three by five

Three-ingredient, gluten-free, dairy-free, idiot-proof cookies

2012-01-30T20:51:00.001-06:00

My roommate's birthday was last weekend, and although I got her a present, I felt bad that I didn't bake her a cake. Being that I love the bake so much, I thought it a shame that I didn't get the chance!

Leslie is kind of tricky to bake for, though... she can't have gluten or lactose. I haven't had a chance to make much gluten free stuff, which I plan to do someday soon, but I thought I might combine my desire to cook from cookbooks AND make her a little belated birthday treat for the week!

Tonight's choice? Idiot-proof Almond Butter Cookies from the Gluten-Free Bible. (The name is my own creation.)

Ingredients: (hold on to your hats!)

1 C sugar

1 C almond butter

1 egg.

Sugar, almond butter, and an egg... That's it!

Combine. Set oven to 350. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove. Cool. Eat.

I had my doubts that they would turn out well. After all, I've never attempted flourless cookies, let alone cookies with no more than three ingredients. "Where is the butter? Where is the salt? Where is the vanilla extract?!" my baker's conscience called to me. I worried that these wouldn't form a dough, wouldn't form little balls of dough, and would have to be carefully extracted from the sheet after baked.

I was wrong to worry.

Sure, they are quite flat and become a little chewy, but they are delicious! I used my own homemade almond butter, too. Which, incidentally, was some of the easiest stuff I've ever made. (1. Put almonds in food processor, 2. Turn food processor on, 3. Remove almond butter).

Once they've cooled, they're a delicious snack!

Bread!

2012-01-27T11:08:00.000-06:00

Part of my new year's resolutions was to cook new things, especially from my collection of cookbooks. I sure am happy to cook the same thing over and over again, kind of like how I love to reread books and rewatch movies. I approach these things like old friends, comfortable and warm. Old habits are hard to break, and while I don't exactly see mine as particularly bad habits, I see the benefit of a little more exploration. So once a week I've taken to going grocery shopping after taking a good look at my cookbooks and my new favorite haunt, foodgawker.com. (For dinner yesterday, I found an absolutely delectable eggplant curry on foodgawker. It was amazing.)

So what about the other half of my resolution to cook from my cookbooks? Well, for Christmas, I was given this cookbook, which houses a variety of techniques or ingredients (sauce, dough, water, saute, and soup, to name a few) and although I haven't paged through the whole volume yet, there are a few things that I love already about this cookbook that make it different from others I have.

Each technique has five recipes that accompany it, and at the beginning of each section Ruhlman spends time explaining the why of cooking, the science of each step. I consider myself a decently good cook, but I don't know the purposes behind of a lot of things that I have been taught over the years. I know never to rush the onions in a dish (thanks for that tidbit, Dad!) I also know that in baking, it really does make a difference if you let the butter soften, instead of melting it in the microwave (though I rarely do this because I am so impatient when it comes to cookies!) But I've never been given reasons or facts that back up little tips I've learned over the years.

In the explanation of each technique, Ruhlman provides both scientific and lay answers to a lot of cooking practices that I take for granted. For example, I have been trying a variety of bread recipes for weeks now. Every week I've tried a new recipe for bread, following it exactly and hoping for the best. Rulhman's recipe for bread (in the Dough section) was paired with good reasons and explanations for why it's important that it rise twice. He explained that weighing the ingredients instead of measuring would make a difference. He told me about the proteins in the dough elongating and matching, and what each step of the process should look like. He stressed that letting bread rise the first time for two to four hours was normal, which I hadn't encountered yet, and that in cooler temperatures the rising time should be longer. There were photographs that accompanied the recipe. And then, miraculously, after a few hours...

You should probably be jealous!

There was bread!

It wasn't dense or chewy like my previous attempts. Sure, I had to pry it from the dutch oven I'd cooked it in (note to self: no such thing as too much flouring) but despite that minor hiccup, it is perfect. It is delicious. I can't stop munching.

I feel so domestic. I love it.

I can't wait till it's gone... so I can try again!

Maryland, Classes, Nerdfighters, and (gasp!) Books

2012-01-22T23:05:00.004-06:00

Let's recap a little, shall we? This blog comes to you in four parts...

I got to go to Maryland to visit my Gramma for her birthday!

You should be jealous that your grandmother isn't my grandmother! She is a classy lady.

I had such a good time! We did all of the normal things one does at a grandparent's house: we played cards, we ate good food, and we went to bed early. Duncan summed it up nicely when he said, "We talk about what we're going to eat, and then we eat, and while we're eating, we talk about what we're going to eat next." (Hah!)

January happens to have a cluster of family birthdays, so on Sunday afternoon we went to my great aunt's place to celebrate!

I got to play with the latest addition to the family, wee little 9-month-old Juliana.

I LOVE BABIES. (Don't know if you knew this.)

People were duly impressed that Duncan and I weren't (and aren't) at each other's throats. (He's my best brother.)

We ate DELICIOUS brunchy food and then gathered to watch Gramma and Carol open presents.

Later, when we got back to Gramma's house, Duncan and I went outside to watch the sunset. I stole my mom's camera to take photos, because in my opinion there is nothing more beautiful than a sunset!

The sun sets over the Wye River.

Isn't my brother a handsome lad?

Mike came out to see what we were up to and he very obligingly let me photograph him, too.

The silhouette is so flattering. I love the little piece of his glasses you can see.

And then I got to take one of my favorite photos EVER:

Duncan is ALL LEGS. It's not exactly a forced-perspective photo, but I love the size-difference due to proximity.

The next day, we went back to Austin and I started my classes. I have a feeling that this semester will be CRAZY on the reading front. One of my lit professors assigned 120 pages of Great Expectations "to be kind" over the weekend. I shudder to think what is coming my way the rest of the semester! (P.S. It only took me five hours to read that. Ouch. But I did it!) My other professor assigned 90 pages of Sons and Lovers, which I will do tomorrow!

I did have something to look forward to at the end of my first week of school, though... and that is the "Great American Tour de Nerdfighting 2012" on Saturday! You might remember that in 2008 I roadtripped up to Plano to see the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green, and then again in 2010 I saw John at Book People when he and David Levithan came to town after the release of Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

This time, though, they had a totally BOSS van!

Someday when I write a book, I want a bus like this!

Ally came with me and we flashed the Nerdfighter gang sign behind the back of the van!

DFTBA = Don't forget to be awesome!

John came out and read a chapter from the book he just released The Fault in Our Stars. You may remember that I read it during the Breakathon Readathon... and I cannot say enough about how amazing it is. You must read it. (Yes, you!)

Hank came out and sang a few songs.

And then, after a short segment of John answering questions from the audience, Hank came out and Hankroll'd us. (John fed us this bit about his wife coming out to talk, and then Hank came out and sang the Rick Roll. It totally got us, too!)

It was awesome, made all the more amazing by that outfit!

Lastly, I want to share two of my favorite quotes from Dickens' Great Expectations, of which I have read 130 pages today. (My braaaaaain wants to melllllllt)

"Bentley Drummle, who was so sulky a fellow that he even took up a book as if its writer had done him an injury, did not take up an acquaintance in a more agreeable spirit." (Chapter 25)

I can't tell you how much this quote makes me giggle. If there is something Dickens does well, it is character description, because I swear I can understand exactly what kind of person this is!

And another one:

"I said I had always longed for it.

'Never mind what you have always longed for, Mr Pip,' he retorted; 'keep to the record. If you long for it now, that's enough.'" (Chapter 18)

I don't know that I can articulate exactly what strikes me about this quote, but I'll give it a go: It isn't that you can disregard the past, desires or dreams you have had before, because those are the guides that have gotten you to the present, but there is something to understanding and keeping in mind what you want now. It's not about being fickle, changing your mind or desperately clinging onto the dreams you've always had, it's about having conviction in those dreams.

Breakathon Readathon: The Results

2012-01-18T10:16:00.001-06:00

The results are in for the Breakathon Readathon. Leslie: 1204 pagesStefanie: 4902 pagesNow, I don't exactly WIN anything, but I sure do feel good that I won!The Breakathon Readathon began with the wish to read stuff that we hadn't read before - that it was time to take an intellectual break from everything that we had to read for school and set out to enjoy ourselves in fun, extracurricular reading. What the readathon reminded me was that I love reading and that I really need to read more books for fun. It also reminded me that I read at an absolutely ridiculous pace.That said, I have a TON of reading to do for this semester. I am taking two British Literature classes and reading something like seventeen or eighteen books; I really need to begin doing the reading for those classes! I think I'll go grab some lunch on campus and then take myself away to begin reading D.H. Lawrence's "Sons and Lovers"! And after that, begin reading my first Dickens novel, "Great Expectations".

Breakathon Readathon Review: Pretties

2012-01-16T23:33:00.002-06:00

I didn’t exactly commit to reading more of the Uglies series during the Readathon, leaving my last reading options open… but I didn’t exactly commit to not reading them either. So, as there were only a few days left and it was on my mind, after finishing The Fault in Our Stars I decided to return to Tally and her alternate universe. Something I have to commend Westerfeld on is his creativity, particularly in his language for this futuristic society; words like ugly, pretty, bubbly, bogus, and icy all have very particular definitions in these books, all within contextual clues, and I'd love to attempt to define them. I find great pleasure in being surprised or thrown off balance by a good book, and this series throws so many curveballs I can only cling on and hope I’m along for the whole ride! In this book, Tally spends most of the book trying to regain her former self after having been turned Pretty, and most of the book is spent in an interesting duality between being Pretty-Minded (read: vapid, self-centered, and vain) and moments of her previous Ugly-Mindedness (clever, tricky, and disobedient). Mistakes and betrayals are made, and pranks and tricks abound; I thoroughly enjoyed the ride that this book took me on, and I very much anticipate where the next book takes me!

Likelihood I’ll reread: 70%
Likelihood I’ll recommend to others: 90%

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Total Pages: 4851

I will likely be able to add a few pages more to this total by the end of the readathon, but it won’t be an entire book! There is still some time before the break is through, but I’ll post the results as soon as Leslie and I compare…

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Fault in our Stars

2012-01-13T17:24:00.002-06:00

I have been waiting for this book for MONTHS - ever since John Green announced on his youtube channel when it was going to be released - and I have to say... it's been well worth the wait. Going in, I knew that this story would be a tough one to read. I had been staying away from spoilers on the internet (because there are plenty more people in this world who read faster than I do, and I began reading it two days after its release), but the one "spoiler" I had seen seemed to be quite universal: people cried when they read this book. I also knew that it had to do with people who had cancer... but that was it. I have only good things to say about this book, really, but the most important thing is that I cried, too. John comes to town next weekend, and I can't WAIT to hear him talk!

Likelihood I'll reread: 100% (after I've recovered a little, of course)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 100%

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Total Pages: 4481

In defense of eBooks

2012-01-10T22:28:00.001-06:00

Being that I am an avid reader of books and lover of books, some people are a little surprised to find that I support eBooks. It's true - there is nothing better than holding a book in my hands. The weight of the book, the smell of it, the way the pages gently glow under the light of my bedside table, fanning the corner of the pages with my finger while I read; those are things that cannot be recreated in eBook format. (Although I wouldn't put it past someone to give my Kindle a book scent!) And, I will report, I have happily threatened many every spine on my shelf: I will break you.

I have some 82 books my kindle right now. Some of them are books that I love so dearly I have paid for twice, to ensure that I have a digital copy of the book wherever I go (such as The Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, and, more recently The Hunger Games). Just in case I need to read it at a moment's notice. Some of them are books that I really don't care to have copies of taking up space on my bookshelves in my room. Because I have hundreds of books here with me, and as soon as I have more space for more bookshelves, I'm absolutely going to town but until then... I don't need hard copies of some books. Some of the books are books that I've read in my English classes, and were free because they're classics. A number of times, I've forgotten some of my books at home, and hastily purchased digital copies of them so I have textual references for class. I have Shakespeare's complete works in there - and my light-as-air Kindle weighs a heckuvalot less than my textbook of his complete works. It makes a lot of sense.

The size and weight of books is a huge issue for travel. Last summer when I went to Oxford, I was required to bring along seven big, rather heavy editions of the books I needed for my classes. Although I didn't have much time to read other things, I did manage to squeeze in a but of extracurricular reading while I was there, and all of it I did on my kindle. Not having those extra books with me was an absolute blessing. And in a few days when I board a plane to Maryland, guess what I'll be leaving behind? Heavy books. Notice how fast I read? My kindle has literally gotten lost in my purse before.

Aside from the size, what I will say about Kindles, Nooks and other ereaders (such as those on iPads and other tablets) is that they make people want to read. eReaders challenge the format that books have been restricted to for hundreds of years, and they make reading and the reading experience a wholly different one. The novelty (haha, novelty) of reading a book in this way is enough to entice anyone to read. Kids love them, because they're a fun gadget. Guess how much I care that they're using another gadget? They're reading. And if they're totally engrossed in a book, that is a wonderful thing. They absolutely should be. For me, the medium which I use to enjoy a book is irrelevant: Am I reading? Am I enjoying a great book? Excellent. Read on.

Nothing can replace the feel of a good book in my hands, but in my opinion, the experience of reading a great story that is totally engrossing is a universal experience. Even as someone who wants to go into the publishing business, I care that people are reading, not how they are doing so.

Breakathon Readathon Review: Uglies

2012-01-09T09:24:00.002-06:00

You might have noticed that I have taken a little break from reading for the last week... combined with the return of a few of my friends to Austin, I took a few days off to give my brain a little break. Something I was not able to anticipate was my desire to remain somewhere within a genre or type of book, because the shock of jumping so frequently was really wearing on me. When I finish a good book, I want to read something similar - a book with a similar theme, or by the same author, or about the same length, etc. Thinking of what my next read should be, I struggled, wondering what book could possibly link Leviathan to where I wanted to take my brain next. Eventually, however, I found the perfect bridge:

This book was one that my friend Brandlyn told me to read when we were in high school. I held out - only because if someone tells me I have to read something enough I am that much more unlikely to read it. This book was the perfect bridge between where my mind was left from the Hunger Games - dystopia, man v man, man v nature - and where my mind might want to go next. I chose Uglies because it was also written by Scott Westerfeld (who wrote Leviathan) and thus provided an excellent mental bridge. The premise of the novel is that at age 16, intense plastic surgery is required to turn everyone from "Uglies" to "Pretties". Due to some unusual circumstances, the main character of the novel finds herself tossed out into the wilderness by the authorities of her city with the ultimatum: "Do this or you'll remain ugly forever." I really enjoyed the pace of the novel (I read 80% of the novel more or less in one sitting), and the book ends on a really great cliffhanger. If it weren't 1am when I finished, I would have immediately launched into reading the sequel: Pretties. Be sure I'll be reading the rest of the series sometime soon - but perhaps not during the Readathon.

Likelihood I'll reread: 60% (Strong, but I'm more interested in finishing the series)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 75%

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Total page count: 4145

Only a week or so to go left in the Readathon! I'll be posting my roommate's total as soon as we compare notes!

Meet Lily

2012-01-05T22:16:00.000-06:00

Emma's mom invited me over this morning to meet Lily, Emma's little sister.

The blanket I made is keeping her warm! (Even though it was like 70 degrees today)

Lily looks just like Emma!

She slept on me for half an hour. What is better in this world?

Emma was at daycare, but I'm going back next week to visit with both of them... I can't wait!

Also, let it be known... I gave back Emma's baby seat. So if anyone wants to ride in that seat now, it's open. I need to vacuum the crums, though. (Emma is a messy girl!)

And while I'm on the topic, Emma turns THREE on Sunday. Which is shocking, because just yesterday she looked like this:

This was actually one of the first days I looked after Emma in May of 2009. Ah, memories....

Memories of 2011 - a photographic representation

2012-01-03T18:30:00.002-06:00

In no particular order... Here are some of my favorite memories of 2011.

I visited many famous graves - JRR Tolkien, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, Douglas Adams, Karl Marx, William Shakespeare... the list goes on!

The Texas Snowpocalypse occurred in the middle of the night - and Ally and I went running around campus and to the capitol building in our pajamas!

We went to visit my Gramma, who I hadn't seen in many years. Duncan and I took some lovely photos of her backyard!

At the beginning of the summer, a friend of mine took some fun photos of me, which I have used for many a facebook profile picture.

I hung curtains in my room, which has really made a difference. I love the blue and green filtered light, especially when I wake up in the morning.

I saw Siobhan! :D

I ate at the Texas Embassy in London and drank the most expensive Lone Star I'll ever drink! £4.

I studied at Wadham College in Oxford for five weeks. No big deal!

I ran the flag with APO at every home football game... and one away!

Emma swung all by herself for the first time! (She was unsure about it at first, but quickly warmed up to the idea!)

I got my UT class ring. Hook 'em Horns!

I found the world's COOLEST roommate ever! (This is the Whole Foods parking for family of employees!)

I acquired some fancy prescription sunglasses.

I knitted my first baby blanket.

I got to read Harry Potter for school. (For my Children's literature class!)

I got a fancy-schmancy new laptop (which I LOVE.)

I read a bunch of classics, and LOVED them all.

I got Toms shoes, and boy are they COMFY. Great close-toed option when flip flops aren't viable. (i.e. in December)

I played Lord of the Rings Monopoly with my family (and witnessed a showdown between Katie and Duncan that will go into the history books!)

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2 in 3D IMAX, in London, at midnight of the opening day. My friends brought wands!

I saw a play at Shakespeare's Globe Theater for the first time.

I visited the Roman baths in Bath, England.

I played on a piano in Jane Austen's house. (No big deal or anything, of course!)

I visited the Stourhead Gardens, where a scene from the more recent Pride and Prejudice movie was filmed.

I got to see Annie and meet Sean while in London. (They are two of my favorite people!)

I got to see another of my favorite people (Kerry-Lynn) get married.

I posed with Hook 'Em on the field before a flag run.

I participated in APO history, and ran one of four flags in the pregame at the Texas Tech game.

I played with Miss Emma a lot.

I baked delicious French Bread for the first time.

I ran the flag at the Holiday Bowl.

I fell in love with little Emma even more. (Sorry, I can't help it.)

I wrote a lot.

Sometimes when Emma is eating, she asks to hold my hand. Who could resist that? (Gratuitous photos of Emma are unceasing!)

I got Maureen Johnson to revenge sign my copy of Paper Towns by John Green, and achieved temporary internet fame on Tumblr when John reblogged me.

Finally had a class at Starbucks!

2011 was extraordinary. Here's to 2012 and all the changes it brings.

New Years Resolutions - 2012 Edition

2012-01-03T16:02:00.002-06:00

Welcome, 2012! It's about time you got here.

