Blogorrhoea

The tattoo, you see, is to be the family coat of arms (many arms!), and is to be acquired next weekend with the rest of the family, if I don't chicken out. Shoulder blade? Upper arm? Forearm?



I just finished the first of two days in a row of test prep, six hours each. The teaching is dreary, but the students are all really sweet and interesting in different ways. I have two kids in my SAT class who met in youth orchestra, and I love that.

Things I wish were magically done now, instead of not done and getting more not done as I sit on the couch and write this:

1) cleaning slovenly apartment and getting rid of the smell of burnt microwave popcorn (my recent attempts at microwave popcorn have been spectacular failures--why?)

2) going for a run since the 1/2 marathon is only a week away!

3) figuring out what is wrong with Greenie's wiring that made him shine his right parking light till the battery died while I was away last weekend (solidarity with Spacey?)

4) turning the tiny and unsightly hole I've dug in the backyard into a garden plot

5) grading 10,000 papers, clearly a bad idea but when else can it get done?

6) writing a really awesome book of poems (it's a wish list, after all)

7) buying new cat litter

I hate being invited to barbecues and not being able to go. I never like to prioritize work over fun, and what is more fun than barbecues?

Travels

I got on the plane, flew to Houston, got off, and I was still in New York, though it was hot and muggy enough to be Houston after all. I was still happy to be there. I walked up five flights and had stir-fry with sisterkins and then took the #1 train to my mom's and slept under the watchful eyes of familiar things in unfamiliar places. I'm back in Seattle now, with a brain straining for sleep and eight more students to see before I'm done. Sometimes it feels like teaching is a hamster wheel and I'm its hamster.

Where would you put a tattoo, if you were me?

Poetry readings

poetry poetry poetry
my head is in a lot of different places
I think that's normal these days

Biking in the springtime . . .

. . . at night on quiet streets in a little light rain . . . or whenever, wherever . . . I'd forgotten how much I love it. Like the dreams of flying I always wished I had. This is my new bike being inspected by Kitcat.

I Love Sushi

This is not the view from I Love Sushi, but it is a view of Lake Union from near the I Love Sushi vantage point. Lake Union is the lake in the middle of Seattle, the lake upon which I may be teaching sailing this summer, depending on what I decide to do. Come visit and I will take your for a sail and then we will eat delicious sushi at I Love Sushi. I taught six hours of test prep today and it takes a while for my brain to recover.

Today

Part of me would like to say heartfelt things about the return to blogging, or give a real update, but really I just want to list the line-up of my new band so that you can share in its delightful eclecticism: the singer and songwriter, who plays baritone ukulele, my friend in the English department who plays bass, a drummer, a percussionist who plays a suitcase and various objects he carries in it, a guy who beatboxes, a flute player, and me (playing cello). We played three shows today (one on the radio, one at the Fremont troll, and one in a regular venue). It was a record-breakingly summery, and thus festive, day. Yesterday I rode my new bike all around Seattle, including to a beach barbecue, and that was also festive and wonderful.

Returning

It's hard to know how to get things started again . . .

Happy New Year

We are in bed. Kitcat is sleeping, I am typing. It's 2008. I'm doing better about not biting my nails. Even though I hate the New Years holiday, and even though I am suspicious of quick fixes and five-point plans and all suggestions that life in the future will be other than it has been in the past, I like New Year's resolutions. I like fresh starts. I like how different times have different feels. The best thing about this year so far is that I have brilliant, motivated students, and we are analyzing Starbucks cups and Nigerian money transfer spam emails and teaching is fun again.

Tis the season

to be totally, totally insane. I finally finished my Pound paper at 5:30 am last night. Now I have to teach my GRE class in a couple of minutes (statistics, probability, quantitative comparisons) and then grade all 22 of my student portfolios by tomorrow morning at 10. After that, Christmas shopping!

Practice lattes

I'm a lucky girl.

Hilariously

Today was my day off from writing. Therefore, I wrote three essays about Proust in the morning, and six essays about my teaching in the afternoon and evening. Probably about a 3000 word day. And not totally mindless writing, either--but easier than the crazy cobwebby labyrinth that is my Pound paper. To which I return tomorrow. And then final grading. And then . . . done!!! But there will be some fun in there too. I hope.

I admit this is cheating, but

I really wanted to get my Pound paper to 10 pages tonight, so I just pressed the return key a whole bunch of times. It worked! Unfortunately, most of those pages cover about six different possible introductions. My hope is to repurpose most of it somehow. I finally got going when I realized why I like the section I'm writing about so much: animals! (I am officially "the girl who sees the animal in everything.") The few pages I'm writing about contain: feathers, paws, dolphins, stags, sheep, an ancient Buddhist monk famous for animal paintings, horses, birds, lions, spiders, scorpions, an owl, wagtail, firefox, more horses, dogs, goats, cats, lizards, more dolphins, squirrels, bluejays, serpents, worms, snakes, another serpent, eels, rams, birds, a black cat, a water-bug, still more birds, and finally “two mice and a moth my guides." What's not to love? (Kitcat loves it so much he chewed the page.)

Today I was on campus 8:30 am-11 pm. 8 hours in the same windowless building reading student papers. But I got a special visit!

GAArrragghh

As I remarked to my class the other day, reading this book in public is like wearing a button that says "Ask Me About Fascism."

Observed while running

The newish ipod shuffle, when pinned to a black shirt, looks exactly like a clerical collar.



Discuss.

A good week!

Classes are over and finished well. Office holiday party was a delight: a cube of wine, beers in our minifridge, deviled eggs, my four batches of hastily made brownies, two mint and two regular, plus I got to share my beloved theory about "Winter Wonderland"'s subversive gender politics. A very sick cat (not mine) miraculously recovered. And more!

Chair

What does it mean? It means I now have a chair for my PhD exam committee. Acquiring one is basically like asking a professor to the prom, and I was really nervous about it, but I did it today and he said yes and was very nice. Huge weight off my mind!

Coming Soon . . .

Democracy! Watch this space! Vote for your favorite cat name!! (A list of choices will appear with the official poll, but if you have any suggestions about what should be on the list, please let me and little nameless know.)

Tomorrow for the last time I head into my crazy midweek dash. This week will be especially bad . . . I'm even double-booked several times. Here's my schedule: Teach, Proust-Meeting with Adviser-Seattle Review Meeting, Pedagogy, Run Home to Feed the Cat, Tutor Till Midnight, Run Home to Sleep, Ezra Pound, Office Hours, Run Home to Feed the Cat, Tutor Till Midnight, Run Home to Sleep, Teach, Proust-Reindeer Sweater Office Party-Pedagogy, Grad Pub! We crossed the international date line a few times in there, so that brings us to Thursday night. It actually doesn't sound so bad. This makes me feel a little better. Now to make a peer review handout.

What is it, Kitcat?

What is it, boy? I think he wants us to follow him!!

The snow has turned to torrential rain, and this morning the cat woke me up at 5 to tell me that the floor is leaking. Huge puddles everywhere. Then we went to the vet. It's been a weekend of cat medicine and floor issues. Weird convergences. A good weekend, too.

Kitcat's first blizzard