So, Wednesday i left for Virginia. Pretty uneventful. Yay for etickets 'cause i get to just swipe my credit card in an express terminal and it gives me my boarding pass(es). Sarah had said "the airport is tiny and it won't be hard to find each other." She wasn't wrong about the latter, but i wouldn't exactly call Roanoke tiny, though it's certainly smaller than Logan, JFK, and Dulles. The lecture at Mary Baldwin that we were ostensibly all going to got cancelled last-minute, so Jan enjoyed some hours of alone time and the three of us LJ friends hung out. (And yeah, it was, interesting, explaining LJ to Jan for about half the ride from Roanoke to Staunton.)

We ate at the Pampered Palate, which was nowhere near as high class as the name sounds -- which was good since, duh, we're poor -- and had good food. Later we went to the Daily Grind. They had ice cream (?) in assorted flavors, including "rose petals and champagne," which was so tempting, but i really wasn't hungry, so i refrained.

We spent about 4 hours together (me, Sarah, Ari) and there were so many lulls in the conversation, which was too bad because they're both wonderful people. I tend to think i suck at initiating conversation, but i'm not used to being around people who are so much more introverted than i am, since most of my friends are so talkative. (And also because i'm honestly much more talkative than i'm used to thinking of myself as. Sidenote: I was talking to Ari later in the week about people who do the kind of "I'm going to talk about me, right now, nonstop" thing and how i dislike it because there isn't space for me to engage in the conversation, and she suggested that people who are really shy might prefer having those kinds of people around because then they -- the shy people -- don't feel an obligation to contribute to the conversation, which was interesting and something i had never thought of before.) Ari commented at one point during the evening that i was like my LJ in realtime, all "Hey, look, that's interesting," which was definitely true. She i eventually ended up in something of a sustained discussion about fandom, which kind of left Sarah out because she has less fannish involvement than we do. Le sigh.

Jan took me and Sarah back to Hollins, and Thursday morning around 10am Sarah took me for a tour of campus. It looked grey and precipitating, but that turned out to be snow, and there were patches of snow already on the ground. I was happy. It's a lovely campus. Even their newer buildings are all brickish. Sarah's building at least has wide halls and high ceilings and nice carpet. Both Hollins and Mary Baldwin i felt like i was in a public restroom in the restrooms because they don't have cubicles like we do, so they have attached to the wall soap dispensers and paper towel dispensers. I was, however, pleased to see that they do the themed, differentiated by class, name tags on the doors of the dorm rooms. Oh, and their beds look like they could actually comfortably fit two people, unlike the Smith beds.

We ate lunch on campus (her dining hall has primary color stoneware), and i didn't have to pay, which was exciting. Sarah was gonna drop me at the library during her Medieval Lit exam, but i was crashing, so i just napped in her room. I did read the March 22 Christian Century, though. My Inklings prof had a one-page piece on the Festival of the Annunciation and Good Friday falling on the same day (March 25) and from the first two paragraphs it was such a her article.

Sarah's dad took us out to dinner at Wildflour that night. They serve Better Than Sex Cake, which i opted out of because it's chocolate cake with chocolate icing and maple icing and nuts and chocolate chips. (I restrained myself from saying anything along the lines of "Think i'll keep my sex vanilla.") I did have a so rich and so yummy chocolate mint parfait brownie.

That night i met Kyrie (who gave Sarah The Brother's Keeper, which looks interesting but has an its/it's typo on the back cover, which is tragic) and Bonnie (who's a History major but says she thinks she was meant to be an English major, like girls who were really meant to be boys -- ♥ the tranny analogy) and then we went over to Jan's. We walked her crazy puppy (who gnawed off his leash) and then browsed her books. (She'd had to go out, so we spent a good chunk of time over there without her.) The cover flap of Luke Timothy Johnson's creed book begins with saying how Christians recite the creed every church service, and i thought, "Catholics != Christians" (though no, i don't actually think in logic symbols). Lord's Prayer yes, Creed no. When i asked Jan, she said Lutherans and Episcopalians do. Episcopalians are Catholic Lite, and Lutherans were the first sect after the Roman Catholic Church schism, so i guess that makes sense. The conflation of Catholic and Christian is one of my hot buttons, though, so the author was really not winning any points with me. I also flipped through a prayer book Sarah said was really good. Looking at the table of contents i skipped to the Radical Prayer chapter at the end. It says you should repent on behalf of your own nation and then expand and repent for other nations. Okay, i get repenting of your complicity in the evils of world, but i was really confused by this whole "repent on behalf of all the nations" thing. I forgot to ask Jan about it. Maybe i'll e-mail her.

