at times i feel like maybe i made a wish list of everything i wanted in a relationship and a partner, and maybe i’m finally getting what i asked for.
Month: February 2006
dine-ah
One of the best parts of last semester was studying with Sarah and Nicole at the diner – we’d drink too much terrible coffee, harass Mark the diner guy, and generally spend equal amounts of time giggling and reading. I’m loving all the time spent with Hot Librarians this semester, but it was great to spend time reading and giggling and eating cottage cheese with them again. One of the things I greatly enjoy about my friends – all of them, really – is the differing perspectives on very similar things – in this case, being able to talk about writing and teaching and pedagogy from three very different perspectives.
Last night, in an attempt to start/continue the literature review for my thesis, I was reading a book on distance education that was clearly written with the first time instructor in mind. I’m having a hard time finding literature that isn’t buzz-y (distance education is great! distance education is a way to make lots of money!) and/or overly program-specific. I suppose that’s to be expected in a somewhat emergent field – but it’s frustrating nonetheless. I’ve been working with this long enough that I don’t need to read: Just as it is said that our eyes are the windows to our soul, then maybe it is fair to suggest that our words are the windows to whom we are online.
It seems like there was something else I wanted to say, but it’s escaped me. Today’s been a grey day for a variety of people for a variety of reasons. After a challenging afternoon, S and I got coffee at Moonstruck and walked around the Quad for a while. I needed that.
Oh! I remember. I’m giving up chocolate for Lent. Just FYI.
adventures!
11am on a Monday, I haven’t had coffee yet, and I am tired. I spent this weekend running all over everywhere which was good but exhausting. There are a lot of things I didn’t accomplish, but the things I did get done represented an extreme quantity of fun:
- Karaoke Revolution at Sonya + Jason’s
- Sangria-making
- Amy’s birthday brunch
- Melissa’s redneck wedding in Paxton
- Lots of singing in the car + paying $1.60 tolls in pennies
- Drinks and snacks with my siblings in Rockford
- The Adventures of Pete & Pete at Jen’s
- Shane meeting my parents before 7:30am without coffee or showers for either of us
- Shane’s first trip to Wisconsin
- Making lunch with my mom for Eric’s 10th birthday
- Birthday festivities
- Couch naps
- Stomping around in the woods in the half light
- Magical shopping trip to Woodmans (Hendricks! OP! Campari!)
- Beef-a-Roo
- End of the weekend drinking at Bentley’s
- Sleeping cat on my head
Lots of driving, lots of eating, not much sleeping, not much work equals a lot to do this week, but it was worth it. As much as I am happy to not live in Rockford any longer, I still love bringing people home and showing them where I’m from. I’m not sure if Shane came back with whole new perspectives on me – but I had a great time nonetheless.
“Happiness”
by Robert Hass
Because yesterday morning from the steamy window
we saw a pair of red foxes across the creek
eating the last windfall apples in the rain –
they looked up at us with their green eyes
long enough to symbolize the wakefulness of living things
and then went back to eating –
and because this morning
when she went into the gazebo with her black pen and yellow pad
to coax an inquisitive soul
from what she thinks of as the reluctance of matter.
I drove into town to drink tea in the cafe
and write notes in a journal – mist rose from the bay
like the luminous and indefinite aspects of intention,
and a small flock of tundra swans
for the second winter in a row was feeding on new grass
in the soaked fields; they symbolize mystery, I suppose,
they are also called whistling swans, are very white.
and their eyes are black –
and because the tea steamed in front of me,
and the notebook, turned to a new page,
was blank except for a faint blue idea of order,
I wrote: happiness! it is December, very cold,
we woke early this morning,
and lay in bed kissing,
our eyes squinched up like bats.
!!!
In my email just now:
- Presenters:
The proposal that you submitted at http://higheredblogcon.editme.com/ProposalsTeachingPublic has been accepted. We have a nice sampling of approaches.
The teaching track will run first on April 3-7, 2006.
Please submit your presentations by March 15 so that there will be time to get you feedback and make modifications.
!!!
Headed to a birthday brunch, a wedding, and then to Rockford for the weekend to celebrate my baby brother’s tenth birthday. It’s been a really nice week filled with moments that feel more like vacation than every day life. I had a really productive meeting this morning, and am feeling good about things in general, even though I have a lot of work to do.
Oh yeah, and I relocated. But then if you’re here, you already knew that.
three things
One thing music-related:
- I’m wicked in love with The Delays‘ Faded Seaside Glamour. My last.fm tells no lies.
One thing friend-related:
- My beloved Paul has posted a list of The 10 Best Albums You Can Find in Almost Any American Thrift Store for $1.00. Also, and unrelated to the above, many of my Hot Librarian friends have started blogging recently. Go them!
One thing cute-related:
- I bought this today:
One thing blog-related:
- Relocation is imminent!
moving, aroma, whatevs
I’m seriously thinking about moving this thing again – for a couple of years I’ve maintained multiple blogs, switching back and forth based on whoever I wanted to talk to more, and I’m tired of doing that. A couple of my friends have made the switch to WordPress, and I just might do that – I already have a domain, etc etc. So, yeah.