I've been toying around with my new year's resolutions for a couple days. I'm never one to think about them before around 10pm on new year's eve, and only when, inevitably, someone turns to me and asks, "So, what are your resolutions?" It's an innocent enough question, but I always feel a little put on the spot. What are my resolutions? I totally forgot we even made resolutions! Crap!

Being that this year is a lot like 2008 for me, I decided to look at my resolutions from that year. Let me explain - You might remember that in 2008, I graduated from high school. Things that really scared me about that was that I didn't know what my life would be like in college, what my schedule would be, I wasn't sure what I would be doing, what classes I would be taking, who I would remain friends with... so my resolutions reflected that. They included: 1) Be not afraid of venturing out by myself. 2) Turn in my college apps. 3) Exude confidence. (My favorite one was #2... because I remember I achieved that one within 24 hours of the new year!)

Numbers 1 and 3 are things that I still struggle with. While they aren't exactly worded like that in my resolutions this year, I think they're still in there in spirit.

So, without further ado, my 2012 New Year's Resolutions:

1) Don't freak out so much.
2) Drink more smoothies.
3) Get a job.

Everyone laughs when I tell them my first resolution. But seriously, it's a pretty important one. Every few weeks I have a regularly scheduled mental breakdown of some kind; they can be little (I didn't read for class, I am running late, I have three exams on Friday and I'm going to fail all of them, etc.), they can be big (I'm going to be single forever, my degree is totally useless, etc.) Usually I allow myself some good, self-pitying, wallowing time (an hour or two) during which I watch terrible tv or read some kind of trashy novel and then I get up, dust myself off, and move onto tackling the problem. I can't say that I won't have these moments (there are a lot of stressful times ahead while I look for and apply for jobs) but I don't think it's healthy to freak out so much. My roommate says that she has a similar resolution, and we'll be helping each other!

My second resolution is a thinly veiled "lose weight" resolution. My resolution isn't exactly to lose weight - it's to be healthy. Smoothies are delicious, and I have found my new favorite one: Bananas, blueberries, and almond butter. Don't question it - just drink it. DELICIOUS. (In this resolution should be something like "Less macaroni and cheese", but I don't think I'm strong enough for that. It's an excellent fallback for dinner when I haven't gone grocery shopping.)

My last resolution is to get a job. Topical, to the point. Something that is acceptable for a college graduate. I'll leave that up to the universe's interpretation.

Another thing I've been thinking about are things I'd like to do in 2012. Stuff that isn't necessarily resolution-worthy, but more like a bit of a bucket list.

1) Write book reviews. I've enjoyed writing them for my Breakathon Readathon. Often I finish a book and am not entirely sure how I feel about it (other than "I loved it!" or "I want to run this book over with my car and kill it dead!") but I feel like I could explore my reading material more.
2) Spend twenty or thirty minutes reading books for pleasure every day. Even though my reading list for school is pretty hardcore this semester, I know I spend more than thirty minutes on facebook every day. It's entirely possible to replace that time with books I want to read.
3) Be more proactive with editing and edit more thoroughly. I am always looking to improve my editing skills. I love to do it, but sometimes it feels like a bit of a chore.
4) Along similar lines, be more proactive with my writing. I love to write, and I am very proud of it... I have stories I want to start and stories I want to finish. My creative writing class taught me a lot about writing and reading my own stuff with an audience in mind - I'd like to apply it.
5) Cook from cookbooks more often and be more adventurous with recipes and food. I have a little collection of cookbooks and more often than not I surf the web for my recipes.
6) Knock a few more books off of the BBC Booklist. I have it saved to my phone and consult it every once and a while if I'm looking for a read. They propose that most people have only read 6. Well, I've read 22 of them. It's not that it's a list of the greatest 100 books, but it seems to be a list of good books that many people know and often make reference to.

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At the end of this post, I'd like to wish a very happy birthday to little Lily Grace, Miss Emma's little sister. She was born yesterday, January 2nd, and everyone is happy and healthy. From what I hear, Emma is thrilled to be a big sister, and I can't wait to meet Lily!

Breakathon Readathon Review: Leviathan

2012-01-02T17:00:00.000-06:00

This was not a book I planned to read, but after all several of the books I have read in the last few weeks haven't been. Honestly, I was surprised at how much I was sucked into the story. It's not a book that I typically read, being that it is a steampunk book and that it takes place during a sort of pseudo-WWI. (My favorite historical novels are generally the pre-19th century kind. If there are swords involved? Extra bonus.) So I didn't expect all that much from this book, and even having heard of Scott Westerfeld's success with his other books and having heard him speak a few weeks ago at the Austin Teen Book Festival, I was dubious. (A theme I am recognizing is that I seem to be very dubious toward books I am unfamiliar with... This must change!) At the end, I was pleasantly surprised, not by the plot, but by the imagination of the book. The fascinating twist on the history in the book was that the Allied powers were called Darwinists and the Central powers, Clankers. The Darwinists flew bulbous creatures that were entire ecosystems put together (i.e. give yourself a skin and then stick bacteria that emit hydrogen as a byproduct - and then use the hydrogen as lift to fly) and the Clankers used more "traditional" machinery (though it was very advanced - the main character's mode of transportation was a futuristic Walker, with mechanical legs operated in the body). Extremely helpful to all of this were the illustrations - "A book with pictures?" you all shout; I know, I know. But it is a YA novel. They were very helpful, as illustrations generally are. Most surprising of all to me was that, at the end, I wanted to read the next one! Well, we shall see.

Likelihood I'll reread: 30% (But that doesn't mean I won't get the sequel!)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 60%

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Total Pages: 3718

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Name of the Star

2011-12-31T17:00:00.000-06:00

Fresh out of my mood for fluff, I dove right back into the action plot! I elected to read another Maureen Johnson book that I acquired a few months ago and absolutely devoured this book. The story was dark, but not quite as dark as Hunger Games, but the violence and threat of danger was similar, which I liked. In the story, someone is recreating the Jack the Ripper murders, but while most of the murders are caught on the network of CCTV cameras in London, the killer is never visible. The main character gets involved with a special unit of the police force, and helps track down the copycat killer... I read most of it on my way out to California, and can't wait to read the next one in the series! Unfortunately, it's not due to come out for some time, so we'll see...

Likelihood I'll reread: 90% (probably when the next book is released?)
Likelihood I'll recommend: 80%

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Total Pages: 3278

Californialand!

2011-12-29T02:12:00.003-06:00

I hope this comes as a shock to people as much as it has been a shock to me - apparently I DO have a life outside of reading books! At the moment, I am blogging from San Diego, California, where Texas has successfully trounced Cal Berkley at the Holiday Bowl. I am exceedingly pleased, as you might imagine. The final score of the game was 21-10. We played pretty well, though there were a few weak points in the game - as is to be expected, really. More on that in a moment!

My trip has been pretty simple - I flew out yesterday, I fly back tomorrow - but it has had some very nice highlights! Last night, I had delicious Mexican food with my APO friends who are also here. And this morning, a family friend, Bill, who lives in San Diego picked me up from my hotel and showed me around the city and fed me breakfast! Delicious pancakes at his house, where I also got to see one of my dog's puppies (Her name is Sangie - I didn't take a picture of her because I was too busy loving on her!)

And then it was off to the stadium! Things were a little bit smaller and better-coordinated than last time I came out for the Rose Bowl two years ago. We didn't have any trouble getting inside the stadium this time - last time we had to get our flag sniffed by dogs and we had to wait outside the stadium for absolutely forever. We opened the flag out in the parking lot to do a sort of practice run for closing it. We only had fifteen (fifteen) field passes for this game, so opening and closing that 500+ pound flag was going to be difficult, and we knew it!

On the field, we were able to do it, although it was a lot harder with thousands of eyes watching! A big bubble of air came in under the flag and prevented me from gathering up the fabric of the flag very efficiently, and it was pretty hard to recover the bubble of flag that seemed to be collapsing on top of me! But all went well.

We were almost immediately upstaged by what is probably the only flag in the entire world bigger than ours! A football-field-sized American flag held by 250+ Marines. Hah - we did ours with only fifteen! (Fifteen...)

Also, paratroopers landed on the field before the game started - SWEET.

Of course, we won the game, but not before several members of our party yelled themselves hoarse!

Tomorrow morning I fly back to Austin. I wish I could hang around San Diego a little longer, but it's been a nice jaunt out to the west coast! My next jaunt is to the east coast in a few weeks! Off to visit my Gramma for her birthday!

And now I am off to bed... I am exhausted!

Breakathon Readathon Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

2011-12-29T01:16:00.002-06:00

I needed a good mental break after finishing Mockingjay due it's super intense plotline, very little humor, and unrelenting action, and I chose to mentally vacation in some good, reliable, Young Adult fluff. Now, it's not that this story has nothing going for it - far from it - it has a clear message, likable, well-developed characters, and an appropriate happy ending. I love Stephanie Perkins' style, and I especially love that characters from her first novel (Anna and the French Kiss, which I read earlier this year in more or less one evening) feature prominently in this one. It was a funny, rewarding story, and a delightfully quick read.

Likelihood I'll reread: 70%
Likelihood Ill recommend: 75%

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Total pages: 2908

Breakathon Readathon Review: Mockingjay

2011-12-26T17:55:00.001-06:00

So... I finally finished Mockingjay just before Christmas. It was a relief to finally come to the end of the third book - it was a roller coaster from the get-go, and the second book left off at a really awful cliffhanger. In what must have been my infinite wisdom (of course) I am glad I left reading these until they were all published. I would have been a wreck if I hadn't had this one at my disposal. Similarly to the first two, I read about forty or fifty pages and then put it down for a while. Some things just need time to settle - and these books, more than most I've read before, need time to settle. They're violent, weighty, dark, and absolutely unrelenting... and I absolutely loved every page. I even shed a tear. I won't say when, you'll see.

Likelihood I'll reread: 100% (Absolutely)

Likelihood I'll recommend: 100% (Already happened many times in the last two days. I want everyone to read them so we can talk about them!)

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Total page count: 2570

Breakathon Readathon Review: Seriously, I'm Kidding

2011-12-24T17:00:00.000-06:00

This popped up in my reading list in an unexpected manner. I needed a break from The Hunger Games (which isn't to say I don't still love them - I guess I just needed some time to absorb the plot twists) and this book provided exactly what I needed. On a similar vein to reading Tina Fey's autobiography and the Daily Show's book, Ellen's was an excellent read. Along with the other two books, I feel like Ellen's voice was easily able to shine through the text of the book, and I happily devoted a few hours to reading and enjoying. It features a combination of stories from her life (which you take with a grain of salt) to imaginary letters to mall cops about how it really wasn't her fault she broke the vase in Pottery Barn, to imaginary conversations between someone named Suzie and a Psychic ("Do you want some more water?" "Yes, thank you!" "I knew that already.") to practical advice on how to become a billionaire ("1. Make lots of money, 2. Don't spend it"). I loved reading it, and, with its short chapters it'd be easy to pick up again and read a few pages in the future.

Likelihood will reread: 90% (like I said, bits and pieces)
Likelihood will recommend to others: 95% (if they like this sort of book)

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Total page count: 2180

Breakathon Readathon Review: Catching Fire

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-06:00

I was right when I set out to list which books I wanted to read during this break to include the sequels to The Hunger Games. Everything I had heard about the books were that they were riveting, addicting, and fast-paced. Somehow, I have continued to underestimate them. I won't make that mistake again. I guess I just get suspicious and mistrustful of the quality of books. This is in no way a stab at modern writers or a statement in support of the Good Old Days or anything (because who am I, at age 22, to know anything about the good old days of anything except perhaps classic Nickelodeon lineups?) Anyway... Catching Fire was surprising to me for many reasons. One, that it didn't seem to go the way I was thinking it would, that I was even more confused by the end of it (imagine if books gave you answers instead of answering the old questions! Crazy, right?) and lastly, that it was even more addicting than the first. Mom and Mike can attest to the fact that, immediately upon finishing it, I leapt up out of my seat and ran to grab the next, and last, book of the trilogy.

Likelihood of rereading: 100% (There is simply too much I must have missed the first time round!)
Likelihood of recommending it to others: 100% (though I would warn that addiction to the series will probably result in some weird dreams.)

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Page total: 1939

Breakathon Readathon Review: Earth (The Book)

2011-12-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

This was a diverting read, and an excellent change of pace after all of the fiction I have been reading. I don't have much to say about it, other than that I was totally engrossed in Jon Stewart's humor the entire time. It was witty, off-beat, and just self-detrimental enough (of humans as a race, as opposed to only of himself) to keep me giggling away on my couch all afternoon. The premise of the book is that it is a visitor's guide to Earth, so that aliens, when they come to Earth long after we have totally destroyed it, can get a sense for what was - who lived here? What did they do? What did they like? How did they work? You know - everything we've been trying to figure out about our ancestors and potential aliens alike... but in convenient travel guide format. There was a brief introduction to just about everything - from religion, to culture, to land masses, to major scientists of the last three hundred years.

Likelihood I'll reread: 50% (probably just portions when I am bored)
Likelihood I'll recommend to others: 35% (if the topic is raised)

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Page count: 1549

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Last Little Blue Envelope

2011-12-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

As anyone who has read the first book, 13 Little BlueEnvelopes, will know… the ending goes a tad, well, unresolved. I was cautiousabout beginning this book – not because I didn’t want to read it, but because Iwasn’t sure that Maureen Johnson would be able to send me back on thatmagnificent journey that I had embarked on in the first book, and it was very importantto me that I be able to embark on that voyage, but any hesitation I had wasentirely misguided. Not only was it everything I hoped it to be, it was better.It was a beautiful journey, even the second time around. I laughed, I cried(literally – I did cry), and I happily was swept off on Ginny’s journey again,this time a few months after the first book took place. I don’t want to spoilanything, so I won’t… I’m just going to leave it at Holy sneezeballs, Batman, this book was freaking amazing, and moveforward.

Likelihood I will reread: 100%

Likelihood I will recommend it to others: 100%

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Page count: 1293

Breakathon Readathon Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

2011-12-19T17:00:00.000-06:00

Maureen Johnson is made of magic and win. I’m pretty sure this isfact.

Given my history of travel, especially solo travel, thisstory struck a very personal chord within me. The story is about this girlnamed Ginny, who at the beginning of the book learns of her aunt’s death and isgiven a bundle of blue envelopes from her. The first letter instructs her tobook a flight to London – to leave behind all forms of communication and followthe instructions to the letter (hah – see what I did there?). She ends uptravelling all over Europe – to Amsterdam, Greece, Italy, Scotland, France, andDenmark – makes friends, and completes little tasks along the way (such asfinding her aunt’s old friends, who end up teaching her a variety of lessons.)Most of you will remember my own personal trip around Europe a few years ago.My personal experiences in Europe that summer, and from other trips there overthe years, made me really identify with the narrator. It reminded me of howmuch I loved to travel, especially alone, and while I followed Ginny’s travelsthroughout the book, to many places I have been (the exceptions would beAmsterdam, Rome, and Greece) I craved those places again. I think MaureenJohnson was able to paint a very interesting, realistic picture of a young girltravelling alone and discovering herself, and who her aunt really was, alongthe way.

Likelihood I will reread: 100%

Likelihood I will recommend it to others: 100%

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Page count: 541
(I only read 70 pages of this book, to finish it, during the readathon)

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Hunger Games

2011-12-17T23:45:00.000-06:00

So I sat down to start this book a few days ago when I was all set to start babysitting, but had twenty minutes to kill and a hankering for a coffee from Starbucks. I went to Starbucks (where they have started to recognize me...), got my coffee, sat down in a cozy armchair, and set an alarm. (I have learned to set alarms!) When my alarm went off, alerting me that it was time to leave I was fifteen pages in and scowling. No! I didn't want to go babysit! I wanted to keep reading! Finally, when I had this free afternoon with which to do absolutely nothing (and having previously done some serious 'damage' to the Christmas knits), I put my cozy slippers on and went to town. Well, I easily read 75% of the book in one sitting (with the exception of a break to bake some Christmas cookies) and I have to say that the book was everything it promised to be. It's tough nowadays to pull that off, I think. There is so much overdone in any genre of fiction, and so I was very pleasantly surprised to find this book was both original and a story well-told. I was worried about two things, primarily. One, that the writing style wouldn't be great (because, well, look at how popular Twilight is, despite Meyer's style) and two, that it wouldn't be graphic enough. It's a Young Adult book - and I worried that it would be toned down. (Kind of like how I can't really forgive several of the Harry Potter movies for their PG ratings.) The story of the book is graphic (it's about a competition of 24 people fighting to the death - it kind of has to be!) In any case, both of my fears were never realized, as it is both extremely well-written and doesn't spare us the gory details. To be clear, I don't relish in violence or extremely vivid detail... I just prefer that the author do justice to their story. The last thing I have to say about the book is that the story itself was a lot more self-sufficient than I thought it would be. It left just enough of an inconclusive conclusion at the very end of the book to make me want to start off immediately and go buy the next one (or, let's face it, the next two. I won't be put in this position again!) but it wrapped up the individual story of the book very well. Kudos to Suzanne Collins!

Likelihood I will reread: 100%
Likelihood I will recommend to others: 100% (as I have already done so)

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Page count: 855

Breakathon Readathon Review: An Abundance of Katherines

2011-12-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

I’ll be honest, it took me most of the book to properly getinto the story - I was probably on page 150 (of 215) and that’s when I foundthat I didn’t want to leave the story! I love John Green’s voice, his characters,his sense of story and how he seems to know the best way a story should betold, but it was a little hard to follow for one specific reason: theinterruptions. Let me explain - the premise of the story is that the maincharacter, Colin, has only dated girls whose name is Katherine. He has justgraduated from high school and has recently been dumped by Katherine XIX. Toget some space and to try and get over her, he and his friend Hassan take offon a road trip and end up in Tennessee, where they befriend a girl namedLindsey, and her mother, Hollis, who offers them a job if they just stickaround for a few weeks during their summer break. Colin is a bit of a prodigy,stuck in the idea that he has failed (in that he hasn’t met his parents’ crazy expectationsthat he do things like memorize 25 Latin verb conjugations a day, etc.) and heembarks on developing a mathematical formula that predicts the length of a relationshipdepending on all kinds of variables. Interspersed between the boys’ story inTennessee is the history of Colin’s relationships with the Katherines (whichvary from camp flings, to elementary school hand-holding, to full-blown nearlyyear-long relationships), and to be honest, the interruption was hard to getused to (because they’re, well, interruptions.) That said, I enjoyed the storyitself, thought the characters were well-developed, the voices of the maincharacters distinct (which was important, because I’ve noticed that John Greentends to leave off the he said/she saids a lot!)

Likelihood I’ll read it again: 25% (Once seems to have done it well for me, but who knows?)

