Where Does the Time Go?

Well, the semester is certainly coming to a close. I had my last class meeting yesterday. Finals week starts Monday. That should be fairly easy. I don't know if any of my students are going to turn in late essays or not. I'm planning to grade in-class essays today, as well as (hopefully) finish To Kill a Mockingbird for book club. I've read it a million times, but I like it so well that I decided to read it again, rather than rely on memory.

The essay-grading plan is thus:

Saturday: grade and record all in-class essays
Sunday: maybe grade some essays (if any from Monday's class come in late); otherwise, chill
Monday: give first final; grade essays to be returned Tuesday; grade Monday finals
Tuesday: give second final; grade essays to be returned Wednesday; grade Tuesday finals
Wednesday: etc.
Thursday: I'm not sure what to do during their final, as I haven't received essays from the Friday class to grade; perhaps read The 42nd Parallel.
Friday: collect final drafts of their essay; give last final; grade drafts during final; catch a plane home for Christmas; grade Friday finals on the plane
Saturday: figure and post grades

And voila! From Saturday morning on, I'll be on break! And one of my top priorities is making some potato pancakes.

Another is picking up Ulysses again. I started reading it over the summer, but with my teaching workload and the book club and the writing group, and my own personal quests to read the U.S.A. trilogy and practice guitar and learn Spanish and conquer Call of Duty and pick up an embroidery project I'm still working on for a friend and occasionally update this blog, I just can't seem to find the time to try to wrap my mind around Joyce. Might be a nice Christmas goal though. At least to make some more progress on it.

Random Ramblings: October Edition

I thought it was time to update my blog because it's been a week since my last update and since I'm planning to get final drafts of a narration paper from one class this weekend and rough drafts of an argumentative paper early next week (read: I'm gonna be uber-busy starting with this weekend).

Not a lot to report on right now. I did buy a fairly inexpensive Squier Strat the other day. I've had a lot of fun playing some Grateful Dead tunes (my best so far is "Ripple," though I can do pretty well with "Mississippi Half Step Uptown Toodeloo" and "Me and My Uncle" and even "Mexicali Blues" (if I skip a particular chord).

Been reading Winesburg, Ohio, but I'll admit, it's not as good as I expected it to be. I'm gonna keep truckin' and hope to finish it before its due date (though I've already had to renew it once).

Also, I've been fairly sick; I got sick the day before I got the guitar. And that's been almost two weeks ago. Not sick enough to have to stay home from work, but sick enough to sound like crap. I was hoarse all last week. This week, my voice has reached the Janis Joplin level. That's what I like to call it. In other words, my voice isn't as hoarse, but is still gravelly enough that if I try to belt out a song like, oh, say "Mercedes Benz," I sound remarkably similar to Janis. It's kinda cool, but I'd also like to get over this sickness, too.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Plus, even though I don't have papers to grade, I do have other things to do. So I guess I'd better get to it, because papers will be here before I know it! Peace out, y'all...

Catch-22 Reviews (quick overview of book and film)

I finished the book last night, then popped some corn and watched the movie. The movie was good, but not as good as the book. I hate that the moviemakers left out the "Washington Irving" nonsense. That was one of my favorite recurring themes of the novel. I realize, though, that to condense a 500+ page novel into a two-hour movie requires a good deal of editing. Still, it seemed as though the moviemakers took out mainly the humor and satire, which was my favorite aspect of the book.

I love this: three actors who would later join the cast of "The Bob Newhart Show" are in Catch-22. Newhart himself plays Major Major, Peter Bonerz (Dr. Jerry Robinson on BN Show) plays McWatt, and Jack Riley (Mr. Elliot Carlin on BN Show) plays a surgeon. Other funny stuff: Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates on Psycho) plays, of all parts, the Chaplain, Martin Sheen plays Dobbs, Jon Voight plays Milo Minderbinder, Orson Welles plays General Dreedle, and, to my utter shock, Art Garfunkel (yes, of Simon and Garfunkel) does an excellent job of portraying Nately. I was impressed.

