I decided to pick up the other Jane Austen. I've got a volume of the complete novels plus Lady Susan but I'd just never read the shorter piece.
This book was one I picked up at Barnes and Noble the other day. This one is called Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon.
Today has been one of my low key Saturdays spent in pajamas. I really should have gone to the doctor. I just did not want to get dressed. I may have to go to the doc in the box tomorrow. I've got a nice ear infection which perforated last night. I feel for small children and understand why they cry.
I just don't understand why I started getting ear infections at 45. I was never prone to them before. Not freaking fair. Gin had one for her first birthday and I think did not get another until 23. Rachael was never prone to them, but she and Gin and I all got one within 3 weeks of each other. It's making me crazy.
Today was "gronk" movie day, but we seemed to go for the romantic comedy. Mark has loved having the DVR that we got last year and has recorded all kinds of stuff. He started recording Designing Women for me because he knew that I enjoyed it. Today "Mannequin" was on which we have seen a million times, but not since we've watched so many Designing Women episodes. He wanted to see Mesach Taylor in a new light. It was fun.
I guess we are returning to some gronk. Batman Returns is on and there is lots of bang bang blow em up stuff going on (you can tell I really pay attention).
Mark did indulge me and we watched the last bit of Miss America. I read an article that details the decline of the show. I remember the glory days of Phyllis George and Shirley Cothran (both from Denton). And that really cute girl from Conway, Arkansas. Tonight's show was reminiscent of every reality show that is currently on TV. Miss Texas did some weird kind of jazz-ballet thing. It's hard to be objective with dancers as we've given birth to one, and Mark is the child of another.
I think my girl is every bit as good if not better than the girl I saw perform tonight. (not that I'm biased.
I'm diving in. I'm really thrilled that I've put to bed 7 books to bed already in 2008. That gives me some fudge room for book #8 which has 1060 pages. It will take me a while. I hope I can finish it before March 1.
I've been steadily rabble rousing and will continue to do so over the next week. More will be revealed!
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Book 6 2008
Today I saw my gradebook. I saw papers that less than thrilled me. I'm just astonished that students think their teachers are so stupid. They share information on a take home assignment and I can see the degradation and transcription errors that mount.
Holy Sepulchre became Tidy Sepulchre. Minaret became minoerots. Through four students' chapter handouts, I could see who copied whom. When asked to define "anchorite" one kid thought for himself and said "I think it is some kind of rock." I sure like that better than having a triptych defined as a triglyph. JESUS can't they READ? I admit that the words are similar, but a lot of words are similar. From and Form are very similar but they don't mean the same thing. Flautist and Flatulist look similar but there is a big difference between playing the flute and performing with farts.
Things are such a big mess. The Powers That Be are trying to rid our school of excellent components. It's hard to educate children in a large urban district. I cannot imagine having to administer 165000 students. Still, do you break what's working? /me screams from the peanut gallery "NOOOOOOOO"
My friend StarVenus is more radical. She advocates interaction between large knives and testicles. She gets really creative when she gets wound up. I admire her creativity with regard to such things. It makes me feel better sometimes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
I continue my reading quest for the year. I just finished book #6. It was FUN. Very early Jane Austen that wasn't published until 1922. It's very superficial and juvenile, fraught with misspelled words and unique situations.
My favorite bit of text. . . Sophia to Laura "Beware of swoons, Dear Laura... A frenzy fit is not one quarter so pernicious; it is an exercise to the Body and if not too violent, is, I dare say, conducive to Health in its consequences -- Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint --"
Full Text is available here!
I need to check Librivox to see if they have it. I've enjoyed downloading audio books from them. I love it that all the public domain stuff is free. I'm a geek for 19th century BritLit and have put some of them on my ipod to listen to so I can fall asleep with stories.
I'm trying to decide if I want to gain more on my goal of reading a book a week in 2008 and pick up the other Jane Austen I got the other day or if I want to delve into A Feast for Crows which will surely take me a month (knowing how much time I get to read any given day).
I like to read in the car. Especially if Mark is driving. He thinks it is rude of me. I think it saves me from palpitations. He IS a good driver, but he scares the crap out of me (along with the other nuts driving on highways around Dallas) so I ride much more comfortably if I can focus on something other than where we are going. He wants me to pay attention to him (he's glorious) and I understand that I should. I just want to postpone a cardiac arrest. He doesn't get as mad as he used to, and doesn't scream near as many profanities, but I can remember saying that he would piss someone on the road off and they would shoot ME. I do recall that yahoo in the pickup that showed us his gun!!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Rachael had a birthday Saturday. I didn't do an angstful diatribe about her origin on her birthday. Rachael sets her own time to do what Rachael wants. I needed to wait until I was ready!
