Sunday night

A) Sick. Woke up sick this morning and teaching eight hours of test prep is not, actually, the recommended cure for any ailment.

B) That said, my high school students are wicked cute. I will miss them, even though I'm glad my weekly journeys to Tacoma are over. It's weird how, unlike college kids, high school students want to know all about you.

C) I'm making chicken soup. It smells good.

D) My cat is bored and he's clawing up my jeans and I'm having trouble getting him to sit still while I clip his nails. But I love him!

E) My MPH profiles are due tomorrow and one person I haven't even interviewed yet. Shit!

F) Also in the next two days I need to: read a bunch of Pound's Cantos; plan class and figure out how to get a projector and hook my laptop up to it; buy and read whatever I need to read for my newly added Proust class (en Français???!); buy and read whatever I need to read for my pedagogy class; print out and read whatever I need to read for my special mini-seminar; go to some classes; work an evening tutoring center shift; and generally not go too crazy.

G) Chicken giblets make me think: Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls.

H) Also, as I was driving home I heard this amazing Tavis Smiley Show special on the Little Rock 9. That's a pretty amazing story.

Writer's Block

I have this cool (at least to me) freelance job writing profiles of alumni of the MPH program here. I wrote one and it was super quick and easy, but now I'm having total writer's block on the second. I think it's because I want it to be good. And it keeps coming out cheesy. I had been thinking recently about how I mostly don't get writer's block any more . . . sometimes I am lazy or don't know what I want to say, but I usually enjoy actually making the sentences and feel confident that if I don't like the ones I come up with, I can find different ones that will be better. I guess I'm writing this to try and get the juices flowing.

In other news, it is gloomy here and I used my SAD light for a good half hour this morning before GMAT class. I love my SAD light. Now I'm sitting on my office couch under my sheep blanket, drinking tea and typing. I am beginning to appreciate a cat's value as a source of warmth as well as general lovableness.

I'm taking a lot of courses this quarter: one on Ezra Pound, one on Proust that I just added, my pedagogy class, a special mini-seminar in preparation for a visiting professor's visit, and, of course, teaching. Plus working, socializing, petting the cat, writing poetry. Everyone's been saying it's going to be a good fall and I think so too.

Thumbs Up for Grad School

Last night was the first grad pub of the new year, and all night I kept looking back and being incredibly thankful that it is now and not a year ago. I love not being new, I love being comfortable enough to be outgoing, I love feeling like part of a community that is in the process of getting warmer and closer and more fun, which I think this one is. I don't love that this is my one day off ever and I have a lot of work to do, but I do love that I am typing this in my office looking out at a blue sky, with my kitkat curled up asleep on my lap.

Before I decided to procrastinate by writing this, I procrastinated by responding to a brunch invitation that was cleverly phrased as a course description for a graduate seminar with a proposal for this set of projects, entitled "It Ain't Over Till It's Over-Easy: Egg Studies in the 21st Century," and including the following papers: "The Egg and Eye: Scrambling Vision, (Re)Visioning the Scramble," "Eggs Benediction: The Death of God and the Rise of the New American Sunday Morning," and "Poached Texts and Hard-Boiled Readers: Self-Referentiality at the Noir Breakfast Table." Have I mentioned that I'm a nerd?

First Day of School

Today was the first day of classes; tomorrow I go back to teaching. My photocopies are made, my pencils are sharpened. Now all that remains is to cuddle with the cat and put the finishing touches on the complicated series of name games I've devised to torture my poor shy students. After that I go to my composition pedagogy class, which I keep accidentally calling by the number (398) it had when I had to take it in Irvine way back in 2003 instead of the number (567) it has here in Seattle where I'm required to take it again. After that, grad pub and a glimpse of how the new social landscape will look this year. And then Friday will be my only day off for a long time.

I'm now a cardcarrying member of Petco.

Camouflage

Welcome to my world.

Names

I had a dream last night that I took my new cat home to my family's old house in Belmont, where I suddenly realized (as one does in dreams--in life I would hope this would have occurred to me sooner) that the cat would be a danger to our bird. I started chasing the cat around the house as he chased after the bird, and trying to hold him as he squirmed away. The strange thing, though, is that in the dream the cat had a name. I distinctly remember saying, "I think _____ is going to kill Poco!"

But now I can't remember what the name was. The closest I can come is "Butter," but that can't be right.

