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The joys of making a CD when you should be marking undergraduate essays:
Frontier Psychiatrist Avalanches
Under Pressure David Bowie & Queen
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee Indigo Grrrls
She Green Day
Mother Mother Tracy Bonham
Devil’s Dance Floor Flogging Molly
Supernova Liz Phair
Connection Elastica
Spin the Bottle Juliana Hatfield 3
Seether Veruca Salt
Always Have to Steal My Kisses Ben Harper
And She Was Talking Heads
These Days Nico
Fat Bottomed Grrrls Queen
Let’s Do It (Fall in Love) Joan Jett & Paul Westerfield
Not a Virgin Anymore Poe
Jesus Don’t Want Me for a Sunbeam Nirvana
Brick Ben Folds Five
Wonderful Tonight Eric Clapton
Waste Phish
What a Difference a Day Makes Billie Holiday
My Baby Just Cares For Me Nina Simone
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I must seem like the biggest sports geek at this point. But I haveta say that I luuuurve Tony Stewart's Great Pumpkin car for this race. :)
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He's so cute, he almost makes me wanna cheer for the Giants. Almost.
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per·di·tion [Middle English perdicion, from Old French, from Late Latin perditi, perditin-, from Latin perditus, past participle of perdere, to lose : per-, per- + dare, to give.]
1. The fact or condition of being destroyed or ruined; utter destruction, complete ruin.
2. Theol. The condition of final spiritual ruin or damnation, the future condition of the wicked and finally impenitent or unredeemed; the fate of those in hell, eternal death.
I watched Road to Perdition today. Amazing film. I still am mulling over my different responses to it -- like American Beauty (same director, Sam Mendes), once the movie was over, I just sat in my seat and recovered from my cinematic experience. I've been waiting for it to come to the dollar theater, and now that its here I'll probably go a couple more times. I know, thinking of Tom Hanks as an Irish mafia man is a bit hard to swallow -- but he's so good in the film. The same with Paul Newman and little boy that plays Hanks' son. What's up with me and my mobster kick?
So that was a great part of my day. That, and the baseball game tonight was SO good. It looked really bleak tonight, 5-0, until the 7th inning. Yay for the rally monkey. :) I love it when the World Series goes all 7 games. Oh, and tomorrow is the Napa 500 in Atlanta. Yay sports. Now for sleep.
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I really like snow.
I like the noises it makes when I step --
feeling it tickle my nose and getting caught in my eyelashes.
I like watching it fall at night,
muffling sound and making everything appear dazzling white.
Granted, I may not be singing the same tune 3 months from now, but for today I think I'll just stop and enjoy.
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Mirror
Sylvia Plath
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful --
The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked on it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me,
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars, the candles or the moon.
I see her back, and reflect it faithfully.
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her. She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl, and in me an old woman
Rises toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.
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Go Angels.
Figures I'd be stuck in my office grading papers while the game was on. Sigh.
11-10 over the Giants. Let's hear it for the underdogs! ![](http://images.google.ca/images?q=tbn:DAS4Cx2vNaUC:www.thecinemalaser.com/dvd_images_2002/0402/underdog-chronicles-dvd-image-01.jpg")
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Washing-Day, by Anna Laetitia Barbauld
...Come, Muse, and sing the dreaded Washing-Day.
Ye who beneath the yoke of wedlock bend,
With bowéd soul, full well ye ken the day
Which week, smooth sliding after week, brings on
Too soon -- for to that day nor peace belongs
Nor comfort; ere the first grey streak of dawn,
The red-armed washers come and chase repose.
Nor pleasant smile, nor quaint device of mirth,
E'er visited that day...
I hate laundry days.
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News of the day:
October 18, 2002 - Wireless Flash
Mr. T: `T-Shirt Tags Ruined My Life'
NEW YORK (Wireless Flash) -- Mr. T has survived everything from Sylvester Stallone, the cancellation of "The A-Team" and even cancer. However, now he claims he's been suffering silently from an even more insidious problem: scratchy T-shirt tags.
Mr. T says that when you wear 40 pounds of chains around your neck, chafing is a serious issue.
He claims he's so obsessed with comfort that he has "ruined hundreds of shirts trying to rip out the tags" so he could feel cozy.
But Mr. T may be at peace at last because Hanes is introducing a new line of T-shirts with stickers in the back instead of tags.
