It appears that May 23 is not this baby's birthday. Unless something majorly changes in the next couple of hours, which is highly unlikely.

But that's the thing about being a history major. Sometimes random dates get into my head, and I have no idea why they're important and why they're in my head.

May 23, 1430
Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians and subsequently sold to the English. Hmm, I was just talking about Joan of Arc yesterday. I really was.

May 23, 1788
South Carolina became the 8th state in United States.

May 23, 1873
The North West Mounted Police force was formed in Canada. It would later be known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

May 23, 1911
The New York Public Library, at the time the largest marble structure ever built in the United States, was dedicated by President Taft in New York City after 16 years of construction.

May 23, 1934
Bonnie (Parker) and Clyde (Barrow) were killed in a police shootout.

May 23, 1945
Heinrich Himmler, head of Adolf Hitler’s Gestapo, committed suicide while in prison.

Posted by at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities. The commentary makes it absolutely hysterical.

(as seen at what now.)

Posted by at 7:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I really should be in bed right now. But I had to catch a few minutes of the Late Show with Adam Sandler, subbing Letterman, who is out sick barfing with the rest of New York. It can't be an easy task, but at the same time, playing the nervous card is a little tacky, you know? If you were a teacher, you would be toasted alive.

Posted by at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today is National Margarita Day! Bad time to be out of tequila AND limes. Darn. We could've planned another margaritas and mending night.

Posted by at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This History of the World has got to be one of the funniest things I have every read. (Thanks, funke)

Posted by at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Alli tagged me for the Come as You Are Blog Party"

This is "as I really am" wie es eigentlich gewesen

The next I saw at Tulip Girl's and was intrigued:

Continue reading "2 more memes" »

Posted by at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Or

Crap! I forgot to upload October pics into Flickr. I wasted a month!!!! AARGH!

Flickr Pro would be a nice Graduation/Christmas present.

Posted by at 8:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tagged by Kate, who has an awesome soundtrack. Mine is going to be a weird dorky melange, and it doesn't help that I don't have a ton of music in iTunes. So anyway, here goes....

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD YOUR SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool..

Opening Credits:
Prelude in g minor, by Rachmaninoff, performed by Horowitz

Waking Up:
Ode to a Butterfly, Nickel Creek

First Day At School:
The Foggy Dew, the Chieftans

Falling In Love:
Je ne crois pas, In-Grid
HA!

Breaking Up:
Missa Papae Marcelli: Credo, Palestrina (oxford camerata)

Prom:
Chasing the Fox, the Chieftans

Life's OK:
"Maladetto Sia Aspetto" from Olympia's Lament, Monteverdi (Emma Kirby)

Mental Breakdown:
"Salvator Noster" from Vespers, Monteverdi

Driving:
"Quel Sguardo Sdegnosetto" from Olympia's Lament, Monteverdi

Flashback:
"L'isle joyeuse", Debussy (Horowitz)

Getting Back Together:
"Magnificat" from Magnificat, Monteverdi

Wedding:
"BP" by Edgar Meyer/Joshua Bell

Birth of Child:
"River, Sea, Ocean" Badly Drawn Boy

Final Battle:
Missa Aeterna Christi Munera: Credo, Palestrina

Death Scene:
"Be here to Love Me" Norah Jones

Funeral Song:
"Death by Triple Fiddle" Bell and Meyer HAHA!

End Credits:
"Whose Child is this anyway?" Sufjan Stevens christmas

Well, that it's. Not too exciting.

Tags should be fun: FUNKE!!!, Erica, I think I'll go out on a limb and tag anyone at Dial "M", and Linnea. Have fun!

Posted by at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

It's National Popcorn Poppin' Month.

Count me in!

Posted by at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

To the responders to the art meme:

The top 5 are Twirly, Lynn, Alli, Jo, and Em. If I'm nice and feel like taking more pictures, which is likely since it's pretty fall out, I might take one for katiek, Dawn, and AmandaK, too.

The first picture is for Jo.
It is entitled, "Kafka."

The next one is for Lynn. I was experimenting with long exposure and fingure-spelling your name in ASL. It's not as dramatic as I had hoped it would be. And the background is kind of unattractive, but the shelf in the boy's room offered the best height and light to place the camera.
"Your Name"

The last one, for now!, is for Em, who reads my blog. It features two substances close to my heart, coffee and advil. I thought you'd appreciate the Ikea mug. ;-)
"Come and Have a Cuppa"

I'll be back with more!!!

