In part of my family it's very popular to make up kids names and to name children with letters from the parents' names. My cousin Zack welcomed his healthy, beautiful new daughter "Zia Monique" into the world today. The "Z" of course is from his name, and "M" is from his wife Melanie. Their older daughter is Mya Zelise...you get the picture. Anyway, congratulations on the wonderful news.
However, this got J.D. and I thinking that if we ever have kids, we would like to name them combinations of "T" and "J."
They will be (for 2 boys and 2 girls):
Timmy Jim
Jimmy Tim
Jenny Tilia
Trina Jo-Jo
We imagine that Jimmy Tim and Timmy Jim will be twins. But I think Timmy Jim is my favorite.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you're all enjoying a warm, happy holiday.
Marley the Christmas Kitty. Every year Memo loves hanging out under the tree.
Marley the Christmas Kitty. Every year Memo loves hanging out under the tree.
J.D. tries on the "chef" hat my Mom sent us. We decided he looks more like some kind of renegade Catholic Bishop. 
I like wearing the hat bonnet-style. I've never owned an orange bonnet, or any other sort of bonnet for that matter. I've been wearing it around the house since then. In this picture I have a new white robe J.D. gave me and a fuzzy snowman doll that plays "Frosty the Snowman," which my Mom also sent us. J.D. says if he ever wants to get me institutionalized he will use this picture as evidence. I just think bonnets are under appreciated.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
How one little word brings so much joy
P.S. (later that night after reading 2 papers)
I got a wrong use of "infamous"!
Time to break out The Three Amigos! Ole!
"Leonardo spent most of his time studying every part of life he encountered by taking notes and drawing sketches in his now infamous sketchbooks" (6).
That bad Leonardo... what was he drawing that was worthy of infamy?
It must just be that his sketchbooks are SO famous... they're IN-famous! Yeah, that's it.
Merry Christmas to me and to all English teachers goodnight.
I got a wrong use of "infamous"!
Time to break out The Three Amigos! Ole!
"Leonardo spent most of his time studying every part of life he encountered by taking notes and drawing sketches in his now infamous sketchbooks" (6).
That bad Leonardo... what was he drawing that was worthy of infamy?
It must just be that his sketchbooks are SO famous... they're IN-famous! Yeah, that's it.
Merry Christmas to me and to all English teachers goodnight.
A Highly Productive Day... yeah right
Grades are due tomorrow, so am I busy grading papers?
No, I just watched Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, which is a cute show, actually made me tear up a little: "I'm glad I tripped into your life." Lots of Wordsworth and Blake references. Mrs. Palfrey reads The Prelude, but the only lines recited during the movie are from the damn daffodil poem...what's up with that? Is that the only Wordsy people know? Although, to be honest, I still want that Wordsworth daffodil coffee mug... Gloria Jean's sold it about 6 years ago. If anyone ever encounters this coffee mug... save it for me!
Now I really should read papers.
No, I just watched Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, which is a cute show, actually made me tear up a little: "I'm glad I tripped into your life." Lots of Wordsworth and Blake references. Mrs. Palfrey reads The Prelude, but the only lines recited during the movie are from the damn daffodil poem...what's up with that? Is that the only Wordsy people know? Although, to be honest, I still want that Wordsworth daffodil coffee mug... Gloria Jean's sold it about 6 years ago. If anyone ever encounters this coffee mug... save it for me!
Now I really should read papers.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Random and Delightful
For me the best thing about a blog is the ability to collect and share all the truly odd things I encounter. I've had this lovely engagement announcement for a while and decided it deserves to be saved for posterity. Hold on to your man honey... don't strangle him.
And now, for something else wonderfully ridiculous. This is a type of "morality play," albeit a very bad one, that J.D. had to participate in a couple of years ago for UMSL student orientation. He had to be "male #4." I'm sure J.D. would have thrown this piece of garbage out a long time ago, but I kept it as part of my bizzaro menagerie. Enjoy.
And now, for something else wonderfully ridiculous. This is a type of "morality play," albeit a very bad one, that J.D. had to participate in a couple of years ago for UMSL student orientation. He had to be "male #4." I'm sure J.D. would have thrown this piece of garbage out a long time ago, but I kept it as part of my bizzaro menagerie. Enjoy. 
Monday, December 17, 2007
Gems
A couple highlights from my grading today:
"My reader feels like they are hearing a story from a good friend, a real person rather than just a scholar."
"In order to show the characteristics of a defective government, the worst possible governing system would be the ideal system used to show the flaws of government."
"A dystopian government does not work."
"The Bible is a biblical text the religious follow."
"Zombies make us scared of dying because we don't want to also turn into flesh eating monsters and chase after loved ones."
"For one living in a zombie apocalypse, there is little hope for survival."
"My reader feels like they are hearing a story from a good friend, a real person rather than just a scholar."
"In order to show the characteristics of a defective government, the worst possible governing system would be the ideal system used to show the flaws of government."
"A dystopian government does not work."
"The Bible is a biblical text the religious follow."
"Zombies make us scared of dying because we don't want to also turn into flesh eating monsters and chase after loved ones."
"For one living in a zombie apocalypse, there is little hope for survival."
Friday, December 14, 2007
Time
J.D. saw this pile and said, "This means something."
One more paper finished. I want to remember/quantify this exact moment. 12.14.07. 2:03 a.m. 49 pages. 6 of Works Cited (not Bibliography). 108 books from the library. 8 literary authors, 6 primary. 5 philosophers. A gaggle of scientists. 65 footnotes. 1 Abstract. 2.5 months. Not perfect, but workable. So much more to do from here. I wish I could savor being done a little longer. The end of December and beginning of January will be one of the most busy and stressful times of my life. But this is one more thing... one more... hopefully done (pending advisor/committee approval).
