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.

MCLLM

My school is running a conference this weekend. I'm helping organize the registration desk, as well as presenting two papers. I began to edit and cut down one of my papers (both presentations are coming from class papers) but I'm liking it less and less. I feel like I should re-write the entire thing, but I'm presenting Friday (that's tomorrow) and I have no idea when that'll happen. I still I'm fighting my way out from under a mound of essays that sadly aren't grading themselves. Not helping matters is the fact that some one lent me the first season of Buffy and I've been sneaking in far too many episodes. Taunting me are three movies I got in the mail from Blockbuster that I haven't been able to watch. I did manage to watch my one film for class: Don't Look Now which I liked. In class last night, "You know when you see Donald Sutherland naked, you're in art cinema."

He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!

My liberal, relativistic department (okay, that doesn't narrow it down, this is most of academia) has a "Quote of the Moment" on the homepage. These are generally enjoyable, as they relate to writing and reading, or interesting authors. But I was pleasantly surprised to find this quote when looking at it tonight.

Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker. -- J.R.R. Tolkien

I like that.

Happy Easter, everyone!

I Passed! I Passed!

I officially passed comps! Huzzah! Now that part of me that couldn't completely be excited about being accepted into the PhD program--'cause what if I didn't really get to go--can now dream freely! I'm really, really going to get my doctorate!

I've been looking at courses the past day and trying to figure out what I'm going to take the next few years. Unfortunately, class lists are so unpredictable that I can't plan much beyond next semester. I suppose I have no choice but to deal with that. Next semester I get to take a Postcolonial class and one on the Bloomsbury group!

I just bought the cd All You Need Is Live by Cowboy Mouth. I saw them in concert this summer, and it is an experience like no other. I was screaming so loud I almost threw up; being a normally sedate and placid individual, this was a new sensation. But I really bought the song for the song "Everyone Loves Jill" which is just happy. Everything in the song is red. Sample lyrics:
She drives a red car
Drives her red hat
She's got a red door
Plays with her red cat
She's got a red light
That lights up her red room
She eats her red cake
With my favorite red spoon
At which point in the concert, everybody threw red plastics spoons at the stage; there were hundreds of people prepared for this, while I was unaware.

I had conferences with all my students this week, which took up an enormous amount of time, plus I was writing two papers for my grad classes. I'm excited to get back to a more normal schedule where I can concentrate more on my teaching (I still have papers from the second week in February to return) and my weekly work in my own classes.

Just What I Need

More ways to get on the internet. I just got a wireless card, so that I can go to my library (or Panera!) and use my laptop. One of my neighbors must have wireless too, because I can hook up in my house (not that I need to with cable internet, etc.). I have enough trouble controlling myself around my computer, now mostly anywhere I take it (on campus) I'll be able to be online. I'm like a junkie who just got a permenant IV tube.

But I did find this hilarious video, a Christian version of "Baby Got Back." Remarkable.

Back in the Saddle Again

I don't get it. I don't prefer to work under pressure, but I accomplished more grading-wise in four hours Sunday night than I did for the entirety of spring break. Today, I've been uber-productive, having individual conferences with my students and getting more grading done in the 15-30 minute breaks between them. I've decided to reward myself with some lunchtime blogging.

While in Indiana, my friend Lij introduced me to Blogshares. Not only can I spend lots of time reading and posting on blogs, but I can turn that into cold, hard, fake dollars. Wonder how popular you and your online thoughts are? Now, there's a number! Buying and selling popularity the way it should be--through online links. I'm thoroughly amused, yet frightened that I'm just insecure enough to actually care what my 'stock' is worth.

