Is it bragging to note that of my seven scheduled courses 5 have already made? is it bragging to note that I have more philosophy students enrolled than my colleague? is it bragging that I have the first English course to close because it’s full (and has a waitlist)? Yeah, it probably is, but you know–I must be doing something right for all of that to be happening.
It was a long week. Monday we took SIL to consult with an oral surgeon. She chose to have some corrective jaw surgery done. This means another year in braces to set her teeth up properly for the surgery.
Then the next day, we had teeth cleaning appointments, but they were scheduled for a time I would never schedule them for. We missed those.
Wednesday was Hubby’s birthday. I made gumbo and cake for him.
Thursday was a slow day, but also the 6th anniversary of our being a couple.
Friday, the SIL and I ended up going shopping. She bought some clothes, and I bought some pants–a size smaller than the last ones I’d bought.
Also during the week, my husband accidentally got me hooked on Stephanie Meyer’s young adult/vampire series. His boss told him that she was hooked on them and that the SIL and I would like them. Well, I got sucked in. One thing I like about YA books is that they don’t have a problem with just telling a darned good story–there’s very little of the pretentiousness found in a lot of adult fiction. I often feel with adult fiction (take The Egyptologist and Mr Sebastian and the Negro Magician, for instance) that story–the narrative–is considered secondary to some some technique, trick, or stylistic experiment. In both the books I’ve mentioned–the idea of perspective and point of view seem to be the “experiment.” For The Egyptologist, the gimmick is oooh–it’s written in letters and journals–so we see what’s going on in the minds of the characters. Big fucking deal–I mean epistolary novels have existed as long as the novel. Now granted, I tend towards history of the novel as my thing (damned unfinished grad school!), but those 18th century epistolaries–have decent stories and care taken with those stories–even the parodies. Richardson’s Clarissa, has both a captivating story and a great deal of psychological insight. Shoot me, I like a good strong narrative before any of the other experimental stuff; if there’s no story, then the writer isn’t doing fiction. No wonder, I like history of the novel and narrative theory!
On another random note, my husband has found someone who has an animal rescue organization for cats–called Kat Man Du or such. I shall be trying to contact the owner so that I can do some work there because as we all know–my destiny is to become a crazy cat lady or some sort 
Or a crazy teacher or both!
TTFN
Make it wear a party hat!
This is Gracie last seen as a kitten (btw), and she is NOT happy to be wearing her Transformers birthday hat for Hubby’s birthday.
And this is Nor (and me). Nor is not happy either in his party hat. Neither cat, however, wins the most annoyed award. That goes to my husband , who looks very pissed off to be wearing a party hat; my life has been threatened, however, if I publish said picture.
Today is my hubby’s birthday :-) Happy birthday, Michael. I do love you
So far his coworkers have wrapped his entire desk, and made fake magazine covers for him.
(or rather those owned by cats) I link to think cartoon that will feel very familiar.
I’d embed it if i could 
For those who don’t know, seeing a movie for us right now is an adventure. Our local theater had a large tree land on its roof when the May 10 tornado swirled through, and they are closed for renovations (they decided since they needed a new roof, they might as well spruce the place up). This means we have missed movies we’d have liked to have seen–Ironman, Kung Fu Panda, and a couple of others. However, we did determine we wanted to see Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. Now granted, we also went and purchased the hubby a new I-phone, but my main reason–Hellboy.
Now, I know a lot of people loved Pan’s Labyrinth, and a few of them I am sure don’t think they will like Hellboy. I think they’re wrong. I know there is some “it’s a comic book movie” snobbish out in the world, but that attitude will cause people to miss a wonderful and beautiful film.
This film is wonderful–indeed, it is full of wonders. The screenplay (written by del Torro) is quite fun, and for an action move quite romantic. The actors are wonderful. Perlman and Jones transcend the movie makeup and make you believe in cat-loving demons and intelligent amphibians. The movie is also just gorgeous to look at. The colors are saturated and pop, and some of the movies cast of “monsters” are just wonderous to see. The fantastic world of Pan’s Labyrinth almost pales in comparison to the world that del Torro imagines for Hellboy 2. Mike Mignola may have created the character of Hellboy, but it is del Torro who has given him soul.
All I can say is run to see this movie, it’s a treat.
I can’t wait to see what del Torro does with The Hobbit.