Kitten party

Having dinner parties is one of my favorite things in the world to do, but somehow I got out of the habit when I moved to Seattle. I'd also started feeling self-conscious about not having the cash-flow to buy the best-pedigreed, freshest, most local versions of every ingredient I might want to use. Plus too many years of singleness and student-hood seem to have atrophied my cooking skills, which used to be pretty good. I hit rock bottom when I messed up oatmeal I was trying to to make for JJF, and vowed to turn things around.

So last night, with a kitten meet & greet as an excuse, I had my first Seattle dinner party. It was kind of a challenge on the culinary front because honoring dietary restrictions meant no meat or starch, so I just made all my favorite little things--tapas, sort of: homemade hummus with sesame flatbread crackers, carrots, cucumbers, and red peppers; two stinky cheeses and crackers; a caprese salad with basil and red and orange tomatoes from my garden; a greek salad with spinach, feta, olives, cucumber, red pepper, and yellow tomatoes and oregano from my garden; deviled eggs; watermelon; and three bottles of wine. I never leave myself enough time before I have people over, but as I was running around boiling eggs, squeezing lemons into chick peas, tearing up basil that was the byproduct of the afternoon's heavy pruning, and listening to equinoctial's mix #2, I felt totally happy.

And the kitten was loved and admired and completely worn out by the excitement, and everyone thinks it's scandalous that he still doesn't have a name.

cutest nap on record

More kitten news

E calls this picture "tiger arms."

Really, it's just been alarming seeing my boss's face every time I look at the blog . . . it's like he's looking out and can see me still in my pajamas at 10:00 am or whatever. (Less than a week left of that schedule, though--everything revs up again starting Sunday!)

It's not just cats . . .

Last night I went to see my much admired former employer give a reading from his new book. It compares the US to ancient Rome. Then I went and watched him on the Colbert Report, which is pretty hilarious and well worth watching.


My predecessor in my job and I (and her boyfriend) went together, so that it was like a meeting of the ex-assistant fan club. He signed my book, but not with one of the blue pilot pens I used to know so well.

And this is just the beginning

(from the fairy kitten godmother's photo stash)

Real Cat!

It's been a big weekend. First, the addition to the household of this incredibly adorable formerly feral 4-month-old kitten; thousands more pictures to come. He doesn't have a name yet but goes by Little Boy, Purr Machine, Purrkins, Shrimp, Sneezy, Sorfle, Snork Maiden, and Ex-Blaine. As you can see from the names, he purrs constantly (even when hunting . . . I think he has a lot to learn), he curls up like a shrimp on your chest, he has a cold, and he really likes to cuddle.

Emily, his fairy kitten godmother, and I had an eventful weekend on non-feline fronts as well. We took a water-taxi to the new Sculpture Park where the highlight for me was an incredibly charming rotating ampersand. We saw the Shins play for a small crowd at a beach cottage. We were treated to several hundred courses of brunch with a water view at a fancy restaurant: moule moule moule, plus crab legs, and a bag of donuts for good measure. We came too late for kayaking but had sunset margaritas, and next morning watched salmon, pleasure boats, and a really huge mad scientist experimental barge being moved through the locks into the city. The whole experience really made me like Seattle.

I also taught more or less the same test prep class three times, to GRE, GMAT, and SAT students, which really teaches one a lesson about audience. I'd forgotten how different high school kids are from college kids. Really different! But in a fun and sweet way, more or less. Then I collapsed exhausted into a bowl of pho. Now I'm going to home depot to look into screen doors.

Practice Cat

This is Pigeon. She is a paragon of cute, especially if you add in the snore-purring the photos can't capture.

Cat-sitting

Yes, in only a few hours, a cat will be sitting in my apartment. Just a practice cat, but still. I am nervous and excited. The responsibility! The paraphernalia! The tiny paws!

I'd been meaning to ask, because of my self-injury the other day, does anyone else, when you use this (Bactine)

think of him

(Bakhtin)? Or is that just me?

More

I learned to use ebay today. I'm searching for something really awesome, but I can't tell you what.

Also, someone needs to text me back. (Not you, sisterkins. But I am excited that I can text with you now.)