Likelihood I’ll recommend it to others: 30%

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Page count: 471

Breakathon Readathon Review: Bossypants

2011-12-16T17:00:00.000-06:00

What an absolutely hilarious read! I’ve noticed in the past that, when Iobsess about something, I immediately go for the roots. With Lord of the Rings, it was learningeverything I could about the history of Middle-Earth… with 30 Rock, it was reading thisautobiography. Since reading Tolkien’s biography for my paper, I’ve been on abit of a (auto)biography hunt, and certainly Tina Fey’s was everything that I hopedit would be, and more. I could hear her voice leap right out of the text. Ilaughed out loud many a time, (which is a big thing for me! I am a silent reader... Most of the time I am the idiot reading in public who is beaminglike a ray of sunshine at the happy ending or pulling the same faces as thecharacter in the story). Anyway, I goteverything I wanted from this book - including some really great embarrassing photos, highly amusing anecdotes, and a generous dose of her trademark humor - and I recommend it very highly.

Likelihood it will be reread: 95%

Likelihood I will try to recommend it to others, so I can talk about it to them: 75%

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Page count: 288

Challenge: Breakathon Readathon

2011-12-14T21:08:00.000-06:00

My roommate and I have a bit of a competition going on over the break. We call it: The Breakathon Readathon.

Rules:

No Harry Potter. Or Twilight, for that matter.
No rereading things over the break (but you can reread books you have read before.)
Try to stay away from audiobooks, but they are allowed.

During our break from school, we are to read as much as possible. We're quantifying it by page number, so the idea is to just read, and read a lot. I am challenging myself to read as many books that I haven't read before, (with the exception of one or two, because it's been many years since I've read them!) For some added fun, I'll be writing reviews of the books I read, too. I'll give you an updated page count, too.

Interested in what's on my list? They cover a wide array of genres... Here's a list of the books I've pulled from my shelf:

13 Little Blue Envelopes, Maureen Johnson (I have to finish this one - I started it months ago!)
The Last Little Blue Envelope, Maureen Johnson (Presumably I'll want to read it, as it's the sequel!)
Name of the Star, Maureen Johnson (Because I got it months ago and it has been EATING AT ME that I haven't been able to read it yet!)
An Abundance of Katherines, John Green (I've been meaning to read this for ages - I've loved his other books and this is just on my list.)
Looking for Alaska, John Green (Same as the above reason!)
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (I have heard that this is an AMAZING read.)
Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (Presumably, I will have to read this one, because it's the sequel to Hunger Games)
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (The last book in the Hunger Games trilogy... same reason as above)
Lover Eternal, J.R. Ward (Because I read the first one and borrowed this from Ally months ago and should probably return it. Also, throwing in a romance novel seems like a good idea for a change of pace.)
Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins (I loved her first book, Anna and the French Kiss, so I picked this one up a few months ago and have been meaning to start)
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (Because the movie is coming out next year, because I haven't read it since I was 14... because I just want to read it again, okay?)
All Wound Up, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The latest in the Yarn Harlot's collection of knitting-related books, so naturally it's on my list.)
Bossypants, Tina Fey (Over Thanksgiving break, I watched all five seasons of 30 Rock, and since then I have been a teensy bit obsessed with Tina Fey...)
Earth (The Book), Jon Stewart (Sort of linked to my obsession with Tina Fey, in that it's a book written by a comedian and looks hilarious!)

So that's the list right now, and by no means will I be sticking to the order! It will in all likelihood change! Any suggestions for books I should read?

Penultimate Day of Classes Blog

2011-12-01T22:56:00.001-06:00

(Too bad I didn't write this blog yesterday, otherwise I would have gotten to use one of my favorite obscure words: Antepenultimate. The third to last in a series.)

I have some photographs to share - as is my way, is it not?

I've been trundling along the end of the semester - through the biannual Finals Cold (I always seem to get sick. Stress colds, I suppose.) This semester isn't so awful as previous ones - things are nice and spread out. I guess I'm just ready to be done with these classes.

Tomorrow, 12/2: Exam.
Monday, 12/5: Paper (15-20 pages)
Monday, 12/13: 3 Essays (2000 words, 750 words, 750 words)

On my way to work the other day, I saw a camel.

Yep, that's a camel.

It's part of a "living nativity" thing that this church at Bee Caves and MoPac do every year. Every year I forget about it, and so inevitably I drive through through the light thinking, "Was that a camel?!" I pointed it out to Emma after I'd picked her up, and she said, "I LOVE camels!"

She's a bright girl. She also saw the moon the other day and said, "The MOON. Isn't it BEAUTIFUL, Stefanie? Stefanie, the moon came out to say hello to you!"

How could anyone NOT like gratuitous pictures of Emma?

Also, Emma can recognize some letters now. My hart practically bursts every time I show her the letter E and she proudly says, "That's E. E for Emma!" And to show how SUPER smart she is, she also recognizes S. "S for Stefanie!"

My new current favorite picture of her. Emma LOVES to swing.

Every time I tell her it's bath time, she looks at me very seriously and sais, "This is Emma's last bath. No more baths."

And the other day, I was eating a snack with her and she looked directly at me, pointed her finger, and said (through a mouthful of banana), "Stefanie, chew."

Miss Emma also knows how to operate an iPad. She can unlock it, find her favorite TV shows, and start and stop episodes. All by herself. I watched her go through like six different Dora the Explorer episodes before she decided on which one she wanted. I knew Apple products were intuitive, but I guess I underestimate the toddler population! (She loves to play with the volume. I love to snuggle with her and read a book while she watches Dora.)

She's such a big girl. Look at her a year ago!

Miss Emma still can't eat yogurt without being messy. Not much changes, except now she has more hair. (And she can speak better this year. And she has more teeth. And she...)

Miss Emma will be THREE soon. Don't talk to me about it.

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I went to see my asthma doctor the other day. Ever the sample-giver, he gave me a sample of my favorite kind of inhaler. The usual number of doses in an inhaler is 206, but this one is MINI. It only has 65. AND IT'S MINI.

Really, it just supports my theory that everything is more awesome in its miniature form: muffins, sharpies, squashes (my roommate gave me a mini acorn squash the other day!) And now, inhalers.

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I have some thank you notes to send out for my birthday presents. Mom gave me these stickers last weekend (since her last name no longer begins with a P) and I thought it would be ULTRA CLASSY to put them on.

Don't they just SCREAM classy?

We also determined that I must be an adult if I send thank you cards with absolutely no prompting from her.

Well, crap...

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Also, tomorrow's my last day of classes. Where did the semester go?

Class Rings, (gratuitous pictures of) Emma, and the Best Class Ever

2011-11-18T07:39:00.001-06:00

This week has been a happy interruption to the endless cycle of school work and real work in my life... I got some time off of work, I finally felt ready to begin writing my paper (which I am sure I will write about soon - it's kind of all I can talk about these days!), and I got my class ring!

My mom and dad came to the ceremony on Wednesday evening, which was, predictably, mostly calling out names and posing for photographs.

I'm up there somewhere! See me?

The eyes of Texas are upon you, all the live long day...

We sang The Eyes of Texas, which has become my favorite song over the last few years here at UT.

And after the ceremony, I posed with my new ring.

It's silly, but I keep looking at it. It's a visual representation of what I have done at UT. Even though I'll leave in a few months with little more than a slip of paper and what's in my brain (the latter is the most important, of course) it feels really good to have something shiny to show off.

Isn't it beautiful? You can hold it if you ask me nicely!

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In other news, LOOK AT EMMA.

Next year, I won't be looking after her regularly because her mom will be on maternity leave. Of course, I will miss my Emma... but I'm getting my dose of her adorableness while I can!

And lastly, a lifelong (okay, college-long) dream I've had is to have class at Starbucks. Well, I suggested it a few months ago in my Lexicography class and...

AT STARBUCKS!!

YESSSSSSSSSSS!

Thank you for my coffee, professor! Best class ever!

(We have a rather small class, and only seven or eight of us showed up that day anyway. Thank you, Professor!)

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I lied. That last one wasn't exactly the last lastly.

I'd like to say thank you to my mother for giving birth to me 22 years ago.

Obviously not a picture of my birth. I'll spare you the gory details, and instead present you with the messy details of my first birthday.

And yes, I know I'm not actually 22 until 11:55pm.

"It's not my birthday without you reminding me of that!" I told her on facebook.

"It's hard for me to forget, you know," she replied.

(Touche.)

A Knitterly Post

2011-11-01T09:48:00.006-05:00

Last week was really stressful for me - I had my last short story for my creative writing class due, I had a test in my history class (and the first exam we had I didn't do as well as I had hoped I would, so I tried to study a lot more for this one) and I have been feeling a lot of pressure from my various and sundry occupations of babysitting and teaching that I felt like I might break by the end of the week.

Well, everything that I was fearing ended up passing like no big deal. I knew that I would be able to tackle everything I needed to (and less important things would fade to the background), but it was sure a big relief when I came out intact. I spent the weekend relaxing, cheering on UT on Saturday night (WHAT A GAME. 43-0 win!), and knitting.

I have been knitting so much stockinette and garter stitch lately (for you non-knitters - all just flat, plain, boring ole knitting, no fun things like cables or lace), that I literally exploded into a fingerless mitten pattern with all the cables I could want on Sunday afternoon. I knitted all afternoon, and even the finicky cables couldn't stop me from adoring the whole process.

(Pattern: Evenstar Gloves)

I've only knit the first one, and it was delightful - and I can't wait to knit the second one and wear them! Texas is giving us its version fall right now, where it's kind of moderately chilly in the morning and moderately warm in the afternoon. It feels a lot like Oxford did over the summer. Maybe someday I'll be able to wear a sweater in the morning AND the afternoon!

About a week ago, I also started a long-promised present for my stepsister Katie. Remember my Wealsey sweater? Well, she wants one too! Here is the beginning of that!

I'm going to try and knit the letter into hers as intarsia, instead of sewing it on as a double stitch after the fact. I figure that K is a lot easier to chart than S was. S was awful. S defeated me.

Emma's little sister's blanket is progressing, though I've taken a break from it for a while. I have edges and weaving in ends still to do. But I am super proud of it. :)

The other project I've been working on for a while is the Sunday Market Shawl, which I knit with some Malabrigo that I've had just laying around for a while.

It was a super easy knit, and I am definitely going to knit another one sometime! It's not so much a shawl (though it stretches out wider to be a kind of wrap) as a scarf, and I know I will be warm and toasty all winter (if winter ever comes!) with it!

I finally visited Gauge, the other yarn store in Austin, and that's where I bought the yarn for my mittens, and this baby. Because I simply couldn't help myself.

(Dizzylettuce, Peacock Bronze)

Oh baby - you're going to be 420 yards of something BEAUTIFUL.

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Now, it is off to class I go! My roommate woke me up this morning with a conversation that went something like this:

Leslie: "Stefanie! Stefanie! Wake up!"

Me: "What?"

Leslie: "I have a pumpkin spiced latte and I don't know what to do with it!"

I have the best roommate EVER. She brings me coffee. :D

What's new, Scooby Doo?

2011-10-24T13:33:00.009-05:00

What have I been up to, you may ask?

1) Studying

Lots of reading and lots of tests in the world of Stefanie at the moment. Such is the life of Stefanie The Student. (But only for another semester! I GRADUATE IN MAY.)

(...I hope this is as earthshaking to you as it is to me. Because, like my mother always tells me, I was born just yesterday.)

2) Working

These days, I'm babysitting at a church, for Emma, and for another family, AND teaching piano... it's a lot of driving, and a lot of children, but it's super fun! Here! Have a gratuitous picture of Emma!

(This one's my phone background at the moment. What. a. sweetie.)

3) Knitting

I have a variety of projects that I've knitted recently. Some of them are for Real People and/or Real Purposes, and some of them just for me. Here, have a look at a few of them!

This blanket is ALMOST finished. Emma is going to have a little sister soon, and so I'm knitting her a baby blanket. :)

This is a sweet little bird called a Chubby Chirp. I did a speech on knitting in my speech class and so I spent some time knitting little toys and things to bring into class with me.

A little bunny lovie I knit for the purposes of my speech. I'll probably give this one to Emma's little sister, too, as it's knit from the same yarn as the borders of the blanket.

This is an earring from a pair that I knit, also for the purposes of my speech! It's lovely, and I can't wait to experiment with other designs! It's wire and beads. :)

4) Working

Did I mention I work all the time? Ask my roommate - I'm never home during the week. To make up for the mention of the sad thing, have some more gratuitous pictures of Emma!

Pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen!

5) Reading (which is more or less a subcategory of studying... sometimes.)

I'm writing a paper on Tolkien's languages, so I'm reading a lot of Tolkien right now. Luckily, I got to choose such an awesome topic, I get to mix some work with pleasure! This has led to an outbreak of writing in Elvish on my whiteboard...

And I've just started reading The Yarn Harlot's latest, All Wound Up, because I went to see her speak at Book People yesterday. She signed it and everything!

I also got to meet Maureen Johnson, who was at the Austin Teen Book Festival a few weeks ago, and I had her "revenge sign" my copy of Paper Towns (written by John Green, an author friend of hers, and who also signed that book). I posted the photo on Tumblr (a blog website), which prompted a spat of popularity when John Green reblogged my post (adding "Stop signing my books, Maureen!") and suddenly I was immensely popular. (Okay, okay, it was my photo that was popular!) I don't know that that kind of thing will ever happen again, so I reveled in the temporary internet popularity.

There's Maureen on the panel! If you don't already, you should follow her on Twitter. (Should you have a twitter. (She's @maureenjohnson)

Some other things I've been enjoying recently are my new toys! I recently got a new computer (a MacBook Pro) and a shiny new phone (the iPhone 4S). They are both absolutely DELIGHTFUL.

And since it's fall now, that means TONS of apple butter in my apartment! DELICIOUS. Cottage cheese and apple butter is the most delicious breakfast of all! And my roommate Leslie likes to put it on her scrambled eggs.

Also, fall is FOOTBALL SEASON. Here's me wit Hookem on the field before the most recent game!

I know that I should update le blog more often. Perhaps I will? Sometimes it's hard to remember to when I have so many other things to do!

Dumb Questions and New Changes

2011-09-05T22:46:00.007-05:00

Already, I am pretty sick of the question which immediately follows anyone asking, "What are you studying?"

"What do you want to do with that?"

The answer I feed to people (after they often prompt me with, "Teach?") is, "I'd like to go into publishing. I'd like to be an editor. I love red pens!"

This usually elicits a giggle or a comment resembling "Wow" or any of its derivatives, and then we move forward with our conversation. The unfortunate thing is that, more and more I find myself wanting to shout, "Whatever the hell I want to do with my English degree! What did you do with yours, huh? Anything that applies to what you do now, eh?"

This immature response is something I avoid actually saying, of course... but it sure doesn't get any easier every time I hear that dumb question.

I understand just as well as anyone else that the question inevitably comes from a natural desire to be polite and have good conversation. It's a legitimate question... however, it doesn't make it any less annoying. I remember having similar frustrations when I was a senior in high school in regards to: "What do you want to study?" and "Where do you want to go to college?" I happily answered, but grew more and more weary of that by May. Now that I'm close to finishing, nobody wants to know what I've learned, just how I'll use it.

Just once, I'd like to be asked: "Oh, you're an English major? What do you think about Austen's use of irony in her books?" or "Can you analyze this for me?" Even, "English majors are my favorite! Here, have all the jobs!"

(A girl can dream, right?)

The paralyzing fear that gripped me then grips me again now: Do I know what I want to do? Am I actually any good at it? Have the last four years been worth anything? I'm leaving with a piece of paper and what's in my brain... is that enough?

It probably is enough, if I want it to be. It's just really scary at this point, seeing the top of the hill and wondering if I'll ever crest it.

-----

/endrant

I apologize for the rant. It's been on my mind all night/all week/all summer, particularly because of one of my classes. I'll be blogging about my classes soon, which all seem pretty cool so far. And they come with practical application to boot!

In other news, I'm changing the name of the blog again, this time to "three by five". Moving forward into a new frame of mind and phase of life, it's not always just one of those days for me anymore... For a description of what the new title means, click this link. For the short explanation, I offer you this: I wish you were here with me, and that I didn't have to share with you my life through words and pictures. But for now, it'll have to do.

In other super happy funtime news, we won the game this weekend! Hook 'em!

Backlighting

2011-08-21T10:52:00.003-05:00

I was sorting through my photos from this summer (turns out I took 1605 photos!) and was looking for the best/most artistic photos so I could frame them and put them in my apartment, when I realized...

I sure do love me some backlit photos.

Wrapping Up!

2011-08-20T08:41:00.009-05:00

I don’t think that I have words enough to portray to you all my last weeks at Oxford. Even now, I don’t think that I could possibly express how blessed and absolutely wealthy I feel, having had this experience (Wealthy in spirit, since I spent my last few pounds at the airport just before I left! I will be very grateful to return to work!)

The kindness I received, the love I experienced, and the knowledge I gained simply move me. I keep saying this, but I literally can’t imagine a better summer. And what a treat that it is my last summer as a proper student!

I am afraid I may have to barrage you with photos, dear readers. I will try and find the words, even 36000ft high as I am!

I believe we left off blogs with my visit to my Uncle Neil’s house… Well, it was a treat to stay there for that weekend. Coming out of easily the most stressful week at the Oxford program, having the opportunity to play out in the yard, go bowling, help cook and wash up, and spend quality time with my cousins who I so rarely see was exactly what I needed. In the mornings, they even let me do my homework quietly!

The most bizarre thing to me is how much my cousins grow every time I see them. Every time, I exclaim, “My how you’ve grown!” and give them the, “You’re so tall! Look how tall you are!” hug. And though I still remember exactly how annoying that is, I can’t help but enjoy it. I had to endure it – it’s sort of like revenge, except much more subtle. I truly wish that I would be able to see them more often, to really get to know them as the little people they are becoming. I was “assaulted” by five cousins at once, and, in my opinion, nothing could be more delightful.

My Auntie Kara and her family stopped by that weekend to see me, too, and we had a lovely, large family dinner – Grandad, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins. It is so rare that I experience that, I had to soak it in while I could! The next afternoon, I even got to visit Brighton for a few hours with Kara & Co, where they were nice enough to buy me some ice cream and put me on a train back “home” to Oxford.

The following week at Oxford was an opportunity to go visit another English garden, which, before this summer, sounded like something dreadfully dull, if pretty.

Well, really it was rather dull, except that I got to stomp around all over an English garden with my friends. It provided many a picturesque view.

At one end of it was a Temple of Apollo, where a scene from the latest Pride and Prejudice was filmed (the scene where Darcy proposes for the first time). We all had fun proposing to each other (and rejecting their proposals!) and I even pretended to be a statue on one of the empty plinths.

The gardens themselves were absolutely stunning, and provided plenty of great landscapes for great photos.

