Friends

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Evening Activities with Friends

Rather relaxed night at a friend's apartment:

J, walking into the room: Are you guys watching Hee Haw?

M: No, this is an infomercial for Hee Haw on DVD.

Easing back into it

I'm with Michelle: This break has spoiled me too. As always, I had so much fun at home. I hung out with all my friends and spent a good deal of time with their children too, which I enjoyed immensely. I love children's entelechial smiles, scowls, pouts, frowns, and passive, vacant, along-for-the-ride expressions. But more than that, I love the way they observe and listen to everything, then grab you-never-know-what out of the heteroglossia and pull it together to form their own bright, funny, utterly unpredictable remixes.

I'm also with Prof. B. in my readiness for the semester to be over.

Should I assign Deirdre McCloskey's The Secret Sins of Economics (PDF, via Tyler Cowen) in my first-year composition class (not this semester, of course)? Or would that be too cruel? There's a lot to discuss: the style, while self-indulgent, is innovative, and McCloskey addresses opposing views actively and directly. I guess I've had the urge to assign experimental discourse lately; next Wednesday we'll be discussing Nomy Lamm's "It's a Big Fat Revolution," and I'm even toying with the idea of assigning This Is the Title of This Story, Which Is Also Found Several Times in the Story Itself. Right now I'm trying to explain metacommentary and self-referentiality in research papers -- what those are, how much is too much if one's not deliberately using them as style devices, etc., so these things are on my mind.

Today's Webby Bonbons

Rana's back! :grin:

Like Jenny, I can't get enough of group hug. I have a paranoid fantasy that the administrators of the site are collecting information on the contributors through some behind-the-scenes means and are waiting to do a massive blackmail. Have you read what people write there? Lots of stuff that would get folks in trouble, like violent 1nc3$+, etc.

Speaking of Jenny, go congratulate her! Her piece in Postmodern Culture just came out.


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what flavor pocky are you?


[c] sugardew

Election 04 and Blog Silence

After the election and the emotionally-charged reactions to it, Michelle and Cindy have started afresh, deleting their old blogs and starting new ones. I don't quite understand the motivations, mostly because they've done it for personal reasons I can't possibly know. While I'm dismayed to lose the old posts, I respect their decision, and they don't owe anyone an explanation. I'm more concerned about the likelihood that some will stop blogging completely, like Rana, who has announced that she's going on hiatus indefinitely, and now Jeanne, who is thinking about taking Body and Soul down.

I know it's awfully melodramatic, but images of self-immolation on a pyre of virtual burning books keep coming to my mind. I might as well say it -- suttee -- because I can't pretend not to notice that these are all bright, eloquent women. It should be obvious that I have nothing but respect for all of the bloggers I've mentioned, I certainly understand the desire to retreat and reflect for a while, and I'll support any decisions they make about their blogs, but it's precisely because I hold them in such high regard that I must object to the decision to stop blogging (in the case of Rana and Jeanne, that is).

NB to Cindy, Michelle, Jeanne, and Rana: Please correct me if I've misrepresented your motivations. People have assigned motives to me before that hadn't even occurred to me, and I don't want to do it to anyone else. I sincerely apologize in advance if I have.

Mama's got a brand new blog

Go see Cindy at her new place!

100 More Things About Me

I want to start the sequel meme! I mean, after the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, they released "More Dirty Dancing." After "Songs from Ally McBeal," they released Heart And Soul: New Songs From Ally McBeal Featuring Vonda Shepard. If they can do it, why can't I? :P Here are 100 more things about me:

  1. I have never bought or sold anything on eBay.
  2. My least favorite household chore is cleaning out the microwave.
  3. My second least favorite household chore is ironing. For years I bought only clothes that didn't require ironing.
  4. About twelve years ago, I wanted to be a writer for Soap Opera Digest. I mean it was my dream job. Ugh.
  5. I love almond butter and jam and honey sandwiches on stone ground wheat bread.
  6. I prepare and eat such sandwiches in a ritualistic manner. I put the honey on the bread first, so that it can absorb into the nooks and crannies. Then I apply thick layers of almond butter and jam. When I take a bite, the almond butter and jam ooze out from the crusts of the bread, so in between bites, I constantly run my tongue around the crusts of the bread to catch the excess, like I'm eating an ice cream cone on a hot, windy day.

John's Birthday

Happy belated birthday to John, one of the coolest senior citizens I know. :D [Edited to add: Hey, you need some Ben-Gay, Aspercreme, and Icy Hot in that goodie basket!]

The Cell Phone Talkin'est Person I Know

...is probably myself. I got my Sprint bill today, and I always open it with a morbid curiosity about how many minutes I racked up. This month, it was 2,333 minutes, and believe it or not, that's not as many as most months. I range between at least 2000 but usually about 3000 minutes a month. That's about 100 minutes a day. Why that much phone-talking? Is it really necessary? (Yes. Yes it is.) :P I reluctantly agree with the statement, "Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone." I do it quite absently.

Edited to add, in case you were wondering: I have one of those mega-plans with more minutes than I can possibly use, which ensures that I pay a flat fee every month. One thousand one hundred daytime minutes, unlimited Sprint-to-Sprint minutes, and unlimited nights and weekends (nights start at 7:00).

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