Horrified

I have suddenly become horrified by plastic bags. Did you know that they get into the oceans and break down into little microparticles that somehow kill plankton? And we need plankton! Interestingly, I have discovered that you rarely really need plastic bags to carry your stuff out of a store. Between my purse or bookbag, my Squaw tote bag when I remember to bring it, and the willingness to sacrfice my dignity by just carrying a pile of stuff, I have pretty much totally freed myself of the plastic bag scourge. It's great. I've also finally started composting--or rather, separating out my organic trash and recycling it with the "yard waste," the way my landlords do. The grossness factor was the main hurdle, but it turns out there's also something satisfying about the whole process.

My one year anniversary of living in Seattle is drawing nigh. Winter is approaching . . . the horror! For some reason, this morning I feel like running away to a warmer climate and a more normal life. Which is not to say, though, that I'm not happy where I am, because I am.

Questions

1. How tall am I? Could I have spent my 20s still growing? I've always thought 5'6", but comparisons with other people definitely suggest I am taller than that. Which would be awesome.

2. Are these things even poems?

3. Are the tomatoes meant to be orange, or will they get red eventually? (They taste pretty good orange.)

4. Where should E and I go to look for a cat? And what if my cat doesn't like me? It will like me, right?

5. Is there any way to stop the days from getting shorter again?

6. What are the chances that the envelope with just my poems and no rejection slip or note could be anything other than a rejection?

7. How long until the ridiculous scrapes I inflicted on myself by falling while running on a little path in the dark will heal?

8. How excited am I that Sisterkins is coming back into the country TODAY??!!

Strange

It's been a strange day. My director of graduate studies was at the bar. Earlier, I discovered that I really enjoy teaching math. I have a GRE prep job where I have to teach the whole test, and, well, discovering that I can teach math is like finding out I have a new arm or something. My students are really sweet and smart and they don't seem to think I don't know what I'm doing. As I was saying to someone earlier, though, it might actually be harder for me to teach the verbal section, where my approach is basically "Find the right answer and choose it." Other weekend highlights included running my 8k race, where I kept up a good clip despite a cramp, and an interesting taco party. I'm excited for JF and EG's upcoming visits.

The News

I thought you might like to see the view out my door. You can see the stump of the tree we cut down, as well as what remains of the bamboo grove. When it stops raining, I will also take a picture of my garden. The tomato plants are almost as tall as me now.



About the rain: something has happened to me, because I've actually been enjoying it. I'm sure I'll change my tune again in the fall, but for now, as everyone knows, it's cozy to stay in and study when it's raining. I'm studying in preparation for starting my new job in the ridiculous field of GRE prep. The thing about this job is, I have to teach math. I was eighteen last time I took math (and I bombed it, but that wasn't entirely my fault). That means, I realized last night, that it has been more than ten years since I have studied this subject. I mean, ask yourself, do YOU remember what a polynomial is?

I'm also excited because for the first time since I've lived here, I'm finally getting some visitors! At least three sets within the next couple of weeks. But the rest of the summer is still wide open (hint, hint).

In other news, I had a fantastic meeting with my advisor. We made a timetable with which to envision me ever finishing grad school, he told me exactly what to do to try and get my Virginia Woolf paper published, and he reduced my blood pressure by telling me his philosophy on exam lists, which is that they should prepare you for what you want to teach rather than being a bibliography of your dissertation. This is a huge relief. Since my new philosophy (i.e. rationalization) on the dissertation is that it's a good thing to choose a topic at the last possible moment, since I'll inevitably become bored by spending so much time on any one thing, constructing a bibliography for it nowish would be pretty daunting. But I already know what I want to say I can teach, so that will be much easier.

Next weekend, I'm running an 8K Torchlight Run that I'm pretty excited about. We will be essentially leading a big parade, so there will be lots of people along the route. Apparently, some people run the raced dressed as bananas and so forth. I will be Big Number 267, plus I already have my t-shirt, so it's official.

Life Changes

Today my landlords/housemates and I spontaneously cut down a tree. My apartment now gets about 300% more light, and it's amazing. The sum total of the tree is now a big pile of leaves and stick and a nicely stacked woodpile for the firepit. Then we had a barbeque. Pretty much, it was awesome. Also, I bought on craigslist a $20 loveseat that becomes a (double) bed, so now if you come visit me, you will have a place to sleep. So I recommend that you do come visit me. The tomato plants are going wild, and I also am growing basil, thai basil, sage, pineapple sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint, and peppermint, and they're all doing beautifully.

Last weekend I went to weddings both Saturday and Sunday. In different way both were fantastic. Here is a picture of me, sisterkins, Kate (the guest of honor), and two new friends bridesmaiding it up in New York.