Thought Yossarian was a little over the top, even for Yossarian in the movie. There's a lot of line-screaming in this film. I think the movie would have been far move effective had the actors not been quite so dramatic. While reading the book, I pictured the characters speaking loudly and with excitement, but not with that much excitement.

Several of the characters looked as I pictured them. Yossarian fit perfectly, in my estimation. Major Major was a great role for Newhart, also. Once again, Art Garfunkle fits Nately's persona well. All in all, it was an effective and humorous film, but nothing compared to the angry hilarity to be found in the novel by Joseph Heller.

Photography... and reading

Agh. I haven't been able to take the kind of photos I want lately. Either I'm busy doing something, or the lighting is off, or (like today) it's way too humid. Oh I took a picture, alright, but it's all hazy. I'm scared I'll ruin my camera pulling shenanegans like that. I really didn't know it would fog up the lens though, because I didn't realize the humidity was so high. Should've known better though, since the thunder was beginning in the west.

So, since I don't have photos to share at the moment, you get to hear me talk about the four books I'm reading! I've plowed through a few more pages of A Clockwork Orange and I'm now on page 8/175. A Clockwork Orange is a slow-go because I'm constantly looking up the Nadsat words in the glossary provided at the back of the edition I'm reading. I'm really thankful that there is a glossary, because otherwise, I wouldn't have a clue what any of the veshches* mean.

I'm on 248/561 on Catch-22, and holding steady on the other two. This means that with 342/788 on Little Dorrit and 22/783 on Ulysses I'm now to 620/2307 total, or just over 25%. I'm 256/736 or just over 33% finished with the books that are due on July 23, and I'm 364/1571 or just under 25% through the books that are due on August 1. I've really enjoyed Catch-22 so far. I'm planning to watch the movie after I finish the book. I mean, come on, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen, Bob Newhart, John Voight, Orson Welles, and Art Garfunkel? This has to be good.


*things

Addicted to Academia

It just occurred to me today that I am addicted to academia. I haven't been out of school a whole year yet, and still I can't seem to stay away from my community college or my university. In fact, I went to the university today to meet with a former professor and visit the library, and this evening, I'm heading to the community college to take, yes, a noncredit course.

This is not the only noncredit course I'm enrolled in. No sir! This is the final meeting of a three-week photography course, but I'm also enrolled in an online writing course, and a one-day course in something elusive that appears to be of a scrapbooking nature. It's summer and I've enrolled in three courses? That's practically a full load (in grad school terms, that is a full load).

But wait, there's more!

As you all know, I'm currently reading Little Dorrit with none other than two of my former professors. I'm also reading Ulysses as recommended by one of the profs, and I just checked out A Clockwork Orange and Catch-22. I've been reading all kinds of literature this summer and trying to get as many MLA Top 100 novels under my belt as possible. And I've been writing. Creative writing, that is.

If I start writing academic papers, then I'll know I have it bad.

Juneteenth

Today being June 19th, is Juneteenth. Were I not busy reading Little Dorrit and Ulysses, I'd have checked out the Ralph Ellison novel of the same name to start today.

Monochrome Maniacs: Catching Up

I'm reading Little Dorrit by Dickens. I liked the texture of the book cover, so I started playing around with angle more.


This is a row of empty tables at an Italian restaurant where I was dining one day.

Click here for more monomania, courtesy of Aileni.

True Colours Thursday--Man oh "Man" (Cobalt)

Sorry this is so cropped, but the game was sitting on top of some media storage at just about the right height, so I hated to move it.


I have no idea what this book is about, but I checked it out of the library, along with three others. I hope to start it soon!

True Colours Thursday is hosted by friend Blue.

In My Neck of the Woods...

