Tagged

For you, Sarah, anything.

In no particular order...

8 Favorite TV Shows.
1. American Idol
2. XFiles
3. Project Runway
4. Criminal Minds
5. 24
6. Biggest Loser
7. Gilmore Girls
8. Without a Trace

8 Things I Did Yesterday. (yesterday is a bad day for this)
1. Slept
2. Watch TV
3. Got crack from Sonic (ie. Diet Coke w/ Vanilla)
4. Jogged
5. Read chapter about Orwell
6. Wrote paper about Orwell
7. Made dinner (sort of)
8. Stayed up super duper late

8 Things to Look Forward to.
1. PCAACA in New Orleans
2. Beach this summer
3. David's wedding and seeing family
4. This spring break week--getting some studying done
5. Going to UT or wherever at some point to hang with my lovely friends
6. Santa Cruz this summer
7. Figuring out how to live in the UK and executing that plan.
8. Very, very cool 18C class in the fall

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. Settebellos
2. La Fuente
3. Five Guys
4. River Cafe
5. Mac Grill and Mimis with my peeps.
6. Cheesehouse
7. PF Changs
8. Rodizio Grill
9. The Roof
10. Emilio's Pizza
11. Cafe Rio
12. Zupas

8 Things I Wish For
1. I lived closer to family.
2. I lived closer to friends.
3. I played tennis.
4. I were artistic in the painting/drawing way.
5. I had a well stocked kitchen.
6. I had a longer attention span and were a faster reader.
7. I had a job lined up for the summer.
8. I could fly.

Tag: my dears who read this thing. you know who you are xoxo

Happy St. David's Day!

Or, really, Hapus Dewi Sant in Welsh.

St. David is the patron saint of Wales and today, March 1st, is St. David's day! Wear your leaks and your daffodils, Cymru am byth, and many happy returns.

To celebrate the day, this blog would like to share the Welsh national anthem (as sung in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff before a rugby game) and some Wales photos.

the anthem (which I can also sing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqtIlaHIqrs

Castell Caerfilly:

Countryside:
Caernarfon:
More Caerfilly
St. David's flag:

hobbies

i feel like i need more hobbies in my life. so, i'm going to brainstorm some hobbies, sleep on the list, and make a choice.

i could...

use this blog to write film reviews so i could be like this guy some day:



and at the same time i could actually be writing things that i might have to revise before posting. how weird would that be??

i already do quite a bit of reading, but maybe i could read this religiously:



and find some cool books not in the 19C. and then i could tell you about it on this blog and corrupt young gradstudent minds like octavia dreamed the other night.


i could ride this:


and then do triathalons, because i have always wanted to. except for that i need a bike first, but whatever. details.


i could... (i'm not posting more pics, but you get the idea)

*find recipes and prepare cool food
*get a calligraphy for dummies book and give it a try (always wanted to do this one, too)
*take up welsh again. (ok, this one needs a pic)
*i could learn to quilt (something else i've always wanted to do. i LOVE quilts)
*i could learn to draw (ditto)
*i could explore all the parks in south carolina

out of creative juices. and i need to go read.

will sleep on it (eventually) and let you know.

a new all-time low

ok, probably not really. i think i've been lower than this before. but still. i need to go work out. but i really have no motivation to do so. or to do anything, apparently, for that matter. i almost don't have enough motivation to post this post. but i am going to do it.

and somehow, i'm going to boost my motivation. i'm tired of living in the nothing. get me out of here. so, i think in order to break through the nothing i'm going to have to start doing daring things. so watch out.

crusade against procrastination

so, today was my first day back to school. i'm sad to say that my fight against procrastination wasn't totally successful. however, i did manage to go to the grocery store on the way home from class, rather than putting it off until later like i wanted to. and i started rearranging my room--something i also wanted to put off.

and this post is helping me put off finishing cleaning my room, sleeping, and finishing my lesson plan.

welcome to the new year

i notice that i follow lots of other blogs and never write on my own. pretty lazy of me. typical, really.

so, a few things on the mind:

1) secret: i really really liked the history of love. but i don't know that i loved it. well, maybe i loved it. but i don't know that i loved it as much as i thought i was going to. more on this.