Back at the dorm that night i felt kinda like i was back at Smith with the loud crazy people, including boys, in the hall outside. Apparently a lot of people were starting their Spring Break early. I was reminded of some weekend nights back at Smith. I kicked Sarah out around midnight so i could sleep around midnight. I felt bad, but she said the study room was probably quieter than her room with the noisy people. Then i had insomnia, so i felt extra bad kicking her out.

Friday i joined Sarah for her Independent Study meeting with Jan and totally dominated the historicity discussion. Meep. Then i went to Sarah's art history lecture, which was cool. The first half was on the Sistine Chapel. The professor talked a lot about the heroic overmuscular way that Michelangelo's figures were depicted, and she talked a lot about his love of the human body. There was, however, no mention of the fact that the female figures appear to be just male figures with female bits added on, even though we actually looked at the Libyan Sybil and the original drawing thereof, which makes it so obvious. (Can we tell the lecture i went to last year is my only academic interaction with Michelangelo?) In the images we saw in this lecture, though, the women's breasts actually look accurate. And i keep wondering, why do men always get depicted in classic sclupture and painting with stumpy dicks? Oh, and the prof talked about the panel in which God reaches out a finger to bring Adam to life and said that while Michelangelo's figures are often depicted in movement, this Adam looks very languid and echoes classical river god depictions and i think that was the panel that she talked about in reference to the Mass installing a new Pope wherein there's a prayer or a hymn or something that asks God to reach out with the finger of his right hand and fill you with manly vigor.

Sarah's friend Rachel (whom i didn't meet) lent her a really nice air mattress for my usage, but i broke the valve on it trying to deflate it while we were packing up, so i'll be paying her back. I lose. I got along with Jan and with Sarah's dad (oh banter on the way back to Staunton), though, so that's two in the win column.

Sarah's dad dropped me off with Ari, and i got to eat dinner at Mary Baldwin without paying (yay!). The part we sat at was like a fancy restaurant the way the tables were (though the section we ate brunch in the following day was more basic hardwood). And i had 3 glasses of strawberry-banana kiwi juice which was yummy and which i now miss. Ari's crazy friends and all the sexual innuendo involved in the dinner conversation made me feel like i was back at Smith. Later we went over to Zoe and Roxanne's to pick up the fold-out bed they were lending me, and we hung out and watched them play Xenosaga for a while until i couldn't take any more video game (The plot was interesting, but the fighting is omgsoboring.) and we went back to Ari's room. She crashed, so i caught up on LJ comments, then crazy!Megan came back. She and her friend watched SVU and i ended up kinda watching with them. (Was it gay night or something? Both episodes. "Don't look at me, I just know stuff.") Monk was next, and i keep hearing good things about this show, but the first few minutes were so unappealling, so i went outside (cushioned benches in the hallway!) and read some homework. Another of Megan's friends arrived and they continued being loud. I was so boggled. Yes it was obscenely early, and i wouldn't argue that one has to move one's entire life just because roomie is sleeping, but the complete oblivion was so foreign to me. One of the women on the hall told me there was a lounge at the end of the hall, so i moved down there and later in the night Ari woke up and found me and we talked until about 6am.