Goodnight.
(To clarify, what I finished was my second major field paper. I still have one more and then the oral exam, then the dissertation... so there is a LONG way to go yet).
Goodnight.
(To clarify, what I finished was my second major field paper. I still have one more and then the oral exam, then the dissertation... so there is a LONG way to go yet).
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Oh no Fluffy... don't tell me this.
My zodiac forecast for the coming year:
"2008 might be one of the most demanding years of your life, Pisces.... you could find your progress on all levels going in fits and starts. One moment something you've been wanting could seem to be totally out of your reach. Then, as you progress towards attaining that goal, you could get VERY close - only to have it snatched away. The secret to getting past this, however, is to have several goals that are equally important to you, and not become too attached to any one of them. And keep your progress close to you, telling only your closest companions, and sometimes not even them. That way, you won't have to explain anything. Only share your successes!"
Anyone have any ideas what my alternate goal for the dissertation should be?
If you want to see your horoscope:
http://www.astrocenter.com/msn/2008SnapshotLanding.aspx?Af=-1000>1=10646
"2008 might be one of the most demanding years of your life, Pisces.... you could find your progress on all levels going in fits and starts. One moment something you've been wanting could seem to be totally out of your reach. Then, as you progress towards attaining that goal, you could get VERY close - only to have it snatched away. The secret to getting past this, however, is to have several goals that are equally important to you, and not become too attached to any one of them. And keep your progress close to you, telling only your closest companions, and sometimes not even them. That way, you won't have to explain anything. Only share your successes!"
Anyone have any ideas what my alternate goal for the dissertation should be?
If you want to see your horoscope:
http://www.astrocenter.com/msn/2008SnapshotLanding.aspx?Af=-1000>1=10646
Friday, December 7, 2007
A really stupid (published) argument
I'm reading an article on Joyce called "The Ghosts of Ulysses" and found this.
"For God impregnates Mary with a word, a breath, a thought, and he does not even have to move an inch. The Holy Ghost takes care of everything. This spirit, Jones thinks, derives from infantile fantasies about the fecundating power of another kind of breath or spiritus: that is, the gaseous exhalations of the anus. In other words, behind the myth of virgin birth lurks the belief that Mary was inseminated by a cosmic fart (113)."
That's got to be the dumbest argument I've ever read. It makes no sense even in its context.
"For God impregnates Mary with a word, a breath, a thought, and he does not even have to move an inch. The Holy Ghost takes care of everything. This spirit, Jones thinks, derives from infantile fantasies about the fecundating power of another kind of breath or spiritus: that is, the gaseous exhalations of the anus. In other words, behind the myth of virgin birth lurks the belief that Mary was inseminated by a cosmic fart (113)."
That's got to be the dumbest argument I've ever read. It makes no sense even in its context.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
One more section...
One more done. One to go. Woolf is finished. I have to do Joyce now, then the conclusion, then read it all and edit the hell out of it. But thank God I only have one more section. I'm really mentally exhausted on this paper. I'm so ready to be done. But the good news is, the end is in sight.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Words that have never been written before...
Tennyson was sexy! Hubba-hubba. :)How's that for a literary analysis?
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Audacity
Sometimes people amaze me with how much they think they're entitled. I want to smack them all upside the head.
1. Students ask me to come in on Saturday or Sunday to go over their papers (which I've already read and commented on, and I didn't skimp on the comments). In addition, we're peer reviewing ALL next week. I met with them today anyway, since I was on campus proctoring the LSAT... but come on. I would NEVER ask one of my professors to come in on the weekend.
2. Former student at the LSAT today who wanted to "go ahead" in front of other people in line during check-in because she had already signed her admission ticket. You've got to be kidding me. I told her, "just wait." These other people had been there before her, but she thought she was special.
3. Visiting writer, the kook who burst into my class 2 weeks ago, who sent me an e-mail today protesting what I wrote in my feedback for the class visit. (We are required to give feedback). I didn't write that she was rude, late to class each time, or disorganized. I wrote that I would prefer students had more time to discuss (essentially she cut them off every other word to give her opinion). I think that was a pretty fair statement, not made in any offensive way. So she emails me to argue with my very slight criticism. Her reason was "teachers often complain we don't give students enough time to write, so that's why I cut them off."
1. Students ask me to come in on Saturday or Sunday to go over their papers (which I've already read and commented on, and I didn't skimp on the comments). In addition, we're peer reviewing ALL next week. I met with them today anyway, since I was on campus proctoring the LSAT... but come on. I would NEVER ask one of my professors to come in on the weekend.
2. Former student at the LSAT today who wanted to "go ahead" in front of other people in line during check-in because she had already signed her admission ticket. You've got to be kidding me. I told her, "just wait." These other people had been there before her, but she thought she was special.
3. Visiting writer, the kook who burst into my class 2 weeks ago, who sent me an e-mail today protesting what I wrote in my feedback for the class visit. (We are required to give feedback). I didn't write that she was rude, late to class each time, or disorganized. I wrote that I would prefer students had more time to discuss (essentially she cut them off every other word to give her opinion). I think that was a pretty fair statement, not made in any offensive way. So she emails me to argue with my very slight criticism. Her reason was "teachers often complain we don't give students enough time to write, so that's why I cut them off."
Oh, ok -- so arriving to class 15 minutes late isn't a factor in the timing issue?
Seriously.
Seriously.
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