YAY!

This is genius:



From Will Write for Chocolate.

All shall be well

Woo hoo! My philosophy class has been canceled for the day! I hope everything's okay with the professor, but I'm glad to have extra free time. Also, my P&P seminar has moved into a new stage where we'll pretty much be meeting with the professor once a week and writing on our own the rest of the time. I'm meeting with him today.

My room did not get cleaned last night. Did I already say that? I kind of feel like I did. Oh well. I did get my curtains put up.

I also watched House. Anyone else watch it regularly? If you do, I have only this to say: Whoa. Whammy of an episode. I loved the part where House is talking to Wilson and Wilson says something and House gets his AHA! look on his face and Wilson says, "I just gave you the answer, didn't I? You're now going to walk out of here without saying a word." As House walks out the door he replies, "Nope."

We had quite the rousing discussion in my English class this morning. Veered off of Milton and onto free will/predestination. Take that, people who say that a secular school hates religion. Ahem. I will try to be kind, really. I put my two cents in, but I felt like people were kind of misunderstanding me. Hopefully that can get cleared up on Friday. Incidentally I realized this morning that I accidentally read ahead in that class, so I have like two pages of reading for Friday. Yaaaay.

Last night I had this feeling that yesterday had been a good day but I was setting myself up to have an awful day today. So far that prediction has not come true and I hope it continues to not come true.

I do need to:
~call the travel agency about tickets
~fill out my ballot
~clean my room
~wash dishes
~figure out somewhere to put my picture
~figure out some way to keep my curtain rod from sagging
~meet with my professor
~get everything ready to go to the bank
~check my mail
~e-mail my priest and his wife (evidently they have a birthday present waiting for me at home)

*wipes away tears*

If you have read Pride and Prejudice and have never seen the 1940 version with Lawrence Olivier and Greer Garson go rent it NOW. We just finished watching it and it was possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever seen. I won't reveal all of the plot twists, but suffice it to say that Lady Catherine is quite a character, Mr. Darcy is sweet and shy, and the ladies all wear dresses at least forty years too late.

See the trailer:




And the first proposal scene:




If that doesn't convince you, nothing will.

This is terrible, but I kind of want to own this version. When I am sick and unhappy it would cheer me up and restore my faith in the unintentional hilarity of humanity.

By the way, this is my 401st post on this blog. Pity I didn't notice the numbers earlier. We could have had a party.

More fall

I've been thinking more about it, and I think one of the reasons I love fall so much is that it's going towards winter, towards death and hibernation. But instead of being boring, grey, and quiet, fall is gorgeous. I look forward to fall's colors all year. It reminds me a little of the one thing I really like about Nietzsche's philosophy: the idea that we should not be merely resigned to our lives but instead we should affirm them. It also reminds me of one of my absolute favorite e.e. cummings poems:

who are you,little i

(five or six years old)
peering from some high

window;at the gold


of november sunset

(and feeling that:if day
has to become night

this is a beautiful way)

My mission for today: to live in a fallish way.

Fall days

I was really grumpy today until Sam and I went to an orchard where we drank apple cider and ate doughnuts and sat in the sun and talked.

I really love fall. It's a season that somehow feels very peaceful to me, even when there are storms and rain and wind. I think I've decided it's my favorite of all the seasons.

Dinner soon...not sure where we're going tonight. Probably somewhere cheap and Asian.

Life

A somewhat productive day today. I slept in because I did not sleep well at all last night and I'd been tired all day yesterday. I still felt a little groggy all day.

Working on my P+P paper. I'm going through North and South now, marking all the parts I think are relevant. I'm almost done with it. Then I have to go through both books and organize the relevant parts. Then I have to make some kind of a thesis. Then I have to write the paper. Oh. Joy.

I'm complaining a lot, but I am interested. I am engaged. It's just a lot of work, especially since I'm using two texts which means twice the reading, twice the social commentary, etc.

I have nothing on Thursdays until 5 pm and then I have work from 5-6, swing at 7, Bible study at 8, and the Office at 9. Most of these are optional, if they really need to be, but they're kind of my scheduled people time so I try not to miss them. I am an introvert, but having a single has impressed on me the value of people time.

My room is really messy, but our independent Bible study tomorrow will force me to clean it. I am resolved.