Mostly about Jossverse and meta and fandom and such. How Firefly is a character-driven ensemble show (and how Kaylee chooses to be static) and how final season BtVS felt kinda schizophrenic in part because the relational hierarchy usually discernible was no longer discernible. We also discussed BtVS and Angel as shows as a whole and the nature of the seasons and Ari argued that BtVS knew what it was trying to do while Angel seemed to be figuring out what it wanted to do each season. I made the analogy that BtVS is like making cakes of different flavors and Angel is like having a bakery of options. There was no cookie dough involved, but apparently i'm fond of baked goods metaphors, because on Wednesday we talked about defining heresy and how heresy is perverting the orthodox beliefs versus having totally different beliefs and i made the analogy of putting arsenic in pies versus choosing to make cake. Oh, and we talked about deceit and free will in Angel seasons 4 and 5. And later we talked about church, but the fannish discussion was more interesting (to me anyway) 'cause the church stuff was more just exchanging personal stories.

Oh, and earlier that night i flipped through Ari's Disruptive Divas and read the Melisse Lafrance article on Tori Amos' "Cruficy," and part of me was wtf-ing, and part of me was thinking, "I'm going to grow up and be doing this" (and having mixed feelings about that).

Saturday we got up in time to have brunch, and i got back to Roanoke and flew back to Logan no problem. My dad's receipt for parking in Logan said 21 minutes. Impressive. I watched SNL with the fam when i got back. Loved the Chris Parnell-Ashton Kutcher bit during Weekend Update. I told my dad about it on the drive back to Smith today (he had gone to bed by that point) and he said there are a bunch of kids at our public high school who play around with gender roles in a joking manner and it made me happy that it was a safe space for them to do so. And i was reminded of the two guys doing "Dirty Dancing" during Class Act.

Apparently i can't stop talking about Closer. *pokes antheia (and sexonastick if she's seen it)*

So yeah, that was my break. It's good to be back. So much sex at dinner. Yay for traumatizing the Cat. ;) Homework what? Parties in my future, Kate got Wonderfalls, etc. Not to mention catching up on LJ. I did get stuff accomplished over the Break, though.
Summary: I appreciate The Scarlet Letter more on second reading. Hester is interesting. I still don't like Wuthering Heights, but it's easier to follow the relationships having read it once before.

Got positive feedback on all 3 ficathon pieces i wrote. And people (okay, by "people" i mean queenzulu) want me to write more of some of the stories. Haven't read any of the ficathon stories myself, or even responded to the feedback left on my own.

One of the reasons i didn't feel like visiting the high school over Break was that i'm sick of the grad school question. I have now gotten rejected from all of my PhD programs except for the one i really want to attend. I applied in December. Just tell me already so i can make alternate plans or not.

( gratuitous internetage )

The drive home yesterday included only a few flakes of snow, but today it was wet heavy large snow all day. I walked to the library anyway. [Walking outside, it just smelled like snow, like winter, like Christmas.] Turned out they were closing early, but i hung out until they closed and got a ride home. I may stop by again on Tuesday after visiting the high school. Gotta love how i'm gonna be spending about 48 hours in Norwood of the remaining 8 days of my Spring Break. Yay for having fun plans, though. Really nothing of interest to write about so far. I've been sleeping a lot and trying to get some schoolwork reading done. And i think i might manage to get my ficathon stuff done in time, which is exciting.

It was raining when i got up this morning. 9:45am i see ( this ) on weather.com. On the way to my 10:30 class, the rain has begun to shift to snow. I get to class, and people are talking about predictions of 10 inches. The 10:56am "Physical Plant is declaring a snow emergency as of 11 a.m. today" e-mail says: Snowstorm - Predicted 4" - 6" with potential for 8" - 10"

And the last time heavy predictions were accurate was...? I did enjoy looking out my window as i worked on my homework, however, watching everything become increasingly crusted over with white.

The snow seems to have stopped some hours ago, giving us an accumulation of about an inch, though i hear it's bitch cold and it was certainly very windy for much of the day. And the kitchen staff left out breakfast supplies per usual. Mmm, lemon sherbet and pretzels.