Whew, what a busy weekend! On Thursday, I met up with some of my former classmates and professors from grad school. I should mention, this was after I'd spent a couple of hours with two of my friends who just graduated with bachelors degrees, and after going to work for a bit. Friday, I did the usual lunch with Grandma and Mom thing, and afterwards I worked a little. Saturday was graduation, so that was pretty much a day-long affair. Sunday was Mother's Day, and also a graduation party for one of the graduates. Suddenly, I see that it's Monday. In just under two weeks I'll have a bridal shower to attend for my cousin, and I just received the wedding invitation today. So much stuff going on that I feel the need to stop and catch my breath just typing!

In other news, I've been taking this "sabbatical" time to catch up on books, movies, etc. that I didn't have the time for during school. I just recently finished Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, then turned around and polished off Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's in less than 24 hours. Now I'm reading The Silence of the Lambs--I'm half done with it, and trying to decide what to check out next.

Well, I must sign off for now, as I'm preparing to fix a waffle and a veggie sausage patty for supper. I know, I'm odd eating breakfast foods of an evening, but heck, that's what sounded good.

Bookish Meme

BJ tagged me for this meme quite some time ago, but I needed some time to think about my answers, so, though late, here it is!

List:-
Four childhood books I've read.
1. "Little House" series
2. Caddie Woodlawn
3. The Secret Garden
4. Mathilda

Four Classic books read & never forgotten.
1. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. (Yep!)
2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
3. The Maltese Falcon (even though it's a 20th century novel)
4. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (another 20th century novel)

Four personal modern 'Classic' novels...
1. The Catcher in the Rye
2. My Antonia by Willa Cather (I'll keep this one too, BJ!)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (Agreed again!)

Four authors I read again and again...
1. William Faulkner
2. Edgar Allan Poe (We must be related, BJ!)
3. John Steinbeck
4. David Sedaris

Four authors &/or books I'll never read again.
(Well, I don't want to say never, but...)
1. Not a fan of Shakespeare
2. or Austen
3. ?
4. ?

Four books on my 'To-Be-Read' list...
1. Jude the Obscure What is my problem?!
2. The Great Gatsby Imagine being an English graduate and having never read Gatsby!
3. Finnegan's Wake Man, I am a glutton for punishment!
4. Oliver Twist

The four books I'd take to a desert island...
1. Some sort of foreign language learning book.
2. Finnegan's Wake! If I were stranded, then I might have time to actually try to make sense of it!
3. The Bourne Trilogy (in the form of one bound book)--if this is possible
4. Something by James Thurber so I can have a good laugh now and again

Four books recommendations you have followed:-
1. The Bourne Identity. Recommended by Alisa; though it was on a to-read someday list, she told me that I'd really like it--and I did! That's all I can think of, at the moment!
2. " " Supremacy, also from Alisa.
3. When I finish Supremacy, I plan to read Ultimatum (so I'm sorta cheating with the meme answers...)
4. ?


The last lines of one of my favorite books:
"Spade, looking down at his desk, nodded almost imperceptibly. 'Yes,' he said, and shivered. 'Well, send her in.' (Dashiell Hammett The Maltese Falcon)--sorry--this doesn't make sense unless you've read the book, but I didn't want to give any plot away.

I'll tag anyone who wishes to do this meme, but I especially hope that Alisa decides to participate, because I'd love to see her answers!

I've Got Valentine's Plans! (But Not What You Think)

Well, my grandma and step-gramps just stopped by to visit... and to ask if I would watch my cousin (the one with Down's syndrome) tomorrow night. Fortunately, I didn't really have anything going on. This might be a great opportunity for me to get some Bourne Identity reading in. I might bring a craft along as well. I remember how incredibly sleepy I was the last time I watched her when my grandma got home late; hopefully I don't get so ridiculously sleepy tomorrow night. I guess it'll be a nice way to spend Valentine's, all in all.

True Colours Thursday--Pink!

I'll admit it's not my favorite color, but I do have a few pink things...


This is a "yarn backpack" that I got for Christmas. When the weather warms up, I hope to pack a project or two and go to the park!