I’m at Aroma, nominally reading Literacy in the Information Age, drinking Mexican coffee (goddamn, is the Columbia Street Mexican roast good), and trying not to stress out about the IRB form (due tomorrow) and leading class (later today). I think I’m going to miss Brokeback Mountain in the theater because of school responsibilities, needing to work out, and possibly sushi with Missy later. I am busy-so-busy these days, and it feels like the semester’s hardly started when it’s actually been weeks and weeks.
Sonya and I have hit on a money-making scheme that will significantly help towards the Camino as long as I can legitimately make it happen. We’ve decided it’ll be an interest experience financially, personally, and sociologically. All of these are good things, especially the financially, as I’m leaving in three months and am sorely behind on my savings plan. I need to get everything in gear – research, reading, training, saving – and soon. In the interim, though, I’m going to drink coffee.
Also: It’s been a couple of years since I watched the Daily Show, so I’m not sure if this is a regular segment, but last night we happened to be watching at Kim’s after Project Runway, and the Trendspotting segment was on social networking. It was hilarious – and at the same time had me hiding behind my hands a bit because, well, I research that stuff. Siva Vaidhyanathan was interviewed, which was hilarious because he rolled with it, and also because it’s fun to see academics that you’ve had to read for class on the Daily Show!
valentines
Things I have done on previous Valentine’s Days:
- Spent $200 on the best meal I’ve ever had
- Went to see Shakespeare in Love
- Met a boyfriend’s parents
- Watched 24 and did my laundry
Things I will do this Valentine’s Day:
- Run two classes
- Continue filling out my Institutional Review Board form
- Watch 24
- Go to Subversion
I’m fine with the lack of celebration because I’m surrounded with more love than I could imagine every single day. May my love reach you all.
tomorrow
Another Saturday, another kitchen shift, another catering order puts $50 in my pocket, which is good as I’ve just bought tickets to Metric and Bonnaroo, and will buy tickets to Neko Case (whose new album is MAGICAL) soon. I’m having my lunch in the kitchen, sitting on a tall stack of milk crates that are pressing lines into my skin. I’m tired.
Last night was Nine Inch Nails at Assembly Hall, which was awesome, and featured Trent oversharing a bit, but mainly a lot of rocking, and Erasure, and a lot more theatrics than when I saw them last May. This was the first show of the tour – they seem to be bypassing major cities and playing stadiums in smaller towns, which is pretty cool in my book. It was in stark contrast to last Friday, when I saw Andrew Bird at the Canopy Club, easily my LEAST favorite venue in C-U. Each AB show is a little different, and this one did not disappoint. I’m looking forward to getting to see him at Bonnaroo over the summer – he was fantastic in a festival setting.
What else? Oh, I don’t know. We celebrated Sonya‘s birthday a couple of times this week with games and shots and lots of chocolate. She has also entered the Knitting Olympics, which I am pimping here because I will directly benefit from her entrance – she is knitting these amazing arm warmers for me:
Also, I’m ridiculously happy these days, though I’m not making much headway on anything resembling work. I need to remedy that. Tomorrow.
some news
I’m on break at Aroma, eating a chicken quesadilla. I didn’t particularly want a chicken quesadilla, but I also didn’t want to throw it away when a customer’s order was wrong (not my fault) and I was hungry. Also, I just got a catering order. Suck,
This week has been filled with news + excitement + running around. So much stuff has been going on, and I just don’t even know where to begin. I’ve been spending all my time at school, with friends, on my bike, here and there doing everything – it’s wonderful and dizzying and not conducive to productivity.
Yesterday I found out that I’ve been accepted into the PhD program – no one seems to have doubted my application except me, which is wonderful, and I’m totally thrilled. I spent most of yesterday making a high-pitched squealy noise. After so much anxiety the last few months, it’s good to know at least where I will be and what I will be doing for the next 4 and change years. On a related note, I need to buckle down and spend more time on my work, even though I don’t have that much to do at the moment.
On Wednesday I bought my plane ticket (boleto) to Portugal – I’m flying Chicago > Montreal > London > Porto, at which point I will join the Camino Portugues and follow the coast (costa) north to Santiago. I can’t – I just can’t believe it’s really happening. I have a lot of saving to do between now and then, and a lot of working out, but it’s really happening. I’ll be gone most of May. I started Spanish lessons last night – Mike’s going for full immersion, and would speak French if I didn’t understand the Spanish (I speak NONE), and English only as a last resort.
There has been a lot of really good time with friends lately – watching silly TV, working out, dancing, designating new hangouts, sleepovers, plans for summer adventures. We tried to figure out – complete with colored pencils, lists, and terrible drawings – if Coachella was feasible (the line-up is amazing), but have decided instead to travel en masse to Bonnaroo instead – it’s closer, more reasonable, a better time, etc etc. I can’t wait.
Much to the surprise of all parties, I’m actually in a relationship. It is good and simple and easy and I am really happy.
latterdaybohemian 