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I had heard rumors of a tropical storm, but I didn't know Bill was so close. I love it! I live in a place that gets tropical storms. How exotic is that!? We're fine in our apartment. It's not even that windy. The only thing that's a bother to Louisiana is flooding, and we're on high ground at our apt with the pumping station just down the street and updated drainage system on our street recently completed. I'm SO glad I didn't go to Baton Rouge today.
I'm loving these rainy days. Apparently I have a tropical storm in the vicinity to thank. It makes it so nice to sit at home and read and study. I'm so glad I'm not under obligation to go to Baton Rouge today.
This weekend we watched a great French film The Taste of Others. There are a few circles of people and then the individuals in each circle. Sometimes individuals cross into other circles. Each circle has its own taste. There's the bistro, the group of actors/artists, a businessman, his wife and bodyguard and chauffeur. Some characters' lives change dramatically when confronted with another's taste, especially the businessman when he encounters art. He doesn't know what to do, how to act, or what he is even feeling. The lives of other characters can't change when they encounter another taste, and that creates conflict, creative dissonance, if I dare use such a clicheed expression. I very much enjoyed this film. In some ways, it was almost a microcosm of real life...with the plastic tastes of businessmen and the struggling individuality of the artistic personality.
Chris and I have signed up for a trial of Netflix. Has anybody used this? or have an opinion about it? So far we're pretty optimistic. The selection is terrific.
That's how I feel about this summer...one by one things get done. And we have to get through the summer that way. I've always hated summer. So uncertain. So unsettled. I yearn for my routine and for activities that are conducive to routine. Even though, right now, things are somewhat stable for me, Chris is pulled in bazillions of directions. We're thankful, though, that he could go work at Banana Republic again this summer...it will get us through the summer financially. (and some discounts..yay.)
I finally talked to my prof. He was totally cool with my request not to go to Baton Rouge everyday. Right now, I'm doing fine, and understanding the homework at home fine. So he said for me to just use my discretion and come to class when I feel like I didn't understand what was goign on. This is a huge relief for me. I'm able to start working on these term papers that are hanging over my head.
I read Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" the other day. It is about a guy who wakes up and realizes he's changed into a large verminous creature/insect. Since he is the main provider for his family--his parents and sister--it upsets their family financially, as well as the emotional and psychological trauma of having someone in your family turn into a large insect. One of the first things that struck me when reading it was the matter-of-fact tone. How he wakes up, realizes he's a bug, and then his response is almost like "oh darn. I hate it when that happens." Interesting to think about in terms of self and how much your body and your subconscious is related to that. What is his ego in this situation?
We had a nice bday party for Chris yesterday. A bunch of people from church came, and I had a taco salad buffet and pumpkin pie for his "cake", since that's his favorite. I keep pumpkin in the freezer from the fall just for his bday. Abby and Chara Grace love a bday party and are so fun to have around. Every once in a while they come out with the funniest turns of phrases that belie their Brit parentage. For instance, I have these little M&M guys that attach to C'mas lights in the kitchen, but they always fall down. Chara Grace said, "you should the M&M guy back on" and i told that they keep falling down, and she, who is just 4 yrs, says "well, you should sort out the problem." Ha!
I went with Alison and the girls to another bday party for a little boy in our church across the lake. Abby (2) is not a fan of the hustle and bustle, so clung to me the whole time. Since I don't customarily have children hanging all over me, I was happy for a snuggly kid to hang onto for the afternoon. I had a good chat with Alison, too. It's been a while since we've really talked.
Today is Chris's birthday! Yay!!!
Because of German, I find myself randomly wanting to capitalize nouns.
I highly recommend these two albums:
Toufic Farroukh - "The Pain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Brain"
Album: Drab Zeen (Label: Harmonia Mundi)
Year Released: 2002 Media: CD
Joy Denalane - "Hochste Zeit"
Album: Global Soul (Label: Putumayo)
Year Released: 2003 Media: CD (Release: New)
Comment: Germany/South Africa
Chris and I heard these songs from them the other day on wwoz, and they were amazing. Drove us batty!
I stayed home to work instead of biding through tedious German. I'm glad I did. It's a rainy afternoon and perfect for study. Once I get through today's translation, I'm going to read something. I don't know what, just something. It's depressing, here I am in grad school, and I feel starved to read. Things like German homework, and even the skimming to gather material for a term paper, are not the sinking into the text that invigorates us all to the task of scholarship (or professional Wondering [or Inquiry, to sound less Dr. Graham-ish], as I like to think of it). I'm also feeling the need to stop a bit and think. Do we ever get that kind of time? Perhaps not. Maybe I'm just tired of German. Because of random sentences we get in our German exercises and because I just keep hearing his name pop randomly, I've been wanting to read a little bit of Kafka. Chris likes him. And I've been wanting to delve into lit. theory a bit for its relevance in exploring music as a text. First though, I want to read Rob Wegman's Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht, esp the introduction. I'm also trying to develop my own personal intro to musicology course as an independent study for next fall...
