|
|
|
August 22nd, 2008
04:03 pm - West coast, baby.
So after much crazy driving about and stupidity and panicking, I finally made it to San Francisco, a day late but in plenty of time for Urse and Andy's beautiful wedding. CONGRATULATIONS YOU TWO! :) I predict long, happy years featuring many gourmet meals, much like the one at Boulevard right after the wedding, which was to die for. Best pork chop of my life. Urse, you remain the queen of restaurant choices, as well as homemade flower arrangements and truffles. Seriously.
I have to say, visiting the south bay feels a little less like coming home every time I do it. The streets are a little less familiar, and more of my old friends have moved Away, to another state or just up to the city. The inevitable march of time, I suppose - put down roots or move on. On the plus side, the Mountain View farmer's market still knocks my socks off. Especially during strawberry season. Man oh man.
My take on Denver: the human need to bet back the desert with the dual clubs of strip malls and heavily watered sod is truly awe-inspiring. South Denver is all cookie-cutter housing developments fringed with untouchably lush little grass borders, a stark contrast to the natural scrublands just outside the city. Still, the downtown area has some great frontier personality. Also prairie dogs are insanely cute. Squeak squeak!
I'm home now in AK, which is its own brand of closet-cleaning melancholy entirely, not much tempered by the chilly weather. Things to look forward to: the state fair!
Current Mood:  thoughtful
|
August 12th, 2008
07:07 pm - Gah.
Days until trip begins: one and a half.
Last two ESL classes: planned.
Fall writing class: syllabus mostly written, first week mostly planned.
Readings for fall writing class: completely untouched, will have to wait until I get back.
Bed: purchased new in a highly unsustainable but peace-of-mind-giving manner, set to be delivered on move-in day.
Chiropractor appointments in the past two weeks: several, and rapidly adding up to too much money. But...
Neck pain: almost entirely gone!
Room: in complete and utter chaos with half-packed boxes everywhere.
Sanity: holding on by an extremely thin thread.
Current Mood:  stressed
|
August 6th, 2008
10:33 am - It's like, um, when a man really likes, um, feet?
I gave my students an exercise today which used the word bizarre. One of my Korean girls looked it up in her dictionary and then asked me, "What's the difference between bizarre and kinky?"
This is how I found myself explaining sexual fetishes to a room full of very sweet, very mild-mannered adult students, including the Japanese kindergarten teacher. Eeep.
But, well, they need to know. And who else is going to tell them?
Spent last weekend at the Cape with my aunt and uncle. Congrats to my uncle, who finished the Pan-Mass Challenge for the fourteenth time. Yay Mark! Two hundred and nine miles in two days is, I feel, nothing to be sneezed at.
In other news, I am leaving in for the west coast in one week. Many many things need to be accomplished before I can go, namely, planning the fall semester's class and packing everything I own. Also I need a bed. Woo!
|
July 31st, 2008
10:34 am - A perfect example of why I'm not a lit person.
From an email I got today about an upcoming conference:
"This conference aims to expand the dialogue and explore the landscape and intersections of literacy studies as a framework of critical investigation. This approach is meant to do the double work of expanding the field while critiquing the expansion."
Um...what?
See also: http://www.xkcd.com/451/
Current Mood:  bemused
|
July 29th, 2008
10:04 pm
Finally put up pics from my mini-reunion in upstate New York. It was excellent. Upstate New York has, at least to my visiting eye, a wonderful sort of curmudgeonly charm, a rolling green prettiness accentuated by the people who live close to the land and don't give a rat's ass what you think. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Plus, we made this amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe from the New York Times. On the surface it doesn't look like anything special, but seriously these were the prettiest, most delicious chocolate chip cookies I ahve ever baked.
Teaching continues apace. I can hardly believe I've got less than three weeks before the end of the summer session, when I will take off for the west coast.
I went into Boston last weekend to go swing dancing, and somehow managed to mess up my neck again. Fortunately my health insurance covers chiropractor visits. The dude I went to today was great, very holistic, very muscle-oriented. He didn't do any of the terrifying wrenching and snapping I expect of chiropractors treating neck injuries. I don't feel great now, but I'm going back tomorrow and I have high hopes.
Current Mood:  stiff and sore
|
July 17th, 2008
11:19 pm - Prettiness
Got some nice nature pictures last Friday when we took the students to Franconia Notch State Park.
And, now it is time for me to quit playing with pictures on the internet and go to bed.
Current Mood:  sleepy
|
09:21 pm - Validation!
I uploaded a picture to JPG maybe two hours ago, one of my favorite pictures from Russia, and look at the nice things people wrote!
Also, my friend Jane's excellent picture from Korea is listed as a "hot" picture, which is pretty darn exciting.
Today I conned my friend Sarah into doing a track workout with me. It was the first I'd done one since...well...track. In high school. I predict soreness ahead.
Tomorrow, anticipated soreness notwithstanding: picnic with the students, then drive to Manlius, NY for a Russia mini-reunion. Woo!
Current Mood: delighted
|
July 15th, 2008
08:22 pm - Radish radish radish
Pictures from last weekend and the b-day are here.
On the menu for tonight: radish salad. Tomorrow I'm going to do something with the radish greens. Yay for new foods!
|
July 14th, 2008
06:22 pm - New Hampshire life
Spotted on the drive to work this morning: a mama turkey and two baby turkeys. Squee!
Purchased at the farmer's market on the way home from work: three different kinds of squash, two of which I've never bought before, radishes, and a pint of fresh blueberries. Yay dinner.
This weekend passed in a blur of delightfulness. Friday we took the students to Franconia Notch State Park, next to the White Mountains. We first walked up to the Flume, a stunning natural rock formation of granite and basalt. Then we took the tram to the top of Cannon Mountain where we ran around in the mist and pretended to be bears. I love my students. We stopped for ice cream on the way back at a little stand that also had a kind of petting zoo, so I got to feed the piggies. The Japanese kid took lots of videos.
Friday night I drove into Boston for the first time, to go to a Lindy mini-exchange - a dance and a house party with more dancing, then a BBQ on Saturday afternoon. At the BBQ someone got the idea to lindy bomb a free concert on the Charles, so we all piled into various vehicles and headed off. When I was in high school in Anchorage, I used to read about lindy bombing, and I dreamed of being part of a dance community that would do crazy stuff like that. So this was pretty awesome. We danced on the sidewalk at the concert for maybe half an hour while it slowly got dark, then headed to the dance at the Boathouse, where a dance floor was set up on the wooden dock. It was bumpy and uneven, crowded, dangerous (I got kicked a lot), and completely wonderful. I loved dancing under the moonlight, with the boats drifting past and the breeze off the water. So perfectly romantic.
Current Mood: content
|
July 10th, 2008
09:52 pm - the yay factor
Just did the math and calculated that for the past week my car got just over 30 miles to the gallon. I did a lot of highway driving, but still. W00t!!!
Current Mood: pleased
|
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
bona_lector's journal