I have gotten very bad at blogging lately. Sorry.
All I have to report today is that the last time I put away laundry, I decided to sort my T-shirts. They are now organized into three categories:
Dresser: worn out exercise/pajama shirts
Left side of closet: gay shirts
Center of closet: nerd shirts.
That managed to cover all of them.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Inconveniences
Last night, somebody hacked into my iTunes store account and stole what remained of the gift certificate I received for my birthday. The mysterious person used my gift certificate to buy something called KingdomConquest, and I have spent far too much time trying to figure out how to re-secure my account and get the money back.
Today, I stubbed my toe. This is not an uncommon occurrence, as I am quite clumsy and have no depth perception. What is uncommon is that I seem to have stubbed it exactly on the toenail, which has turned black and is amazingly painful for such a small and superfluous body part.
Many of my students seem unable to form coherent English sentences, and I can't tell whether or not this is due to a language barrier. If it is a language barrier, I'm pretty much flummoxed as to how to overcome it without either a writing center or loads of extra time to help them with their English.
None of these things is world-shaking. All of these things are annoying.
Now I will lie on the couch with my injured foot elevated, watch Deep Space Nine, drink smoothies, and eat watermelon. That should help me ignore the annoyances.
Today, I stubbed my toe. This is not an uncommon occurrence, as I am quite clumsy and have no depth perception. What is uncommon is that I seem to have stubbed it exactly on the toenail, which has turned black and is amazingly painful for such a small and superfluous body part.
Many of my students seem unable to form coherent English sentences, and I can't tell whether or not this is due to a language barrier. If it is a language barrier, I'm pretty much flummoxed as to how to overcome it without either a writing center or loads of extra time to help them with their English.
None of these things is world-shaking. All of these things are annoying.
Now I will lie on the couch with my injured foot elevated, watch Deep Space Nine, drink smoothies, and eat watermelon. That should help me ignore the annoyances.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Funny things
Today my grandmother sent me a CollegeHumor.com video from two years ago. Either that site is completely outmoded (true) or she's getting better at the internet (also true).
At least it's not a multiply-forwarded chain letter of Jewish haiku or jokes about George Bush anymore...
At least it's not a multiply-forwarded chain letter of Jewish haiku or jokes about George Bush anymore...
Saturday, August 13, 2011
INTERNET
I FINALLY have internet at home, after being here for two weeks without it!
Regular posting will resume shortly, but it is currently way past bedtime and I plan on falling asleep within the next seven minutes.
Regular posting will resume shortly, but it is currently way past bedtime and I plan on falling asleep within the next seven minutes.
Friday, July 29, 2011
You stole fizzy lifting drinks!
A couple of quick thoughts on this debt ceiling debate, mostly to distract myself from the packing (which is largely done, leading me to the phase of packing called "WHAT AM I FORGETTING!?"):
1. I doubt it's nearly as bad as Very Important People are making it out to be. What I see in this is the Great Recession that has already hit most of the country (and is still hitting it, see Chris Hayes' piece in The Nation from a few weeks/months ago [that I am too lazy to find and link]) might just hit the class of people we call Investors, which recent data available from the Pew Research Center indicate can also be called White People. Pardon me if my sympathy gland is a bit slow producing its fluid for the ruling class.
2. I am torn between admiring the Tea Party caucus for their ability to stick to their principles under political pressure from party leadership and feeling frustrated that they don't understand the business of government well enough to know that this particular issue has nothing to do with those principles as stated. Don't get me wrong: I generally believe their specific principles to be misguided and abhorrent. However, I have deep respect for electoral novices who believe the ideas that got them elected are more important than what the party tells them to do.
That's all I've got. Back to double-checking my packing list and scouring YouTube for Golden Girls episodes that haven't yet been taken down by Disney copyright claims (my DVDs are already packed).
Damn the Mouse.
1. I doubt it's nearly as bad as Very Important People are making it out to be. What I see in this is the Great Recession that has already hit most of the country (and is still hitting it, see Chris Hayes' piece in The Nation from a few weeks/months ago [that I am too lazy to find and link]) might just hit the class of people we call Investors, which recent data available from the Pew Research Center indicate can also be called White People. Pardon me if my sympathy gland is a bit slow producing its fluid for the ruling class.
2. I am torn between admiring the Tea Party caucus for their ability to stick to their principles under political pressure from party leadership and feeling frustrated that they don't understand the business of government well enough to know that this particular issue has nothing to do with those principles as stated. Don't get me wrong: I generally believe their specific principles to be misguided and abhorrent. However, I have deep respect for electoral novices who believe the ideas that got them elected are more important than what the party tells them to do.
That's all I've got. Back to double-checking my packing list and scouring YouTube for Golden Girls episodes that haven't yet been taken down by Disney copyright claims (my DVDs are already packed).