The following weekend, I went to Cheshire to visit my cousin Josh, who is the cousin I have spent the most time with in the past. He’s come out to Texas a number of times to stay with us for a few weeks, and spending time with him was lovely.

He showed me Chester, the city near which he lives, and I didn’t waste any opportunity I had to take pictures of lovely old buildings.

Chester Cathedral in particular was absolutely magical – something about the light coming in through the clerestory and illuminating the very dark stone from which the cathedral was built.

I didn’t think I could love a cathedral more than I love Canterbury Cathedral, but this one certainly came close.

(Although I won’t post this until probably later this week when I have both internet AND time to add photos, I would like it known that I’ve just entered the United States again! We’re just flying over Vermont! Two hours to go on this flight, seven hours have passed! Woohoo!)

Josh and I took his dog Skye for a walk through the countryside,

...and WOW. I can’t BELIEVE the views that I had from up there! I could see to Wales – literally!

It was something like walking the Moors in Yorkshire – I didn’t think that I could properly explain the feeling from way up high looking down across the English hills, knowing full well that this is what people see every day when they walk their dogs.

God bless Austin, but Austin can’t compare. I came away from that walk totally reinvigorated, ready to tackle the rest of my time in England. I also came from that walk asking, “Is this real life?”

My last week at Oxford was, well, bittersweet. There was a lot of talk of lasts – last milkshake at Shakespeare’s, last trip to Oxfam, last tea in Blackwell’s – and for me it was no different to anyone else. We went to see Kenilworth Castle, where we climbed all over the ruins, pretty sure that we were going to be picked up and blown away by the wind!

My friend Jeanine and I found a tree – which we fondly named Dudley, after one of the people tied to the castle (Builder? Owner? Lived there? Can’t remember!) and had some of the most relaxing, quiet moments of the entire program.

(There's Jeanine, shaded by Dudley. :) )

We just laid in the grass, listening to the wind blow the trees this way and that… I love that the trees seemed to be whispering Shhh… Stefanie, be still, be quiet, enjoy your last moments while you can...

After those lovely moments, we clambered back on the bus to Stratford Upon Avon again.

where I visited Shakespeare’s grave (I thought it would bring the trip full circle in a very nice way, what with visiting his birthplace the first time!)

and then sat one pub having dinner and another having drinks for a few hours. It was spectacular – I finally found £2 beer! (It was awful beer… but it was only £2!) and then saw the RCS’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I loved it. It was raunchy in all the right ways, it was bizarre enough to keep me interested (I’ve seen a few productions of it as well as was in one in high school), and the actors were stellar. I believe that we saw the actress who played Helena make her debut on that stage that night!

When we returned to Oxford, the next day my friend Caron and I decided to visit two of the museums that we hadn’t yet visited, and have some cream tea and scones at the White Horse in between the two. The Ashmolean was lovely, but massive (we walked through many of the rooms, but didn’t nearly visit it the way we could have!) and the second museum was a natural history museum whose name I forget, but I was delighted with the second one. It screamed “19^th Century” to me, and really was a cabinet of curiosities.

There were skeletons, specimens in jars, stuffed specimens, things to touch, and things to explore that stimulated of your senses (seriously – some signs instructed you to smell the objects! But none instructed you to taste anything!) Outside of the museum, there’s a sign that says that this museum is where Darwin’s Origins of Species was debated, and my friends Katie and Caron took it upon themselves to demonstrate for me what the debate had probably been like.

Final banquet was a formal event, and everyone dressed up for it! We all (sans one of the professors, who wandered off somewhere) posed for a photo or twelve, and then had a delicious three course meal in the Hall.

Afterwards, we went to the JCR, our makeshift classroom of the summer, and enjoyed a series of skits, songs, and improv for a few hours. A bunch of people went out for the after after banquet party at the pub, but I had to go to my room and pack all of my stuff!

The next day I have already written about in my last blog, so I will spare you another rendition!

The following weekend was spent mostly in Central London – I was staying at Siobhan’s house near Wimbledon (I spent a lot of time traveling up and down the Northern Line. Pretty sure I’ve memorized the way that “This train terminates at Morden” sounds in that lady’s voice on the metro!) I met up with my old nanny Anika and her boyfriend Sean, and the two of them were just so lovely and kind!

It was lovely to meet Sean and great to catch up with Annie, who I haven’t seen in six years! We went all over London, doing the very typical attractions (some of which I hadn’t yet visited!) I was very sad to say farewell to them on Monday – They made my last weekend in England that much better! We got to eat at Jamie Oliver's restaurant in Covent Garden - Jamie's Italian - and that was super yummy! I want Jamie to put one here in Austin now...

Saturday night was a joint party for Siobhan and her roommate Theodora’s birthdays (Siobhan’s 21^st was yesterday, Thee’s in a few weeks). It was a fun party!

Someone nicked my camera (but I got it back, no worries!), so there are a lot of photos of me from that night, which was really unusual for me to see. Definitely not used to so many photos of ME!

Last night, Siobhan, her parents and I went to TGI Friday’s to celebrate her birthday. We were joking that it was prepping me for my return to America!

And certainly my burger did make me miss my home even more! The margarita I ordered was so terrible that I missed going to Chuy’s every Sunday evening with Ally!

(Here, I had to close my computer because we were landing. Begin blog written on Saturday morning!)

That brings me to my flights. Nine hours from London to Atlanta (I watched movies and chatted with the lady next to me for a few hours – She was very sweet and offered that if I were to ever go to Orlando in Florida, I could stay with her and her husband. I don’t know if I’ll take her up on it, but it was lovely to meet someone who also loves to travel as much as I do!)

My mom had a business trip in Atlanta and was set to go back to Austin on the same day as me, and she was sweet enough to book herself on the same flight home from Atlanta! She used her superior Airport Superpowers to finagle her way into the seat next to mine, and we spent the flight home drinking wine and chatting about our summers. Alright, mostly it was me chatting. I was very tired, but I pushed myself to stay awake the whole time!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I crawled into my bed at Mom’s house. Home sweet home…

BEST SUMMER EVER.

A Day in the Life of Stefanie and Caron, in Three Parts

2011-08-12T17:18:00.002-05:00

So I wrote this for my school blog, and I thought that since it was already all written up, I thought I would add it to this blog! I will blog about everything else I've done in the next few days - because I've done a lot! That said, enjoy!

Part One: Dragging our Damn Heavy Bags All Over the London Tube

My friend Caron and I left Oxford this morning bright and early (meaning, I slept through my alarm so Caron woke me up by knocking on my door!) not so much mourning our last moments in Oxford as wishing that our bags were not so heavy! Finding ourselves in Gloucester Green was a blessing, and our student tickets to London on the Oxford Tube were expensive, as usual. We successfully navigated the tube system in London (after a few embarrassing topples of our bags! WHERE are all of the elevators in this country?!) and found ourselves in Morden – or as we fondly call it, Mordor. We are staying with my friend Siobhan for the weekend, and decided that we’d deposit our bags at her house and then head back into Central. We suffered the mile or so from the tube station to her house (looking miserable enough for a man to slow his car and ask if we wanted a lift! We politely declined… no kidnapping for us this summer!) and finally – finally – found ourselves at her house. We knocked, waited… no answer.

NO. Oh come ON, this can’t be HAPPENING to us. Nobody’s in – we have a schedule, we have all of our possessions with us, and we are sweating from climbing that damn hill with our heavy bags.

Of the five people who live in that house… nobody was in. What are the odds of that? Honestly.

Part Two: Breaking and Not Entering with Caron. Caron’s Lessons on How Not to Pick a Lock

Finding ourselves in front of a house empty of all but the cat (Meg, who mocked us from her vantage point on the windowsill), Caron and I stood in awe of our own situation. We had no way to contact anyone in the house (everyone was at work and I only had Siobhan’s phone number), we had no way to get into the house, and there wasn’t even a way to get into the backyard, without scaling more than one fence! We ate a few cookies (emergency cookies are never a bad idea) and surveyed our options. As I saw it, we had three. One, pick the lock. Two, scale the house and enter through the open window (also taunting us from up above!) Three, ditch our bags and head into London as we planned, hoping that nobody rioted in sleepy Morden.

The fourth option was to cry quietly on her doorstep and wait for someone to come home, but we refused to acknowledge that.

We opted for option one, because I wasn’t comfortable with leaving our bags out in plain sight for anyone – literally anyone – to come and snoop through them. Or steal from them. I sacrificed a few bobby pins for the greater good of our day, but to no avail. Caron, in fact, can’t pick locks. She looked pretty good while she did it – bending in funny ways, screwing up her face, sticking her tongue out, and cursing quietly at the door. Actually, while all of these things might HELP pick a lock, none of them actually work without the proper equipment. Bobby pins painted blonde aren’t that.

After considering scaling the wall, we ran into a neighbor who was leaving his house, and we asked if we could hide our bags behind his car. He very nicely agreed, and we covered our bags with our raincoats – we were NOT chancing the weather – and then put all of our valuables in our backpacks and set off to London.

Part Three: London in Under Five Hours – The Marriageability of Men in the National Portrait Gallery

Having stashed our bags behind the neighbor’s car, we dragged ourselves back down to the Morden tube station, where we collapsed onto the tube, ready to ride the Northern Line as far as we could. Caron promptly fell asleep (I was jealous) and I pulled out my kindle and thanked God and any other deity that was listening that I could read exactly what I wanted to. Having been entirely unsuccessful at going into the British Museum last time we went into central, we headed there first. Caron named me Queen of the Underground, because I navigated seamlessly (and she was thankful that she didn’t have to navigate herself), and we walked around the British Museum for about an hour and a half. We saw plenty – whizzing through historical eras at a speed only capable by two twenty-somethings already half dead on their feet. (“I really could have used a hover-round. And I wish I were blind so I could go on the blind tour and touch things!” –Caron) Even though there was plenty of security in the museum, I was a little nervous about the backpacks… You see, we were carrying around two laptops, an iPad, two iPods, three phones, and two kindles (not to mention our wallets) and being so tired, I was not as alert as I could have been. There were no disasters, but I hated to turn my back on anyone. Or anything. Those mummies were suspicious.

We decided to go to Trafalgar Square (Caron, in her exhausted stupor, called it “TRAH-fall-garr square”, immediately realized what she said, and said, “That never happened. Never repeat that to anyone.” I made no such verbal acquiescence, so here it is, fodder for this blog.) We stopped for pizza near Leicester Square, and wandered into the National Portrait Gallery, where we were immediately blown away by the number of portraits that we recognized. There was a gallery of Tudors – we recognized Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth right off the bat, and tour brief tour through the rest of the museum involved a lot of scoping out of handsome men in portraits. Caron thinks that there’s something about a man in tights that just works. I liked seeing very Darcy-like men with messy hair. And the wigs, well, they were fantastic. We left the museum with lots of prospective husbands, only hindered by the fact that they were a little dead.

“We had a good day,” said Caron. I wholeheartedly agree.

More Cemeteries...

2011-07-30T04:59:00.003-05:00

I am going to take this opportunity to show you a lot of pretty shots of cemeteries – because honestly if I remember anything of this summer, it'll be copious amounts of literature, an even larger amount of beer and pubs, and an unexpected number of visits to cemeteries!

And after that I’ll show you the most meaningful grave I’ve visited so far. Well, personally meaningful, at any rate.

(This is Douglas Adam's grave)

(I really liked this one for its penguins!)

And now to the grave that is personally meaningful. It wasn't part of a school trip or anything, just an excursion that a few of us went to see since it was just outside of town.

JRR Tolkien's grave!

The Chawton Austens

2011-07-29T04:31:00.006-05:00

On Tuesday, despite feeling like we had literally just gotten off the bus back from Yorkshire, we all piled on again in the late morning to do a quick afternoon trip to Chawton, where Jane Austen’s house was.

It was a sweet little town, definitely benefitting from Jane Austen’s presence, and we first stopped off at the house that her brother had inherited (from the Knight family, who hadn’t had an heir, so they adopted him to be their heir! A little bit like winning the lottery, that!) It had some lovely gardens and the interior was spectacular.

It’s been converted into the “Chawton Early Women Writers Library” so it has a lot of writers that I hadn’t heard of (being that, as my professor so aptly put it, “History tends to remember the men.”)

This sweet little dog was playing fetch with his owner. It was so adorable! He made me miss my dogs back home!

We toured the house and the church on the property, where Jane's mother and sister were buried...

And as we walked back into the village, I was distracted by the animals and insects...

And finally, we found Jane Austen’s house! (It wasn' t hard to find at all.)

It wasn’t as totally awesome as the Bronte house, but they did have a lock of her hair,

and a piano, which she wouldn’t have played, but is very similar to one she would have. I glanced at the music and saw that I knew it, and the museum people gave me permission to play it!

It was SO COOL. It was a beautiful, if very out of tune, instrument.

(I love that quote. :) )

In the gift shop, I bought matching mugs for my friend Ally and I – they have Colin Firth’s face on them, from when he played Mr Darcy in the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. I couldn’t help it – they were just too ridiculously awesome to pass up. (And come on – coffee in the morning with Mr Darcy? You can’t say no.)

After that we stopped briefly (and I really mean briefly! We only had half an hour to spare!) at Winchester Cathedral to see Jane Austen's grave.

The brass plaque is hard to read even in real life! But it was an awesome thing to see.

Enough of Chawton and Winchester! Back to Oxford we go! :)

In a Cemetery, All's Well that Ends Well

2011-07-29T03:57:00.006-05:00

(So I am going to start from where I left off and post a lot of blogs in rapid succession. I've just written four pages worth of text in Microsoft Word about my time here - I hope you enjoy!)

Wait a second, that’s not the title! And it sounds rather morbid… But that’s what we did! We went to a cemetery outside of London called Highgate Cemetery, where, as my professor Barrish would say, “Wasn’t where some scenes in Dracula happened, but they should have.”

London is such an old city that, what with the millions and millions of people who have lived there over thousands of years, there’s bound to be a lot of people buried under the city. London is a necropolis, a city of the dead, which is a concept I have never thought of pinning on London, being that it is so, well, alive. What with all of the decomposing bodies underneath them, people started getting ill all the time, and so in the 19^th century (I think) they started to understand that they needed to move the cemeteries out of the city, and Highgate was one of the first ones. Karl Marx is buried there,

Douglas Adams, too, and wandering around the graves I found a strange sort of peace. It was a drizzly, rainy day – very Gothic of you, weather! – and it was somehow inspiring to see hundreds and thousands of markers for people who I never knew, but who were very much as loved as you or I or anyone.

We didn’t linger long in the cemetery, instead we broke off into groups and went in search of something to do in London before we went to the Globe Theater to see All’s Well that Ends Well.

My group really wanted to go to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is a place whose outside I am familiar with, but I don’t recall ever properly going inside. Somehow I’ve managed to catch it at the wrong time, seemingly every time.

I couldn’t take photos inside, but I got some great ones of the outside.

We caught the cathedral at exactly the right time: they were just beginning the 5pm evensong service, and with the choir singing, the Cathedral absolutely came alive.

It was enchanting and breathtaking to stand in a place of worship such as that and witness people worshiping.

I would have stayed longer, but we were on a tight schedule, so we quickly ate pizza across the street from the Cathedral and then walked over the millennium bridge to the Globe!

Now, it’s been an awful tease for the last six or so years since I first saw the Globe and toured it with my brother and Dad one year when we were here for Christmas. But since it was December, we couldn’t see a show.

I was not familiar with All’s Well, but I loved every minute of it! I can understand why some call it a “problem play” of Shakespeare’s though, because especially the end was a little bit hard to follow, and it didn’t quite have the same kind of quality that some of his greater plays (Hamlet, etc.) have.

The actors were brilliant, the show entertaining (and raunchy, my goodness! Shakespeare was dirty!), and we all piled on the bus after the show clamoring for more. I can’t wait to go see another play there!

London, I'll see you later!

And Finally Back to Oxford

2011-07-29T03:39:00.014-05:00

Let me tell you, readers, that I have had one helluva week. I might have to do a little backtracking through time on this blog, because I realize I haven’t really blogged much while I’ve been here. It’s because in the three weeks that I’ve been here I have powered through Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, and I’m am about fifty pages from finishing Mansfield Park.

I finished Jane Eyre on Monday night (bribing myself with a milkshake from Shakespeare’s, which is probably my favorite new place in Oxford. I got an “All’s Well that Ends Well”, which had Reese’s, Minstrels, and some other candy I didn’t know in it, but was delicious. It’s the only one I’ve had there, but I plan to go back at some point to try an “As You Like It”, which looked absolutely scrumptious.

So far, Jane Eyre has been my favorite book we’ve read, and I can’t wait to finish reading the rest of the books (only two more, thank goodness!) so that I can get to rereading that sucker. It was so good, and I have no idea why I have left it so long to read! You know when you’re reading a book that is just so good you never want it to end? I smiled the entire way through the book (even though the ending is rather tragic… until the conclusion of course!) It makes me want to read the rest of the Bronte’s work as soon as I can... Which certainly won’t be in the next three weeks!

This morning, I had to turn in a paper (on Jane Eyre, which was rather easy and I churned that out last night in no time at all) and I had to do a presentation on Mansfield Park, which, if you have heard me talk at all about Austen novels in the last two or three months, is the most boring thing I’ve read in a long time. It is brilliant, of course, and already after one class period I am more sympathetic to Fanny’s character and her situation than I was while I was reading the book, but since I had to present this morning (on the landscapes used in the book) I have been quietly panicking all week about this assignment. I read, essentially three hundred and fifty pages yesterday, and didn’t move from my room for hours (until I moved to the pub and had a pint of cider while I read. This made the book a lot more tolerable!) I think that by the end of this next week when we finish discussing the book, I will be a lot fonder of the book, but as it is right now, I’m blogging on a train instead of reading the book. I also have to start reading Dracula this weekend… which will be a trip!

I have one more blog for you, which I will get to posting momentarily. I'm safely ensconced in Chez Powling (the Rosslyn location) and will be spending the weekend with almost all of my cousins in one go! More pictures will surely follow. :)

A Weekend in Yorkshire

2011-07-29T03:39:00.013-05:00

I went to Yorkshire last weekend! It was a class trip, so all travel and accommodation was provided, but I had to pay for all of my meals. It was about a six hour bus ride up to Haworth, where we stayed the first night.

Since it was a class trip, it was for literary purposes, and Haworth is where the parsonage was that Charlotte Bronte and her family lived. We stayed in a hostel,

(this was my first hostel experience) and it looked like it could be the Addam’s Family house!

We all started singing the song on the way in (duh nuh nuh nuh - snap snap!) It was a Victorian mansion which was simply stunning,

and when we returned from dinner (more on that in a moment!) we drank a few bottles of wine and people played a game called Bloody Murder in the yard.

