Harry: "What does this song mean? For my whole life I don't know what this song means. I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot'. Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them?
Sally: "Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, it's about old friends."
This certainly explains a lot, don't you think?
I gotta run, but I hope your New Year does indeed rock. More later.
January - entered my paper on English Medieval/Renaissance hunting practices at an SCA arts and sciences event. (I'm currently trying to get it published by said organization.)
February - my selection as a member of the Order of the Laurel was announced. This is the highest honor an artisan in the SCA can receive. It's an honor that carries with it a great deal of responsibility. It was also a very pleasant surprise.
March - went to Gulf Wars, a week-long SCA camping event. Muddy, fun, wet. A bunch of us went to New Orleans for the day before the event started. On our way home, I got a call from my soup-ervisor telling me that I had been a victim of a rather large lay-off. Quite a way to cap off a vacation. However, they rehired me two days later; the then-current webmaster had resigned, so I got her gig AND my old one back. I had to learn Dreamweaver on the fly, which wasn't too bad as I know lots of graphics programs and had been at least introduced to the concept of html via this blog.
May - My actual elevation to the Order of the Laurel took place, with a nice ceremony in court and a party to celebrate. Lots of my friends came together to make it extra special. I am a lucky person.
During the summer I made more friends over at Live Journal; I also tried a new therapist but decided that therapy and anti-depressants just weren't doing anything for me. I have a weird brain chemistry, that much is true, and I decided that I just need to deal with that some other way.
Also lost my great aunt, who was the last relative in Ohio that I had any contact with, and an old co-worker friend.
Late August/September - After a major depressive episode, reached the rather sudden conclusion that I need to make some big changes involving my 40 hour work week, and decided to pursue graduate school in English. Lots of research on how to get into school ensued.
October - right after a big work seminar (Engineerfest 2003), I took the GRE and did pretty well considering I have major math anxiety. Also went to Guavaween for the first time (Tampa's adult-oriented drunken Halloween celebration).
November - took a short trip to south Ohio. Fun! Cold! Weird fruit! Also celebrated Thanksgiving at Mum's place.
December - lots of parties and fun, though I had a hard time getting into the holiday spirit.
In 2003 I also refinanced my car and paid off two credit cards. And had lots of fun with my friends.
Finished! It's finished! Finished, I tell you! And they called me mad at the library, well, who's mad now?
I'm as tired of writing my analytical paper and writing about writing my analytical paper as you are about reading about it. Now I can go back to whining about other topics. Watch this space for more whining.
All this writing has made me so incredibly lame that I have not yet made it out to see RoTK. Anyone in the area interested in seeing it with Godfrey and me this weekend? I was thinking maybe Saturday or Sunday afternoon, dinner afterwards on Saturday or possibly lunch at Jasmine Thai on Sunday beforehand. We're flexible. Come celebrate my return to normalcy!
Sekrit Confession: I've never read any book by Tolkien. Unless you count that Photonovelization of the 1970s animated version of The Hobbit. Please do not send me hate mail because of this literary oversight on my part.
Four out of six applications have been sent. One will go out today and the last one will go out early next week. Mad props to the post office, Express Mail was $13.85 or so well spent. Nothing like pulling up a record of a member of the English department staff signing for your precious application one day before the deadline.
In all honesty, the experience has been so stressful and complicated that I really don't care if I get accepted to any school. My pride will be hurt, people will try to comfort me and I won't want to talk about it, I might be a bit embarrassed, (not to mention I'll be out $300 or more) but nothing I can't handle. One way or another, I'll be bringing about change in my life.
Floridians! Know your public universities!
Florida State University. It's in Tallahassee. It's abbreviated as FSU.
University of Florida. It's in Gainesville. UF or Florida, both are acceptable.
University of South Florida. It's in Tampa, which is not exactly south Florida, but oh well. It's abbreviated as USF, which is kind of like FSU, only it's in a different order.
Grandpa Simpson and Captain Insanity are really harshing my life buzz, as it were. They are both spoiled and pushy and mean and bossy and demanding and if they don't understand the way something works they want you to change the laws of physics (or html) to make the world conform to what they want. What do these people do when Burger King quits selling Croissandwiches and starts making Whoppers, and they want a Croissandwich?
ADDENDUM: Was almost involved in an automobile accident with Grandpa Simpson this AM.
I'm not mad at anyone, but I did take down my "Dramatis Personae" page for the time being. I need to update it, but more importantly, I've taken it down as a slight precaution, as my ire with Captain Insanity and Grandpa Simpson has begun to spill over onto this journal.
By the way, Grandpa Simpson apparently believes that the best way to keep the FBI from monitoring your e-mail is to not read your e-mail.
Yesterday, while I patiently waited in line at the Publix deli for my sandwich, behind me, a lady about ten years or so younger than me asked me what time it was. When I told her, she exclaimed "Oh, fuck!"
For some reason I was briefly startled by her exclamation, and then I wondered why. I use that word quite a bit myself, usually in conjuction with work. I think I was startled because also behind me was an older woman, much older than both of us. I think I must have had a flashback to my childhood days; "fart" was a bad word in our house and I didn't even encounter the "f word" until junior high. Shades of Ralphie in A Christmas Story" - "Oh, fuuuuuuuddgee...."
To this day I refrain from swearing in front of Mum, though I may have slipped and said "shit" in front of her. Maybe she didn't hear me. Anyway, this has all led me to wonder when "fuck" will become fully integrated into the language. I know my friends and I will continue to use the word, I don't think we'll stop swearing once we make it to the old folks' home, so perhaps it's only a matter of time.
It's about 7 in the morning, and we're experiencing a thunderstorm.
In January.
????
