At least, not because of me.
February 22, 2011
Resolution Reborn
It's been seven full days with no chocolate (and a severely reduced other-sugar intake) and no one has died.
At least, not because of me.
At least, not because of me.
February 14, 2011
Every Year
That's right, it's here again - Ernest Shackleton's birthday! (I don't know who that is, but Google thinks it's important, so... Oh, and it's ES's big day HERE, but it might not be back in the States yet. Just FYI.)
In honor of the big day, I decided to combine work and relaxation - I watched Valentine's Day (no reason) and charted the storylines in order to analyze them and break down the structure. You sure catch a lot more of the details on a second viewing! Gary Marshall must have had all kinds of spreadsheets (possibly Gant Charts) in order to keep track of all those characters. I can only imagine what got left on the cutting room floor! (Well, if anything. There is a LOT going on in this movie.)
Also, just for fun, I'm including here a piece I wrote in a workshop this morning. Any resemblance of person (or date) is purely coincidental. (The title was random, came from someone else. It's really not anywhere near finished. Like I said, it's just here for fun. Coincidentally.)
Doris had always hated Valentine’s Day. Ever since she could remember, pink-and-red had given her a migraine, and pictures of chubby cupids made her instinctively reach for her taser. Last year’s work party, with the 4 Aortas Barbershop Quartet, didn’t go so well – and February was a lousy time to be looking for a job. Doris would know.
In honor of the big day, I decided to combine work and relaxation - I watched Valentine's Day (no reason) and charted the storylines in order to analyze them and break down the structure. You sure catch a lot more of the details on a second viewing! Gary Marshall must have had all kinds of spreadsheets (possibly Gant Charts) in order to keep track of all those characters. I can only imagine what got left on the cutting room floor! (Well, if anything. There is a LOT going on in this movie.)
Also, just for fun, I'm including here a piece I wrote in a workshop this morning. Any resemblance of person (or date) is purely coincidental. (The title was random, came from someone else. It's really not anywhere near finished. Like I said, it's just here for fun. Coincidentally.)
Doorbell Doesn’t Work, Enter Around the Back
She had seasonal allergies – they always flared up around floral shops the weeks before and after February 14. Chocolate gave her hives – but only once a year. Coming within 20 yards of a Hallmark store brought on a rash, and commercialization being what it was she had to avoid them for nearly two-thirds of the year.
Doris was not anti-love or anti-sex or anti-romance or anti-anything, really – she’d tried every known cure. Dating sites, a singles’ cruise, immersion therapy… that last had driven the dog crazy (poor thing could handle only so much Michael Buble, Barry White, and Andrea Boccelli – it was more of a Nirvana kind of terrier). She even went to work as a holiday temp at Niagara Falls one year. It was no use, though – the doctor’s bills and restraining orders just kept piling up. And, Doris admitted to herself, she really SHOULD have taken her husband along on that cruise. That had been a bad Valentine’s Day for everybody.
Doris had had enough.
This year, she had a plan – she would sneak up on her own neurosis and clobber it into submission (with two dozen roses – long-stemmed, naturally).
TBC (someday, maybe...)
* * * * *
Enjoy Ernest Shackleton's birthday! (Research time! Woo!)
February 12, 2011
Too Good Not to Share
A good friend of mine was holding her 6-month-old son on her lap, and he was wiggling so much he was sliding towards the floor. She asked him where he was going, and from across the room her 6-year-old daughter yelled, "Don't tell Mom! She will curse your plans!"
I have been laughing (to the point of tears) ALL. DAY. LONG.
(I think my friend's blog is invitation-only, but if you want more of the same from some hilarious kids, let me know and I'll pass your info on to her.)
I have been laughing (to the point of tears) ALL. DAY. LONG.
(I think my friend's blog is invitation-only, but if you want more of the same from some hilarious kids, let me know and I'll pass your info on to her.)
February 06, 2011
Guilt Update
I feel badly that I haven't been posting - in all honesty, it hasn't been all that exciting, though. Here's what I've got:
- Someone told a friend of mine that UK Masters' degrees were cake. Someone (meaning: my friend's source) was smoking crack. These last two weeks have been NUTS. Stress, crazy, exhausted, hard! The fact that one of my two research groups is nine girls and one (gay) guy is probably not helping.
- I don't think I'm ready for a PhD. I think I'll be looking into another MA degree (as I'm also not ready to move back to the States anytime soon) to help me get headed in the right direction, then maybe work for a couple of years to prep and pay down student loans, and THEN get a PhD.
- I bought the air mattress, and a friend came and stayed for two nights. She's vouching for its comfort level. Now taking visitors!