While, my car got its $500 end of the school massage today...with a new timing belt and four new tires. I swear, the thing drives like a dream. You take car of your Honda, your Honday takes care of you.
Chris went with me to Baton Rouge today. It was lovely of him to go and keep me company. I was excited to show him my "digs". We went to the deli with the other grad student who is in theory (theory and musicology folks tend to hang together as the "other"...the non-performers...this past year I was the only musicology grad student and he was the only theory student...new ones come this fall). Patrick (this other theory student) has been a great friend. And as he is ABD this year, has offered me really helpful advice. So I was SO glad that Chris could be with us while we talked shop. Sometimes I run around LSU feeling like I'm single again, which, when you have a great husband like Chris, is not all that fun.
I wonder what my classmates in my German class do when they sit down to do their German homework at night. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who has studied the lesson...who has looked up words I don't know, who has diagrammed the sentence, who knows where the verb in all its parts is. It drives me battily bored in class sometimes. I mean, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm prepared! (I'm not perfect, but I'm present active..ha, haha!!!) I'm also the only girl in my class now. There were two others, but they dropped.
Okay...gotta finish my homework...
One of my favorite things in the world is a grilled cheese sandwich...and variants thereof. For instance, today I used mozzarella cheese and put black olives on it. I also like the classic plain cheddar cheese. A grilled cheese sandwich is so comforting.
And if you think my life revolves around le bon appetit, you wouldn't be far off. I made a stellar meal the other night. The first time I tried putting two soups in one bowl, and it worked! A cold canteloupe soup and a cold strawberry soup...each in half of the bowl with a mint garnish.
Well, I thought my car woes were minimal. The mechanic tried to start the car this morning, and the timing belt jumped. (Whatever that means...I just know that I need a new one.) I guess putting 20,000 miles on my car in the space of 9 months isn't the greatest idea, but we gotta do what we gotta do.
I'm so sick of learning verb tenses. I "know" (if I look at my little chart I've made) 13 tenses in German. At least I can diagram the sentences fine.
You know what's really weird? Henry VI of England and Charles VII of France had the same span of rule (1422-1461) AND their successors Edward IV (eng) and Louis XI (fr) had the same span of rule, too (1461-1483)!!!! That has always struck me a very strange coincidence.
I almost set the house on fire last night. I decided to make spinach quiche for dinner, which is a fave with us. So I grabbed the bag of frozen chopped spinach out of the freezer in order to use the last of it and tossed it into the microwave. Half-seconds later realizing that it had a twistie on it, and as I came to this realization I saw sparks and flames in the microwave! (Twisties are metal.) I lunged for the off button and opened the door, only to find the small flame of burning bag starting to grow. I knew it was too big to blow out, so I thought "baking soda!" but as I turned around, I saw the canister of flour on the counter and grabbed that. After a couple of quick heaps of flour, I had put out my little fire. Thankfully, neither the microwave nor the spinach was damaged. The worst of it ended up being that I had to clean up the flour mess. And our quiche was delicious. Once we eventually got it. I was deterred at every turn from a quick preparation. Aside from my little fire incident, I reached for the shortening from the cupboard, opened the container only to find a gloppy, melted texture. This is the first time I had bought organic shortening, so I guess it has different properties. And I'm sure living in Louisiana doesn't help. So I had to stick in the freezer for a little bit so that it would harden, and it now has a new home in the refrigerator.
I've been delighting in Richard Wagner's effusive prose. You can't get more 19th German than this:
In a short autobiographcial sketch, commenting on his passion for languages, writing, poetry, and tragedy as a youth:
"Though I soon left English on one side, yet Shakespeare remained my exemplar, and I projected a great tragedy which was almost nothing but a medley of Hamlet and King Lear. The plan was gigantic in the extreme; two-and-forty human beings died in the course of this piece, and I saw myself compelled, in its working-out, to call the greater number back as ghosts, since otherwise I should have been short of characters for my last Acts."