Yes, talking about the weather and screencapping is way more fun than homework. (Hall party in/outside my room every night, what?) I have been good, though. I finished revising my seminar paper, and i did my MAT essays and outlined my Inklings presentation. Now all i have to do is my Inklings essay for Friday. Hot damn. (Oh, and finish my reading journal for Mere Christianity, but that's not a big deal. It makes me sad that i've been too tired to have functional thoughts -- i.e., contribute in class -- the whole time we've been doing this book. I do have an LJ entry in the works on some of it -- as well as some of what we talked about in RCFOS last week -- though.)

Calvin and Hobbes icons

I heart Elaine. And our brothers are so similar, and i'm so adorably proud of my bro, and we chatted about study abroad and just much yayness.

The synposium in honor of Donfried's retirement looks really cool. (Saturday, April 2 - Neilson Browsing Room 3-6:15pm with reception following)

• Rev. Raymond Collins (Catholic University) - "... that this letter be read to all of them" (1 Thessalonians 5:27)
  
• Amy-Jill Levine ('78, Vanderbilt) - Agreeing to Disagree: Biblical Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Dialogue
  
• Barry Moder (Smith) - Dim Undertones and Untrodden Ground
  
• Kathy H. Eden ('74, Columbia) - The Bible's Place in an Academic Curriculum
  
• Cynthia Schneider (Georgetown) - From the Da Vinci Code to DNA: Science Politics, and Religion in Popular Culture

I'm not sick but I'm not well
And I'm so hot cause I'm in hell
I'm not sick but I'm not well
And it's a sin to live so well

I feel like there's some quip about "It should be a crime to look that good," but the closest my brain comes is the Harvey Danger song.

Some of my friends will appreciate this. "Righteous lust." Hee. (Which reminds me: Lilah and the seven deadly sins by jennyo = hottness.)

kita0610 started the Secret Fandom Shame meme. Um, do i have shame? Non-con and songfic maybe. I have a habit of being obnoxiously unashamed of my bad taste (See also: assorted movies) so really, these are shame only in that i know i'm not supposed to admit liking them. (And they're hardly bulletproof kinks -- I don't think i have any of those -- I just happen to like them sometimes.) There's also incest, but i feel like in my fandoms that is so not shameful.

katemonkey revamped Loaded.

We believe that beyond the simple bond of a love of music, there's something deeper between Giles and Oz, a maturity level beyond anyone else in the gang, and that they, despite what they've done in the past, have a single, simple, zen-like connection to the world and everything around it.

Giles and Oz are just there. And that mellow (sometimes acoustic, sometimes electric) atmosphere is one we want to swim in.

Because what could be cooler than that?

Okay, that makes me wonder why i was never particularly keen on Giles/Oz before.

I am the sonnet, never quickly thrilled; Not prone to overstated gushing praise Nor yet to seething rants and anger, filled With overstretched opinions to rephrase; But on the other hand, not fond of fools, And thus, not fond of people, on the whole; And holding to the sound and useful rules, Not those that seek unjustified control. I'm balanced, measured, sensible (at least, I think I am, and usually I'm right); And when more ostentatious types have ceased, I'm still around, and doing, still, alright. In short, I'm calm and rational and stable - Or, well, I am, as much as I am able. What Poetry Form Are You?

If i were not a Sonnet, i would be Heroic Couplets.

I am heroic couplets; most precise And fond of order. Planned and structured. Nice. I know, of course, just what I want; I know, As well, what I will do to make it so. This doesn't mean that I attempt to shun Excitement, entertainment, pleasure, fun; But they must keep their place, like all the rest; They might be good, but ordered life is best. What Poetry Form Are You?

I appreciated being able to have a latenight snack last night, but the whole leaving breakfast food out in case of blizzard seemed a bit excessive. They did it last time, too. Both times Smith declared a Snow Emergency, predicted 6-12 inches, and we ultimately got a few inches.