2) when one says "i know something is true," what does that mean? i mean, i buy into it, for sure. i know some things are true. but what do i mean by that? what are the qualities/powers of true?

3) one goal this year: abdicate my dictatorship of procrastinators for life. i can do it. but it will probably take the entire year. this means using my time better. *sigh*

4) i probably have more goals than this one, though. that's just the big main one.

5) back to the history of love:

i guess i didn't know that i loved it until the end. i keep thinking about it, particularly about the parts that were the book the history of love. i feel like i need to read it again to really appreciate it. i thought the end was fantastic when the narratives come closer and closer together. and i thought the character of the brother and his role was great. and the style, and the different styles and how different they were, was amazing. and this is really crappy writing. i hope i can use more to be verbs and lame adjectives. one thing: i don't know how i feel about the "but." and "and yet." i also keep thinking about leo's need to be seen and watched. and the different relationships and threads and how they come together. it's pretty intense, thinking about it now. anyhow, my own writing is starting to embarrass me. so i'll stop.

qualified!

i am now officially a phd candidate.

the question i answered: which theoretical model do i think is most useful/important in studying 19C british lit?

questions i didn't answer:
compare and contrast romantic and victorian poetic constructions of the self. (nope--don't really do lots of poetry. also hadn't reviewed lyrical ballads)
how do issues of empire manifest themselves in romantic and victorian literature? (nope--had decided beforehand not to do the empire question in the event of one)


to do:
finish course work
get dissertation chair
publish something
take and pass language exams
take and pass comprehensive exam
write a prospectus for diss.
write diss.
defend diss.
get job.

my first romanticism conference

although i've been to a couple of conferences at this point in the gradschool career, i've never been to one that actually focuses on my primary area.

until october. i went to the ICR conference in MI. on the plus side, it was really great to see fall colors on the trees! i forgot how much i like the fall season and how excited it makes me feel at the beginning of the school year. also, i had a great time hanging out with grad students in my area from usc. and it was, of course, great to see nick--who was totally supportive as always.

on the other side, i can't even believe how stinking nervous i was to present my paper. i was really afraid that i might do something ridiculous in the middle of it--like cry, or wet my pants, or something. i didn't do either of those things, fortunately (go ahead and chalk that one up on the plus side). also, it just didn't feel right to be at a conference without brooke and sarah. and i discovered something rather unfortunate--it seems to me like i'm somewhere in gothic limbo land. i don't really know the 18C, but i also don't really know the 19C either. i really felt a lack of "expertise" in the romantic period, and as a result did not feel comfortable chatting with people about their projects--which was not that fun to find out as i'm hoping to both examinate and dissertate in that period. oh well! better go pull out the old poetry books...

booyah.

according to facebook

i am a reincarnation of ghandi.

for some reason (perhaps a fantastic, very busy, and emotionally exhausting weekend) this is so funny to me and i can't stop laughing. good old facebook quizzes.

did you know

that i am now part of three blogs? seriously. i can't even keep up with one.

so, i've been reading a lot for class lately. Vanity Fair has to be the longest book--and, as M. says, it just keeps getting longer. anyhow, i was sitting at my coffee table yesterday, and in the middle of reading i got distracted by trying to see how high my clicky pen could jump. i tried different parts of the table and different methods to keep my hand still.. and then i realized what i was doing. i think this may be early-onset insanity.

here's my problem, i think, with blogs. they are so dang public. not that people necessarily do read this one--i would have given up checking it long ago--but that people could read it. thus i don't feel as free to express thoughts and feelings like i do in a journal. i always think about how i never want posterity to read my journals. or if someone decided to compile my journals to figure out what i'm like, they'd probably think i was some crazed, complaining, self-indulgent, navel gazing i-don't-know-what. and, heck, i don't want potential googlers to find this and find that. maybe i'm just thinking of blogs in the wrong way. maybe they don't serve the same purpose as a journal. maybe my neuroses go in the journal and my something else goes in the blog. but what?

