely do because I generally don't trust myself to stick with the bargins. This time I've been good. Grading four papers = one episode of Buffy.

A Cookie is a Sometimes Food? Not For Me.

What a travesty. Cookie Monster is now being forced to live a life dictated by Western standards of health, moderation, and dullness. He can no longer croon "C is for cookie that's good enough for me," but has to declare "A cookie is a sometimes food." Doesn't that seem to go against the very nature of one whose moniker declares him to be...a COOKIE MONSTER. I understand the importance of teaching healthy eating principles to children, but I don't think Sesame Street is a show that is built on verisimilitude.

Quilt Festival

The last time I tried to post I typed a long, amusing, insightful post about how my library is buying material from the black market, and Blogger erased it all. My heart is no longer in the topic. Too bad, it was probably the greatest post of all time.

This weekend my mom, aunt, and I went to the Chicago International Quilt Festival. It was hard-core. The exhibits were awesome; I have a heightened appreciation for quilting as an art rather than just a functional hobby. Lots of vendors selling lots of fabric and other tools. I bought a cool pattern for a wall hanging that looks like Japanese rice bowl and lots of neat fabric to go with it. I've got to finish some other projects that I have in the works before I can start it however, so when we got home last night, I started working on one of those the quicker to get to my rice bowls! I can't work more now on that though because I've got papers to grade--English teachers should be paid more than other teachers, we have the worst grading load.

Loan Officer

So, I want to buy a condo. I don't know if I can take living with my parents for another four years (anticipated length of PhD), but I can't stomach the thought of renting, so I want to buy. I found a condo I liked in DeKalb (and a couple in Rockford, but finding a roommate will be easier in DeKalb, plus I'll save on gas, be close to campus, lots of pluses), but haven't looked at it yet, because I don't want to fall in love with it and then not be able to have it.

My next step is to find out if I can get approved for a loan, so I walked into a bank and talked with a loan officer for 45 minutes! She was nice (though I suspect could have told me the bad news much earlier than she did), but on my own, with my income (teaching four classes a year does not get me much), I can only afford a loan half of what I need. But I'm not going to admit defeat yet. There's more than one way to skin a cat (although gross, who would want to do that?).

I've finished watching season two of Buffy. I told my friend, no matter how much I beg and cry, not to give me season three until next week. So, hopefully, I'll regain a little normalcy back into my life. I'm reading: John Keats's Odes by Helen Vendler for a presentation I'm giving tonight, poems by Shelley for class tonight. I've slowly, a page or two a day, been chipping away at The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. My Blockbuster movies have been sitting, unwatched next to my tv, plus people keep lending (okay, I keep borrowing) films that I'd like to watch that I haven't. I want another spring break, or rather, I'm ready for summer!

Buffy

I've gotten hooked on Buffy. It's amazing. All kinds of neat elements I like. Fighting, fantasy, research, stuffy British librarians (yowzah!), etc. I'm in the midst of season two and am worried about the whole Willow-Xander relationship. Of course, I want them to be together, but its hard to sustain a relationship on tv, chemistry changes (think Wings with Helen and Joe), so if they get together too soon, I might grow to dislike them and I don't want that. On the other hand, in the interest of heightening the tension I don't want them to be with other people (Cordelia, Oz--though I like Seth Green). I have to take it on faith that like Ross and Rachel, Willow and Xander must ultimately be together. Obviously, I've wasted way too much time thinking about this (not as much time as I've spent watching it), and I could end my misery and just look it up on the web. But that would also end the delicious agony I have wondering about it.