Coming home from my Monday night class around 9pm the snow was just starting, small flakes, all blowing from one direction, and i was reminded of that line in The Wizard of Oz "I think there's a storm brewing." The snow kept going until about that same time tonight -- mostly larger flakes that were less pleasant to be walking around in.

It's funny, earlier this winter i was saying that the schizophrenia of the weather might be one reason i wasn't sick of winter yet -- because we got reprieves from the bitter weather -- but now the schizophrenia is making it harder for me to be in love with the winter weather; because we keep getting snatches of spring it starts to feel like it should be spring. But i have a rep to maintain as winter-loving. And i really do enjoy the snow. And seeing everything all coated in white, trees and all, was really lovely.

I was amused that on the day people were talking about wishing we had the day off i actually managed to haul myself out of bed in time to actually eat breakfast.

I used the phrase "narrative integrity" in my Eyre Affair Blackboard posting and Skarda was a big fan. Apparently she'd never heard the phrase before. I totally didn't invent it but hey, academics are thieves. Learned that "Snow in the night is like a gift" is from The Horizontal Man.

Guest name (Guest) wrote:
how would we know if classes tomorrow are cancelled?

velcrogerbil wrote:
If you look out your window and it looks like one of the scenes from "Day After Tomorrow." Then you'd stand a chance.

-DailyJolt

March 1 is Self-Injury Awareness Day. Last year, fox1013 posted a rant. This year she posted a story. meep.

SheOfTheManyUserNames is not dead. And lo there was much rejoicing.

And, in conclusion: I need to lock myself in my room for the next week and a half to get all my work done. (I think i need to make myself another to-do list.)

Lots of snow and passive-agressive whining does not a snow day make

Smith College: We only close for the apocalypse.

-leftoverture

And now it is snowing out!

*loves*

[written before bed last night while the internet was dead]

Waking up to a world lightly blanketed in white... yeah, i'm easy to please.

"Snow in the night is like a gift." -Kathy quoting Skarda

"The best way to get through winter is to enjoy it. The snow will stop soon and a wonderland will remain." -Skarda's e-mail to ENG 205

Why does Smith declare a snow emergency every time it snows? Their e-mail says 6-8 inches is predicted. It has been the snow equivalent of misting all day with a total accumulation of maybe 2 inches.

Talking about Perelandra in class was like pulling teeth. I actually really liked the book, but since i didn't have any serious issues with it (interminable description as in the last book, and a section near the end on essential masculinity and femininity that i well could have done without) i hadn't posted anything on Blackboard, and since we only had the weekend to read the book i suspected a lot of people hadn't read/finished it. I ended up talking a lot in class, mostly explaining why i thought Lewis' arguments were effective.
Talking about hierarchy (which is clearly important to Lewis), one student said that if you know your place, then you know what to focus on doing/being responsible for (because you know what stuff other people are responsible for) which i thought was interesting, and which connects to the idea about the importance of the present, which is a big thing in Perelandra -- of being satisfied with what one has, not worrying about the past or the future, not trying to recapture joys but just being happy in the joy of the present moment.

Then during lunch Emma and i were dorking out about Narnia. (Is Aslan's breathing on all the statues outside the White Witch's palace akin to the Harrowing of Hell?) Much though i talk about wanting just the Text of what Lewis actually believed, it is interesting to tease the Biblical allusions and theological/philosophical beliefs out of his fictional works.

Our most recently revised syllabus has us taking a break to do G. K. Chesterton [chapters 1-4 of Orthodoxy, plus some sayings] next week (since he was such a big influence on Lewis) and then doing books 1 and 2 of Mere Christianity the following week and then That Hideous Strength the following week -- starting Tolkien after Spring Break (which, it occurs to me, means one can start Fellowship over Spring Break; possibly CZ's one moment of good planning for this course). I e-mailed CZ suggesting we read all of MC and skip THS -- esp. since no one's gonna read/finish THS anyway.

I also came home to part of Spike's Woodstock diatribe from "School Hard" on my newly cleaned white board and cracked up laughing. (Kate had apparently been waiting "months" for my white board to be clean so she could write it.)