I’m not sure how it worked, but someone hid while they all gathered and counted to one hundred, and then people went to find them. When they were found, they would all run back to the picnic table – their base – in a hurry, laughing and screaming. The next day, on our way into town, we met these very sweet, enthusiastic horses!

We went to the Bronte Parsonage Museum, which, if you ever have a chance to visit it, is absolutely worth a visit. The house itself is very well preserved (although the floors are so squeaky I often wondered if I would fall through the floor! The headline “Longhorns Break the Bronte Museum” did occur to me more than a few times!) The church on the property is lovely, as well!

Haworth is probably the hilliest town I have ever visited. Beautiful, mind you, but hilly as hell.

(Those are from the sunset the night before.) The main road leading up to the pub where a lot of us had dinner that night was so steep you could have crawled more effectively than walked.

The pictures I have don’t do the incline justice.

We walked the moors and dales, and everywhere I went, it felt very real to me that Charlotte Bronte and her siblings would have walked those paths the same as we were.

They were literally right behind her house on the edge of the village. The pictures don’t do the view justice. A girl in my class said (rather comically) that “It was like being in an IMAX movie or something!” and, even though that statement is a little bit backwards, I do believe that she was right.

The view from the top of the moors was absolutely breathtaking and I can’t put into words the way it felt to stand on top and survey the world around you.

I think that I, too, would produce works of great literature like the Bronte sisters if I walked those fields every day! (I would also get fantastically toned legs!)

After walking the moors, we hopped on our bus to Osmotherley, which we were only going to because the hostel in Whitby (our destination the next day) couldn’t accommodate forty longhorns and three professors! So we descended upon Osmotherley, which is a tiny little village in god only knows where (but was just as hilly – oh my aching legs! – as Haworth) and it was at the Osmotherley hostel (which is apparently haunted, because the other people who were there were ghost hunters. I am glad I didn’t know this until after I’d left!) that we experienced the Narrowly Avoided Great Tragedy of Osmotherley. There was a bridge over which our bus had to drive to get to the hostel which said, “Weak Bridge – 3T”. We took that to mean “Three tons” and so we approached with caution, being that apparently the bus, sans students and luggage, weighs something like five tons! The bus driver went out and talked to the people at the hostel, who said that the villagers had put that up because they wanted to discourage coaches crossing it, but it was fine – and was sound enough to hold our five+ ton bus. We all held our breath as we crossed, and as I am obviously writing you this (and am on a train instead of in a hospital bed) we crossed just fine. It was pretty tense though!

In Osmotherley, we had dinner at the Queen Catherine Inn, and were joined for dessert by one of the professors, Dr Barrish. We chatted with him, and he, after we’d all paid, said, “Come with me…” and we all, exchanging glances, followed him out into a… cemetery!

This may be one of the first cemeteries I have shown you, but believe you me, I have been to a lot of cemeteries in the last two or three weeks! (By my latest count, including ones we just stumbled upon and walked through, I have been to eight or nine!) It was twilight, and it was one of the most beautiful and haunting things I have ever experienced.

We all professed ourselves immediately thoroughly impressed (and told him he was our favorite professor) and after that incident, we have said that Dr Barrish has – get ready for it – gravedar. That night, we all congregated in the common room and played cards, giant chess against the professors (with foot-tall chess pieces) and drank more wine. I went to bed early because I was totally wiped out from all of the hiking we’d done earlier!

The next day, we traveled about an hour to Whitby, which is a town at the coast and which is where the bulk of Dracula takes place (I think – don’t hold me to that since I haven’t read it!)

The main attraction for us was to walk to the top of the 199 steps to the ancient Abbey and the church and the… cemetery of course!

(I love cemeteries... hehe!)

We didn’t have a lot of time in Whitby, only about four or so hours before we had to get on the bus and drive all the way back to Oxford, but we still managed to make use of our time!

Whitby will forever remain in my head as the absolute coldest and windiest place I’ve gone on this trip! We were all joking about “Let’s come back when it gets warmer – like in July! Oh, wait. It is July.” The temperatures rivaled those of a Texas winter and most of us were unprepared. I was warm enough, but I sure wish I’d brought a scarf! My jacket zipped up to the neck didn’t quite do the job. Even this sign should have warned us away...

At the top of the stairs, the abbey was absolutely beautiful.

(Professor Barrish couldn't help but give us a miniature lecture.)

I wish I’d had more time to walk around, but as it was we were on a tight schedule, and if we wanted to eat at all while we were there (and shop!) we had to hustle through. However, the abbey’s splendor was evident even in its state of ruin.

We went back down to the town and spent an hour and a half or so eating and shopping.

I bought a ring which has a tiny little stone of jet in it, which Whitby is particularly known for apparently. The jewelry was beautiful, and if I were not on a budget, I would have blinged myself up properly with all kinds of jewelry! The ring has found itself a place on my right hand, next to the ring that my Aunt Leslie gave to me for my high school graduation a few years ago!

I can't wait to go back to Yorkshire sometime soon! There is so much more I'd like to see.

A Paltry Excuse

2011-07-25T10:39:00.002-05:00

I have so much to tell you all, but I have a lot of reading to do at the moment and it is literally taking up all of my free time that I'm not in class. I have been drafting blogs for you and swear I'll finish them soon! I am determined to finish Jane Eyre today, so hopefully I'll have some time later.

Blogs you can look out for: London (to the Globe theater), more pictures of things around Oxford, my weekend in Yorkshire this last weekend, and a lot of gushing about literature and the weather here!

In the meantime, enjoy a picture of my new bookmark!

(Not Taking a) Bath and a Walk Through a Park

2011-07-14T15:23:00.006-05:00

(Written last night on the bus, photos added this morning because the bus had very slow internet and wouldn't let me!)

At the moment, I am on a bus with free Wifi on my way into London to see The Deathly HallowsPt. 2! In case I haven't had the chance to gush to you about it, I am seeing it in the London IMAX, in 3D, at midnight! I can't express how SO FREAKING EXCITED I am and I am sure I will wax poetic about it in a blog sometime over the weekend. I wrote one a few years ago after the Deathly Hallows (the book) was released, and it deserves just as good of a sendoff now. A better one, in fact!

But first let me tell you about my day today! I want to get this all down before I forget, because I am doing a lot of stuff this weekend, and I really want to do this justice.

Today, we went to Bath (about a 2 hour journey from Oxford) and ideally we were going to go look at all of the Jane Austen-related things, but in reality the group got split pretty early on into the tour my professor was giving and my group was really a lot more interested in going to see the ancient Roman baths. So we did!

(This is where the water came in - apparently it is going fast enough to fill a bathtub in 8 seconds! And the minerals in the water really did turn the stone bright orange!)

Bath was just so beautiful! The Georgian style of house was charming, and seeing the streets of Bath was definitely a huge help for me to visualize what it was like for Anne (from Persuasion) and Catherine (Northanger Abbey) to walk the streets in their novels. Bath, it was emphasized to us by our professors today, was apparently a place to See and Be Seen by people (capitals perhaps unnecessary, but I like it). People would stroll about for no other purpose but to slyly catch the gaze of a potential beau, or to show of their new dress, or to talk disdainfully about other peoples' carriages. (Or at least that's what they do in Austen!)

(The Abbey in Bath... and a clever photo.)

I thought that the See and Be Seen principle was particularly evident in the Circus, a massive circle of townhouses with a lovely patch of grass and trees providing shade from the "white heat of Bath".

(This is part of the Circus, which were three sets of buildings forming a circle around the center, with a little patch of grass.)

(The patch of grass... with two hundred year old trees. I think they're two hundred years old, that's the best I can guess from googling it!)

Before going to the city of Bath (which I definitely want to go back to sometime) we stopped off at Prior Park, which was less than fifteen minutes from the center of the city. It was a park which exemplified the English Garden, and we spent about an hour walking around it... and it was just splendid! The entire time we were walking down the pathways, I heard people saying things like, "Screw Texas - I'm moving here!" or, "Think we could just buy a tent and live here for the rest of the summer?" It was an extraordinary experience to be strolling through the hills.

(But boy do my legs feel it now! I'll be hobbling for the rest of the day!)

The English Garden apparently differs from a French or Italian one because instead of being geometrical, it was all about a natural feel - for features to blend into the natural landscape. It reminded me a lot of more modern landscaping that you see back home, except of course on a more grand scale!

What's coming next, you ask? A blog about Harry Potter and a blog about my trip to Canterbury tomorrow!

A Little Gushing about Classes, Shakespeare and Oxford

2011-07-13T06:00:00.004-05:00

Being that it has been a few days since I have blogged, and much has happened in those days, I feel like I owe you all an update! In about 30 minutes, I will have officially been in the UK for an entire week, and what a week it's been! I already cannot number the cups of tea I have consumed and the days are literally flying by!

I have settled into my dorm room well, and settled into my classes too. And although it is hard not to want to go to class and then nap for a few hours outside on one of the massive, springy lawns somewhere, I have to force myself to at least bring along a book and spend a few hours reading for my classes. Despite knowing exactly how heavy those books were in my suitcase, I did not really anticipate having to read so much every day. It is hard to balance the desire to go wander around Oxford and find a pub to have a pint in with the realization that I really shouldread those 30 chapters I have to have read for the next class day...

Oxford is just splendid! Charming, wonderful, beautiful, old, green, lovely... I can list adjectives on and on... and on!

(This is the front of my college, Wadham College)

(This is the street heading toward the shops)

(And this is the grass in our courtyard that you're not allowed to walk on... despite the significant temptation!)

And my classes! Despite the student in me grumbling about the pages and pages I must complete daily, the lectures we have every day are so worth the "torment"! The two classes I am enrolled in have such great professors who really know their stuff, and who lecture, but encourage the students to provide input. They are intellectually stimulating lectures that give me questions that I really do want to answer, they say things that leave me puzzling for hours (Prof Barrish, my Gothic Lit professor, said on Monday that "Sexuality and desire are always perverse," and I have a feeling that that will be a phrase that I puzzle over for quite some time!) I sit in lectures that have me so entranced and engaged that I look at my watch and realize that the hour is almost over - and wish that we could continue on for the whole afternoon.

There is something magical when students and professors alike are on the same page - and I think that that is particularly evident here. I love that.

Yesterday, we took our first day trip, and we went to Stratford-Upon-Avon, which as I am sure most of you are familiar with because it is Shakespeare's birthplace. We visited Anne Hathaway's cottage (AH was his wife), and we visited the Shakespeare museum by the house where he was born (there was a really cheesy staged room with a doll in a cradle and a baby's clothing laid out on a bed. One little kid asked, "Is that Shakespeare?!" and an actress in the room speaking to us about it all replied, "If it is, he's aged splendidly!") After that, about ten of us had dinner at The Dirty Duck (which was renamed by the American GIs who would dine there during WWII - it was originally The Black Swan.)

We saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's Macbeth that evening, and despite the fact that I was so tired (and a few of our group were actually napping in their seats too - we'd had a long day!) I was enthralled by the spectacle of their performance. It was a thrust stage and we were sitting rather close on the right side, and boy, it was gruesome! Obviously it is a bloody play as it was written, but they certainly didn't hold back on the blood special effects! Instead of witches, they substituted children (who first entered from the ceiling hanging from nooses), and the spent the rest of the play being so creepy... Everyone left shivering - and it was awe-inspiring to see a professional company act it. It hit me a lot harder than the other times I've seen and read the play, and I am sure I will remember that performance for quite some time!

Tomorrow, I will be going to Bath, and this time I won't leave my camera behind like I did yesterday (stupid Stefanie!) and tomorrow night I will be heading into London to see Harry Potter 7.2! I'll be going with Siobhan and her friends to the midnight showing at the IMAX theater... and I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I will be a total wreck by the end of it, but what a way to end with a bang!

As for now, I think that I am going to go find the post office, find a quiet corner in the pub next door, order a pint of something delicious and local, and get to reading the three hundred thousand pages I have to read.

(Okay, so it's actually a hundred and seventy, but still.)

Greetings from England!

2011-07-09T12:47:00.006-05:00

Oh, hello! I see you there! Were you lurking under the desk?

Now that you're here, come on in! It's cozy in here, and here, have a cup of tea!

I've been hanging around London for a few days, just chillin' (like a villain!) and enjoying myself while I adjust to the time difference. I'd say I'm more or less adjusted right now, because I've stopped being totally confused every time I wake up!

I spent time with Siobhan at her lovely house in Morden (or as we joke: Mordor! No volcanoes or possessed jewelry around there, though!).

Morden is about two or so miles from Wimbledon. One evening this week we walked to the Starbucks in Wimbledon (to do things that only Siobhan and I would ever do: discuss, write, and edit fanfiction!)

We went into London and shopped yesterday. We saw very Londonlike things (like the Royal Academy of Arts, which was just mind-blowingly beautiful)

We saw Clifford Street - I hadn't realized my Mom and Mike had moved to London!

Siobhan and I had a great time. :)

We ate a light lunch at this place she'd found called the Texas Embassy!

Seeing the Texas flag in London just makes me so happy!!

It was pretty decent Tex Mex food, but I really just wanted to go in to see what it was like! People from all over Texas had signed the walls - there was a giant Longhorn on the wall! (Covered by a stupid A&M flag, though!)

Today, Siobhan and her roommate were nice enough to give me a lift to Oxford! It is just so gorgeous here - like living a dream! I hope this never gets old!

(That is my dorm, with the open window!)

And this is the view from my window:

I am living in a dorm room which is - shockingly - larger than both the room I have in my apartment and the one I have at Mom's house! It has everything I could desire - a closet, a little kettle, a mini fridge, and a sink. The bed is pretty comfy, from the moment I found to lie down on it earlier today.

(I've already made two cups of tea.)

After I settled in, at 7 we went to have dinner in the Hall. I was shocked when I went in - it was like entering the Great Hall at Hogwarts... just so incredibly beautiful, with the sun filtering through the stained glass.

We sat at an impeccably laid long table and were served steak, potatoes and peas, and for dessert, little pavlovas!

Most of us went out for a pint at the pub next door after dinner, but we've retired a little early because most everyone arrived this morning and is just dead on their feet! Myself, I'm going to go to bed a little early to read... and then wake up early tomorrow and go explore Oxford!

More soon! Classes begin on Monday, and I can't wait to get started!

Occupied

2011-07-03T11:23:00.003-05:00

Bonjour, blogosphere!

I feel like I owe you guys a last (or maybe not last) "normal" blog before this blog becomes, again, "Stefanie's Travel Blog, Complete With Many, Many Photos All The Time". That is, I am sure you are familiar, how I tend to blog when I go abroad (for reference, see June-August of 2008) and, in case you missed the announcement:

I am studying abroad at Oxford for the months of July and August. It's a UT program, I'm taking two classes: "Gender, Genre, and the Gothic in 19th Century British Fiction" (my professor of this class has been calling us "Triple-G students" so I may just refer to it as my Triple-G class), and a Jane Austen class. I'm reading seven books (Northanger Abbey, Jane Eyre, and Dracula for Triple-G, and Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Emma, and Mansfield Park for my Jane Austen class.) I do have to write papers, I do have quizzes, I really should study while I'm there.

I've been rather quiet about it on the blog and on facebook, because I feel like I talk about it enough in real life, I don't want to beat it to death before I even go! No, I'm VERY excited, I'm going to have a TON of fun, and I'm going to see lots of family and friends when I go. I'm going to start packing (probably tonight when I can't sleep) but I leave on the 5th... and it's the 3rd right now. (!!!!)

Other things have been occupying my time... Miss Emma and some other families I've been babysitting, as well as working at a church on Sunday nights (more childcare) has been very occupying of my time. This is a good occupation (well, it's my JOB), because it's enabled me to save up enough money to save up some good spending money (on fun things as well as important things like food).

I've been spending time with Leslie, who is the girl who will be my roommate when I come back. She is so lovely! We've been seeing movies, eating frozen yogurt, and hanging out whenever we can! Like magic, she will be my roommate when I come back from England.

I haven't had much time to knit, and I haven't really been so good about reading all the books I need to before I go. But I am not worried - I will get it all done there.

One last thing I have been occupied with is my latest piece of fanfiction. I finally finished my initial edits of it (I made the manuscript bleed) and I've been working very hard on making it the best it can be. I'm very excited about this story - I think it'll be well-received!

Anyway, today I am off to hang out with my dad, and I've got a few errands I must run before I head out there. But perhaps I will blog again before I leave... Probably late at night when I'm packing or just need an outlet for the stress!

I don't blame them...

2011-06-25T22:37:00.006-05:00

So I really don't blame people about mistaking me for Emma's mother.

It's pretty plausible.

Yeah...

Emma is so lovely. I love her sweet little self. :)

(Photos from a family trip to North Carolina in 1992. As far as I can tell, I am about the same age as Emma in them.)

3x5

2011-06-08T22:40:00.002-05:00

Every once and a while, my iPod brings me to this song.

It is John Mayer's 3x5, which never fails to strike a chord in me. It embodies what I want my life to be someday, as well as what I aspire to every day. Especially these lyrics:

"Didn't have a camera by my side this time, hoping I would see the world through both my eyes. Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words... You'll be with me next time I go outside. No more 3x5's"

John Mayer gets a bad rap sometimes. This song, for me, saves him from ever falling in my esteem. When I hear this song, I think of standing on top of mountains, watching sunrises, sharing it with someone I love with all my heart. I can't imagine a more perfect moment.

For these reasons, I am thinking of changing my blog's title to Three By Five. I haven't always got a camera with me to show you my life, and so I have to resort to words - often inadequate - to convey what I can. I only wish that you can live my life with me soon, but for now you'll have to make do with my words, such as they are.

Thoughts?

While you think, let me show you my newest project.

Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook will have already known about this (and those of you who are my mother have already seen this in person), but I have undertaken a Sock Yarn Blanket.

Now, it will not be as grand a project as THE Sock Yarn Blanket, but I hope that it will be a cozy addition to my living room blanket basket. Seriously, nobody let me give this away. It is mine, and it should be mine. (I don't keep a lot of things I knit - I'd rather make other people happy!)

It is slow going-ish, made only less slow going-ish by the fact that I have seven audiobooks to listen to while I knit. I've turned my reading list for my trip to Oxford into a productive time to knit. Now, having knit a few of these squares already (I am up to forty-two and a half squares) I am afraid that I am addicted to these extremely easy mitered squares. I may never stop. This is fair warning.

I am hoping to just keep this by my couch and knit on it as the inspiration strikes. I am thinking I am debating making it 10x14 or 12x16 squares. It will make it a reasonably comfy, cozy blanket. (Also, it will give me an excellent way to rid me of my sock yarn stash so I can make a new stash of it!)