Posted by at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You Are Lisa Simpson

A total child prodigy and super genius, you have the mind for world domination. But you prefer world peace, Buddhism, and tofu dogs. You will be remembered for: all your academic accomplishments Your life philosophy: "I refuse to believe that everybody refuses to believe the truth"

Posted by at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Thank you, Haley for posting a link to these. I knew they had to be on the internet somewhere.

I present the Funniest Commercials Ever: VW strikes again: Un-Pimp My Ride. The new VW commercials parodying a hiphop pimp my ride thing. Only it's a German guy in a white coat (German engineering in da Haus, ja) and they are unpimping the Autos. (Representing Deutschland!) These are genius!

Posted by at 8:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...and can swing a couple of months in the summer in the south of France, I highly recommend this place--L'Institut d'Études Françaises pour Étudiants Étrangers (or French Institute for Foreign Students) in Aix-en-Provence. I went here for the June and July intensive terms in the summer of 1999, between years 3 and 4 out of 5 in college. I went from zero knowledge to being able to carry on a half-way decent conversation on a variety of topics, and being able to sort of the read the newspaper...in two months. It was intensive, but really great!

I was reminded of this school last night when I was talking to an ethnomusicology grad student who is going to Marseille to study n. African music and wanted to get a bit more solid in French.

When I went there, they didn't have a website or email. I googled it last night and found the website. It was a wonderful place; I really cherish my time there.

p.s. I went for the summer terms, but they do have normal school year terms, too. :)

Posted by at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I've been tagged by Rachel.

Four Jobs I Have Had:
Working in the family Greenhouse, planting flats and flats of tiny seedlings and watering.
Sales Rep. at Banana Republic during Christmas
Teaching Assistant at university where I'm enrolled
Adjunt Instructor in music history at other formerly local university

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:
French Kiss
Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth)
Amelie
The Hunt for Red October

Four Books I Could Read Over and Over:
My Antonia, by Willa Cather
Baudolino, by Umberto Eco
The Waning of the Middle Ages, by Johan Huizinga
the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel

Four Places I Have Lived:
Baltimore
Iowa
Lookout Mountain, Ga
New Orleans

Four TV Shows I Watch:
Simpsons (on DVD or reruns)
Monarch of the Glen (on DVD)
Star Trek (TNG) (reruns)
Gilmore Girls

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:
my grandparent's in Iowa
Pensacola, FL
Bermuda
Natchitoches, LA

Four Websites I visit Daily:
covblogs
the blog rounds
i dunno...I visit Amazon pretty frequently
the online library catalog regularly

Four Favorite Foods:
I love all food. I don't know...
taco salad (the way I make it with black beans and blue corn tortilla chips)
really good ravioli
watermelon
nutella

Four Places I'd Like To Be Now:
the south of France
New Orleans
Italy
Paris

Four Bloggers I'm Tagging:
who wants to be tagged?
tag Stina!
tab Erica!

Posted by at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

to Philadelphia's very own Benjamin Franklin!!!

Posted by at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and a little sassy, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine, the men already got one, thanks! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth. yea, i really feel chic right now...:-P

as seen on verbingnouns

Posted by at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Just when you think you've seen it all: a bra purse. I'd like to think I'm resourceful, but even I have limits!

Posted by at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out the new (much improved) OPC website!

My favorite part is This Day in OPC history. Ha!

(I kind of hope the feature article about the new design is a little tongue-in-cheek. It's nerdy.)

Posted by at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I just figured out the MT Bookmarklet! This is so way cool!!!

Posted by at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

You are Woodstock!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I also took that politics quiz that was circling around. Scored as a social (61%) and economic (26%) liberal...go figure. (Can't get the html to copy for some reason.)

Okay. Now on to something productive.

Posted by at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Apparently Hurricane Katrina has let loose several armed dolphins. It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Posted by at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This bit of satirical reporting made its way to my inbox this afternoon. Had to share. I'm still chuckling:

President Bush Sells Louisiana Back to the French

(Photo)President Bush and a giddy Jacques Chirac shake hands on the deal.

BATON ROUGE, LA. - The White House announced today that President Bush has successfully sold the state of Louisiana back to the French at more than double its original selling price of $11,250,000.

"This is a bold step forward for America," said Bush. "And America will be stronger and better as a result. I stand here today in unity with French Prime Minister Jack Sharaq, who was so kind to accept my offer of Louisiana in exchange for 25 million dollars cash."

The state, ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, will cost hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild.