And the best piece of the day was the return of someone i have missed very much.

I'm still working on this whole getting-up-at-9am thing, but i did manage to have some breakfast this morning -- and whether it's 'cause i've been conscientous about consuming iron or just what, but i've been feeling really good -- which is so welcome after the angry foul mood i spent much of last week in.

My hair has been bothering me, though. I'm considering getting it cut quite short.

In MAT class, the student presentation on the Berger essay had us looking at a variety of images and thinking about a variety of questions. Looking at an L.L. Bean ad, Marina described it as, "a handsome middle-aged man who's comfortable with his life and his decision to buy the red turtleneck."

After i came home, Emma and and Kate and i watched the first 3 episodes of Blackadder II. I had forgotten that the season starts with "Bells," which is my favorite episode of the whole series (though grr, FlashHeart).

While waiting for the living room to be vacated so we could watch, we chatted, including about movies. Kate says i am musical deprived. I maintain that i've seen a whole lot of musicals, and even quite liked many of them; just most of them date from after 1990. Thinking about it later, here's my list.

I loved:
Les Miserables
Into the Woods
Little Shop of Horrors (the play, not the movie)
Singin' in the Rain
1776
the Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella w/ Brandy et al (i've never seen the original)
Jesus Has Two Mommies
Once More, With Feeling (the Buffy musical episode)
Godspell (the play moreso than the movie)

I have also seen:
West Side Story
Grease
The Sound of Music
HMS Pinafore
The Mikado
Pirates of Penzance
Damn Yankees
The Wizard of Oz
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
RENT
On The Town
Jesus Christ Superstar
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

(Last year she gave out superhero valentines, and of course mine had a note stating that they're all gay.)

Also from today:
-one from p00rn
-a luffly homemade one from Anna with those glittery things you can buy packages of -- stars, leaves, etc.
-a Shrek 2 one from Min Ji (it has the Antonio Banderas Puss in Boots -- hott on its own -- saying "You Slay Me, Valentine" which wins -- plus she drew in a little volcano in the message part, 'cause of the conversation we had last time i wore my Escape from Pompeii t-shirt)
-a mopey animal one from Ms. Anti-Valentine's-Day
-one from Felicia (your "fixated" friend) with two fluffy puppies saying "We Make a Cute Pair, Valentine"

And some of them came with candy. And there was chocolate to partake of at work. (All the cards and chocolate, i feel like Halloween -- collecting all this loot.)

And i haven't even checked my campus mail box yet -- though likely all that will contain is a card from my Grandma. Which is fine, really.

I never really get bitter about V-Day though i've never been partnered ever nevermind on V-Day. It just gets subsumed under my general discomfort with official occasions dictating that this is when you tell/show people that you care. I do like the outpourings of love and chocolate, but then there's the awkwardness of feeling that i'm expected to reciprocate, and that way lies much angst.

Emma looked omghot. Dark makeup, all black clothes (including skirt and stockings), hair swept up. Then it turned out she'd just put on cashmere 'cause she was cold, and the intended top was her red corset, which i had forgotten how guh! it is.

Other than papercuts and closing a file drawer on my thumb, work was aright. Focus sends 2 Thank You mints with each item you order and apparently they're also doing a First Friday thing wherein you get free samples of stuff when you place your order on the first Friday of each month, so we got gel pens -- 3 of them, 'cause apparently each ordered item gets its own accompanying freebie.

Last week Stacey e-mailed us student assistants thanking us for filling out our timesheets well, and i e-mailed back with a joke referencing a brief exchange we'd had earlier. I hadn't seen her since and worried she'd forgotten the exchange by the time she read the e-mail and would look askance at me, but actually when she saw me today one of the first things she said was that she had read it at home and laughed and she thanked me.

During my work shift, a couple people told me it was snowing out. When i left, i walked outside into a cloudy, near-sunset, precipitating world that was actually kinda depressing, but then i was actually in the snow and much happy.