Should anyone feel like sending sock yarn my way for this project (please do not feel obligated in any way, shape or form to do so!), email me and I will send you my address. I would love to include leftovers from others' lovely socks!

(Fingering or sport weight does not matter to me - I have been using both. I know some of you just cringed, while others cocked their head to one side.)

Little Tasks, Peacocks and Photoshoots

2011-05-26T00:09:00.007-05:00

Bonjour, blogosphere!

It's summer, so naturally I seem to forget everything that I have to do and should do - like edit my story, like edit others' stories, like wake up before 11am... like, blog.

It always takes a few awkward, frustrating, and terribly boring weeks for me to get used to summer, but you know, I think I've settled. I miss my friends, I miss having class to wake up for, I miss having things to do (not homework of course! Okay, I miss homework a little. Just a LITTLE, though.)

But, I have worked out a system. I give myself a few things to do every day. In order to remain sane (or, perhaps, close to it), I give myself something "exciting" to do every day; it could vary from cleaning (really scrubbing) various poorly scrubbed corners of my apartment to weeding my bookshelves (I culled my bookshelf today by selling almost fifty books to Half Price Books. Got a whopping and heart-stopping $22.50 for them, woohoo...), to doing laundry.

(Oh, alright. I haven't done laundry in three weeks. Please don't judge me too harshly, it's on the list for tomorrow. I'm down to my "this is getting desperate" underwear in the back of my drawer, anyway.)

Things I'd really like to do in the next few weeks before I go to England mostly include some little things to spruce up my apartment; hanging curtains (this hinges on finding cheap curtains), reorganizing my clothes (which kinda-sorta hinges on finding a better way to store my clothes, though I suppose I could continue to get innovative should I have to), decorating the walls of my living room (which I'd really love to do with some of my own photographs, or some cheap, thrifty art from a thrift store, which, I've just realized, hinges on remembering to go to a thrift store.)

That all aside, I have found some productive ways to occupy my time. For instance, I finally hung up some command hooks to hang towels in my bathroom and to hang the mail key by the door (instead of it living in a pint glass on the shelf). And I totally stripped and scrubbed down my kitchen (Cinderella style: on my hands and knees. Also, little mice helped me sew a dress for a magical ball afterwards, but I had to leave early - ugh! Still waiting on the prince to call me back.) I also knitted a (small and rather scarf-like) shawl.

I knitted it with Noro sock yarn, using an entire skein. Should I ever block it, I'll show you the finished product. All you get are the pretty colors right now!

I also met with a friend Elizabeth on Monday to do a "For Fun Photo-shoot". She wanted to get some more experience and build portfolios and things - plus she has a new and super nice camera and wanted to play with it. I happily volunteered, being that I love any opportunity to look pretty (and change my facebook profile picture!)

She's a talented girl! We went to the Mayfield Park, where, to my complete shock, there were real, live peacocks just strutting around, cawing their weird, vaguely apocalyptic-sounding caws. (Being that we just so recently "survived" the Rapture, apocalyptic seemed the most appropriate adjective. But seriously - peacocks sound kind of freaky!) In any case, I instagrammed (Instagram = iPhone app that allows you to alter filters of photos) one of the peacocks while it was sitting on a bench. Because that's what I'd do if I were a peacock - chill on a bench and let my feather tail flow to the ground in all its magnificence.

Peacocks aside, the photos Elizabeth took were, indeed, facebook profile picture worthy. She sent over a few, and has promised more - I am anxiously await them! It turns out I can take a good photograph when the occasion presents itself.

It's a good thing that we ended the shoot a little early, because when I got home I was blindsided by nausea and spent the rest of the day (and most of yesterday) recovering from a stomach bug apparently making its rounds around Austin. I always seem to bounce back rather fast from these things*, so I've felt practically normal today, just like I have a stomach the size of a quarter. Anything more than a small bit of food complete filled me up today - I've had to eat like a bird all day just to make sure that I was eating at all!

The last thing I want to include in the blog, is an adorable picture of Miss Emma. I instagrammed it too, just for the heck of it!

*I don't have Barb's talent for digression, so I will digress my little tale using an asterisk! I don't often get tummy bugs (which I am so grateful for - vomiting is never high on my priority list. In fact, it's on my "to never do again" list) and what I remember of having them when I was really little was just getting to spend the day in Mom's bed with the puke bowl by my side.

There is a particular occasion, however, that springs to mind, which I will call the Great Plague of St. Gabriel's, where (when I was in seventh or eighth grade - I can't remember) enough students were struck with this vicious stomach bug that they considered closing the school for a few days just to let everyone recover. Approximately three-quarters of the student body were out with this virus over a period of two weeks - and boy, was it a sucky virus. Duncan got it before I did, but that lucky sod got to miss some school for it - I got it over the weekend and was back in school on Monday, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. So that particular story is what I base my tummy bug recovery skills on. For a more complete analysis, I suppose I'd have to ask my mom.

Judas, an Analysis

2011-05-15T01:12:00.011-05:00

When watching Lady Gaga’s music video for her song Alejandro last summer, I was struck with the feeling that there could be a deeper meaning to the song that was brought into sharp focus by the music video. In that case, I was shocked that a video about men with Hispanic names (Alejandro, Fernando, Roberto) manifested in a music video that, for me, invoked a sense of Nazism and most certainly warlike symbolism of Western European culture.

As I often do, in order to better understand what I was seeing, I wrote a brief essay explaining what I thought.

Allow me to do this again, because the music video of Judas surprised me in a similar manner. When listening to the song alone, I expected to get the Western European themes or settings (I imagined the Holy Roman Empire, though I doubted she would do something very historically accurate), and to an extent, I also expected something with the Middle East – Israel (though that seemed far too obvious for Lady Gaga). What I did not expect was a Biker Gang and very (to perhaps over-generalize) Hispanic imagery.

Upon listening to the song, what I initially got was a sense of madness and obsession: Lady Gaga (even insane in her name, “gaga”) repeats “Judas Juda-a-a, Judas Juda-a-a, Judas Juda-a-a, Judas, GaGa” many times throughout the song. To paraphrase the Einstein quote, insanity is repetition while expecting a different result. The repetition seemed to exude an insane kind of obsession, like the more she spoke his name the more likely it was that he would come back to her.

But what is causing this obsession? Clearly it is what she has lost: Judas. She says she would do all of these things for him, if only to get him back: “I’ll wash his feet with my hair if he needs”, “Forgive him when his tongue lies through his brain”. She worships him: “A king with no crown.” Even after he betrays her, she still wants him back and would do anything for him.

But then she implies that she has been given something of a crusade, if we are to continue with the religious imagery. “I’ll bring him down, bring him down, down”. The crusade, we shall assume, is from Jesus, and to me that is reinforced by the music video (which I’ll talk about momentarily.)

A strong theme in the song is that of a dual nature. Lady Gaga exhibits a dual nature in the lines “Jesus is my virtue, Judas is the demon I cling to”, as well as “I’ve learned love is like a brick, you can build a house or sink a dead body” (which is one of those lines that reminds me of her “once you kill a cow, you gotta make a burger” line from her Telephone music video – stating the obvious, but in such a cruel, stark way that it jars). From the brick line, she launches right into a repeat of “I’ll bring him down” line, which implies to me that she will be using a brick (her love) to bring him down. Unfortunately for Gaga, she is unsuccessful. (More on that in a moment.)

And now we go to the music video, for some clarification, affirmation, and perhaps a little more depth to my argument.

In the beginning of the music video, we see the biker gang, each disciple with their name written on the back of their leather jacket.

Unlike the rest of the men, we do not see Jesus’ name; he is only identified by his crown of thorns.

The thing that struck me immediately about this scene is that Lady Gaga is in color, but the only color on the rest of the screen is red: you can see break lights, flesh tones, and the color of Judas’ bike is a very deep, blood red.

Judas spends the entire length of that portion of the music video constantly in motion toward the front of the pack, but never surpasses Jesus. The rest of the disciples remain in formation.

What the song alone did not convey to me (because the focus is entirely on Judas, and her lust after him) is that does love Jesus, even though she is still in love with Judas.

She spends most of the music video, when in the character of Mary Magdalene, touching Jesus, hanging on him, defending him with her lipstick gun.

She might still love Judas, but she has chosen to remain with Jesus.

However, something that struck me the first time I watched the video was the scene where a wave taller than Lady Gaga crashes over her, and, what with the very Christian images the video provides, my mind leapt straight to baptism.

Upon closer inspection, it is a sort of baptism, but it is entirely forced upon her. She is literally overcome and swept away by the wave. It leads me to believe that this is a forced allegiance to Jesus and to virtue, and what I realized is that although she chooses with her mind to follow Jesus, her heart remains in the darkness with Judas.

It is the second baptism of the music video that affirms this for me.

She washes the feet of Jesus and Judas,

and afterward is baptized again, this time by Judas. He pours his beer on her when her back is turned.

It is the second “beer baptism” which affirms for me that she is beyond the point where she could return (she even admits that she is “beyond repentance”) and so she is lost.

In the end of the video, she is stoned, and unlike the story of Mary Magdalene from the Bible, Jesus does not save her.

And although she dies, it is not much of a stretch to say that in this case, she does not lose. She loved Judas and never meant to leave him. If accepting her fate (death) is what she needs to do to prove herself to him, she will. Insane and obsessive, indeed.

A brief disclaimer: My intention was not to preach while writing this analysis of the song and music video. It is hard to not sound like that when the subject matter is very clearly religious, and I try to only analyze the material within its own context and emphasize the result with what I know and have learned about Christianity in my studies.

Questions for Authors

2011-05-12T01:10:00.000-05:00

Last night, when I was at my Dad's house, we were talking about Ian McEwan (the author), who Dad used to know when he was at university. He has always expressed a feeling of regret that he lost contact with Ian after leaving school, and that someday he really should try and see him again. When he said this last night, I responded: Go for it! Also, take me with you! I'd like to ask him, "Dude. Seriously. What the fuck?"

To which Dad perplexedly asked: "What does that mean?"

It's hard to put into words exactly what that question means to me, and I am particularly fond of it in all its sharply punctuated vulgarity. I suppose it's kind of my reaction to the books I've read of his. I want to know what goes on in his head - is it a happy place? Does he enjoy making me cry? Does he enjoy screwing with his readers' brains? Does he know that I wandered around in a haze of confusion for a solid twenty-four hours after I finished The Comfort of Strangers?

I've been thinking all day about what questions I might ask to other authors (complaints, genuine questions, etc.), should I ever meet them. In the interest of the hypothetical, we're pretending like I could ask the dead ones these questions, too.

To J.K. Rowling: What about Harry's grandparents? Presumably they're all dead since Harry went to his aunt and uncle, but really - what happened to them?

To William Golding, (regarding Lord of the Flies): Did you just wake up one day and decide to finish the book? That was the most hastily cobbled-together ending I've ever read.

To John Milton: Do you honestly expect anyone to comprehend anything you write, or do you write that way so I have to read a single page five or six times on purpose?

To Garth Nix (regarding his Abhorson trilogy): What happened after Sabriel? I got so bored with the next two books that I stopped reading.

To Alison Croggon (regarding her Books of Pellinor): You do realize that Maerad is like eighteen and Cadvan is like two hundred and fifty. Right? (*I can't remember the exact ages, but the sentiment still stands.)

To Geoffry Chaucer: Why'd you have to go and DIE before you finished? COME ON. Literally, all bets were off when you never finished. Who won best story?

To J.R.R. Tolkien: Will you autograph my arm? And while you're doing that, will you tell me what happens in the fourth age of Middle Earth? Pleeeeeeeeease?

To Stephenie Meyer: I notice we share a name. How annoying does it get that nobody can spell it right? (Also, didn't you write some books or something once? How's that goin' for you?)

To Marianne Curley: What happened after the fall of the Citadel? I MUST KNOW.

To William Shakespeare: Would you mind spelling out the recipients and/or subjects of the sonnets? I'm getting sick of all this guesswork. (And while I'm asking, why did you write sixteen comedies when you could have written just one?)

To C.S. Lewis: Did you and Tolkien talk about your creation stories together? Because have you read each other's novels? They are hella similar.

To George Orwell: 1984 came and went, man, like almost three decades ago, and did you know none of that happened?

To Victoria Hanley: Can I have a hug? You seem like you give GREAT hugs. I'm sorry, I'm having a bit of a fangirl moment.

Some of these authors I'd like to ask followup questions to (or, I'll be honest, followup fangirl gushing), but I will limit myself to those for now. Perhaps I will do another one of these blogs in the future, because I've had a lot of fun thinking of these questions!

(I've linked to all of these authors, either to their websites or wikipedia pages... whichever popped up on google first!)

Oh FINALLY.

2011-05-07T16:03:00.002-05:00

So I finished everything to do with the Spring 2011 semester yesterday. And may I say, it feels GREAT. I slept in until 1:30 today.

Yesterday, I helped Ally move out of her apartment a little more and then went home and watched a lot of Netflix. Also, I printed out a manuscript of my story, which I officially decided was FINISHED yesterday. Well, it's not finished, as it's only a draft, but it IS 96 pages of 13 completed chapters and an entire story arc and everything.

That will be a project for the next few weeks. Just give me a nice red pen and some coffee... Ahhh...

Summer. Finally.

Nominated for Best Beta

2011-05-05T23:33:00.004-05:00

A brief blog with a single purpose, one which I believe you all must know means a lot to me.

One of my writers, a woman who writes some of the best fanfiction I've ever read and had the good fortune to edit for a good, solid two years now, has submitted my name to the "Best Beta" category for one of the Twilight fanfiction awards.

It would mean a lot to me - more than a lot actually - if you all went and took ten or fifteen seconds to vote for me.

Go to this link: http://dft.ba/-thehobbitivy
Type in an email address (to ensure that people don't vote more than once. However, if you have SEVERAL email addresses...)
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to "Best Beta", select TheHobbitIvy (That's me!)
And then submit the form.

Camilla10, the woman who nominated me, is up for several awards herself, and I feel like I would be doing her a disservice if I did not mention what she is up for as well. All voting is on the same page.

The Parachutist (Best vampire)

Heartbroken (Best Edward)

Eros and Psyche (Best Bella)

The Archer (Best story/Romance)

I've been lucky enough to edit all four of those, and I've linked them all if you want to read them. Seriously, they're more original and better-written than Twilight. (Hard not to be better-written, of course, but I'm sure you understand.)

I do not mean to sound self-righteous if I do, but I have been working for almost eight years now with very little recognition and thanks outside of the people who I do edit for, and it is really nice to see that pay off, even only in a nomination. Editing is so critical to writing, especially such informal writing and publishing as fanfiction, and it is great to see a "Best Beta" category in the contest at all. Often we are overlooked.

Voting is open until May 25th, and winners will be announced shortly afterwards. I will keep yall posted. :)

Secrets

2011-04-22T23:21:00.003-05:00

Shhh. Can I tell y'all a secret?

Come closer... I don't want to say it too loud.

I like to write fanfiction.

Oh, alright, that's the worst kept secret I've ever had. But it's mostly a secret to the general public because I feel like it's seen as supremely dorky, more so than a lot of things. It's one thing to be a lover of books... it's another to be a lover of books who writes stories about those books. It's also a secret from the blog... most of the time, anyway. I try to keep thoughts about my writing to myself, or post those thoughts elsewhere.

I feel quite embarrassed about it, despite the fact that my love of writing fanfiction has brought me into contact and helped forge connections with people who I never would have met before. Siobhan is the perfect example. I'll never forget the real conversation I had with Ally, where in the middle of a conversation about our favorite fanfics, she mentioned to me a story which, with no small amount of shock, I realized was one I had written. It brought home to me that real people read what I write, and so I strive every day to create things I am proud of and that I write things that are truly to the best of my ability at any given moment.

In the past almost eight years (yes, I am not only a writer of fanfiction, but I have been a writer of fanfiction for eight whole years) (...Or it will be eight years in about a month!) I have published a sum total of 204, 882 words. This is almost exactly the length of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which I just googled to be 204,796 words. So take a look at that book on your bookshelf and that's how much fanfiction I've written.

(My first story, Not Knowing (which was published August 23, 2003 and finished June 10, 2006) is just a few thousand words short of the length of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I'm staring at those two books on my shelf and kind of sitting back in awe.)

I haven't finished everything I have written. On my fanfiction.net profile, there are two glaring examples, stories which I began, but which I quite literally outgrew. I've published 19 stories, 5 of which are multi-chapter stories (3 of those are complete), and 14 of those are single-chapter short stories which range in length from 300-12,000 words. Some of those stories took mere minutes to write, some of them years.

The reason I'm blogging about this is that I've been thinking a lot about fanfiction lately. About two years ago, I got an idea for a new story from the barest glimpse of a picture in my head and a few passionate words: "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" I hastily wrote three chapters of a prospective story then. I shared these chapters with Siobhan when I saw her over Christmas break in 2009. She told me I must write it, what was I waiting for?

So I did. It's taken me a year and a half, and although I am not quite finished yet (I still have to finish the last chapter, and I am considering writing an epilogue), I am almost there. I always get really weird when I finish a story. Imagine walking around in a haze of confusion, impatience, and accomplishment for a solid two or three weeks. All I want to do is share! Share with everyone! You, sir, do you know that I have written a story? Ask me about it - it's fantastic! You've never read a story like it.

It's not like I'm finished with the story itself. Oh, no. The story I have been writing is only the first third of a trilogy, which in itself is the most ambitious I've ever been. (It is interesting to have to consider the second and third parts while writing the first. It is a delicate operation, indeed!) Each story is from a different point of view, and so I suppose what I am truly mourning is the end of my main character. Her name is Lin - and I'm pretty sure she is the most autobiographical character I've ever written. I will miss her when she is gone, but it's not to say I'll never see her again. I'm pretty sure she'll put in an appearance in the third story.

I feel that here, I must vent for a moment: What frustrates me sometimes about telling people about my fanfiction is that because it is fanfiction it is seen as something less worthy than real fiction, easier even, because it is borrowing from a story that someone else has already told. I beg of you to not discount me and my writing because of this. The story I am finishing right now, with the exception of the setting, two main characters, and a few minor events mentioned, is entirely of my own creation.

Despite my frustration, I have a great deal of pride, looking at my fanfiction profile. While I am not necessarily happy with everything I have published (of course I am my own worst critic!) I realize that that profile is actually a portfolio of my passion. What it is, is the result of eight years of passion, dedication and creativity. Each and every word I write is handcrafted with love. Sometimes it's hard not to get lost in the numbers of reviews or readers of my stories, but ultimately it's about the craft, and not about the final product.

Edits aren't even close to being done, and I know that I have another few thousand words to go... but when all is said and done, I'll be adding another 40,000 or so words to my profile.

I hope I never forget how this feels.

P.S. In the middle of writing this blog, someone just added me to their "Favorite Authors" list. It honors me in ways I cannot possibly express!