"Jack understands full well that this one's a 'fixer upper,'" said Bush. "He and the French people are quite prepared to pump out all that water, and make Louisiana a decent place to live again. And they've got a lot of work to do. But Jack's assured me, if it's not right, they're going to fix it."

The move has been met with incredulity from the beleaguered residents of Louisiana.

"Shuba-pie!" said New Orleans resident Willis Babineaux. "Frafer-perly yum kom drabby sham!"

However, President Bush's decision has been widely lauded by Republicans.

"This is an unexpected but brilliant move by the President," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. "Instead of spending billions and billions, and billions of dollars rebuilding the state of Louisiana, we've just made 25 million dollars in pure profit."

"This is indeed a smart move," commented Fox News analyst Brit Hume. "Not only have we stopped the flooding in our own budget, we've made money on the deal. Plus, when the god-awful French are done fixing it up, we can easily invade and take it back again."

The money gained from 'T'he Louisiana Refund' is expected to be immediately pumped into the rebuilding of Iraq.

Wonder how the rest of the country is feeling now that they're getting to know Louisiana a little better. I'm telling you, guys, it's the wackiest place I've ever lived, but I really loved it.

Posted by at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Genevieve tagged me awhile ago. I haven't forgotten. I've been sort of un-bloggy lately, but with life quieting down around me will probably become more bloggy.

Here goes:

10 years ago. Let's see, I was 17, entering my last year of high school, which was probably my best (rivaling 10th grade, probably). I was living with Mrs. Belz and two sisters from Ethiopia, who were so fun and nice. I enjoyed being a senior. It was like the fulfillment of all my BigSister-dom at the high school level. I embraced all the leadership opportunities given to me. I was probably more "cool" that year than other preceding year. At least I had found a niche.

5 years ago. If this is 2005, than five years ago was 2000, so I was just entering my last year of college. Yea, because I did five years of college. Also feeling seniorly. Obsessing about my SIP (that is, thesis), which was like my magnum opus at the time. Dating Chris--we got engaged Christmas 2000. I was playing cello a lot in school, gigging, and teaching. I haven't really played much since. Aaah. Being a senior is nice.

1 year ago. Um, entering my last year of coursework for grad school. Do we see a pattern here!? Commuting to Baton Rouge from NOLA (85 mi each way) 3 days a week. It was ETERNAL SUMMER and my air conditioner was dying. We evacuated for inconsequential (to us) Hurricane Ivan. I was just starting to teach my first class of my very own as an adjunct at a local university. In a short time, I would find out that I was pregnant. (or just read the archive)

Yesterday. Got up, took Chris to school, put boy down for nap, breakfasted/showered, wrote a bazillion emails trying to organize grad student stuff for upcoming national meeting of my professional organization, took care of boy, lunched somewhere in there, got out some files, took boy to school to pick up Chris early so that we could take a walk along the trail around the duck pond, made dinner, went to Starbucks to study alone, was up a lot at night with boy, but by then it was Today.

5 snacks I enjoy. Popcorn made in a pot over the stove. Mayfield's Moosetracks ice cream (which I can only get in the Southeast!). Watermelon. Chex mix. Cheese and crackers.

5 songs I know all the words to. *sigh* I'm bad at this part, because I'm kind of popculturally illiterate for one thing and for another, I can never understand the lyrics (which is probably why I prefer instrumentals) or can't remember them. So...1. all the songs in Sound of Music counts as one. 2. Bridge over Troubled Water (I know, who doesn't? buy, like I said, I have to scramble on this one). 3. The Spike Jones version of Pagliacci. 4. Faure's Requiem (he does use a standard requiem text, but I can only remember the words if I'm singing along to his particular requiem) (and I know I'm using "songs" quite loosely here). 5. O Come, all ye faithful. (it's my favorite christmas carol).

5 things I'd do with $100 million. Ha! Pay off my student loans. Let's see, would there be any left over? Well, if there would be, I'd clear oppressive debt of family members (like sibling's student loans), buy a house (one here and one in the south of France). Travel. Endow a chair. Send poor children to good schools. Set up a student travel fund. Support good schools. Support missionaries. Get nice haircuts regularly. Oh yea, and a decent car with power steering and a cd player!

5 places I'd run away to. Did I mention the south of France? And Paris. Venice. Northeast Italy in general, and....um...Bermuda! Actually a lot more places would've made the cut in another life, but now they don't because they're cold. Paris makes the cut, because it can transcend the cold.