well, here's one thing: i think i have an allergy to high achievement/working towards high achievement/being seen as working towards high achievement. i gather this from class posts. i have to post weekly in each of my grad classes and really have a tough time not wanting to be super-informal. i have a tough time forcing myself to be polished there, as one would think i ought to be with anything my professors read. not so, mes amies. i almost take pleasure, soft be it spoken, in not being polished. weird. and i thought i was going to keep neuroses in the journal.

scraping bottom

in so many ways. i've been with the boys for over a week now, and we've got a few more days to go. so far today we got up and had breakfast. i gave them a bath. they wanted me to chase them around the house and tickle them. we played race cars. we walked to the park and played and went to the store. then we had lunch. then we went back to get b's sweater. then we came home, and they are napping! so i've got some time to myself. i should be working. or studying. but, in the true spirit of procrastination, i think i'll write here for a minute.

things have been tough. it's not that they're tough kids. on the contrary. i mean, they are active for sure. but they're not overactive. and they aren't hard to please. but for some reason this has stressed me out. it has taken me to my emotional limit. it's tough to totally put my finger on why. i think that i think too much about planning out the time and filling up the time, when really the time would probably fill itself. i probably need to chill out. also, i'm sure going from having all free time (or at least time filled by things that i've decided to do) to having no free time has something to do with it. a little trauma. anyhow, i had better go do whatever it is i'm going to do. goal: chill out.

stick shift

the great thing about this blog is that it keeps coming back. you think it's over, you're sure it's dead, and then, kazaam! it's back! it's like...something that keeps coming back. maybe i'll think of an apt simile in the course of a little typing.

1. I've discovered (rediscovered?) the best children's story book: There's a Monster Under My Bed. That's some great entertainment.

2. So, I'm in Denmark watching the nephews for two weeks so that d&a can see some of Europe before baby #3 comes along in Oct. Free trip for me. Triple ripple booya.

I'm slightly nervous about a few things, though. For one, I'm driving stick shift for the first time ever. I've been practicing for the last couple days. Keeping fingers crossed. W, my oldest nephew, is just potty trained. This means--not to put too fine a point on it--dumping out the little potty chair. Also, he does not like to go stinky and puts it off until the edge of too late. And finally, I'm a little nervous about handling two at once. I mean, how will I give both of them enough attention? And how will I keep track of them when we get to the park or tivoli or whatever?

On the up side (which is much greater than those few little worries) both boys are really sweet and funny and easily entertained. So, it's going to be quite a two weeks!

Will maybe keep the blog abreast of further developments as the week goes on (number of pooped pants, number of times car stalled in middle of intersection, highlights of the day such as playing in the kiddie pool outside).

good times!

list making

is something i love to do. which is funny, because they never seem to work right for me--i lose them, or i get distracted by things not on the list, and then i don't end up crossing anything off. yet i keep making them. and i think i'm going to make more lists today. i need to make lists on:

*work out schedule (now that i have almost unlimited free time!)
*reading schedule
*reading list
*cleaning list
*to do list for today
*to do list longer term

i guess the first two aren't really lists. whatever.

also, what is the deal with post-semester blues? i feel like i'm living in the nothing. nothing sounds good--not reading, not cleaning, not napping, not going for a walk, not painting my nails, not jogging, not cooking, not watching tv. only two things sound any good--going to visit eg brooke and lizzy g and going to six flags. i am just in blah mood. zero zero zero motivation. to even move. so, i'm hoping that making some lists will help snap me out of my post semester yucky place. if i can get up the ganas to actually write them.

that's it! i'm doing the dishes.

one long identity crisis

that's what i think gradschool is. 6-10 years of not knowing...who knows what. not knowing anything? not knowing what you don't know? not knowing everything? this is sounding kind of negative--but i don't mean it that way. i find the crisis quite exhilarating, actually. my latest crisis is not knowing what kind of professor/scholar i want to be. a wise wise person once told me that it's important to realize one's academic "ceiling"--one's intellectual capacity. as much as i think that's great advice and as much as i respect all advice coming from this wise person, i think i'm unwisely going to take a different route. i say always assume you don't have a ceiling. i say push beyond the limit as if you totally can. anyhow, that's my new MO and i might go down in flames. but flames are fun. flames are exciting. and hey, if this job doesn't have any flames, then i might as well go do something that will actually make money at a fraction of the time cost.