Although Mr. T admits the shirts fit him "to a T," he only agreed to endorse them after testing them by "shining the gold on my chains."
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Late night fun with the OED
So, what do you do when you wake up at 3AM and can't get back to sleep? Why, play with the online OED, that's it. I never knew etymology could be so much fun.
The evolution of the word, "nice"
Around the thirteen and fourteenth century it meant: "Foolish, stupid, senseless."
Then in the fifteenth: "Wanton, loose-mannered; lascivious"
Sixteenth - seventeenth: "Slothful, lazy, indolent" or "Effeminate, unmanly"
Eighteenth century: "Not able to endure much; tender, delicate" and "Requiring or involving great precision, accuracy, or minuteness"
Nineteenth century: "Of the eye, ear, etc.: Able to distinguish or discriminate in a high degree"
And finally modern day: "Agreeable; that one derives pleasure or satisfaction from; delightful. nice girl (of an adult); freq. somewhat derisive."
I just love how the original meaning of the word meant foolish and stupid. So now, next time you call someone or thing "nice," you'll know the background behind it.
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I'm starting to really love my walks home. Today I walked home with flakes of snow swirling around me, tickling my nose. Most of the leaves on the trees have fallen, thanks to the gusts of Saskatchewan wind. That makes me a little bit sad, I liked walking home with leaves of gold falling down around me. Now I settle for kicking up leaves as I walk in the street. Parts of me wish I had a real yard so I could rake! When I take a moment to look around, I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of the world around me. Whether its watching the leaves change, seeing the Northern Lights, or driving across the open prairie -- I feel so small, but privileged.
But then again, there are parts of this world that really frighten me. Last night I had a difficult time falling asleep. I kept thinking about that woman in Virginia who got shot outside the Home Depot as she loaded her bags in the car. One shot, to the head, and her life was over. Killed by some crazy bastard who's set on terrorizing men, women, and even children. I can't imagine being scared for my life as I walk to school, pump gas, or load grocery bags in my car. My mind couldn't stop thinking about it last night.
How can a world be so beautiful, and yet so terrifying at the same time?
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Some days its good to be an English major.
On days like today, I'll be sitting in a class and just be blown away by some of the passages I come across. I love moments like these, because it confirms for me that this is something that I wouldn't mind pursuing for the rest of my life. So, for your viewing pleasure, two very different passages that either made me sigh or giggle. (you decide which!)
From The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje:
"We die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into and swum up as if rivers of wisdom, characters we have climbed into as if trees, fears we have hidden in as if caves. I wish for all this to be marked on my body when I am dead. I believe in such cartography -- to be marked by nature, not just to label ourselves on a map like the names of rich men and women on buildings. We are communal histories, communal books. We are not owned or monogamous in our taste or experience. All I desired was to walk upon such an earth that had no maps."
My favorites from "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young" by Oscar Wilde:
- The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered.
- Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others.
- Religions die when they are proved to be true. Science is the record of dead religions.
- The well-bred contradict other people. The wise contradict themselves.
- Nothing that actually occurs is of the smallest importance.
- Dulness is the coming of age of seriousness.
- If one tells the truth one is sure, sooner or later, to be found out.
- It is only by not paying one's bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.
- Only the shallow know themselves.
- Time is a waste of money.
- One should always be a little improbable.
- There is a fatality about all good resolutions. They are invariably made too soon.
- To be premature is to be perfect.
- In examinations the foolish ask questions that the wise cannot answer.
- The ages live in history through their anachronisms.
- The old believe everything: the middle-aged suspect everything: the young know everything.
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101 things about me that you wished you didn't know:
- Born Rebekah JoAnne Bennetch on February 1, 1978
- In Glendive, Montana.
- Aquarius
- Lived in Montana, North & South Dakota, North & South Carolina, Georgia, and now Saskatchewan
- Procrastinator (doh, I really should be grading papers right now)
- Misses family and friends back home
- Rollerblader and somewhat tennis player
- Once was called "Becky Jo"
- Night owl -- ie, doesn't sleep
- Makes closer friends with guys rather than grrrls
- Wants laser surgery
- Snorts when laughing too hard
- Defensive
- Wrote two Letters to the Editor
- Graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Honors English
- Doesn't eat red meat
- Loves Slurpees
- Enjoys online quizzes maybe a little too much
- Watched 43 cars whiz by at 185MPH at Daytona
- Never broken a bone
- Have had heart broken
- Loves A Coal Miner's Daughter
- Microwaves M&M's
- On a new health kick, working out 5X a week
- Been to Haiti and Austria, working on various missions
- Hit on by UN Officials from Nepal while in Haiti
- Went to a Sound of Music tour while in Austria
- Has office of my very own, buried in the North Floor English majors wasteland of the Library.