5 things I'd never wear. I'm with Genevienve--I will never, ever wear a fanny pack. Puffed sleeves (sorry, Anne). Cowboy boots. A poncho. Sequins.

5 favorite TV shows. This is really difficult, because I just don't watch TV regularly enough to have a favorite TV show. The only way I can come close to answering this one is for blessed Netflix seasons on dvd. So...definitely The Simpsons. Monarch of the Glen (a BBC Scotland show). ....uh...The Cosby Show. Star Trek (TNG) (yea, yea, the inner nerd). Reading Rainbow (haven't really watched this since a kid, but i think it's a great show!).

5 biggest joys. My baby's milky smile. Chris coming in the door after being gone all day. Excellent food and wine. A new piece of music that transfixes me. The changing of the seasons.

5 favorite toys. Uh?? my cell phone? I can play tetris on it. Beads. Pez dispensers. Roller blades. My camera.

5 people I want to pass this on to. Hmmm. Let's see who will take the bait? Tag! You're IT!
Funke. KatieK. Kristen. Anastasia. timna.
On second thought, I probably shouldn't be passing out memes at the beginning of a semester...so whatever.

Posted by at 10:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

If you only know how much I didn't write about sleeping. Sorry, folks. I guess I'm kind of mono-subject mode. I realized that I've written a lot about it lately. I've so got to get out of the house.

Interesting discovery today. While spicing up our Netflix queue, I realized that you can watch previews for many of the movies! Cool!!

Ok. Totally geeky Question of the day:
What is your favorite foreign film?

Posted by at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Bob is making a Children's Shorter Catechism board book for their kids. I'm so going to steal his idea!

You can now buy art cards of original Katie Knutson works! I'm a little disappointed that Vessel didn't make the cut. But I love what she chose in the end!

Wow! I have such amazing, gifted friends!

Posted by at 5:15 PM | Permalink

The music critic for The New Yorker, Alex Ross, has a blog. He is not on my list of favorite people. :-P

Posted by at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So do you keep old correspondences? I mean like real, snail mail letters from friends and family? Do you pack them up and move them with the rest of your stuff?

I do. I've gotten a very good pitching arm since we had to pack up every stinkin' semester at Cov, but the letters I can't quite get rid of. I'm always thrilled to go back and read them occasionally. I still have letters from high school! Especially as snail mail has gotten more and more rare, I like the few notes and cards I have gotten; that one page encapsulating so much of the person's personality, gleaming through the words that she herself has written (I'll admit, except for when Chris and I were long-distance dating and the very rare note from my dad, all my correspondents are female).

It's notes like these that I just can't bear to throw away:

Received from former high school English teacher, former dorm mother (or grandmother?), close family friend on 25 March 2003:

Dear Jeannette, Thanks for all your emails. I read them with interest...[blah, blah, newsy bits, etc.]...When I read your letter, I immediately thought I should correct all the uses of apostrophes. I was going to ask you first. Now as I re-read it, it doesn't seems so bad. As your old teacher, I felt responsible.... etc.

Guess my parents got their money's worth outta my high school education. My English teacher, looking out for me, years after I had graduated from college even! It's priceless. How can I just throw away something like this!?

Well, I'm not.

Posted by at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

a year ago today, I discovered that Bob Edwards had retired from Morning Edition. (ME has never been the same)

two years ago today, I went to a party with historians and musicologists.

Happy blogging!

Posted by at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ripped off of several blogs I've read today. What can I say? enjoy a good trend.

Posted by at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

For all you Bush Unfans out there:

I came across the George Bush Monkey Face Generator. Be careful not to use too complicated vocabulary words when you type in what kind of face you want to see. I thought it was pretty hilarious.

Posted by at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, book 6 is scheduled to be released on July 16.

Elvis is due somewhere between July 10 and July 17. He might get an earlier introduction to Harry Potter than I intended. :-)

Posted by at 4:05 PM | Permalink

It was, well, a lot simpler back then (say.... c. 900):

Interval
1. semitone—two tones separated by the smallest distance, so that the space between them is scarcely perceived.
2. whole tone—a more perceptible interval
3. semiditone (minor third)—a little larger
4. ditone (major third)—extends farther than this
5. diatessaron (perfect fourth)—even greater
6. tritone—still ampler
7. diapente (perfect fifth)—supasses these by due amount
8. semitone-plus-diapente (minor sixth)—
9. whole-tone-plus-diapente (major sixth)—extending over the widest space of all, has the last place among these intervals, for you will never find one larger than it or smaller than the first.