And what would V-Day be without flowers. Aprile got hot dark red roses. And AJ got white and purple tulips. They reminded me of crocuses, which are my favorite flowers, though i had mad love for Aprile's roses.

Gillian has the best V-Day story:
While working at a public library, a creepy old guy asks her to help him find Canterbury Tales, compliments her on her research skills, proceeds to read her a bawdy portion and leeringly remarks, "Exciting stuff, isn't it?"

Second best story comes from my Ossian Scandal seminar reading. My retelling of the story of Duchommar and Morna:
DUCHOMMAR: Morna, you are beautiful. I love you.
MORNA: Duchommar, you're dark and kinda scary.
DUCHOMMAR: Morna, I have killed 3 deer. Just for you. Because I love you like whoa.
Morna: But Duchommar, you are dark and gloomy. Plus, I love Cadmor. In fact, I am going to sit down right here and wait for him. So there.
DUCHOMMAR: Muahaha! You will be waiting a long time, for I met him and fought him and slew him. Look, his blood is on my sword. (Clearly I never read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.) I will build a great tomb for him and lo, you shall love me, for I have a strong, um, arm.
MORNA: Cut down in his prime? Oh the tragedy! Duchommar, you are gloomy indeed, and your arm is cruel to me. Give me that sword, for I love even the blood of Cadmor.
DUCHOMMAR: [gives her the sword]
MORNA: [stabs him]
DUCHOMMAR: Woe, you have killed me. Give my body to Moinie the maid for she loved me and will build me a great tomb so that many will know of me. The sword feels cold, please take it out of me.
MORNA: [moves toward him]
DUCHOMMAR: [stabs her]
MORNA: [falls, grabbing a nearby stone as she falls and placing it between them so that his blood won't mingle with hers]
     THE END

It's actually a pretty decent story; it's just fun to sap all the poetics out of it. And i so love the end.

I was so ill-prepared for class tonight (teaching Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily") but it was okay. And it was still snowing, which made me happy. (It seems to have since turned to rain, but at the time the world was still white.)

After i got back i went up to Emma's room for the movie marathon. I came in at the end of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and there was much junk food consumption. The we watched The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which only Emma had seen before. I enjoyed. (Most well-adjusted child evar. I want to have chlidren so i can fuck them up in a healthy way like that. Except that i don't want children.) "Twas amusing how ABBA's "Mamma Mia" at the end turned into a stereo performance as we all started singing along. Ditto Vanessa Williams' "Save the Best for Last" even moreso. (According to IMDb trivia: "The drag-queen in the barber's chair during the closing credits, is actually costume designer Tim Chappel.")

We never did get around to watching Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill 'cause we broke out the fondue and the (Heart of Darkness) wine. The wine kind of saturated the air of Emma's room, which i felt really bad about 'cause she's allergic, but it was okay.

It was 2002 vintage, so connoisseurs like Kate were underwhelmed, but i think it's good wine. I was pleased, since the voodoo doll and hot box aren't quite worth all the money i spent -- though i enjoy that i basically paid for it with the service charges accumulated from buying alcohol for people this year.

This week is kind of hellish, so i don't think i'll be doing any drinking for a while, but i definitely wanna share, so get in touch if you wanna try some.

The night continued into discussion of movies, general goofiness, nonsexual molestation of Cat, and other goodness.

Aw, and Gillian said she'd be honoured if i hit on her :)

Yup, good V-Day.

And because immortalavalamp told me to, a meme:

If you woke up and I was in bed with you, what would be your first thought?

I'm not going to screen comments, but if you feel compelled to post anonymously, i promise not to track you down.