Okay. I think I'm going to do some more reading and then maybe figure out something to watch.

The birthday

So...my birthday weekend. I went home Friday night--my mother came up and picked me up after work. When we got home I watched a little of "House of Flying Daggers" (good movie, a few FFW scenes) and then realized I needed to go to bed.

Saturday we worked on getting the house cleaned up a bit and food made. Two frineds came over about 11:30. We talked a bit and then ate lunch. Bratwurst or hamburgers, potato salad, tomatoes, pickles, and carrot sticks. My father was working until 1:00 so we played Taboo and Clue until then. When he got home we had cake and I opened presents. Rested a bit, talked to my sister, and went to Vespers and Matins. It was a really nice day, full of good things and people who love me.

Today we went to church, came home and then I left about 2:15. It was a great blessing to have communion.

The day ended nicely with dinner (at the cafeteria, yes I am lame) with friends, Mulan, and white chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream. *falls over* That stuff is amazing!

And now....the presents! (Click on the pictures to see them full-sized...I can't fiddle with them right now as I need to go to bed.)


My father made me spoons. Which is just super cool! I'd been hoping he would make some for me sometime but it was nice to get them now.


My friends gave me an English tea. Scone mix, Twinings Earl Grey, Nutella, digestive biscuits, mushroom pate, lemon curd, rolls, an English cucumber, Devon cream, smoked salmon, English cheddar cheese with carmelized onions. All in a lovely basket!

Close-up of the basket


My sister painted me a picture! Isn't it lovely?


Books...yes, my brother gave me the King of Attolia.


Second hand baking pans.


Origami


My gag joke from my friend Nick--he made the cover to fit on some random book...because he likes to get me mad by talking about Jane Eyre as if Jane Austen wrote it.

And! The gift that you can't see because it was taking all of these pictures...a digital camera! It was really sweet of my parents to get it for me.

Not pictured: a red sweater (YAY!), a cream shirt, and a traveling skirt.

So...some good, some bad. At the moment I'm tired which is not helping my attitude. Hopefully sleep and a new day will.

I also realized when I got back that my alarm clock would have gone off at 8:30 am both days. Ooooops. Sorry neighbors. Maybe I should give them some of the cookies I made last week.

Prayer

"God is truth, and my prayer should be truth as well as life; God is light and my prayer should be offered in the light of the mind and the heart; God is fire and my prayer should be ardent; God is perfectly free, and my prayer should be the free outpouring of the heart."
~St. John of Kronstadat, Spiritual Counsels

Ta ta

I'm off to work and then my mother is coming to pick me up and take me home for the weekend. I'll be back sometime Sunday afternoon. See you then!

More on Twilight

I saw someone in the cafeteria wearing a Twilight shirt.

Uh.

For some reason my initial reaction to the books was fairly balanced and mild but now I'm kind of in this "WHY???" stage where people are annoying me. I think it's mostly a counterbalance to the people who are like: "tHis iS thE greAtest bOok EVARRR!!!!!!!!!!!!" Uh, no. It's not a terrible book, but it is NOT the greatest book ever. There are issues of writing and plot that should probably have been addressed by the editors. Like tightening up that first 150 pages.

I am also vastly scared by the number of people who think Edward is the most perfect human being in the whole world. I know there are extremes of fangirldom for almost every book/movie/tv show out there, and I squee over a good number of characters myself. (Gen, Ned, Lord Peter Whimsey...) But Twilight seems to breed them for some reason. And, sorry Team Edward, I just don't see it. I mean, from the first book I like him better than Jacob who basically is just like, "Dude sucks." But if you find it extremely romantic for a guy to watch through your bedroom window while you're sleeping before you're even officially together, I just don't know what to say to you.

Also, he sparkles.

Now, I'm not, not, not saying that you can't enjoy these books! There was certainly some part of me that liked the one I've read. What I am saying is that you can't claim them as great literature, or great YA literature. (Robin McKinley, Ursula Le Guin, Madeline L'Engle, Megan Whalen Turner and L.M. Montgomery are much better choices. Lloyd Alexander too. And Robin McKinley even wrote a vampire book.) If you want to keep your hoard of S. Meyer books around for when you need that kind of book, go for it. Who am I to judge? I am reading through Georgette Heyer one after another. Just give up the claims to eternal glory.