When I Grow Up....

(Okay, so I'm taking a break from writing my last paper of the semester. I'm over half finished, but I would like to finish early so I have time to really study for the exam in that class too. The exam's on Monday evening, and the paper's due then too. I don't really like having 100% of my grade for a course all due on the same day, but that's the way it goes....)

Anyway, I think I finally figured out what I want to do when I grow up. I want to work for one of the major paperback book companies and decide what pictures or paintings should go on the covers of books. Typically, the covers of the books don't go at all with the stories; sometimes they're downright misleading. I think it would be fun to read books for a living and then sort through hundreds, even thousands, of pictures trying to find just the right one to go with a certain story. Yep, that's what I want to do with my life. Does anyone know of a major book company that's looking for someone to fill that position (whatever it would be called)? Oh, by the way, I'm not interested in writing the blurbs for the back of the books. Just plain not interested....

www.oed.com

I'm writing in the office tonight and had another wonderful experience with the OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Luckily, this experience wasn't as long and drawn out as my wanderings through the OED sometimes become. (I know, I know, only a nerd reads the dictionary. But come on, admit it, you've done it at least once!) Anyway, I started with 'prestidigitation' and then ended up with 'legerdemain.' That's all the farther my wanderings went tonight, but the words are fun....

"Shake Carton Before Opening"

I bought a box of chai tea latte yesterday. (I usually brew my own chai, but I bought the concentrate in the box for a tea party that's scheduled for Saturday.) Anyway, I found the label on the box to be quite amusing: "Shake Carton Before Opening (You may also want to do a little dance if you feel up to it.)"

Reading Days and Poetry Readings

Well, Tuesday and Wednesday were our official 'reading days,' and finals started today. While I like the idea of 'reading days,' I somehow found both days to be thoroughly unproductive. I spent most of Tuesday recovering from very late night that I spent finishing up the paper that was due Monday. I got the last of my grading finished yesterday, but other than that, Wednesday wasn't too productive either. Today wasn't much better. I finally managed to finish the last of the Victorian novels of the semester (Aurora Floyd by Mary Elizabeth Braddon), but I didn't get mush else accomplished. I'm hoping to be able to write most (or all) of my last paper tomorrow, though I might make a trip back to the art museum in the afternoon. (I need to go back and take a look at a few paintings since I have to talk about them in my paper.)

Today's unproductivity was aided by a poetry reading at the Performing Arts Center this evening. One of my colleagues in the department had an extra ticket to the reading, so she took me along. Anyway, the reading was by Billy Collins, former U.S. Poet Laureate (2001-2003) and current New York State Poet Laureate (2004-06). While I wasn't familiar with much of Collins' work (save the "Introduction to Poetry" that's in the literature anthology that I use in my writing classes), I really enjoyed the evening. The pieces that he read were quite diverse and enjoyable, and the audience responded well to both his writing and to his presentation. I certainly had a good time, and I don't even feel to guilty that I was spending my time doing something other than studying or reading.

Wow....

Wow, it's Monday and I haven't blogged since Tuesday. I guess that happens at the end of the semester. Anyway, today's our last day of classes here. Tuesday and Wednesday are reading days, and then exams start on Thursday. It's kinda crazy that the semester's over already. (And what's really crazy is that this is/was my last semester of course work. Now it's time to start preparing for qualifying exams....) Actually, I have to finish out this semester before I start worrying about the next semester. My 'pages remaining' count is 14, and I have two exams yet this semester.

Well, the last week was pretty crazy, but I don't think I'll try to do much catching up on my blog. I went to a fairly formal banquet for church on Wednesday, and then there was a very non-formal so-called banquet for the department on Friday. I went to one of the art museums yesterday and got to see a wonderful collection of Pre-Raphaelite art. I'll probably try to go back again sometime this week to take some more time to go through and really look at the pieces.

Anyway, I think it's time for me to go home and catch up on sleep....

Writing English Papers

Jimmy and I were talking about on-line clips and cartoons yesterday. We watched a few Strong Bad podcasts, and then I remembered that I had received a funny Strong Bad clip from a colleague while I was at K-State. I sorted through my e-mail (cleaning out and filing all the junk that was there in the process) and managed to find the e-mail and the link. Remember, this is an example of how NOT to write an English paper....

Vampires

The blood-sucking Vampires (the American Red Cross) were on campus again today. I tried to go and let them take my blood, but they didn't want it. They took my temperature, poked my finger, and told me to go away. (Well, they were more polite than that and they gave me an extra-large t-shirt too.) I guess this means that they will keep calling me and asking for my blood even though they don't really want it....

Happy Easter!!

Okay, so I'm a day late. The Easter Bunny's come and gone (and he missed my house), and all the chocolate bunnies have either been devoured or have melted by now. Also, I don't know of any Salvador Dali painting of the Resurrection, so I can't add one of those....