This can't be right. I better not go out there and see it raining frogs or locusts or whatever. I'm going to have to mow the lawn if this keeps up. If mowing is on the agenda, I better not see that damn rodent again.
Addendum: I note that the pollen levels are at high. Great. This is usually the one month I don't have to deal with being allergic to this place. Hrumph.
Just discovered that I let out one of my statement of purpose essays with three or four typos. It was for one of my back-up schools, so it's funny more than anything else. Better remember to get a second set of eyes to look at my last one.
Despite some reports to the contrary, apparently I was a good girl in 2003. Under the tree this year for me was some perfume I've been admiring (Lacoste pour Femme), a couple of nice camisoles, the John Henry cd by TMBG, Patterns of Fashion vol I, and...Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd. It is chock full of historic costuming goodness; don't dispair, Lunchbox, there's even some Italian info in there. (Mmmmm...information...) Also mixed in with great gifts like a fashionable bag embellished with bees, I got a faux mink pillow and throw. Wayniac (the de facto marketing leader) gifted me with wine and a bag of Lindt milk chocolate truffles. Now, I'm normally more into dark chocolate or white, but damn, Lindt can do miracles with even the milk variety.
I invested the cash gifts (thanks to those of you reading who elected to gift me in this fashion) in a Nikon FE.
While perusing the Clark for Prez web site, I found a link to his blog.
He hasn't updated it since Thanksgiving!
Web junkies, blog whores, and Internet addicts need a stream of new information, man. If you're running for president and you have a blog, you need to keep it updated. I guess he's letting the community blog and similar links on his site doing the blogging for him.
I'm still bummed that Iowa corn farmers get more of a say in who gets nominated just because they go first.
Speaking of political blogs, I found The Wage Slave Journal "witty and informative", to quote Homer Simpson talking about Ted Koeppel.
If you're not feeling well, nothing beats curling up with a well-made, full fat, made with real sugar ice cream. Especially if it's a simple flavor like chocolate or vanilla. Nothing to distract you from the cool, creamy sensations that come from spoiling yourself.
Except if you're lactose intolerant. Then I expect that eating milkfat enriched products like that would be bad.
Or if you're trying to follow that Atkins diet thing, because of all the sugar.
Or if you're diabetic and your sugar is in bad control. Then that sugar would probably make you feel sick.
Other than that, real ice cream is da bomb.
Last week I had to attend a work event that was held after hours at the Florida Aquarium. I was there mainly to play yearbook photographer. I snapped these two shots with a Sony digital camera. These are much more interesting than the shots I took of engineers eating and drinking. Uncle Chuckie was there, as full of himself as ever. The lameness of being at a work function was compensated by free wine, the chance to see the aquarium attractions without being surrounded by noisy kids, and overtime. Also I got to ignore the presentations of things I've heard before by gazing into the giant coral reef exhibit in the background. Coolness. The wetlands exhibit is especially interesting at night. They leave the lights off so the critters can get some semblance of a normal life; it's very neat.
This little girl also had to attend the event, but she made the best of it as well. Her eyes were a startling shade of blue - maybe I'll post a larger version so you can appreciate them a little better.
This Modern World - "Dean Can't Win".
Poor Dean, he actually showed a bit of passion and (gasp!) personality the other night with his now-infamous "Dean Scream" post-Iowa speech. What's the big deal, he got emotional! This is a nation that loves pro wrestling and NASCAR, but we can't handle a politician that gets excited at the prospect of the challenges that he faces? What he needs to do is go on the Letterman show and poke a bit of fun at himself. Admit that it happened. Kind of like Hugh Grant did after being caught with that hooker.
What really irks me is the fact that most of America swallows whole all the media reports and just accepts whomever the television set tells them is the front runner. Do some damn research on the issues and the candidates, people, and make up your own minds!
Addendum:I'd like to welcome Howard Dean personally to "I'll Say She Is", seeing that he took my advice and did a hilarious Top Ten on Letterman last night. (tic, as you young kids write)
Got an e-mail today that described an event as "good in-the-bubble and out-of-the-bubble PR." Just what exactly that means, I'm not sure.
"The Nanny in Chief", an excellent column by Andrew Sullivan.
One of the reasons I don't like either party is that they lie about what they stand for. If the Republicans were truly in support of individual liberties, they would not be in support of a federal ban on abortion, and they certainly wouldn't be tied to the Religious Right. Conversely, it seems that the Democrats ought to be against abortion, based on their usual beliefs. It's all a bunch of crap on both sides.
I took these at lunch the other day with my newly-acquired Nikon FE. Yay, it works!
These trees grow along the bay on either side of the causeway. I've been looking at them for months, wanting to study them with my camera. The roots, the trunks, the bark, the almost silky pine needles - very textural, as they say in art school.
Thanks to the miracle of Photoshop, I can make this black and white from color film. What will they think of next? Not sure which I prefer of this shot.
It was exciting to go out and shoot a whole roll of film, not worrying about the cost or what all the people thought about the crazy woman taking pictures on the side of the bridge. The drawback was that I wanted to drive home instead of back to the office.
Addendum: Here's another one. I messed with the color a wee bit in Photoshop.
"When Two Are Served, You May Begin To Eat"- Gene Futterman
_____________And My Deepest Thanks To All Sentient Beings
For Without Them There Would Be No Place To Learn What I'm Seeing
There's Nothing Here That's Not Been Said Before
But I Put It Down Now So I'll Be Sure
To Solidify My Own Views
And I'll Be Glad If It Helps
Anyone Else Out Too
(Sounds much better on Ill Communication.)
There must be some mistake - it should be Friday, not Thursday. Possibly even Saturday. But it shouldn't be Thursday.
Alternate name for Captain Insanity - the Poison Prince. Both are suitable. Unfortunately.
How Would YOU Take Over the World?
As seen in Suck is Life.