From his Art and Revolution:
"To Philosophy and not to Art, belong the two thousand years which, since the decadence of Grecian Tragedy, have passed till our own day. In vain did Art send hither and thither her dazzling beams into the night of discontented thought, of mankind grovelling in its madness; they were but the cries, of pain or joy, of the units who had excaped from the desert of the multitude, and, like fortunate wanderes from distant lands, had reached the hidden, bubbling spring of pure Castalian waters, at which they slaked their thirsty lips but dared not reach the quickening draught until the world." (I think the antecedent here is the dazzling beams of Art...whatever that is.)
And also from Art and Revolution (rather off the mark theologically, but so German):
"Thus would Jesus have shown us that we all alike are men and brothers; while Apollo would have stamped this mighty bond of brotherhood with the seal of strength and beauty, and led mankind from doubt of its own worth to consciousness of its highest godlike might. Let us therefore erect the altar of the future, in Life as in the living Art, to the two sublimest teachers of mankind:--Jesus, who suffered for all men; and Apollo, who raised them to their joyous dignity!"
I wonder what kind of mom I'll be. Or what my kids will think of me. I mused this question to myself as I was preparing for dinner. First of all, in order to use the table, I had to clear random papers of whatever serial publication I had been reading. Then I set about preparing a simple spaghetti dinner...while snatching paragraphs of Wagner's "Art and Revolution." Will my kids grow up as complete weirdos thinking that it is perfectly normal to eat dinner next to books on aesthetics?
We ate the first tomato from our little garden. It was a burst of flavor!! I had forgotten what a tomato could taste like. The taste had a virtual development on my pallette as I chewed each bite. Incroyable!
I'm feeling much relief after a much needed conversation over email (he's in Italy) with my prof.
German is killing me. It's not difficult, but challenging. The key things is that there is a lot of it. That's what one would expect for an instensive summer course, I suppose. But when I got up this morning, my head had this dull ache and my eyes stung. This condition has not abated throughout the day. Perhaps if I had been more intentional about imbibing great quantities of caffeine.
Well, I spend some time in the library today. I printed off of a microfilm for the first time. I thoroughly enjoyed looking in the facsimile of a Brussels manuscript of 15th c. It was so interesting.
I'm so stressed out thinking about my program here at LSU.
Well, thankfully, the only thing wrong with my car is that I need a new wheel. Poor Childebert! I've driven him to the ground! But I can't just get a new wheel. I need 4 and a balance and an alignment. *sigh* But at least that's all it is. In the meantime, I've been roughing it with Chris airconditioner-less car down here in Louisiana summer (but it's only June, not August). Mornings are okay (esp. since I'm on the road before 7 am), but afternoons are really hot! But so far riding down the highway with the music blaring and the windows open sort of makes me feel like a party on wheels. But I couldn't take too much of it. So I'll be glad to have my car back.
There's nothing like checking weather.com and seeing the same forecast for each day of the 10-day forecast. Isolated showers and thunderstorms. Upper 80's that feel like 90's. Definitely summer. Definitely wretched driving weather, especially since mine is in the shop and I'm driving Chris's without air.
Well, there seems to be so many disjointed things that I want to record that it is difficult to put them under a title.
First of all. Chris and I finally went out for our anniversary dinner last Friday night. It was a warm summer evening. And we were dressed for New Orleans, which to me means cool pants or shoes. He was wearing white linen pants and I robins egg blue pants with red shoes. In the evening sun and exhilirating tunes coming from wwoz and thrill of being "out on the town", we kept losing track of where we were, hence we kept driving up and down and up Prytania Street. After a lovely drive, we finally found the restaurant we were looking for...La Crepe Nanou. We found a table outside on the sidewalk at the cafe that looked like the movie Amelie had exploded right there in New Orleans. We could've been in Paris! The front was red, and the glow of the lights from the awning was green. A feast for the sense, as the movie was. And what's more, Woody Allen was our waiter! Well, not quite. But if his hair would've been redder and thinner, he would've been. The same slight build with clothing draped about it and walking with a loose gait. The crepes were delicious, too. This place we will have to come back to.
I think that's all I want to talk about. I did tons of other things this weekend. And German plows on. I had good discussions today at school. One with the graduate advisor in the music dept, helping me be suit this program to me, and one with my former Strav teacher, discussing some topics brought up in my paper, which I could develop into something if I really wanted to (but I don't think I will right now...I have too much to do).