Anyway, my Easter weekend, like to many other weekends, was spent with my nose in a book...well, books actually. I flew through George Du Maurier's Trilby, and then I started on Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Aurora Floyd. I enjoyed the Du Maurier; my older edition book had wonderful illustrations, but quite a bit of the dialogue was in French. (My older edition didn't have any footnotes or glosses on the French. And I don't speak French. Therefore, there were certain things that I kinda missed.) I'm not having any language difficulties with the Braddon text (plus I think there's only one edition of that book currently in print), but this book just isn't reading quite as quickly as the other one. (I guess by the time I skipped all the parts that were in French....)

Good Friday

Holy Thursday

No Dessert for You!

Just a little comic for all the people who don't eat their veggies. (A reminder to the consequences....)

My First Big-Girl Bike

I got a bicycle this weekend!! I've wanted a bicycle for a while, but I finally bought one. It isn't anything too fancy or too expensive, but I'm enjoying it. (I'm calling it my first big-girl bike. I'm defining 'big-girl bike' as a bicycle with gears and brakes rather than pink streamers and a banana seat.) Anyway, I've ridden around an little and biked to campus the past few days. Though I don't live far from campus, I'm amazed by how much more quickly I can travel on a bicycle. (I still need to practice navigating through campus traffic. Also, my cell phone rang today while I was riding between buildings; I didn't even try to answer it....)

On Wearing Pink

"Never trust a woman who wears mauve, whatever her age may be, or a woman over thirty-five who is fond of pink ribbons." --Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray

I don't wear pink. I think I own two pink shirts, but I almost never wear them. I don't even think I own anything mauve....

Anyway, I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray. Though the novel was a bit slow to start, I liked it. It was certainly different ('decadent' was the term used by the guy in the office next door), but I liked it anyway.

Snake!!

Ahhhh!! When I returned to my apartment from the gym this morning, I found a little snake in the entry way. (My four-plex has a shared front entrance and separate back entrances.) It was just a little garden snake or grass snake, but I didn't think we were supposed to have snakes in the city!! I took comfort in the fact that I live on the second floor of the unit, but then I realized that the snake already managed to climb two stairs to get into the entry area....

Woes of the Social Secretary

Today was a Friday, but it certainly didn't feel like one. Instead of having my typical do-nothing Friday, I had a busy day in the office. I had conferences with my students in the morning and early afternoon, and then I spent the later part of the afternoon preparing for the department movie party that was tonight. I'm the Event Coordinator (though I prefer the term 'Social Secretary') for our department graduate student organization, so I get to put together all of the parties and fun stuff like that. The party tonight went pretty well, though attendance wasn't very good. (That's one of the things that I find most frustrating about my position. I try to organize things and then nobody comes. Even when I ask people what they want to do and plan events on the days and times that they request, relatively few people come to things. Grrrr....) I think tonight's movie party was probably the last real social event for the semester. By now, we're all getting wrapped up in classes and work; nobody really has time for social events any more. (Only two more weeks of classes this semester. Ahhh!) I think we'll probably have a finals week pizza party, but all I'll have to do for that is go buy pizza and e-mail everyone to let them know when and where to find the pizza.

Anyway, I'm finally ready to leave the office for the day. YAY for the weekend!!

Girls Taking Over....

Okay, I don't necessary agree with all of the things implied by the above comic, but I think the surface message sure is funny....

Neighbors

Okay, so this comic is from yesterday, but oh well.... Anyway, I thought this comic was quite funny. I don't play the accordion and neither do my neighbors. My downstairs neighbors play the piano. (And they're pretty good, so I don't mind as long as they don't play too late at night, which they don't typically do.) My neighbor across the hall has a dog. The dog doesn't bark, but he does run up and down the stairs and sometimes he knocks on my door with his tail when it's time for his walk. I think the only noises that come from my apartment are the noises from the hot water in the kitchen (it makes awful noises sometimes) and the occasional noise from the vacuum cleaner....

Oh my, 1-2-3-4-5-6

Honestly, who thinks of these things!? Anyway, I got an e-mail forward from one of my sisters this morning. Here it is....

"Get ready ...
On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06.
That won't happen again until April 5th of 2106.
Be sure to wake the kids so they don't miss it!"

Sanity Break

Nothing long or exciting today. I just need a quick sanity break. Since I didn't do much reading or homework on Friday or Saturday, I'm making up for it today. (I had a fun weekend. Saturday was my birthday. Ha-ha!! April Fools!! I tricked you!! No, really, Saturday was my birthday....) Anyway, I've been reading poetry for the past several hours (Robert Frost and Wallace Stevens), and I'm about ready to move on to something else--a book about Pre-Raphaelite painters, I think. I still haven't finished reading my students' papers, so that will probably keep me busy tomorrow evening....