A Feather in My Cap

2011-04-14T00:06:00.004-05:00

Miss Emma was sick today, so Jenny called me this morning and told me I didn't have to go to work. Wondering what I could do to fill my afternoon with productive things, I went to my planner, which told me: "It's been 8 weeks since your last haircut! You can go get one now!" So off I trotted to the mall.

I love days with haircuts! Someone else shampoos my hair for me, I get to amuse myself making funny faces in the mirrors while I chat with the hairdresser, and I get a lollipop on the way out. In other words, it's like being FIVE again!

To show off my haircut (which I am rather pleased with!) I thought I would make some funny faces in the mirror, vaguely reminiscent of the myspace era.

How very myspacey of you, Stefanie in the Mirror! I love the awkward kissy lips, it definitely sets the photo off nicely. Oh, and what a nice haircut you have!

Why thank you, Stefanie of the Blogging. Would you like to see it closer!?! TAKE A LOOK!

Wow! That is SUPER CLOSE! Wait! Wait! What is THAT?!

There is definitely something wrong here... But what could it be?

There it is! I found it! It is THIS!

What IS it you ask? What could it possibly BE?

It is a feather. (Actually, three feathers).

And yes, they are in my cap.

(Here ends the photojournalismy portion of the blog.)

My hairdresser and I were talking about the feather fad floating around, which she said that she remembers being a thing when she was much younger. I don't doubt it - I know how things go in and out of style. I've seen a few girls around UT with them and I'd seen this video of someone getting them put in, so I asked a few questions, expressed sentiment that I couldn't possibly be cool enough for feathers in my hair, and our conversation moved on. (It is what all the cool cats do, I am sure.)

As she was straightening my hair at the end, my hairdresser brought up the feathers again, and convinced me that I was, indeed cool enough, (this was rather shocking: not many people vouch for my cool factor, you see), saying that I could take them out myself if I wanted, that it is not permanent, but would stay in almost as long as I wanted them to, and that she would do it for free.

And I said "YES. Why not? Put a feather on my head!" (Free things always do it for me.)

(In the past she has convinced me to get bangs in a similar manner. Slowly, so slowly, she is turning me into a "fashionable" person!)

And now I have a feather in my cap. I am pleased. Inexplicably, I also feel like my cool-factor has significantly upped since this morning. Haircuts may make me feel like I am five, but this feather makes me feel like the coolest third grader on the block. Maybe the whole neighborhood.

(Having a feather 'in my cap' also makes me think of this movie, which I could probably watch every day for the rest of my life and never tire of!)

(Enjoy that video. I hope it makes you smile.)

Explodes

2011-04-06T23:31:00.004-05:00

Due Tuesday: My paper. (Which I did end up finishing. And which I really didn't think was good BUT I did do the assignment. Everyone else in the class had similar thoughts about their papers, which made me feel better.)

Thursday: Definitely having a "pop" reading quiz about our readings in my Bible class. Our professor warned us that we "shouldn't be surprised." So I made sure to read real closely. And boy am I glad I did... Because I discovered my favorite line EVER in this reading for tomorrow:

She is ashamed to think that he is aware of her presumption, for a certain modesty had prompted her to use intermediaries in achieving her purpose. So in her endeavor to excuse her temerity, she turns to him and says: "For your breasts are better than wine, smelling sweet of the best ointments." What she meant was: "If I seem to be high-minded, O my Bridegroom, you are responsible; you have honored me so greatly with the nurturing sweetness of your breasts, that by your love and not by my own temerity I have put aside all fear, and may seem to have been more daring than is proper. I do indeed make bold, but it is because I am convinced of your goodness, forgetful of your majesty." (Bernard of Clairvaux, from his 9th sermon on the Song of Songs)

Wow, really? She meant all of that? The rest of the next few pages followed similarly, after a good 10 pages of speaking of the line "Kiss me with the kiss of your mouth." Oh, Song of Songs. You are so risqué.

Due Friday: Grammar Portfolio (on which I have spent three hours working already tonight and to which I will probably try to devote another hour or so before my head explodes. So my head doesn't doubly explode tomorrow night.)

Due Friday: Extra credit (250 word) 'essay' (I use the term loosely, because of the whole 250-word thing) on King Lear.

On Friday: Shakespeare test over King Lear and Hamlet.

Due Monday: The other half of the Grammar portfolio, the group portfolio. (Much less stressful, as my group finished it today. But we're meeting on Sunday night to rewrite and compile.)

Because of the ridiculous amount of stress I'm feeling, I changed my background to this. It makes me smile. (They're SO CUTE!)

(Have I mentioned to yall my obsession with The Lord of the Rings? I don't know if yall knew that. Hah.)

Also, someone posted a picture of me at bat at softball the other night. Just thought I'd share!

I promise next week you'll be returned to your regularly scheduled programming that doesn't involve copious amounts of complaining. I don't have another hell week like this until the first week of May, the last week of classes...

Liveblogging: A Paper for My Bible Class

2011-04-03T19:39:00.006-05:00

The following is a summary of approximately five hours of my life while I attempt to write a paper due on Tuesday. I hope it's not dreadfully boring. I find that if I have a little mental break every few minutes or so, it might as well be blogging about writing my paper! If I get on facebook/twitter too often, I am a goner.

Essay prompt: Apply the method of fourfold exegesis, as explained by Thomas Aquinas, to two passages of your choosing from our Scriptural reading to date: one from the Hebrew Scriptures, and one from the New Testament. With the aid of this exercise, critique this exegetical method in some respect: briefly indicate one or more flaws or insufficiencies (or at least potential weaknesses) that you see in it, as if positing a new objection to one of Thomas's articles.

7:20 - Arrive at Bennu Cafe, think of crying. Wonder what the hell I will be able to write about.

7:25 - Order drink, spoon off the whipped cream first, (Yummy!) Read prompt. Reread prompt. Consider crying again.

7:30 - Stare at Bible and wish that it would just speak to me the answer. Are there any burning bushes around to help?

7:31 - Reread prompt. Reread pdf of Thomas Aquinas' Quodlibet, from which the prompt comes.

7:40 - Google "Fourfold interpretation + Thomas Aquinas". A whole lot of nothing.

7:42 - Remember that a friend from Bible study loaned me "Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament". Celebrate silently in chair.

7:50 - Set up Thomas Aquinas' argument as bullet points, and find it suddenly makes more sense this way.

7:56 - Stare longingly at Bible and wish there was a sparknotes version that would hand me what I needed and eliminate the rest.

7:59 - Consider the sense of empowerment that the system of bullet points gives me, wonder if this is a normal thing for other people.

8:05 - Speed read a chapter or two of Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament and resign myself to going to Isaiah for my Old Testament verse, despite how much I really didn't like the book when I had to read it a few weeks ago. (Something about reading the endless text written in verse toward the end of the book really got to me.)

8:15 - Finding some good verses in Isaiah with which I think I can produce a significant amount of BS to write this paper. (The kind of interpretation I need to do is almost entirely made up of BS. I've gotten the impression it's about finding purely circumstantial evidence and making it seem like it was meant to be read that way all along.)

8:20 - Just found an opportunity to use one of my favorite Renaissance vulgarities: 'Zounds! (pronounced 'zoonds') It means "God's Wounds". Words like that littered the plays I read last Spring in my Renaissance Drama class.

8:26 - I've just realized it's fully dark outside, which means I have no excuse for not doing homework, darn it. It's just so hard to do work when it's light outside!

8:32 - Am I allowed to use Isaiah 53? That seems too easy. Way too straightforward... ?

8:38 - What bothers me about the prompt (which I summarized above) is that at one point he says "two passages of your choosing" and then later says "A hint which should go without saying: you will need to make use of more than two Scriptural passages overall." So which is it? Two? Or more than two?

8:40 - I think I found a good passage to write about: Isaiah 54 (1-3).

Jerusalem, you have been like a childless woman, / but now you can sing and shout for joy, / Now you will have more children / than a woman whose husband never left her. / Make the tent you live in larger; lengthen its ropes and strengthen its pegs! / You will extend your boundaries on all sides; / your people will get back the land / that the other nations now occupy. / Cities now deserted will be filled with people

It seems appropriately ambiguous and I'll probably be able to milk a good 3 or 4 pages out of it. (and leave 1-2 pages for the second half of the prompt.) Perhaps the childless woman is also a virgin woman? Perhaps the husband who never left is God? Perhaps making the tent larger is a metaphor for God saying to spread the word to nonbelievers? And cities deserted are minds uninformed? (Now do you see what I mean about BS?) I'm sure I'll be able to find appropriate scripture in Acts (especially the sending off at the beginning of the book... I'll have to look that up again.)

8:52 - I rewarded myself finding my quote by letting myself have a little break to lurk on facebook for 10 minutes. Best 10 minutes of the night, easily.

8:57 - Uh-oh. The first 'Snark Attack' of the night just struck when I was writing down more detailed notes/thoughts about the passage. (In my list of possible verses to write about, I made a note s next to Isaiah 54 saying "Duh, winning!")

9:03 - I really prefer my Bible's translation to the one I have to use for class. (Acts 1: 8)

My Textbook Bible ("New Revised Standard Edition"): But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
My Bible ("Today's English Version"): But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

There are better examples, but I thought I would provide an example of a verse I'm actually using in my paper. Apparently, the NRSV is the most accurate translation. In my opinion, accurate translation is great, but isn't it all scripture anyway?

9:19 - I can't decide if I want to write this paper tonight or tomorrow night. On the one hand, it makes way more sense to get it over with. On the other hand, I can write a ton of notes tonight and take a day to synthesize my argument in my brain. (But I should probably at least write some of it tonight.)

9:21 - Dear Me, STOP CHECKING FACEBOOK. YOU CLOSED THAT TAB FOR A REASON. Sincerely, Me.

9:28 - In the bathrooms here there are gigantic chalkboards on the walls - It's encourages graffiti in a non-permanent fashion, I suppose. Someone had written part of the chorus of Ingrid Michelson's "You and I" (clicky the link to go to grooveshark to give it a listen!), which is currently one of my favorite songs. (They said "Let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France." I added the lyrics "Let's get rich and build a house on a mountain, makin' everybody look like ants.")

9:31 - Getting sick of listening to my alternative rock playlist, which usually serves me well while I write. (As an aside, one of my favorite songs to write papers to is "The Bird and the Worm" by The Used. Rock music inspires me to write faster. Also, I suppose I identify with the sense of despair. Hah.)

9:41 - Siobhan just tweeted something. Hooray, she is alive! (And now I go back to finding New Testament verses...) Ironically, we are both writing papers tonight. Except it is almost 4am where she is, so I am in less dire straits.

9:45 - Worrying that my chosen verse has too much to do with the Church and too little to do with Jesus. I AM DETERMINED to squeeze Jesus out of Isaiah! (<- Things I never thought I would say.)

9:54 - I'm having trouble finding specific verses in the New Testament that back my claim. It's not to say that they aren't there, just that they are hard to find.

10:06 - I found a good verse for the quote about strengthening pegs. Matthew 16:18, the one about Peter being the rock/foundation of the church. Success!

10:07 - I just quantified what the rest of my semester looks like: 4 weeks, 2 papers, 2 quizzes, 3 tests, 4 portfolios. Yuck.

10:18 - I just need to squeeze out 1200-1500 words on this essay. Putting it like that makes it seem like it ain't no thang. (I wrote 1667 words "a day" when I did NaNoWriMo.) My mantra will be: I am an English Major. I THRIVE on words.

10:34 - After more tweeting with Siobhan (she is so rarely about, I take advantage of when she is around. Sorry, people looking at my Twitter feed!) I have officially started to write my essay. My professor encourages getting straight to the point, but how do I do this? I am an English major, we don't get straight to the point!

10:52 - Almost finish writing the first of four interpretations of the Isaiah verse. I thank God that my powers of BS remain intact.

10:58 - Suck it! One page down! (I am an English Major, I THRIVE on words!)

11:08 - It is at times like these that I wish I could think in complete sentences. (I find that I tend to think in single words, short phrases, or very specific, rather small images. One of the reasons I like writing so much is that it is much easier for me to write in complete thoughts than to speak or think.) I am finding it hard to think of what the "childless woman" could represent. I don't think it is the Jewish people (since in the passage God is telling them they will remain fruitful, after all), but perhaps the time? Or perhaps it really is the city of Jerusalem, and the varied people within her - a stagnant, sinful time? Maybe the presence of the Romans in Jerusalem was what was making them temporarily barren? (Harshing their mellow, if you will.)

11:14 - I just ran out of songs on my genius playlist that I made for "The Bird and the Worm". Time for a new one! This time, "Lead Sails and a Paper Anchor" by Atreyu. (also one of my all-time favorites.)

11:24 - Someone added "Let us redefine what rich is" to the bathroom wall. Agreed, but obviously they don't know the song. (Also, I decided that Jerusalem was barren/childless because of the oppression of the Romans, and also the following century when their Temple was destroyed. Tons of turmoil for the Jews.)

11:29 - See Spot run. See Stefanie vomit up everything she's ever learned in every Theology class ever into one paper.

11:42 - Just wrote an email to my professor. I am a little confused about what to do with New Testament verses - do I include them in my exegesis of the passage from Isaiah or do I have a completely separate section for them altogether? (I am going to go with the first one for now, but if I get a response to the contrary, I will correct it.)

11:46 - My phone just buzzed in my pocket and nearly gave me a heart attack. I think if I can write another page or so I will be done for the night.

12:05 - Since I've just started really writing in circles (moreso than I probably should, even with THIS essay) I think I will call it a night, close my tab (for coffee, not alcohol!) and head home for to get to sleep.

Perhaps more on this paper tomorrow when I finish writing it... For now, I am le tired. Sleepy time please?

OH... I got a 92 on my test last Tuesday!

Exam, an update

2011-03-29T23:53:00.005-05:00

I don't know what grade I got, but I feel like I did well on the test! There were a few questions that were, in my opinion, poorly worded and so I am unsure about whether I got them right or not (but if I did get them wrong I will argue my case with my professor!), so we shall see how I do when the grades are released later this week. Of course, I definitely got the extra credit right, so perhaps it won't matter?

Because the rest of my day was full of going to class, going to work, and then eating deliciously horrible Chinese food with Ally, (and thus not really as blog-worthy) here are two absolutely adorable pictures of Emma I took at work today. She's getting so big. (She will be 2 years, 3 months in a week or so!)

Miss Emma on a big girl swing! Emma loves to swing on all four of the swings facing in both directions on each of them. We can spend an hour at the park only swinging some days...

Emma wanted me to hold her hand while she ate. I don't question these things, because she's (figuratively and literally) got me wrapped around her little finger.

I have an exam tomorrow, so... book reviews!

2011-03-28T20:59:00.003-05:00

So, because I have an exam in my Children's lit class tomorrow, I'm spending my evening doing everything but study for it. Oh, of course I WILL study for it... but I got a 94 on the last exam with one hand tied behind my back (metaphorically, of course!)

I am absolutely loving the novels we're reading in this class: for this unit alone I've had to read Harry Potter (and the Sorcerer's Stone), Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Giver, Cirque du Freak, and Chasing Vermeer. Care for some book reviews while I procrastinate!

(Edit: I have realized that it's not really procrastinating because I'm remembering plots and remembering important stuff while I write. Procrastination fail?)

Out of those five books, I've read three of them before, some more recently than others! And of those five books, Chasing Vermeer was my least favorite. I think I would have liked it a lot more had I been a lot younger when I'd read it. It's a mystery novel about a stolen Vermeer painting, but most of the evidence we're presented with as readers is purely circumstantial (the number 12 was a common theme... "Oh my god! There are 12 letters in both of our names! We were MEANT to solve this case!" "Wow, we are turning 12 on December 12th this year!" "Wow, between us, we have 12 family members!" "Wow, there are twelve ants marching in a line! And look! Twelve beams in the ceiling!") (Okay, that last one I made up, but the first three were actually noted in the book as evidence... or something.) I think it's one of the only children's books I've read as an adult that I have not liked, and certainly one of the only books I've read recently that I really didn't care to finish. But, because it was for a class, I did. That said, I think kids would really enjoy it.

One of the brilliant things about being a fast reader is that tackling these books is a matter of finding a good two to three hours to sit down and not move. Cirque du Freak took me all of two hours to read. It was good, but I've heard the rest of the series gets better. This book was way too much prep work for the rest of the series, in my opinion, almost more like a prequel than an actual first book. A kid visited a freak show coming through town and stole a spider from a vampire in the show, but when the super venomous spider bit his friend (who'da thunk THAT would happen?!), the kid was forced to become a vampire as well to be a sort of companion and servant in order to get the antidote from the vampire to save his friend. (Meh.)

The Lightning Thief was recommended to me by my stepsister Katie about a year or so ago, and so it is the book I've read most recently out of the lot. It deals with mythology; sons and daughters of the ancient Greek gods. Quests, creatures, and a modern flare to ancient stories (such as Hades being located in LA, the '600th floor' of the Empire State Building being the location of Mt. Olympus, the main character being named Percy instead of Perseus, etc.). I reread this one in three or so hours the other night while I was babysitting.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Enough said.

Well, actually not enough. One thing that I've noticed rereading this book for the first time since I left high school (I am ashamed! I dare profess myself a nerd?!) is that I've forgotten what Harry was like an an eleven-year-old boy... the jokes he, Ron and Hermione share are very different than the ones that appear later in the books, the logic is much younger, the things they care about are younger and a little more trivial... With all of the recent press centering around the seventeen-year-old Harry (what with the Deathly Hallows movies and all) I have forgotten about Harry's roots. Sometime soon I'll make my way through the rest of the series.

And I come to the last book, which, in my opinion, has 'changed' the most since I last read it: The Giver. I remember reading this book when I was about fourteen, in middle school. Of course, all I remember of the discussions we had in class talk were about ethics of euthanasia and utopic/dystopic communities, etc. I didn't remember much about this book before I'd read it, other than the main character being chosen to be the new Receiver of Memories, and that there was a Giver who was really old.

The second time through, seven odd years later and with my trusty English major at my side, I now see much more than I did then. The thing that disturbed me the most when I was reading wasn't the "releasing" from the community (where the old and the weak are euthanized, because their community is perfect), and it wasn't the strict and stringent rules of order within the community (such as that all children turn an age older at the end of December instead of having their own birthdays. The Ones become the Twos, the Threes become the Fours, etc.) and it wasn't the apparent untopic (and thus clearly dystopic) themes.

No, it wasn't any of that, though of course it had to do with all of these things. Jonas describes a dream to his parents one morning, where he was standing in a bathing house with one of his classmates, a beautiful girl, and he really wants her to get naked and get in the bath so he could bathe her - he wakes up feeling really good and quite unusual. His parents take him aside and tell him that it is normal to feel these "stirrings" and that everyone has them. They tell him that everyone takes a pill to repress the "stirrings" and that he could start taking them.