- Nose gets cold waaaay too easily.
- Know just a teeny bit html now
- Used to referee soccer games (first grrrl ref in Savannah, even)
- Lots of friends, few close ones.
- STILL can't parallel park
- Burns lotsa incense (especially Lavender!)
- Mock Trial Lawyer of the Year in 1997
- Has a pin on bookbag that reads, "Well-behaved women rarely make history"
- Wants to go back to Europe
- Makes awesome lattice-top pies
- Loves blueberry pancakes
- Watches way too much Trading Spaces
- Was the proverbial big sister. But kicked ass if anyone else was mean to them, besides me. :)
- Holds a grudge for way too long.
- Love CSI, and not the new Miami version
- Can quote/sing almost all of Moulin Rouge
- Reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.
- Forever broke.
- Reads while walking
- Gets lonesome easily
- Teaching English 110 once a week
- Still says "y'all" despite being 2000+ miles away from GA
- Loves sunflowers
- Won "Student Spotlight" in second grade at Largo-Tibet Elementary
- Published article in High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology
- Article about online community I help moderate
- Misses my dog, Spot
- Knits scarves. One day will progress to another project.
- Loves all Marion Zimmer Bradley books
- Hates washing dishes
- Saw Bob Dylan in concert
- Worked as a legal assistant for a horrid woman "lawyer"
- Loves the moon, stars, and Northern Lights
- Funky music tastes
- Reads in a papasan chair
- Owns four filled bookcases
- Not big on rules
- Loves the song "Steve McQueen" by Sheryl Crow
- Dyes hair a little too much (what was my natural color again?)
- Definitely NOT an Old Icelandic scholar
- Particular about my pillow, sheets, and pink blankey
- Loves watermelon beer
- Misses grits, biscuits, and sweet tea
- Wears bright red Vans
- Been on national TV (interviewed on Dateline:NBC)
- Actually starting to like the movie adaptation of The English Patient
- Wannabe Rhetorician
- Has teddy bears named Biff, Rosie, and Luca Brasi
- Misses my Barnes and Noble
- Not a morning person
- Sucker for sappy movies
- Occasional swing dancer
- Misses old friend Doug
- Loves The Godfather saga and wants the dvds
- Donates blood when my iron isn't too low
- Owns way too many pairs of sunglasses
- Loves arty, independent films
- Wants a red one of these
- Has since learned the value of dressing in layers
- A Coke person, and definitely not a Pepsi.
- Loves a serenade
- Still pissed about having all my CDs stolen (all 150 of 'em)
- Big time chocoholic
- Once worked as a hostess for Outback steakhouse...for three days.
- Lives in flip-flops all year. Well, used to -- might haveta modify that up here.
- Very allergic to jellyfish (which I seem to attract in droves)
- Big on long-named and complex ice creams (no plain vanilla here!)
- Sneaks food into theaters
- Loves to laugh
- Protective of those I love
- Once had purple hair
- Loves cartoons still (yay, Spongebob)
- Is ready for this list to be over, already.
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According to this article, theres been an 85% increase in US students going to schools in Canada. Where are all these students? Probably Toronto, I'm thinking. So far, I haven't met one student from the States up here. Then again, according to Char and Robin, I'm losing my Southern accent now. <gasp>
After munching on my Kraft dinner, I'm off to go watch the swoon worthy Ed Norton and Ralph Finnes in Red Dragon. Whatta weekend.
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"Hotdogs: The particle board of meats."
I haven't laughed as hard as I have tonight in a loooooooong time. Now they truly bring the funny. (as some crazy Arizona guy would say)
I gotta toque with the worms on it. Yay, Canadian souvenirs and stuff!
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I had a fun night last night. Not only did I get to eat at Boston Pizza after going to my favorite bookstore, but then I got to watch CSI investigate crime AND go to court. Aaaaaah. Life is good. Plus, I got some quality time with my best grrrrlfriend Kurt (an honorary title).
And tonight is the concert! Whoo!