She cut off her hair! I got it in a priority mail package. I guess that was the gentlest way she could say "Hey Mom, I cut all my hair off." I've just been aghast. She hasn't had short hair since she had hair.
I got this picture in my mind of what her short darker dyed hair would look like. When I saw her Monday, it looked exactly what I thought it would look like. It's astonishing. I tried to imagine her with short dark hair (I knew there would be some red in the dark) and that's what it looked like. She looks fabulous. She looks an awful lot like my mother. (That's a REALLY good thing!)
She really should have been born on January 17. It would have made so many people happy for her to have that birthday. It was my great-grandmother's birthday AND my grandmother's birthday and they were both still living at the time, but NOOOO, the damn Polish doctor refuses to induce a pregnancy that is over two weeks late already. He tells me to wait until Monday.
Rachael is on Rachael time. Sunday morning, she makes it apparent that Monday is not for her. The zodiac is racing towards Aquarius and that will just not do. Our neighbors had offered to watch older sisters when the time came but they were Godly people and were at church. Mark frantically calls his folks and TELLS them that we've got to drop the girls off because we've GOT to go to the hospital. They seemed to be inconvenienced by this, but I didn't really care at this point. We get to the hospital about 11 am and the place is empty. There is a big playoff game, I mean it's Sunday. They make me walk around for an hour thinking that they can send me home (at 20 days overdue) with false labor. It doesn't work out for them and they have to admit me. They don't believe me when I tell them that it will all go very fast after a certain point. The whole wonderful birthing experience is a comedy of errors. Rachael is posterior, and suddenly turns around on her way into the world. That's not terrible but she falls off the fetal monitors and the nurses think she's died and are talking about preparation for a "fetal demise." The doctor has gone downstairs to eat and a nurse is running through the hallways trying to find someone with a catcher's mitt. Mark is freaking out because he hears the nurses and he's caught the word "demise." I hold his hand and say "baby, it's okay, I can feel her moving."
I don't think it's supposed to work that way. He's supposed to hold my hand and tell ME it's okay.
Rachael precipitates her way into the world right after kickoff. They put her on the warming table and she immediately turns over, almost flipping herself onto the floor because they didn't put the little gate thing up (I guess newborns flipping over isn't usually an issue). The doctor said "put that in her baby book."
Rachael continues to do what she wants to do. She knows her own mind. She is an unstoppable force and gives notice to the immovable wall.
How cool is that?
Holy Sepulchre became Tidy Sepulchre. Minaret became minoerots. Through four students' chapter handouts, I could see who copied whom. When asked to define "anchorite" one kid thought for himself and said "I think it is some kind of rock." I sure like that better than having a triptych defined as a triglyph. JESUS can't they READ? I admit that the words are similar, but a lot of words are similar. From and Form are very similar but they don't mean the same thing. Flautist and Flatulist look similar but there is a big difference between playing the flute and performing with farts.
Things are such a big mess. The Powers That Be are trying to rid our school of excellent components. It's hard to educate children in a large urban district. I cannot imagine having to administer 165000 students. Still, do you break what's working? /me screams from the peanut gallery "NOOOOOOOO"
My friend StarVenus is more radical. She advocates interaction between large knives and testicles. She gets really creative when she gets wound up. I admire her creativity with regard to such things. It makes me feel better sometimes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
I continue my reading quest for the year. I just finished book #6. It was FUN. Very early Jane Austen that wasn't published until 1922. It's very superficial and juvenile, fraught with misspelled words and unique situations.
My favorite bit of text. . . Sophia to Laura "Beware of swoons, Dear Laura... A frenzy fit is not one quarter so pernicious; it is an exercise to the Body and if not too violent, is, I dare say, conducive to Health in its consequences -- Run mad as often as you chuse; but do not faint --"
Full Text is available here!
I need to check Librivox to see if they have it. I've enjoyed downloading audio books from them. I love it that all the public domain stuff is free. I'm a geek for 19th century BritLit and have put some of them on my ipod to listen to so I can fall asleep with stories.
I'm trying to decide if I want to gain more on my goal of reading a book a week in 2008 and pick up the other Jane Austen I got the other day or if I want to delve into A Feast for Crows which will surely take me a month (knowing how much time I get to read any given day).
I like to read in the car. Especially if Mark is driving. He thinks it is rude of me. I think it saves me from palpitations. He IS a good driver, but he scares the crap out of me (along with the other nuts driving on highways around Dallas) so I ride much more comfortably if I can focus on something other than where we are going. He wants me to pay attention to him (he's glorious) and I understand that I should. I just want to postpone a cardiac arrest. He doesn't get as mad as he used to, and doesn't scream near as many profanities, but I can remember saying that he would piss someone on the road off and they would shoot ME. I do recall that yahoo in the pickup that showed us his gun!!