P.S. Reminder: The Naked I: Monologues from Beyond the Binary at UMass tonight (Tuesday): Student Union Ballroom at 7pm, free admission (6pm B43 bus gets you to UMass at 6:35)

It was predicted that it would rain Wednesday night and then turn to snow all day Thursday with accumulations of 10-20 inches. It did indeed rain (conveniently holding off until after i had returned home from an extra-long RCFOS session) and i didn’t see white stuff until i was heading out for my 3pm class. The air was thick with clumps larger than i think i’ve ever seen, falling down like when someone rips open a feather pillow in the movies. In class i watched the old-fashioned roof of the adjacent building turn white and watched the snow swirling around the trees, eventually settling down and furring the black tree branches. It wasn’t that cold out, so the walkways were rather slushy, but they’re quite snowed by now, and i’m happy.

We had Red Velvet Cake and Tea. Earl Grey. Hot. at seminar.

Morning was errands. My gloves pulled a vanishing act, so after brunch i went (back) to Acme Surplus to purchase new ones (which i think i actually like better than my old ones). Britta had said hi to me the first time i was there and this second time we chatted briefly.

"Do you want me to cut the tags off?"
"Yeah, that'd be great."
"I've cut the tags off 47 pairs of gloves, and I've only been here since 9:30." [this was a little after noon]

9pm weather.com broadcast from Boston says 15-25 inches expected in Boston (near 3 feet on the Cape), winds of 50+mph, and a blizzard warning through 6pm tomorrow.

KLS and i went to a ballet today :) Pioneer Valley Ballet Company and School presents Dances at a Masked Ball at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. We had come for the galleries, but the ballet was nice. The Eric Carle stuff seemed new since the last time i had been there, which was nice. Interesting comparing the scenes from Do Bears Have Mothers Too? (1973, by Aileen Fisher) to those in Does A Kangaroo Have A Mother, Too? (2000). And the Robert Sabuda batik was really nice. What i had really come for was the Chris Van Allsburg, which was lovely and made me want to reread all his stuff. There should be fanfic for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

A little after 3 we were done and headed to the coatroom to get my bus schedule and lo it was snowing out. Everything was white, though there wasn't too much accumulated yet. The visibility was crap on the bus ride back, though, and my plan for tomorrow is to wear the coziest clothes i own and never leave the house.

Oh, children's book stores. I made glee noises over stuff like the Nutshell Library, and KLS got this in German (Die kleine Spinne spinnt und schweigt).

hedy came over for dinner and we hung out for a while. She asked me if knuckle down was better than educated guess. I said yes because after one listen of educated guess i never touched it again whereas i'm enjoying listening to knuckle down even though all the songs sound the same. I pulled out the album, though, and later i looked at the lyrics booklet, and educated guess has really strong lyrics that i like better than knuckle down, but i put the album in and listened to it and really, a lot of the sounds pain me. This is unfortunate.

Studying Stones: *cough*River*cough*

hedy gave me a 9-inch wooden ruler that says "Let's talk about sex" (a Kinsey promo freebie she'd picked up). Yay me :)

After hedy left i went downstairs and caught the last hour or so of Maurice. I read it over break and don't think it's a terribly good book. It didn't strike me as a terribly good movie or adaptation either. Yeah, i know, no accounting for taste and all that. E, A, and any other opinionated parties are welcome to debate this with me.

So, i signed up for femslash05. Should i sign up for the Whedonverse Femslash Ficathon as well? This is probably a rhetorical question, huh? The "Pairings would you feel comfortable writing" line is interesting 'cause it's got me thinking about which pairings and characters i'm honestly interested in at the moment instead of just listing the same pairings i've always said. And yes, fanfic has definitely influenced my views on a variety of characters and pairings. (I also now have a desire to rewatch "Lessons" and "Help" and write Kit/Cassie.) Ooh, willshenilshe's doing alphabet drabbles. What a neat idea. I'd have to do it myself though, 'cause it's not like anyone's gonna request fic from me. (I'm also having angst going through my fic archive and feeling like most of its not good enough to wanna put up on my website. Oh and bugger, i should really try to do my other two Metamorphosis Challenge assignments, huh?)

Elektra viewing has been postponed to later in the week due to a lack of bus arrival. I suspected it was snowing as we stood outside, and sure enough, the land is white again. Or on its way, anyway. I wanna say the swirling is pale its touch is so light.