Media update: in my spring break sloth, I watched: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (I wanted to like it more than I did. It had a great concept and was visually inovative and pleasing; I wish I'd seen it on the big screen. Sadly, Paltrow's character was so insipid I wanted to shove a fork through her larynx. The film just didn't realize it's potential.) Paparrazzi (Interesting, though disturbing. The good guy did bad guy things that made it difficult for me to feel bad for him when the bad guys did bad guy things to him.) Jersey Girl (Yeah! Quite amusing and still poignant. I'm far enough away from the marketing that the trailer stealing all the good parts wasn't so obvious. I have to say that whatever else there is to say about Ben Affleck he's movie star handsome, dreamy in an old Hollywood glam way.)

Hypocrite

So, I've been angrily judging my friends for not posting in days, when I realized "Hey, you haven't posted for quite some time (as blogs generally go)." Sadly, I haven't had that much exciting that I've done or thought to share with the world. And the excitement of having comments from two non-personal acquaintances show up (meaning there are others who have read my blog) has quickly turned to anxiety over what I'm writing. I mean I want these others to think I'm witty and cool and not a nerd...okay, maybe they could be fooled into thinking I'm a witty, cool nerd.

My spring break has not been very productive. I'm struggling to write my paper on Hero; I'm having lots of interesting thoughts about it, but when I sit down to put them on paper (actually will that expression soon be "on screen" because that's the reality of it), I have no organization. I have not even thought about grading, which could turn ugly quickly, if put off much longer.

I've cut myself off from insipid TV and am only allowed to check email and blogs online, yet I'm still distracting myself with Martha Stewart inspired crafts and brainless novels that are only page-turners. I did start The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that seems somewhat clever, but that's probably the most worth-while use of my time. That and a novel my friend wrote, but I'm finding it difficult to read that as anything other than an autobiography and if that's true, I just want to cry and feel sorry for him, but I'm sure he'd hate that.

I watched Spider, a David Cronenberg film with Ralph Fiennes, Gabriel Byrnes, Miranda Richardson, which was quite boring. There were supposed to be (I think) two shocking plot twists that would have been interesting, but they were both spoiled because I a) watched the trailer and read the back of the case (spoiler 1) and b) casually glanced at the chapter list to see how many there were and read one that gave away the turn of events (spoiler 2). I wanted to like this film. I generally love Ralph (he's going to be an amazing Voldemorte), and I even admired his taking on a role in which he utters approximately three discernible sentences. Creepy, disturbed characters generally make me feel pity (and occasionally attraction) rather than revulsion, but I was emotionally neutral towards him.

Hopefully, there will be exciting movies for me in the mail today.

Cyber Community

Community is important to me. It was a touchstone of my undergraduate university, Taylor. It is the foundation for the Acts 2 Church. I think we were meant to live in community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Henry Nouwen, Larry Crabb, Donald Miller, among others, all write about communities--how and why they function. God created us to do life with other people (just as He exists in a community--the Trinity).

Okay, my point in this post (before the title I gave it got me off track) was to say: Blogging is nifty. Not only because, I can keep up with friends and they with me, etc. My personal community benefits. But also, the more I read other people's blogs, the more I see a community, beyond the people I actually know, existing. I have found a number of academic blogs that I have only begun to read and appreciate. Because I am going into academia and hope to one day join their ranks, I am intrigued to see what it's actually like.(I enjoyed the site, An MFA is a Terminal Degree.) But, this post and its comments struck me as a) hilarious, and b) a wonderful display of ideas, thoughts, and people truly dialoguing on the internet. It helped me remember all the good, productive things that can come from the net other than the time it seems to suck from my powerless body as I sit comatose in front of my computer screen, my portal into the abyss.

The hum-drum of my life: I'm on spring break and will hopefully be 1. very productive and finish my two papers for my classes as well as grade everything in my world and 2. go to IN to see friends (whom I ought to contact and make concrete plans with...).

I've not watched much in the way of actual movies, just trashy mtv, adultswim, and Queer Eye. I haven't even read much. I have anxiety about devoting my precious break time to the wrong material, so I waste half of it choosing something I end up not having the time to finish. I have started knitting a lover-ly scarf and will soon begin a nifty bag with an Aran knitting pattern.