* * * * * * * * * * *
Rachael had a birthday Saturday. I didn't do an angstful diatribe about her origin on her birthday. Rachael sets her own time to do what Rachael wants. I needed to wait until I was ready!
She cut off her hair! I got it in a priority mail package. I guess that was the gentlest way she could say "Hey Mom, I cut all my hair off." I've just been aghast. She hasn't had short hair since she had hair.
I got this picture in my mind of what her short darker dyed hair would look like. When I saw her Monday, it looked exactly what I thought it would look like. It's astonishing. I tried to imagine her with short dark hair (I knew there would be some red in the dark) and that's what it looked like. She looks fabulous. She looks an awful lot like my mother. (That's a REALLY good thing!)
She really should have been born on January 17. It would have made so many people happy for her to have that birthday. It was my great-grandmother's birthday AND my grandmother's birthday and they were both still living at the time, but NOOOO, the damn Polish doctor refuses to induce a pregnancy that is over two weeks late already. He tells me to wait until Monday.
Rachael is on Rachael time. Sunday morning, she makes it apparent that Monday is not for her. The zodiac is racing towards Aquarius and that will just not do. Our neighbors had offered to watch older sisters when the time came but they were Godly people and were at church. Mark frantically calls his folks and TELLS them that we've got to drop the girls off because we've GOT to go to the hospital. They seemed to be inconvenienced by this, but I didn't really care at this point. We get to the hospital about 11 am and the place is empty. There is a big playoff game, I mean it's Sunday. They make me walk around for an hour thinking that they can send me home (at 20 days overdue) with false labor. It doesn't work out for them and they have to admit me. They don't believe me when I tell them that it will all go very fast after a certain point. The whole wonderful birthing experience is a comedy of errors. Rachael is posterior, and suddenly turns around on her way into the world. That's not terrible but she falls off the fetal monitors and the nurses think she's died and are talking about preparation for a "fetal demise." The doctor has gone downstairs to eat and a nurse is running through the hallways trying to find someone with a catcher's mitt. Mark is freaking out because he hears the nurses and he's caught the word "demise." I hold his hand and say "baby, it's okay, I can feel her moving."
I don't think it's supposed to work that way. He's supposed to hold my hand and tell ME it's okay.
Rachael precipitates her way into the world right after kickoff. They put her on the warming table and she immediately turns over, almost flipping herself onto the floor because they didn't put the little gate thing up (I guess newborns flipping over isn't usually an issue). The doctor said "put that in her baby book."
Rachael continues to do what she wants to do. She knows her own mind. She is an unstoppable force and gives notice to the immovable wall.
How cool is that?
Monday, January 21, 2008
Looking at the world from different angles
I saw some ducks today. James was in the back seat and he hollered that there were turkeys by the road. They were strange looking ducks. I wish I had a camera. The coloring was similar to mallards that are certainly familiar to me, but their heads reminded me of turkeys. I commented that the prettier colored one was likely the male, but Mark insisted that it was about to lay an egg.
It actually turned its derriere to us and pooped.
This charming creature should not be this far north according to the article.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I finished book #5 for 2008 today. Flatland by Edwin Abbott. It is more than a hundred years old and quite peculiar. It details the existence of beings in a two dimensional world. It's hard to imagine a society where social status is determined by the number of one's angles, AND the regularity of those angles.
I've seen this book go by several times when we've gotten a load of books, but I never bothered to read it. It isn't very long, but it is most profound in many ways.
We finally made it over to Barnes and Noble so I could use the gift certificate that Mark got me for Christmas. My main intent was to get the next George R. R. Martin book (which I did), but I also picked up two collections of the shorter works of Jane Austen. I've been making Mark watch Masterpiece Theater which is presenting the novels of Jane Austen. He likes Jane Austen, in fact he read Pride and Prejudice in high school and loved it. I was married to him before I got around to it. I do love it, it has become one of my favorite books. I have the complete novels, but I've not read the shorter pieces. So I guess I know what book number six will be!
I spoke with the "English connection" yesterday, and had a lovely conversation. We nattered on about our silly game and related folks. I spoke to Neil briefly which is always nice. It sounds like it has been warmer in the UK than it has been in Texas. Darnit!
It's been so cold. I've really noticed because I made a new year's resolution to NOT smoke inside the house. It's been miserable outside, and the good thing is that our porch is open to the south and east and doesn't get much wind. I don't know what I'd do if I was on the block behind us with the opposite situation. Probably quit smoking. Hmmm. I have cut down quite a bit so I guess that's an improvement.
I also resolved to get rid of clothes that don't fit me any more. I did pull some things out of the closet last week before bulky trash, but there is a lot more to go. Good intentions et al. . . .
I resolve to stay in the size I'm wearing now!
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