I love this book. It's a collection of creative nonfiction stories that one of my professors introduced me to in college. Actually, it was one of the required texts for the course. Bradway is truly an inspiration to me. I love her style, and the monochromes that provide a backdrop for each chapter are priceless. Since the book was published on a small press, I'm not sure how easy it is to obtain a copy of it, though.

True Colours Thursday is the brainchild of friend Blue

A Bookish Meme

I learned of this meme from BJ and decided to give it a go. So, without further ado, I give you, the book meme...

Name a book you have read more than once.
To Kill a Mockingbird

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it?
The Grapes of Wrath

How do you choose a book? (by cover design and summary? recommendations? reviews? etc.)
Generally, I like to try for novels that have hit the MLA's top 100 novels of the 20th century, or other books written by authors who've made the list (mainly Steinbeck and Faulkner)

Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?
Interesting question... I write nonfiction, and I love David Sedaris' work, but I generally read those MLA top 100 novels...

What's more important in a novel, beautiful writing or a gripping plot?
Wow that's a toughie... I wouldn't say the plot of The Grapes of Wrath is exactly gripping, yet the writing isn't the most beautiful, either. I'd say I like how the book makes me feel and what types of social commentary the author is making in writing it. But I digress. I'm on The Maltese Falcon right now, so I'd go with plot, I guess.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book)?
I'd say Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. When I was a GA I taught this book to a group of very bright freshman, and I really enjoyed it.

Which book(s) can be found on your nightstand at the moment?
Don't have a nightstand, but the books that are nearest my bed are The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett), The Unvanquished (William Faulkner), The Hamlet (William Faulkner), and The Apple Tree (BJ Roan).

What was the last book you've read, and when was it?
Sanctuary by William Faulkner. I finished it about a week ago.

Have you ever given up on a book halfway in?
Yes. I tried to read The Catcher in the Rye in high school on my own time, and I just couldn't get into it. However, in college, I loved it. A similar thing happened to me with The Sound and the Fury.

P.S. I received a comment saying that I should tag people to do this meme. I completely forgot about doing that. Since BJ left it open to anyone who would like to participate, I'll do the same. Just let me know if you do because I'd love to read everyone else's posts for this meme!

A Little Jaunt to Barnes and Noble

I went shopping with my mom, aunt, and grandma today. This is pretty incredible, considering I generally don't care for shopping. However, today I was in the mood, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hadn't noticed until today how long it's been since I've stepped foot into a Barnes and Noble, though. When I walked through the doors and smelled the coffee (wow, I missed a great use of the word "olfactory" here), and saw all the books on shelves and on display tables, memories came rushing back. Hours and dollars spent having a great time in the bookstore. I think I have a different interest every time I visit a bookstore, though. Sometimes I wind up in the cookbooks (vegetarian and desserts), some days it's classic novels (a.k.a. "literature"), on adventurous days, it's the travel section, when I feel like cleaning out old "junk" I check out the books on collectables, and the list goes on forever. Today, I visited literature and bought The Unvanquished by, of course, William Faulkner (definitely my favorite author at the moment). I also bought The Maltese Falcon. I've always heard of it, and it sounded interesting, and since I had a Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in my pocket, I decided to go for it. After literature, my next stop was books on writing. Along the way, my mom spotted David Morrell's new book, The Spy Who Came For Christmas in the Christmas display table. Whoa, awesome! I could have had an autographed copy of this book *slaps self in forehead*. Yes, I met the guy who created Rambo at a writer's conference in Scottsdale, Arizona last month. Yes, he was signing books. No, I didn't get one. I mean, I can't say that I'm a Rambo fan (I can't say I'm not either, because I've never seen the movie or read First Blood), but still, I could have gotten an autographed copy of something by the guy who created Rambo. Oh well. But when I got to the writing section, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a book on writing, written by none other than David Morrell himself. This one is going on my Christmas list. On the way out, I thought of the coffee again. If I hadn't been saving my money, I would have bought one for old times' sake. Coffee or no, this day will still make a nice memory for the next time I take a trip to Barnes and Noble.