Bullets of Tuesday

Well, the enjoyment and self-discipline continue unabated (or so I'm telling myself). 

• Met a classmate/colleague at Peet's Coffee to work on our theses together.  In reality, we spent several hours catching up after not having talked much throughout the year, though we did spend an hour or two actually working.  She was a bit hungover, so we cut the afternoon short.  I did stay a little longer than she, but then it got cold again so I went home.
• It's been cold-ish here.  It's as if we traded weather with Seattle.  I love the misty-rain and cloudy mornings. but the rest of our locale is complaining mightily (they'd be complaining it if was wretchedly hot, too).  On Monday, the sun only managed to break through for about half an hour, in the very late afternoon.  Today it managed a couple of hours, but again, only in the afternoon.  We'll see what tomorrow brings. 
• Today the rain-ish-ness kept me in bed longer than I had planned.  It's ok, though, as I was reading a book for my thesis, so it counted as work. 
• Tomorrow I will head to Starbucks for the majority of the day, to work.  I'm supposed to email my advisor "something" by Friday.  (Gah.)
• Thursday is the funeral for Madame X's dad.  Madame X reported having a day that actually felt "normal" today, for which I am grateful.  It's been difficult to know how to provide support to her and her family, which is odd to say about someone I've known and loved for over a decade.  I think the books and movie gift card were the right things, though;  she called today to thank us for them and let us know she's already used the gift card (which helped lead to the shreds of normalcy today).  After the funeral, she and her family may have to head to parts north to see her grandmother once more before the dementia sets in full-bore.  Pardon my English, but Madame X has had a fucked-up year, and I know she won't be sorry to see 2010 get hit in the butt by the door on its way out. 
• Saw Winter's Bone, and it was excellent.  They made a few changes between the book and the film, but it did not detract from the story in any way.  My only criticism is that the beating one of the main characters receive is in no way as intense in the movie as it was in the book.  That was probably motivated by a desire to spare the viewer the discomfort and gore, but it weakened the impact of the later plot events, at least for me in comparing it with the book.  They definitely nailed the casting dead-on, and the setting is just perfect.  I recommend both the film and the book.
• I think Despicable Me comes out this Friday, doesn't it?  Strangely, I'm really looking forward to seeing it.  When I first started seeing trailers for it, like, last year, I was fairly meh about it.  But since I've seen more detailed trailers recently, I'm hooked.  "It's so FLUFFY, I could die!"  (LOL.)
• I walked today. 
• I've been obsessively checking the College Board's website to see if our AP scores have been posted yet.  This is the first year we get to check them online (finally, join me in welcoming the CB to the 21st century), but they're not up yet, at least not for my school.  Sigh.  The curiosity is giving me heartburn (or was that the KFC I indulged in earlier?). 
• This was a pretty boring post, but I'm in documentary mode, I guess.  Thanks for reading. 

No more Debbie Downer for today

Other things are going on besides death and cancer this summer, so I figured I should include a post on those, as well. 

• I am actively working on my thesis.  I met with my advisor this week when I was on campus to do library business.  I struggled a bit this week with carving out my daily schedule to be efficient and regular.  I don't think I'll have as many problems with that next week, though;  I think I know now what I need.  If it doesn't work well on Monday, then I'll leave the house and work out in public somewhere.  (Damned distractions.  Damned internet.  Damned wi-fi.  Damned procrastinator and rationalizer that I am! :-)
• The weather here in SoCal has been gorgeous -- cool and "June-gloomy" in the mornings with full sun and breeze in the afternoons.  Fabulous!
• I've gotten to see some good movies recently:  Toy Story 3 (cried like a little girl for the last twenty minutes of it), Eclipse (liked it, want to see it again, and now that "Jacob" is 18, I can drool openly over his chiseled torso -- heh), Before Sunrise and Before Sunset (yeah, I'm a little behind in my cult favorites -- loved these movies, the second even better than the first), The Closer, Season 5 (which finally came out on DVD -- sheesh!).  Looking forward to seeing Despicable Me, Salt, and Inception when they come out.  I'm hoping to go see Winter's Bone this afternoon.
• My reading has been oddly varied of late.  Naturally I've been reading a lot of sci-fi criticism and theory for my thesis.  I did read Winter's Bone, because I knew I was going to want to see the movie;  I really liked the book, though I'm having trouble explaining why.  I think the main character is likable despite the world she's trapped in.  I also just finished Barbara Walters' memoir, Audition, which I've had for, like, ever but finally just decided to pick up.  It was a good balance of juicy and judicious, which I appreciated.  I've just begun The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender.  I've only read the first chapter, but so far I like it and am looking forward to reading the rest of it.  I'm also reading Switch, which is about the psychology of change (both institutional and individual);  I am learning a lot. 
• Bought and love Sarah McLachlan's new CD.  Will be going to Lilith Fair next week, which I hope will be fun.  Court Yard Hounds are good, too.  Bought but haven't yet absorbed the Eclipse soundtrack;  same with the Sex and the City 2 soundtrack. 
• Planning a road trip to the PacNW with nieces at the end of July, which should be fun.  We don't have any other major vacations planned this summer.  The thesis MUST be done this summer.  Next summer we may celebrate with a trip to England -- yeah-uh! 
• The theme for this summer:  total enjoyment and self-discipline.  I know, I know, those two things sound like oxymorons, but I think they're just a paradox -- they seem to be contradictory but they can coexist quite well.  It's like a sonnet -- strictures of format but complete freedom within those boundaries to write about absolutely anything.  My life this summer needs to become a sonnet. 

