Friday, February 28, 2003
Thursday morning, I was so tired from re-reading Cien anos de soledad (for about 6 hours a night for about 4 days in a row!) that my left eye was twitching. It twitched all the way through a 4 1/2 hour teaching marathon, and it twitched until I finally got to bed last night. On a positive note, I had a blast subbing for a professor's Latin American literature course. I couldn't believe how good it felt.
One of my best friends, Kevin, is at his 10th Mardi Gras (or is it 9th? I've lost track) in N'Awlins. I wish I was there with him. I need to get out of this town! I'm sick of looking at the same walls, the same landscape, the same people day after day! Spring Break is only a week away, though, one of the truly great reasons to stay in academia. You get that little burst of rejuvination just when you need it the most. I can't complain, really, even though I do.
Monday, February 24, 2003
Bruce Springsteen was ripped off (again!) last night. The Rising is clearly a superior album to Come Away With Me. Norah is cool, don't get me wrong. I enjoy her music, but there doesn't seem to be any
meaning, any substance there. Its a beautiful voice and some beautiful music, great for relaxing, for studying, for candlelight dinners. Is that what our country needs right now?? Are we looking to escape through our music, rather than facing, wading through, embracing the poignant, thoughtful, challenging lyrics of Springsteen's reflections on 9/11 and other "heavy" topics? I was shocked to learn that he has never won album of the year. Appaling. Maybe I should boycott the grammy's.
Sunday, February 23, 2003
In the spirit of Nick Hornby (again), a few top fives. Top five CD's to listen to all the way through without fast forwarding: 5) Goo Goo Dolls - What I Learned about Ego, Opinion, Art, & Commerce; 4) Matchbox Twenty - Yourself or Someone Like You; 3) Ryan Adams - Demolition; 2) Aretha Franklin - Greatest Hits; 1) Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run OR The Rising. Top five favorite movies (in no particular order this time): Billy Elliot; Say Anything; Dead Poets Society; Todo sobre mi madre (All about My Mother); Bull Durham. If you see an interesting pattern there, then you're on to something. Some others that have been on that list from time to time are Pulp Fiction; Dancer, Texas; Clerks. I also love Central Station. If you haven't seen it, shame on you. It should probably be on my top five list, as should Amelie. That is one amazing movie. Poignant, funny, sweet, and sad all at the same time. Okay, I have to actually get some work done soon. I'm re-reading Cien anos de soledad for a class that I'm teaching on Thursday. I had forgotten how complex (and truly genius) that book is, even if the female characters are all pretty abysmal (except for Ursula). Enough for now!
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Lately I've been feeling extremely lazy. Extremely unmotivated to do anything except watch music videos, really terrible sitcoms, and all the movies I didn't see over the last five years or so of my life while I was trying to do the impossible--get a Ph.D. Well, the dissertation is defended and basically in the can, and I think my brain is on vacation. I'm being held hostage by the post-dissertation meltdown monsters. Graduation is just a few months away, and I've been having some trouble sorting through my feelings about that. On the one hand, I'm unbelievably proud of myself. On the other, I'm nervous about the "what next" portion of the Betsy show. For someone who has always known what tomorrow would bring (at least, I've always had a rough idea), the big, bad, unknown future is a bit overwhelming. I am jobless for the fall, my attempts at finding a post as an Assistant Professor of Spanish having fallen short for this year's painfully exhausting job search. Four of my ABD (All But Dissertation) friends, including one who isn't really ABD but will be soon, got jobs. Tenure track jobs at universities or colleges that they are actually excited about working for. And me? Well, I'm hoping my home department will, after all my begging and groveling, find it in their hearts (and budget) to keep me for one more year, for old times' sake. And for my husband's sake and for my sanity, since he is still one year shy of finishing his degree. The "professional" thing to have done would have been to apply for at least 40-50 jobs, to have thankfully taken whichever one I got (Iowa? Alaska? Maine? FINE!) and live away from Jason for a year. Call me crazy, but I just couldn't picture it. 'Work is work, and although I love it some days, it doesn't define me. It is important, and I would love to succeed at it, to be one really amazing professor and scholar, but honestly...is it worth a year away from the person that I chose to be with for the rest of my life? Hardly. Life is too short. So anyway, that's what's on my mind. That and a billion other tiny things, all adding up to keep me quite busy in the wee hours of the morning when I can't sleep.
Friday, February 21, 2003
I'm doing this for a few reasons, none of which are very profound: a) I love the word "Blog." I'm obsessed with it. I've begun replacing common verbs and nouns with it in everyday conversations. As in: "Blog unto others as you would have others blog unto you." And "Blog you!" And "Wow, I sure blog cheese." Or, "Hey, I could use some blog right about now." Try it! Its fun!; b) Its all part of my "I love technology" campaign, which is mostly a campaign to convince myself (but its working) that this statement is true, and c) My husband talked me into it. True confessions. Stay tuned. And if you know where the title of my Blog comes from, you are truly cool (no matter what Nick Hornby wrote in High Fidelity).