Damn the Mouse.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
No really, MOVING!
Today I sorted all of my clothing into two piles: keep and toss. Tomorrow I sort the keep pile into "keep in NY" and "take to LA," then wrap the "take to LA" pile around all of the breakable things I want to take to LA and cram it into several bags, each of whose dimensions (length+width+height) must not exceed 63 inches. Leaving aside for now the problem of measuring the length and width of a duffel bag (is it diameter both times, or do they not really care?), I think I can manage to get almost everything into four bags. How I will carry those bags to and from the check in counter/baggage claim is another problem to leave aside.
After that, I try to figure out what to do about books. Do I bring any books at all? If so, how many? Also, and more crucially, how? Every time I ship books they get lost or damaged. Am I on some kind of no-mail list? Nobody else I know has their books lost by the post office. Plan A is to see if I can wrap them in laundry and check them all with the rest of my worldly possessions, but I have a feeling plan A is an exercise in futility and also in dislocating my shoulders.
If you are in Huntington or its environs and want to keep me company while I frantically shove things into other things, please do! I could use the moral support, or I may end up just lying on the bed dreaming of chucking it all and buying a whole new wardrobe and a whole new kitchen at Out of the Closet and a whole new library at the late, unlamented Borders.
After that, I try to figure out what to do about books. Do I bring any books at all? If so, how many? Also, and more crucially, how? Every time I ship books they get lost or damaged. Am I on some kind of no-mail list? Nobody else I know has their books lost by the post office. Plan A is to see if I can wrap them in laundry and check them all with the rest of my worldly possessions, but I have a feeling plan A is an exercise in futility and also in dislocating my shoulders.
If you are in Huntington or its environs and want to keep me company while I frantically shove things into other things, please do! I could use the moral support, or I may end up just lying on the bed dreaming of chucking it all and buying a whole new wardrobe and a whole new kitchen at Out of the Closet and a whole new library at the late, unlamented Borders.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Moving!
Friends, my moving day is fast approaching. On Saturday, I pull up stakes and head to sunny Los Angeles, California to take over the apartment of a colleague who will be spending her next while doing research in Japan. As many of you know firsthand and some of you secondhand, moving across a continent can be a huge pain in the everywhere, but this move will actually not be such a pain. Why? There are several answers.
1. The Mysterious X and her paramour, the Inscrutable A (new nicknames are fun!), who have offered to retrieve me from the airport.
2. The She God of Shark Reef, who has retrieved the key to my new apartment from the landlady who won't be there when I arrive.
3. A New Car!, who has offered to loan me his cello when I need one in LA, thereby cutting my plane fare in half.
4. Fenchurch, whose apartment I am taking over, and who is selling me some essential furniture to fill it.
5. Nota Biene (another new nickname!), who wrote to me to tell me that she was unable to sell some of her furniture on Craig's List, and would I like it?
6. Musicolojill, who volunteered without my asking to help transport the furniture!
7. El Brucero (a new nickname based on the fact that he owns a car named Bruce, not on any inherently brush-maker-like characteristics), who in consideration of my journey both offered me a bicoastal Kitchen-Aid swap and gave me a booze gift certificate so I wouldn't have to transport whisky.
8. My father, who despite longing to empty his basement has agreed to take on the innumerable boxes of books and winter clothes that I want to keep but don't want to bring to the flaming desert of LA in August, and who has also agreed to be a long-term hedgehogsitter.
These people are the reasons I am able to make this move in a fairly relaxed and cost-controlled fashion. I owe each and every one of them a drink or a baked good or a combination of the two.
1. The Mysterious X and her paramour, the Inscrutable A (new nicknames are fun!), who have offered to retrieve me from the airport.
2. The She God of Shark Reef, who has retrieved the key to my new apartment from the landlady who won't be there when I arrive.
3. A New Car!, who has offered to loan me his cello when I need one in LA, thereby cutting my plane fare in half.
4. Fenchurch, whose apartment I am taking over, and who is selling me some essential furniture to fill it.
5. Nota Biene (another new nickname!), who wrote to me to tell me that she was unable to sell some of her furniture on Craig's List, and would I like it?
6. Musicolojill, who volunteered without my asking to help transport the furniture!
7. El Brucero (a new nickname based on the fact that he owns a car named Bruce, not on any inherently brush-maker-like characteristics), who in consideration of my journey both offered me a bicoastal Kitchen-Aid swap and gave me a booze gift certificate so I wouldn't have to transport whisky.
8. My father, who despite longing to empty his basement has agreed to take on the innumerable boxes of books and winter clothes that I want to keep but don't want to bring to the flaming desert of LA in August, and who has also agreed to be a long-term hedgehogsitter.
These people are the reasons I am able to make this move in a fairly relaxed and cost-controlled fashion. I owe each and every one of them a drink or a baked good or a combination of the two.
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