- While she was here, we saw an excellently-acted show (that was structurally a little vague and with language I could have done without - seriously, why are playwrights so uncreative when it comes to language? Grrr), and an amazing show that will be opening soon in New York - if you are in NY in the next year or so and have the chance to see War Horse, DO IT.
- I lost an earring. This is only notable because it was an earring that I have lost at least twice before that has always turned up. I even took the earrings out during an exercise in the afternoon and was surprised they were both still there - then when I got home late that night one was gone. It has apparently made a successful break for freedom and still hasn't shown up. If it reappears a few weeks/months from now I will frame the set or make them into refrigerator magnets or something, and write an entire post of philosophical/metaphysical commentary. Third time's the charm!
- I also bought a pair of earrings that turned out to be too heavy - I broke them down, rebuilt them, and they are now perfect. I miss jewelry design.
- I was planning to travel more this term - it doesn't look like that's going to happen. (See first item on list.) Third term! I will be back in the States for the holiday break in April - Conference (International resident, baby!), changeover at Hale, sister-in-law's new baby... good times. (Also, Cheetos. It is CRAZY how much I miss Cheetos!)
- Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! I stayed up late Wednesday night, as this was supposed to mean my parents would live longer (you're welcome!), and I managed to buy a new outfit that included a bright red shirt. (New clothes, and/or red.)
- The ward has a group of students attending who are studying in London until April - naturally, at least one of the girls is an excellent pianist. I have been practicing, but I thought this meant I was off the hook until April... not so much. They've been leaving before Relief Society (attending the singles' ward is my guess) and I got drafted to play today. It wasn't pretty.
- Other than that, the meetings and classes continue to be excellent, and the people continue to be quirkily adorable!
- I have a faux-mink (cheap, but it feels niiiiice) throw on my bed, and it makes the Sunday afternoon nap a real treat.
- Now I'm just babbling, because I'm tired. Time to go - another wacky week ahead, starting with a Monday morning Movement class that will be mostly yoga, which likely means that the next message for the chiropractor I'm trying to get an appointment with will be a little more... urgent. Snooty. Possibly begging.
Ah, Monday.
- Someone told a friend of mine that UK Masters' degrees were cake. Someone (meaning: my friend's source) was smoking crack. These last two weeks have been NUTS. Stress, crazy, exhausted, hard! The fact that one of my two research groups is nine girls and one (gay) guy is probably not helping.
- I don't think I'm ready for a PhD. I think I'll be looking into another MA degree (as I'm also not ready to move back to the States anytime soon) to help me get headed in the right direction, then maybe work for a couple of years to prep and pay down student loans, and THEN get a PhD.
- I bought the air mattress, and a friend came and stayed for two nights. She's vouching for its comfort level. Now taking visitors!
- While she was here, we saw an excellently-acted show (that was structurally a little vague and with language I could have done without - seriously, why are playwrights so uncreative when it comes to language? Grrr), and an amazing show that will be opening soon in New York - if you are in NY in the next year or so and have the chance to see War Horse, DO IT.
- I lost an earring. This is only notable because it was an earring that I have lost at least twice before that has always turned up. I even took the earrings out during an exercise in the afternoon and was surprised they were both still there - then when I got home late that night one was gone. It has apparently made a successful break for freedom and still hasn't shown up. If it reappears a few weeks/months from now I will frame the set or make them into refrigerator magnets or something, and write an entire post of philosophical/metaphysical commentary. Third time's the charm!
- I also bought a pair of earrings that turned out to be too heavy - I broke them down, rebuilt them, and they are now perfect. I miss jewelry design.
- I was planning to travel more this term - it doesn't look like that's going to happen. (See first item on list.) Third term! I will be back in the States for the holiday break in April - Conference (International resident, baby!), changeover at Hale, sister-in-law's new baby... good times. (Also, Cheetos. It is CRAZY how much I miss Cheetos!)
- Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year! I stayed up late Wednesday night, as this was supposed to mean my parents would live longer (you're welcome!), and I managed to buy a new outfit that included a bright red shirt. (New clothes, and/or red.)
- The ward has a group of students attending who are studying in London until April - naturally, at least one of the girls is an excellent pianist. I have been practicing, but I thought this meant I was off the hook until April... not so much. They've been leaving before Relief Society (attending the singles' ward is my guess) and I got drafted to play today. It wasn't pretty.
- Other than that, the meetings and classes continue to be excellent, and the people continue to be quirkily adorable!
- I have a faux-mink (cheap, but it feels niiiiice) throw on my bed, and it makes the Sunday afternoon nap a real treat.
- Now I'm just babbling, because I'm tired. Time to go - another wacky week ahead, starting with a Monday morning Movement class that will be mostly yoga, which likely means that the next message for the chiropractor I'm trying to get an appointment with will be a little more... urgent. Snooty. Possibly begging.
Ah, Monday.
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