Despite all my complaining about being up here, things go good. Yesterday I was walking home from school and actually took the time to look around me (instead of trying to read while walking -- one of my hidden talents). The leaves are changing! I almost can't remember the time when I noticed leaves change. In Savannah, not much of anything really changes drastically. Here, the leaves are all yellow, gold, brown, and light green. Trees lined the street as I walked home and it was nice to just be able to enjoy the world around me. Granted, I was all bundled up in hat, gloves, and jacket, but it was still nice.
Lots of beauty around me. As we got in the car last night I was told of the term "hoarfrost." (and I do hope that's how you spell it!) Its when there's a light glazing of frost everywhere. Sorta makes everything look like its all sparkly and covered with sugar. That was cold, yet beautiful too.
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Yay, activism!
I actually caught the last couple minutes of Oprah today, and it was about a Nigerian woman, who is in danger of being stoned ... and the ways that wecan help.
From Amnesty International USA's website:
AMINA LAWAL, a 30 year-old Muslim woman, was sentenced on Friday 22 March 2002 to stoning to death by a Shari'ah court at Bakori in Katsina State in northern Nigeria. Amina allegedly confessed to having had a child while divorced. Pregnancy outside of marriage constitutes sufficient evidence for a woman to be convicted of adultery according to the new Shari'ah-based penal code for Muslims, introduced in Katsina State. The man named as the father of her baby girl reportedly denied having sex with her and his confession was enough for the charges against him to be discontinued. Amina did not have a lawyer during her first trial, when the judgement was passed. But she has now filed an appeal against her sentence with the help of a lawyer hired by a pool of Nigerian human rights and women's rights organisations.
The hearing of the appeal by the Shari'ah Court of Appeal of Funtua, Katsina State, was set for May 27, 2002 but adjourned twice, after her lawyer argued for an early hearing to take place instead of having the hearing postponed until next year as previously proposed by the court. Amina Lawal is still weaning her baby. Such a long adjournment of the case would have not served any useful purpose and would have deepened the climate of uncertainty created by the whole process. The terms of the bail have also been reviewed. Under these new terms for bail agreed by the court, Amina Lawal will no longer be reporting fortnightly to them. The only condition, however, is that Amina Lawal had to have a 'surety'.
On 8 July 2002, Amina Lawal made the submission of her appeal before the Shari'ah Court or Appeal of Funtua. The hearing of her appeal resumed on 5 August 2002 and the prosecutor presented his case and urged the court to maintain the sentence, death by stoning, passed by the Shari'ah court of Bakori. On August 19, Amina’s appeal was denied. She now has thirty days to make another appeal to the Supreme court in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Go to the site now and send an email off to the Nigerian ambassador. In fact, sign up for the newsletter. There's so much we can do, if we just invest a couple minutes here and there.
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Cooter is running for Congress. And using the General Lee as part of his advertising campaign. Sweet.
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Wow, I haven't blogged for two days, I'm getting the shakes. Actually, last night I slept for 12+ hours so I wasn't very conscious. Plus, I was seriously sore, from doing way too many pushups, weights, PLUS a cardio workout. Ugh. Feeling it today. Anyways after going to the Hose tonight, I gotta call from my sis tonight, so that was fun. The rest of my day earlier consisted of cleaning house, vacuuming (shock!), re-reading English Patient, and watching Dr. Phil. (psst, I love that man)
And, since its late now and I'm tired, I'm posting a lame quiz to get out of blogging more. :)
Yay, I got my fave on the first try. I kick serious hiney, really.
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Fun game: Put words into George Bush's mouth. Maybe you can make him sound a bit more articulate. Or not.
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I feel so centered now -- just got back from Power Yoga. Its weird to be sore from a class that you don't even bust a sweat in -- but after doing all sorts of funky stretches and movements you really feel like you get a good workout. Plus its a good destressor, me thinks. Lots of time to just breathe, which is something I probably don't do enough. Now I just need to invest in a decent yoga mat.
So I have in my hot little hand a journal with my name printed under a published article. I found it in the mailbox this afternoon. I was toting it around campus, showing it off. Its a bit strange to look over the words I wrote a couple months ago and realize that they're mine!!
I've got a presentation tomorrow that I'm fairly confident about, plus a stackfull of first-year undergraduate in-class essays to mark. . . I think I could get used to this academic lifestyle, after all.
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