Posted by at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Every once in awhile, somebody throws a quote at you that is just hilarious, but you know that it must be taken out of context. Nevertheless, still worth a big chuckle.

"I think there is some methodolgy in my travels." George W. Bush

Posted by at 12:21 PM | Permalink

Thanks to Mrs. Crumley, you can take a scientific quiz, which will help you determine the top 24 places where you should live.

My results:
1) Little Rock, Arkansas (whether or not you'd be willing to live in Arkansas was not a question. If it were my answer would be no)
2) Portland, OR -- cool
3) Providence, RI -- also cool
4) Baltimore, MD -- What do you know? I was born there!
5) Baton Rouge, LA -- not so.
6) New Orleans, LA -- hmm. Guess I shouldn't be playing this quiz.....

Two other cities in LA were listed: Shreveport and Natchitoches. However the latter is most definitely NOT a city, and I wouldn't want to LIVE there, though a nice place to visit. The majority of places listed were on the west coast or in New England. Am I predictable or what?

Posted by at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I was going to ignore this because it's humiliating and arbitrary. But I thought Erica would get a kick out of it, too. I found it here. So here goes:

The rules: highlight (or bold) everything in the list that you have read.

Beowulf (well, parts of it)
Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart
Agee, James - A Death in the Family
Austen, Jane - Pride and Prejudice I seen the movie a bazillion times, and I've listened to Mansfield Park and Sense & Sensibility on tape. That's gotta count for something
Baldwin, James - Go Tell It on the Mountain
Beckett, Samuel - Waiting for Godot
Bellow, Saul - The Adventures of Augie March
Brontë, Charlotte - Jane Eyre movie
Brontë, Emily - Wuthering Heights
Camus, Albert - The Stranger
Cather, Willa - Death Comes for the Archbishop This is the most ridiculous thing of Cather's to think representative. My Antonia is one my favorite books of all time
Chaucer, Geoffrey - The Canterbury Tales (parts)
Chekhov, Anton - The Cherry Orchard
Chopin, Kate - The Awakening
Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness
Cooper, James Fenimore - The Last of the Mohicans, movie
Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage
Dante - Inferno (parts)
de Cervantes, Miguel - Don Quixote (parts)
Defoe, Daniel - Robinson Crusoe
Dickens, Charles - A Tale of Two Cities
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment
Douglass, Frederick - Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Dreiser, Theodore - An American Tragedy
Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers (I began it)
Eliot, George - The Mill on the Floss I've read Silas Marner
Ellison, Ralph - Invisible Man
Emerson, Ralph Waldo - Selected Essays
Faulkner, William - As I Lay Dying
Faulkner, William - The Sound and the Fury
Fielding, Henry - Tom Jones
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby
Flaubert, Gustave - Madame Bovary
Ford, Ford Madox - The Good Soldier
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von - Faust
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter (parts)
Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
Hemingway, Ernest - A Farewell to Arms
Homer - The Iliad
Homer - The Odyssey (though both in English, anthologized editions)
Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Hurston, Zora Neale - Their Eyes Were Watching God
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Ibsen, Henrik - A Doll's House
James, Henry - The Portrait of a Lady
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
Joyce, James - A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kingston, Maxine Hong - The Woman Warrior
Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird
Lewis, Sinclair - Babbitt
London, Jack - The Call of the Wild
Mann, Thomas - The Magic Mountain
Marquez, Gabriel García - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville, Herman - Bartleby the Scrivener
Melville, Herman - Moby Dick
Miller, Arthur - The Crucible
Morrison, Toni - Beloved
O'Connor, Flannery - A Good Man is Hard to Find
O'Neill, Eugene - Long Day's Journey into Night
Orwell, George - Animal Farm
Pasternak, Boris - Doctor Zhivago movie
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Poe, Edgar Allan - Selected Tales (okay, just a few)
Proust, Marcel - Swann's Way
Pynchon, Thomas - The Crying of Lot 49
Remarque, Erich Maria - All Quiet on the Western Front
Rostand, Edmond - Cyrano de Bergerac movie
Roth, Henry - Call It Sleep
Salinger, J.D. - The Catcher in the Rye
Shakespeare, William - Hamlet
Shakespeare, William - Macbeth
Shakespeare, William - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Shakespeare, William - Romeo and Juliet
Shaw, George Bernard - Pygmalion (I was even IN this play once)
Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein
Silko, Leslie Marmon - Ceremony
Solzhenitsyn, Alexander - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Sophocles - Antigone movie
Sophocles - Oedipus Rex (again in English, anthologized version)
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Stevenson, Robert Louis - Treasure Island
Stowe, Harriet Beecher - Uncle Tom's Cabin
Swift, Jonathan - Gulliver's Travels (parts)
Thackeray, William - Vanity Fair
Thoreau, Henry David - Walden
Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace
Turgenev, Ivan - Fathers and Sons
Twain, Mark - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Voltaire - Candide
Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. - Slaughterhouse-Five
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Wharton, Edith - The House of Mirth
Welty, Eudora - Collected Stories
Whitman, Walt - Leaves of Grass
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray (i'm going to go ahead and count this because I'm in process, and plan to finish it within the month)
Williams, Tennessee - The Glass Menagerie
Woolf, Virginia - To the Lighthouse
Wright, Richard - Native Son