Every once in awhile there is a time when I go into the kitchen to make I have no idea for dinner, and a miracle happens. "We have nothing to eat" comes together into a beautiful, amazing dinner. We had parsnips and turnips in the fridge, so I steamed them, patted them with butter and salt and pepper. A wonderful nutty aroma wafted up from them, and I couldn't resist sprinkling ground nutmeg on them, too. Next was chicken breasts. I cooked them slowly in an iron pan with a paste made from garlic cloves, balsamic vinegar, and red wine spread on one side. When I flipped them over with the paste side down and turned the heat down to low, it caramelized. Then the salad. Diced tomatoes and radishes with a mint and olive oil paste. My pastes I made with my lovely new mortar and pestle from Grace. Everything was amazing!! What would've been perfect was white wine, but I did plan well enough ahead to chill it. Wow! It's like a successful argument. All the things coming together to fit in a just such a way that satisfies.
I had such a weird morning! I woke up a few minutes before my alarm went off, glanced at the clock noting that it was 5.27 (I get up at 5.30) went into the bathroom, got into the shower, as is my habit. I was so sleepy in the shower that I stayed in longer trying to wake, thinking about how in the world I was going to get through this day as sleepy as I was, and wondering why I was so sleepy since I had gotten to bed at a decent hour. I got out in the shower and glanced at the clock to see where I was time-wise for my morning routine...not too bad, it was about 5.55. I went back into the bathroom to start drying my hair, and as I was combing it out, all of a sudden I was struck by the fact that there was something wrong. I went back and looked at the clock, and it said 3.00!!! WHAT?!!?! Then everything made sense. What had looked like 5.27 earlier was really 2.27!!! Now before you think that I don't know how to tell time. My hot pink clock that I've had since I was seven years old broke this week, so I've been using my cell phone as an alarm clock, but the numbers are much tinier, so without my glasses on a "5" can look like a "2". Well, as soon as I realized my error, you better believe I went right back to bed. 5.30 did come rather soon after that. And I was thrown off a little by such crazy events. Groggily I stumbled about my morning routine, picking up where I left off with my shower, and since we're out of milk, I got off earlier so that I would have time to go to the coffee shop at LSU before class. (Since I don't drink tea or coffee without milk).
Surprisingly, considering my altered state, German went well this morning. I think I have found my footing as a member of the class. Part of my success as a student is good class participation. And I try to make it a point not to ask dumb or irrelevant questions (and there is such thing as a dumb question). So when you have good class participation, then the professor starts to notice you more, calls on you more, you have discussions with him (in this case it's a male prof) more, and the end result is...they see you work hard, do the homework, make connections, and are a positive contribution to the class, thus you get an A. That's my little strategy for classes where I may be on unsure footing as far as the material is concerned. I usually get better and more confident with the material than if I had stayed to myself in my own private cesspool of stress over the subject. And today was definitely one of those days. The prof called on my about twice as much as he usually does.
And, I've fallen into a fun gig doing something I have never considered doing before. A pal from my history seminar last semester does puppet shows and little kid shows with music and stuff. So we're on for a history prof's kid's b-day party. He's playing the guitar, someone's singing, and I'm playing cello for a bunch of fun kid's songs, and then we're doing a puppet show about a cow who really wants a b-day cake for her b-day. I'm playing Daisy the Cow and two of her friends, Juana the Iguana and Mr. Frog. It is such a blast. I love playing with these puppets!!! Today was my first time playing with the puppets. I can't wait for Saturday.
Whenever I am tempted to complain about the complexities of a new language I'm learning, I just have to stop and be thankful that I'm not learning English from scratch. How in the world it has gotten to be such a widely spoken language I have no idea? (Especially when there are more beautiful, simpler languages out there, like French.) Or, heck, why don't we all still speak Latin!? It would help this "worldwide community of academia" thing.
I'm all for gender inclusive (or, rather, neutral) language, and usually in English it's not difficult to pull it off in writing, requiring only minimal tweaking. It occurred to me today in my German class how difficult it would be, though, for gendered nouns, like in German, French, Italian, etc. I don't know how in the world they get around it! Our teacher described some way that is starting to become more prevalent in German for indicating that the plural (like of student or something) consists of both men and women. But I can't remember what he said exactly for how it was formed. Really the only difficulty I ever run into is using the generic "he." That is sometimes difficult to worm one's way out of, and "their" for "he" just doesn't suffice, though I'm caught doing it.
I picked my first two cherry tomatoes and three green beans yesterday. Woohoo!!
I'm home. None too soon, either.
Yesterday was our second anniversary. It has been a wonderful year. Much better than the first...more settled with each other and life. We haven't had a chance to celebrate yet, since yesterday was Sunday. We may go out to dinner tomorrow night.
We both started our summer classes today. I had German bright and early at LSU, and Chris is taking an Am. Lit. class, because he needs a couple more English credits in order to be a full-time English teacher. I'm going to enjoy learning German, and I'm doing it the way I like to learn a language, fast and intensive. Let's see if I can stay awake, though. I'm going to have to get used to these early mornings again...