Random Bullets of...

randomness:

• Today is POM's b-day.  We'll be celebrating all week, because that's just more fun.
• Lent is over, and I have proceeded to make up for all of the dietary restrictions in the span of a single day, I think.  Bleah, I feel gross.  Back to a healthier approach tomorrow! 
• Clash of the Titans (in 2D -- I had read too many disparagements about the 3D version) was ok.  Let's put it this way -- the first movie was completely campy and goofy, and so is the second movie -- and both films were a couple of hours of good entertainment.  No Oscars here, not even for the special effects.  Will I own it?  No.  Do I regret seeing it?  No. 
• The Class -- was not what I expected, especially not given the rave reviews and Palm D'or it garnered.  On the one hand, I enjoyed his interaction with the students, the realness of the conversations they had, the fact that he took conversational cues from the students, the interesting intelligences of the kids, and the fact that the film didn't tie up all of the story lines into a neat little closure bow because school almost never does that in real life.  On the other hand, I disliked the unrealness of some of the conversations, was appalled by the ridiculous and inept mistakes he made with several of his students, and kept finding myself shouting snide questions and advice at him.  If I had to rate this film, I'm firmly on the fence, which hurts after a while. 
• Coco before Chanel was completely delightful, artful, and beautiful. 
• I've started House Rules, by Jodi Picoult, and it's already made me cry once.  I "knew" a lot of facts and info about Asperger's/autism, but I'd never placed myself into the shoes of one who lives with it.  Not even reading Temple Grandin has brought this home to me like this.  Yes, Picoult always goes for the emotional punch (pathos), but it doesn't feel cheap in this book as it occasionally has in some of her other books.  Granted, I'm only partway through, but so far, I'm appreciative. 
• I get to go grade tomorrow.  I'm drowning, but I've enjoyed these two days of freedom.  I refuse to spend my entire spring break grading.  Next year, I want to go away again for our break. 

Still...

...in afterglow from last night's concert!

...of mind and heart after yoga tonight (or at least more still than I was when went in).

...a night person who doesn't want to go to bed this early, except that I have to get up at 4 a.m., which sucks.

...behind in grading (woefully).

...not doing such a great job with the daily writing, though I've started trying to journal a little in the morning, which has worked for two days, anyway.

...trying to remember to be thankful and appreciative, even if just for the small things, every day.

...planning to write about Mary Oliver and my current lenten reading.

..., I'm signing off for now. Tschuss.

Ashes, ashes

Truly random bullets of Ash Wednesday:

• I did not see any students running around campus today with ashy black crosses on their foreheads. I did not see any teachers in a similar state, either. Nor was I among them, as our service is in the evening.
• Am I weird for noticing the ash particles falling from my forehead and the priest's finger to my nose? I've got an obvious cross-shaped black smudge across my forehead, but I'm worried about getting smudges on my nose. Really.
• It is surprisingly simple to make ashes for Ash Wednesday. I had to do it once, when I still attended Once-Amazing-Church-that-Tragically-Imploded. Take the palm fronds from Palm Sunday (of the previous year); put fronds into metal roaster pan; start gas bbq; place open metal roaster pan onto grill; flames will erupt of their own accord before long; allow fronds to burn down into ashes; allow ashes to cool; sift ashes and place in appropriate container. That's it; no tricks, no accelerant, no additives. One Palm Sunday's worth of fronds made enough ashes for several years.
• Psalm 143 was assigned this morning. Verse 10 in most versions reads, "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God." I prefer the way the English Standard version (the Authorized) puts it (as I often do; I am, after all, an English teacher and Shakespeare fan, so I love the old poetic language): "Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee; for thou art my God; let thy loving Spirit lead me forth in the land of righteousness."
• Lent is a time of both taking off and taking on, of shedding and adding, of retraining focus. It is not merely about deprivation and metaphoric self-flagellation. It's about portfolio diversification, as it were -- pulling resources out of less productive vehicles and reinvesting them in more effective and profitable funds. As it were.

Being a student...

...is wonderful! Yes, I put off my reading and papers too long, and yes, sitting for two hours straight is literally a pain in the butt. But it's been so delightful to use my brain this way again!

• I delivered a presentation of a critical article on Beowulf.
• Watched the Zemeckis movie tonight; gah! In its own right, it was an interesting piece of fiction. But it was probably only 50% based on the poem. You'll probably hear more about this later.
• I finished the first paper for my rhetoric class.
• I'm working on a short preparation paper for the same class in which I have to follow Erasmus's steps of copiousness, creating a multitude of variations on a mundane sentence -- mine is, "I hate grading students' papers." It's quite a fun exercise, actually.
• I may do my second paper on the rhetoric of prayer; our professor mentioned that in passing, but we've not delved into it in the slightest, and my interest is piqued.
• I need to decide on a focused topic for my Beowulf paper. I feel behind there, though the paper isn't due for a week and a half. (That's simply ages in this program.) (So I tell myself.)
• I'm going to sit in on classes next week on revenge in Hamlet. I should be using that time to read and write papers, but this, seriously, is probably a once in a lifetime chance, and I'm not going to pass it by.
• We're going to the Huntington Library in several weeks to look at original manuscripts of Pope's and Swift's work. We'll do tea afterward. I'm looking forward to this excursion. I'll provide highlights once we're back. Field trip!
• We're at that point where we're having to come to some firm idea of a thesis topic, and we need to line up our first and second readers by August. Gulp. Can someone make the sun stand still for a bit, please?
• I'm shooting again. You'll notice below.