In non-movie related things, I have put aside Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician. I simply was not in the mood for it. I am instead trying The Egyptologist. I don’t know though–I’m in the mood for something really schlocky–oh well, I’m sure something will fit my mood.
then click on Freekibblekat.com
There’s also a link for dogs too!
A couple of posts back I mentioned my long and incomplete to read list (a complete list would take longer than anyone has time). I have almost finished a book I forgot to mention on that list, and I would like to shamelessly plug it
Yes, I read a book called Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy through Jokes. As I have mentioned before, I teach an Introduction to Philosophy course; however, I am not really schooled in Philosophy–one of my minors in grad school was Literary Theory–which is a philosophic branch, but that’s it. Since I always feel one step ahead of my philosophy students, I decided to get this little book to help me prepare. May I say that idea was grand! I have learned a better grasp of few concepts (and some trivia), and I have laughed as I learned through the jokes–I will be “borrowing” some of these jokes to help teach these concepts to my class. In fact, if I had read this little jewel earllier, I would have ordered it for my class as a nice little supplement. It’s easy to read, explains things well, and let’s the reader giggle–what better way to read and learn about the concepts that underlie our culture? Kudos to Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein (the authors)!
Not much is happenning otherwise–I treadmill, I clean, I eat, I sleep, and I read. I am currently reading Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician. I am only a few pages in, so I cannot say much about it–yet.
Happy Fourth of July! The day when Americans celebrate their break with the mother country–Britain.
That’s sounds cynical, and it probably is, but all the rah rah go USA stuff that happens in an election year gets on my nerves.
Let’s see, I have finished with my summer school course. I have to say I enjoyed the class much more than I expected to. I came into summer just exhausted, and I was not ready for summer school. However, the class worked, and I enjoyed my students. I even managed to enjoy them through the compressed video situation (it’s like video conferencing the whole class). I’m not as exhausted, but I am looking forward to having July free.
Compressed video will not be leaving my life, however, because I have a CV class in the fall–philosophy. Last year, school received a grant to revamp their CV labs–something we desperately need. The new equipment has yet to come in because “BellSouth (or CenturyTeL–I forget which) is waiting on a part.” One part? We need this stuff now, and should have had it by now. I would hate to think anything hinky was going on.
As I wait for the CV labs to be worked on, I may waste my time on ancestry.com. I’ve never been very into genealogy, but my hubby signed us up, and I have played on that thing a great deal. It’s the puzzle of the thing that I like. I’m stuck in several places, but it’s rather fun to figure out if a name fits in the tree or not. Great–I needed another addiction
Well, I think I shall wander off now and go celebrate the holiday by watching 1776.
In a comment on my writing post, Jay asked about finishing my diss and money and such, and I have to say that there are days when I would like to finish it just to finish it. However, there’s one big drawback, I’m not really interested in the topic, and never really was. I had that epiphany last year during LRWP–I realized that I had no personal investment in the topic of my dissertation. How can you lack a personal investment, you ask? The answer is I didn’t really think or choose the topic. I had written a paper for a course about an idea I saw running through a couple of novels I had read; I gave the paper at a conference the college held. No big deal. This paper however became the topic of my dissertation when my director said: “This will be wonderful when you finish your dissertation on it.” Thus a topic is chosen–the only problem really is that it was a throwaway paper topic for me, and not something of total commitment. This makes it rather hard for me to really invest the time it takes to write about it, and in the (oh my gawd) seven years since I left grad school, that lack if personal investment makes it even harder to care about the topic.
As for the money, if I were to get a second Master’s degree, the increase would be about the same. I toy with this idea a lot because I have become quite interested in writing and the teaching of it–I’d probably go into Comp Rhet if I had to do it all over again.
Shifting topics–I finished MIllar’s Lonely Werewolf Girl. It is something I heartily recommend it was great fun—has Dickensian scope, Twainish humor, and well, fantasy. If you know a Goth teen–they would probably adore this book, but you do NOT have to be a Goth to love it.
I am presently reading The Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How it Changed America. For some reason I love to read about comic books (I don’t mind reading the comic collections either). This book has been enthralling and fun. It’s informative, and one can see a need in Americans to blame violence on anything but the perpetrator. We did the same thing to comics that we do to video games–blame juvenile crimes (even if they don’t exist) on anything but the child and the parents. We are really a culture that seems to disdain personal responsibility. Anyway, it’s a fun book to read, and rather well written. I’m not finished, but so far, I’d recommend it.
