From Panera

So, here I am sitting in Panera, using their free wi-fi. I just wanted to see if it works and indeed it does. Shazam.

I Caught a Shoplifter

Well, "caught" being a relative term. I thought this one girl who was walking out of the store was acting a little funny with her gi-normous purse looking awfully full. And when I went to clean out her dressing room, I found a ripped out magnetic tag. Grr.

It just made the whole day feel icky. What was I doing wrong? Could I have stopped it? Why would somebody do that? Now, I'm suspicious of people walking around the store and I hate feeling that way.

That was Wednesday. On Thursday, when I wasn't supposed to work, I got a pathetic call from somebody needing a sub, so I went in, but I was in a cranky mood to begin with. Then cleaning the dressing rooms, I found another tag.

Why? What is it that you need so badly that you have to steal it? And these must be premeditated crimes because some sort of seam ripper or scissors is needed to get those things out. A friend from school said that its a rush for people, that they're addicted to the adrenaline. Whatever the reason, they're jerks who make me feel bad.

Playing Hard is Work

I could have sworn I'd posted some time more recently than Friday (its summer break for goodness' sake). I'm exhausted. Saturday night I went to dinner at a friend's; Sunday night I saw Don Henley and Stevie Nicks in concert. That was quite fun. I was sad that I didn't hear "Landslide" or "Silver Spring." I wore a skirt from AT (the concert seemed like a good excuse to buy a new outfit) and nearly froze. Who knew that June nights could be so cold? Monday morning I got up after five hours of sleep (not something I generally survive on) and was all set to go to a Hike For Life planning meeting at my local Pregnancy Care Center, when I decided to check the meeting time, which turned out to be in the afternoon, not 8:30 in the morning. Sigh. Monday night my small group came over for a barbecue. I did homework until 12:45 and got up at 5:45 to finish it before dashing off to class. And now, I've had too much Diet Coke to take a nap (silly girl).

I watched a travel dvd from my library on Scotland. Scotland was the country that most surprised me during my time in Europe. I was really struck by it and can't wait to return. I almost want to go there more than Ireland again because I got to spend so little time (comparatively) there. Almost.

I'm not sure if its blasphemous, but its funny.

Of Linguistics and Dinner Parties

And then life got really busy. My class started Tuesday and is very early in the morning. So far its fun. I don't really know much about linguistics, so I truly am dealing with a new subject, rather than a different subset of a familiar one. The homework (and there's lots of it) is also different than my normal classes because its active. I'm making flashcards and completing worksheets, instead of just reading, reading, reading. I greatly enjoy the people that I'm in class with and, oddly, doing the commute to school.

Part of said reconnection with some wayward fellow students involved me having a dinner party (not as fancy as it sounds, just three friends from school, my brother, and I) last night. If I was into anonymous names for people, I'd probably call my one friend the Gay Gourmet. He's my hero. He's super organized and always finishes his big papers months ahead of time. He's an awesome cook and can entertain like nobody's business. So in inviting him, I invited pressure because I wanted to impress. I riskly decided to try making something brand new for my guests. Pizza from scratch! It turns out the dough is rather easy; I just followed the recipe in Better Homes and Gardens. I then had tons of toppings: onions, mushrooms, broccoli, chicken, pineapple, tomatoes; various cheeses: cheddar, feta, mozzarella; and multiple sauces: marinara, barbecue, and Alfredo. Everybody then got to make their own pizza with whatever he/she chose. I will admit my timing was less than stellar and four of the five of us ended up working on cutting up toppings, etc. But, I think, fun was had by all and the results were delicious.

I Got Two Client Compliments at Work Today.

One down side to working at the mall: I'm seeing how pervasive consumerism is in our culture. I marvel at the amount of money people spend every day, and supposedly the retail business is slow now. But still, people spend thousands and thousands of dollars a day (even week days!). The even more apalling aspect is, I want to be one of them. Every day I work I wish to spend indiscriment amounts of money on clothes. I like clothes and I already have a lot of them, but I just want more. It's hard not to just buy and rack up the credit card. I'm rather disgusted with my capitalistic urges.

Tomorrow class starts. At eight in the morning. Grr. I hope linguistics is fun. Lots of fun.

As It Turns Out, Not a Sequel

When I was in junior high, I used to look at the book Brideshead Revisited and want to read it because it had the pretty BBC mini series pictures on the cover (Jeremy Irons, yowzah), which was quite an attractive facet for me. I didn't read it because of the word "revisited." Sans research (perhaps the fatal flaw in my logic), I assumed that this was an author coming back to, revisiting previous material or characters. I hate reading or watching anything from the middle of the narrative world. I don't watch tv shows unless I've seen the pilot; I always start from the beginning. Because I thought this book wasn't the first in the series, I didn't want to read it.