That I have the patience to post on my parents' interminably slow computer is commendable in and of itself.
Well, I made it! I drove from Pensacola to Pennsylvania all by myself. Sort of, there was a brief leg with company. On Wednesday morning I left Atlanta, and went to North Carolina to visit my old roomie from Covenant, Grace White. I hadn't seen her in 3 years! And it was as if time hadn't passed. We had a great time chatting, drinking coffee, and picking up on silly little things. Since she was headed to D.C. for a conference on Thursday anyway, it was a wonderful coincidence that I was headed for going through there, as well. So Thursday morning we set out for a little road trip. We hadn't gotten very down when we passed a billboard that said "Pottery. Next exit." Grace said, "Should we stop?" I said, "YES!" So we did. After winding back a little we found a wonderful gallery featuring work from potters all over NC. It was spectacular. We spend an hour and a half there, and I purchased a beautiful mug...flared at the top and bottom, cream colored with a square design of orange and turquoise stripes, almost like a window. Then we went on to D.C. Along the way I introduced her to Wawa sandwiches for lunch, and we hit DC late afternoon. After a little difficulty, we found her brother's house where I left her off. Then I went out to sit squarely in DC's rush hour traffic, which was long but not too dreadful. By 7 pm, I was pulling into Baltimore. It was exhilarating coming to a high point of the interstate, seeing the city and harbor stretch out to the horizon, before I plunged down into the harbor tunnel. I arrived shortly thereafter at the home of my friend Jessica (a history major friend) (Spalding) Willison, sometimes known by me as "Spark." She and Ty were having a dinner party for some people in their church, so I joined in a bit. It was great to see them in their life, as well as having an invigorating conversation with Jess. I couldn't stay for too long, though, because I had the rest of the trip ahead of me. The last leg...to Pennsylvania. So here I am.
Today, my brother Sam got his drivers' licence. Nuts. Things are the same around here. The flourescent light is still burnt out in the bathroom, as it was in Dec. Familiar piles of clutter decorate desks and end tables. Some things will never change. It was kind of a boring day. After I got the car cleaned out and delivered, there wasn't much to do. My mom had inservice. Sam was galavanting around in his new found freedom. Mary was at work. Dad was doing whatever he does. Luisa and I just sort of hung out. And then I leave early tomorrow morning to go to Philly. I kind of don't want to stay anyway. I just feel impatient and bored...especially without Chris.
..and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep.
After a relaxing weekend in Pensacola, I have now started my journey up to Pennsylvania.
Chris and I drove to Pensacola Friday afternoon where we met my sister-in-law and her husband already at my great-aunt and uncle's condo. They left the next day. We toasted ourselves at the picturesque beach shuffling through white sand nestled by the dunes of the Gulf Island national seashore. It was amazingly beautiful, and we had a wonderful time. It was so good to get away and actually talk to each other!
Sunday brought our worship at the OPC mission work in Pensacola, where, amazingly, we bumped into the Heemstra's! They seem to be around wherever we go. We joked that we're Heemstra groupies, and they joked that we're trying to take over their job. We all went to the pastor's home for dinner and the afternoon. Though he is only half-way through seminary, Pastor Schortmann is a gifted preacher and expositer of the Word. We were very blessed by his sermons and how well-suited he is to pastor that particular congregation. When we got back to the condo that evening my jet-lagged aunt and uncle stumbled out of their bedroom to greet us. I can't believe it's been a year since I've seen them!
Chris had to leave in the morning to go to NOLA for inservice. My aunt and uncle began the flurry of unpacking from their cruise, doing laundry, and packing for the summer, so that they could send stuff for the summer in their car, which I am now in the process of driving to Pennsylvania, where they will sojourn for a few months at the home of their daughter, my second cousin (or first cousin once removed, I think, since she's my dad's first cousin), who lives 5 minutes away from my family, allowing me a few days in which to visit my family. Though not nearly enough, since I will arrive on Thursday and leave on Saturday. This coming Sunday is our second anniversay, and the following Monday I start German for the summer. Following the chronology so far? Good, because I'm barely hanging on. Though, I'm very disappointed not to be with Chris for this trip, books on tape from Cracker Barrel is very comforting. The miles melt away into another world.
Aaaaugh! I have so much I want to write...including a scathing book review of The Fruit of her Hands by Nancy Wilson, which I've recently read. Wretched, heinous book!
Sorry about Frank. When I have time I'll fix his lovely portaiture.