Well, I owe a lot to CHOW and anthologies. That's all I can say. But I think this list is VERY arbitrary, and doesn't accurately reflect my cultural literacy (no pun intended).

Posted by at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Oh my evening jar of soup, so complex, so simple.
Faithfully prepared the night before for nourishment to an exiled graduate student.
The one jar sought out both bay leaves and seemingly all the renegade bones.
A pungent morsel of carrot mingles with the soft subtlety of zucchini.
The comfortable predictability of broth on my palate.
The herbs massaging my tired mind and leeks swimming their assent.
A contrapuntal cracker.
A sip of Dr. Pepper.
Attention drawn back to things esoteric.

Posted by at 6:41 PM | Permalink

Furnulum pani nolo.
"I don't want a toaster." (Though technically "furnulum" means "little oven")
Generally, things (like this quiz) tend to tick you
off. You have contemplated doing grievous
bodily harm to door-to-door salesmen.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Posted by at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

What I love about Orbit gum is that it comes in this cool little envelope.

Posted by at 9:18 PM | Permalink

Spring is crazy weather time. Okay, so maybe Louisiana doesn't have the hot/cold extremes that other places do, but degrees of humidity still make dressing for spring a thought-consuming endeavor. I have spent the last two mornings checking and re-checking weather.com and taking on and off three different shirts. Deciding weather I should wear sandals or shoes/socks. It's so stressful, especially since I tend to be colder than most people around me, particularly my feet. And I hate it when my feet are cold. So I think I've settled on a pair of shoes that will last me the next couple of weeks until I'll give in and wear sandals/flipflops.

I've also decided that the way for me personally to deal with changing weather is to layer strategically. I have always (in recent years, when I gave my 'lumberjack' look) tended to shy away from a certain kind of layering, because it tends to look frumpy.

But I think I've found a solution. First of all, except perhaps for the outer layer, go for fitted on each layer. A fitted V-neck Tshirt, a fitted collared shirt either open or one or two buttons buttoned, then I have my zipper-sweater standby for everything. It's sort of like my in lieu of a jacket. This kind of layering still looks classy, but allows for a maximum amount of flexibility. Sweater on, you're quite cozy. Sweater off, feels lighter. Sleaves of outer shirt rolled a bit, a tad bit cooler. Down to your bottom Tshirt for the hour you sit in the sun while reading at the coffee shop. (For me reading is "work"...I'm reading all. the. time.) I'm feeling quite clever for my little strategy.

I've actually been thinking quite a lot about it. For instance, a fun bead necklace ties your layers together. Or you can wear a scarf rolled up into a headband. How about a polkadotty scarf and stripey shirt. Oh boy! I'm going to have fun with this.

If this is old knowledge and I've only just figured it out. Please don't let me know. I'm enjoying this moment of epiphany.

Posted by at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

First of all, WHY am I blogging when I should be frantically getting ready to get on the road!? Anyway. Since I don't have access to TV channels, I checked the weather this morning on weather.com. It seems to be in the mid-40's here in NOLA, but I was looking at the little map of Louisiana there was the usual green blotchy thing depicting where there's precipitation, but then there was a pink splotchy thing, too. Pink?! What does that stand for?? I've never seen pink on a Louisiana map before! So I looked at the color-code key above the map. And felt myself gasp. It stood for mix/ice. What!? The bottom of the pink splotch overlapped Baton Rouge, so I frantically checked the weather for Baton Rouge. It is about 10 degrees colder up there, but mix/ice wasn't in this morning's forecast, just rain. Hmmm. We'll have to see. I think I can safely say, though, that it's going to be a cold day, and I'll need my jacket.

Posted by at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

create your own visited states map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Posted by at 11:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)