A scant ten years later as I'm exploring Evelyn Waugh (because of Bright Young Things and Vile Bodies), I realized that, in fact, the book stands by itself. I read it over the past couple of days, and it is fantastic. It's probably for the best that I didn't read it when I was in junior high. I wouldn't have understood it. Wouldn't have noticed the homosexual themes (not that I revel in them, but they are important to the understanding of the work). Wouldn't have had any sympathy for the adulterous characters (again, not reveling, but accepting that we are screwed up people). There's a beauty that I'm fascinated with in the falleness of the British aristocracy.

Tonight I watched I Heart Huckabees. Hilarious. Fantastic. Incredible. Run, don't walk.

Also

I'd like to acknowledge that I am glad that I am not a male and do not have to deal with machismo and male insecurity (not that we females don't have our share of it). I realize I'm making some sweeping generalities and stereotypes, but I just watched Glengarry Glen Ross and, wow. Amazing acting. I'm still tensed and stressed from the pressure and drive of sales and ego.

Physics and Spirituality, My Favorite

An interesting post exploring the concept of the Trinity through physics on an interesting blog entitled "Atheist 4 God" with the tagline "Since there is no God, why do I keep finding his fingerprints all over my stuff?" I haven't read all (or even many) of the posts, but it seems to be authentic musings over how we deal with spiritual component to our lives that screams for something bigger than ourselves. Neat.

Whistler...

I like to whistle. I've been laughed at because I'll whistle along with the music even when the words have stopped. Well, I found the perfect song. It's called "Whistler's Delight." Seven minutes of famous whistling (you know the opening to Robin Hood, etc.). Fun for all!

I've started reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I really just want to reread book five, but I figure since I'm teaching it, and for the full build-up effect, I should read 'em all. So I'm working on that. Pop culture will be Harry Potter-a-go-go for the next six months or so, and I want to be top of my game (i.e. uber knowledgable) for any conversations I might have about the sublties, what Rowling is doing, what might happen in book six/seven. (I don't think Harry makes it.)

I've also been watching movies: Ocean's Twelve, and Renegade (sigh, Vincent Cassel), The Phantom of the Opera (very pretty, I wish I saw it on the big screen), Bright Young Things (I really liked this British period piece (pre- and during WWII). Based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh, who did other similar works like Brideshead Revisited. Directed by Stephan Fry. I want to read the book because that British modernist period may be my second area of study, after film, for my PhD.), Zelary (Czech film also durning WWII). I've also been watching season two of Home Movies, which is a hilarious show on adultswim about a fourth grader who makes films.

One Last Test...

I feel bad that I'm riddling my site with silly tests, but I thought this was cool.

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

The Things I Waste My Time on at 1am

Like a map of the countries I've been to (totaling 5% of the world). Doesn't Australia look lonely, sad and grey in its little corner?


create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

Thoughts from a Syllabus

Did some actual school work today. I've been reading The Sorcerer's Stone to get ready for the new book and for my fall class. One of my friends from school and I wrote our fall syllabus together, and we got together today to write some of the paper prompts, etc. It's nice to have somebody else to work with and validate ideas. I do wonder though if I'm actually going to be teaching (or rather facilitating the learning of) anything or if its all just smoke and mirrors. Like when I explain to others (and myself) how we're reading the first Harry Potter book, watching the second movie, and then reading the third book and watching the third movie so that we can talk first about written rhetoric, than visual rhetoric, and then the relation between/differences in the two....does that mean anything? Can I actually do that? Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?

Tonight I watched a documentary on Steve McQueen that my brother made. I've never seen any of his (McQueen, not my brother--I've seen all of his) movies. My entire family (including my mother who sees half a dozen movies a year) was chastising me for my lack. I see lots of films, but I don't have time to see them all. I wish I did, but I don't. Just because I'm a 'movie person' doesn't mean I've seen them all. Although if we muse back to my obvious insecurity about my subject (see above paragraph), maybe I'm not a qualified individual. How on earth would I ever teach a class on film and create a syllabus if I hadn't already taken it? How do professors deal with the pressure of deciding what is important for the students to learn about and what isn't? If Steve McQueen is so pivotal, and I've missed out, what other gaping holes are there in my knowledge?