It really upset me when I read that, I think because more than anything else in the book, it is the most natural thing being repressed, something which brings joy to everyone. I don't like the idea of having to deny something like sex or attraction (perhaps because I spend these, my seemingly neverending single days looking for an attraction). How awful would it be to be to never fall in love? It seems like a half-life, or perhaps it is only a half-life because of the other rules of the community, too.

Anyway, on the odd chance that you haven't read it, read The Giver. Do it, do it now. It's a quick read (180 pages, only took me 2 hours) and it'll give you a lot to think about.

Anyway, those are just a few thoughts on the subject. I'm off to go study for my exam... See yall on the other side.

-----

As an aside, IM softball has begun in APO and after practicing on Sunday and the game tonight (which we technically lost because we had to forfeit because we didn't have enough girls show... but we played a scrimmage with the other team anyway and beat the snot out of them!) I have a few new bruises and many aches and pains (my forearm muscles are sore) but a renewed love of softball. Hooray! And I got to play my favorite base - second. :D

Bossy McBossypants

2011-03-23T22:13:00.003-05:00

Excerpts from real conversations I had with Emma today.

E. Eat! Eat! Steffi! Feed Emma!

S. Goodness, you're very bossy, Emma.

E. Busy! No, Steffi. You're busy! Feed Emma!

S. Bossy, Emma.

E. Busy, Steffi!

-----

E. New shoes, Steffi! Emma has new shoes!

S. I love them, Emma! They're very sweet.

E. These MY shoes! These EMMA'S shoes, Steffi! No touch!

-----

E. Jump with Emma, Steffi!

S. Okay.

E. No! Up HERE, Steffi! Jump with Emma!

(jumping ensues)

E. Jump again, Steffi!

-----

S. Emma, do you want to go take a bath?

E. No, Steffi. Emma is coloring. This time for coloring.

S. Are you sure? You have to have a bath today.

E. Bath later! Emma's coloring!

-----

E. Steffi! Put Daisy outside!

(I do so)

E. Put Daisy outside!

S. Daisy is outside, Emma.

E. Leave the door open, Steffi!

(five minutes later, Emma demanded I shut the door)

-----

(Emma's mother walks in the door)

E. Bye, Steffi! Bye!!

The Break that happens in Spring...

2011-03-21T21:07:00.004-05:00

Last week was Spring Break. Because I was sick, my spring break began a little earlier than everyone else's... as in, the Wednesday before. (I am feeling much better now. Those antibiotics really are somethin' else!)

I can narrow down my activities over spring break to five easy categories:

1) House sitting

2) Write

3) Netflix

4) Get a sunburn

(And the most exciting one)

5) Attend a wedding

I house sat for one of the teachers at my old high school and my stepsister Meg. It was fun, it was very gas-guzzling, it was relaxing. I liked walking Meg's dog in the morning... and certainly makes me want to get a smaller dog, one that needs walking. Hanging out around Meg's house gave me the opportunity to do the next thing: write. I'm suffering through trying to wrap up this story I've been trying to write for more than a year now... and I got three whole chapters written for that during the break. This puts me closer (within four or so chapters) of the end!

Netflix goes without saying. I didn't do as much homework as I wanted to do (though I did read two books for my Children's Lit class) so instead of being productive, I watched movies and tv shows on my computer. It was awesome.

I got a sunburn (spare me the lecture, please). It was painful (they always are) and now it's peeling. Gross. I'm pretty sure I'm actually shedding my entire outer layer of skin, rather like a snake. (If you find a Stefanie-shaped thing in my room that doesn't respond and looks curiously devoid of intelligent thought and internal organs, it's probably not me.)(Gross.)

And the last, the most exciting, the most awesome part of my spring break was getting to watch my old nanny, one of my best friends, and someone who I really do consider as an older sister get married.

Kerry-Lynn married Chad on last Friday, and their wedding was small but beautiful. It was held at a friend's house out in Spicewood and it couldn't have been a more perfect morning for a wedding.

My official job was to zip up her dress (a small, but critical role!)

Her mom flew out from South Africa!

(They're so cute together.)

She threw the bouquet, but I didn't catch it. (Taelor, the girl in the middle did). (Mom probably breathed a sigh of relief.)

Congrats, Kerry-Lynn. I'm so happy for you, and we all wish you the best.

(Also, you don't have to go to any more school! And you'll get a green card soon! Hooray! As much as we joked about it, I'm glad we didn't have to order you a husband.)

An Epic Tale

2011-03-10T21:30:00.003-06:00

This tale is not so much epic in its imposing or impressive qualities and it doesn't have to do with anything to do with the literary tradition, but is, instead, rather epic in its length...

You see, it all started about three weeks ago after MBU. You all will remember that I stayed up for a ridiculous amount of time, working tirelessly, dedicating myself in a zombielike fashion to the education of sixty or so boy scouts. Well, I think because I was subsisting entirely on caffeine and adrenaline (and poor choices, of course!) my immune system must have welcomed in something it shouldn't have, because by Tuesday, I was coughing up a storm.

Mom guessed that it was probably RSV (a virus that attacks the respiratory system and is apparently highly contagious... and after checking symptoms, I agreed with her.) Well, although I was coughing and had mostly lost my voice by that point, I felt wretched on Saturday and spent the day in bubble baths and blowing my nose. Sunday, however, I was feeling much better. But because I had been feeling so ill (and because I supposedly had this highly contagious disease) I called in sick to work at the Church, because I didn't want to give the young 'uns anything. I called Jenny and told her, as well, and she gave me a day off, too.

The following week, was mostly clear of incident. I awarded myself the Nanny of the Week award for being so calm and composed with Emma on that Thursday when she came down with something which caused her temperature to spike to 103.5. Poor baby was so miserable.

Well, we must have swapped diseases or something, because by Sunday, I woke up not feeling very well at all. So I turned right over and went back to sleep. I felt a little feverish, and I didn't really want to go to the Church, but because I hadn't had a chance to call in sick, I didn't want to leave them without childcare. So I went, and when I showed up, I lasted about fifteen minutes when one of them popped their head in, said "You look awful!" and sent me back to my bed (where I gladly went... after meeting with some friends in one of my classes to finish a project.)

Monday was fine. Tuesday was a struggle after about 5pm. But Wednesday sucked. I couldn't stop coughing, I was wheezy, I had a fever (ranging between 99-101.7), I was achey, I was misable. The day was made slightly better by my own knight in shining armor, my brother, coming to pick me up so I could go pick up some medicine from the store, because I didn't trust myself to operate heavy machinery. The day was also made better by the 6 hour Monty Python documentary I found on Netflix.

Today, thank goodness, I feel much better, although my abs are so sore! Certainly, I don't feel great (my cough and my nose are just as runny as yesterday, but instead of running a fever, I've consistently been below 98.6 degrees today. I've been confident in my ability to operate heavy machinery, as well. I've watched three movies today: Monty Python's Life of Brian, Beauty and the Briefcase (an ABC family movie), and Then She Found Me. That's a spectrum if I've ever heard of one.

So, after visiting the doctor today and being armed with antibiotics, I am going to fight whatever the hell has nested itself in my body and in my lungs, because I am sick of being short of breath (being winded by little hills is embarrassing and I don't want it to happen again) and I am sick of being feverish and having to blow my nose all the time. Winter is over, it is Spring Break (or will be in a matter of hours) and I want to feel well enough to sun myself in my new bikini without having to worry about carrying a tissue box with me.

(But on the plus side, I've lost like 5 pounds this week. It turns outs being sick and having no appetite is a great way to lose weight. Hah.)

What should I watch on Netflix over Spring Break? Suggestions?

Thoughts of Shakespeare and Love

2011-03-03T00:30:00.002-06:00

We all have movies that we can watch over and over again and never tire of. (Or, at least, everyone I know does.) I have a short list of films that include The Reduced Shakespeare Company's The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Abridged, Disney's Hercules, (and of course) all three of The Lord of the Rings. All of these movies are ones that I can nap to, do homework to, watch while cooking, or really watch for pleasure. I know the songs, I know the script... Recently, my list has expanded to include Shakespeare in Love. (I know - I'm SUCH an English major.)

I've heard many Shakespeare lovers complain that the whole story of the movie definitely never happened, but I can't complain about historical inaccuracies. I love the story, I love the actors, I love the poetry of the whole spectacle. I love those historical inaccuracies, because I would so much rather visualize Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare than the stuffy, balding, ruffled version we see everywhere else.

(Although, I will admit am overly fond of those ruffles.)

I've taken on an internship with a friend of my mother's, who will eventually have me doing more interesting things (that are a little more directly applicable to my career path), but for now it is a good deal of grunt work - copying html from her website, making sure all of her blog posts are backed up as PDFs, that kind of thing - and so because the DVD happened to be sitting on my desk I popped it into my computer while I was copying and pasting endless (endless) blog posts.

And because of the endless (endless, I tell you) blog posts, I spent two hours with about a third of my brain on the work I was completing, a third of my brain on the movie itself, and a third of my brain thinking of the first time I watched the movie. I think that's why I like it so much.

I remember very vividly the summer I spent in England with my dad in 2005. It was a whirlwind of a summer, with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows squashed into fewer than eight weeks. I visited France, Germany, Spain, and Wales with my dad and brother (although Duncan didn't go to Spain), I drank so much tea I could have filled a swimming pool, (Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration!), I did things like read books all day and all night, and finish them as the sun was rising again. I drank wine, helped Dad cook dinners, and read more books. I watched movies, I watched movies, I watched movies. The summer was so beautiful, despite its tragedies. I have so many fond memories of it, and most of them I cannot begin to even describe.

I can still remember sitting on my bed in that creaky old house (we guessed it was built in the early-mid-18th century, if I remember correctly), with the window open (with no fear of mosquitos or bees flying in to disturb you!), curled up watching Shakespeare in Love. I was entranced by it - since I was in England, and especially having visited the globe a few months before. I clutched my cup of tea (and probably snacked on a few McVittie's digestive biscuits, too!) and truly fell in love with Shakespeare - the era, the couture, the love, the sex, the language... I dreamed (I still dream) of falling so passionately in love with someone like that, where poetry just seems to seep into your soul and then leap right back out of it. I know it's unlikely that any beau of mine will write me a sonnet, but my fifteen-year-old heart will always, always wish for one. He wouldn't even have to compare me to a summer's day.

So when I watch Shakespeare in Love, I think of my other home, and all the dreams I first dreamed there. And that's why I can watch it over and over again.

Mucus Monsters, Inc.

2011-02-27T23:10:00.004-06:00

The last week, I've been Mucus Monsters, Inc. I've been coughing, coughing, coughing... and I've been sneezing, sneezing, sneezing. This weekend has been absolutely miserable - full of almost two entire boxes of tissues and watery eyes - and yes, I'd like a cup of honey with a splash of tea, thanks.

Mom asked me to look after the house on Saturday night, and so Saturday afternoon I made my way there, tissues and pajamas in hand, and after a long, leisurely bath (that unfortunately wasn't hot enough - baths never stay at that painfully searing heat for long enough, do they?) that helped clear my sinuses a little, I fell into bed at 8:30 and slept straight through to 10:30am. (except for a brief bout of wakefulness to usher the dogs outside around 8am, and I would have slept through that if they hadn't been barking so loudly!) After acquiring caffeine in the form of tea and getting out of my pajamas, I gave my car a bath, gave my mom a hug, and went home. I've gone from feeling about 50% human (and 50% mucus producing monster, rather like the Mucinex commercial monsters.)(Also, taking a look at those monsters, the resemblance I share to the female one amuses me: big boobs and blonde hair, indeed!) to feeling something closer to 80% tonight. My nose has stopped channeling the ghost of a faucet or waterfall and the infection has moved back into my lungs like I told it to yesterday. Now I have no voice and my throat hurts, but at least I don't feel like a sodden washcloth.

In other news, I've gone on a diet again in the hopes that I can rid myself of a few more pounds before swimsuit season officially begins. I've just purchased a swimsuit (a BIKINI. LE GASP. But isn't it so pretty?!) and while I am rather pleased with the effect right now, I imagine I could be even more pleased with it after a little more dieting. So diet I will! I will update the blog with my progress, and hopefully won't complain as much to my friends, who really got an earful of it last summer. Maybe I'll get lucky and my boobs will shrink some more! (A girl can dream, right?)

A little glimpse of Emma, because I haven't blogged about her recently.

(She is so cute, isn't she?) It's hard to talk about her these days, because every day she learns so much more. Growth, I realize now, is complex, and becomes exponentially more complex the older we get. We play games, we go to the park (much more fun now that it's getting warmer! Although I am asked by other mothers how old my daughter is almost every time we go...), we watch movies (her favorite right now is Snow White), we color, we climb on things (well, Emma climbs on things and I try to discourage her from climbing everything), and sometimes we throw tantrums (Emma thinks it's funny when I mimic her throwing a tantrum. Heh. That won't last long!)

(As an aside, someone has parked their car outside of my apartment complex and is currently blasting Lady Gaga's latest single. They're having an impromptu dance party, too. I'm pretty sure they're my favorite people of the hour!)

(As a doubly aside, I've just made myself the most delicious cup of tea, which is helping my throat. Siobhan gave me these lovely boxes of Peyton and Byrne tea last summer, and they are so delicious. I'm going to have to restock next time I go to England! Siobhan, you will have to direct me toward the appropriate place to buy the magnificent stuff!)

Thursday nights have been so much fun recently - Ally and I have gone to Central Market to buy ingredients for some kind of dinner and we've had shared a meal together while relaxing a little. We've made blue cheese macaroni and cheese, stuffed shells, chili, garlic bread, and a few other things I forget right now. Since we both love to cook and we both love to experiment, we've been using these nights to try some new recipes. Ally and I are both dieting together, so we should be able to continue this tradition, just with a few more restrictions. I think we're up to the challenge!

If anyone is looking for a sweet, easy read, I recommend the book I read on Thursday (after I read the entirety of Henry V...) called Anna and the French Kiss. It's a book about a girl who, against her will, is shipped off to Paris to attend boarding school for her senior year of high school and her adventures there. Of course there is a dreamy boy, lots of drama amongst her classmates, and a happy ending! Having spent hours fighting to read Henry V for my Shakespeare class, reading this book was a breath of fresh air, and I was finished with it in probably four hours, maybe five. Also, it was a NaNoWriMo novel - and actually seeing a NaNo novel get published and be so well received by everyone who has read it makes me happy and proud of Stephanie Perkins, the author. My NaNo novel, while finished, was utter crap. I have a lot of respect for someone to even consider going back and rereading their own draft, let alone turning it into a real book.

Well, I am off to bed. I'm not quite better yet, and so I think the 12am-hour should probably be my bedtime tonight. Although I'll probably stay up for a while yet and read some of The Giver, which is the first book I have to have read for my Children's Lit class this week. Or play solitaire. I may have to attend some kind of Solitaire Addicts Anonymous group soon.

"Liveblogging"

2011-02-21T21:09:00.003-06:00

I'm going to "live blog" my Monday night at Bennu's (my new favorite place to study). Perhaps it will end up being funny?

8:52. Coffee acquired, computer set up. What do I study first?

9:05. First Facebook/Twitter break. The Texas Travesty (a funny student-run newspaper similar to The Onion) is live-tweeting from the Student Government debate, and tweeting things like "Channeling Ralph Nader's electoral success, Sameer refers to himself as an "outsider" to government."

9:10. My Bible class is a great class to be in, but it sure makes me look incredibly devout. I don't have a problem with looking devout, but I have a problem with people thinking I am pompously advertising that I am devout. I need to stop thinking about what people probably aren't thinking about me.

9:16. Boy, the Bible sure likes to repeat itself. I just read in Acts the fourth or fifth version of Moses' life I've read so far.

9:29. My iTunes library is so spastic. Duncan Sheik, Lady Gaga, and then JET. (But it did remind me to check when Lady Gaga's new CD comes out. May 23, if anyone's interested.)

9:39. Finished reading what I needed to of Acts. The last few Mondays I've been here I've spent upward of three or four hours reading the bible... this less-than-one-hour thing gives me hope for my future sanity! I think I will take a wee break now!

9:44. At some point I will have to read a little bit of Henry V tonight . It really bothered me this morning when my professor said "Canterbury" as "Cantabarry". Ladies and gentlemen, Americanization at it's finest.

9:50. Just realized I have a 55-page PDF file written by Justin Martyr to read for tomorrow. DISLIKE.

9:58. Giggling about the name written in the front of my latest children's lit book, Chasing Vermeer. "Jonathan Getzoff". (I giggle because I'm actually a 12-year-old boy.)

10:00. Time to read Chasing Vermeer for an hour or so. And then I tackle Justin Martyr. Maybe. If I feel like it. (I'll have to.)

10:03. Curious about who Vermeer was, I googled it. DUH. Girl with a Pearl Earring and that Milkmaid painting I studied in one of my Art History classes. (Facepalm).

10:32. Ally and a friend from her class arrived and forced me to leave my comfortable, warm place inside of the cafe and go outside, where there were more available tables. Now it is hard to concentrate, but I do have some tea to help me stay warm. It's not so cold (probably about 60 degrees) but it is blustery!

10:37. More Duncan Sheik in the iTunes. Singing "Totally Fucked" (Yes, an actual song, not just gratuitous vulgarity on my part!) instead of reading. This wind is so distracting.

10:41. Tea was not quite as hot as I like it when they gave it to me, it was at the temperature that most people drink tea as opposed to almost-boiling, which I prefer. Ally and I joked that it wasn't hot enough for me (being part British). She encouraged me to go inside and complain about the tepid tea. (I won't do it, but a Funny came out of our conversation: "Do you know why British people drink scalding hot tea? To melt our frigid insides!")

10:49. Flying south to seek warmer climes! (Leaving Bennu right now...)

Not the most interesting or productive evening, I suppose, but I think of telling you guys some of these things while I am studying, but can never seem to come up with a way to say them. Maybe I'll live blog again sometime and you'll get something of more variety.

(For your information, the evening finished with Ally and I rapping poorly, Ally teaching me how to booty dance and threatening to teach me how to walk in heels tomorrow night by marching me up and down the aisles at Target. Help?)

Caffeine, Adrenaline and Poor Choices

2011-02-20T14:33:00.003-06:00

Hello, all!

As those of you who follow me on twitter may have realized (due to my frequent tweets hashtaged #MBUdiaries), Friday night and all of Saturday I spent working at Merit Badge University, which is an opportunity for thousands of boy scouts to descend upon the university (rather like a plague) and earn a few merit badges.

It was rewarding but exhausting, and rather like an experiment for me, since I'd never been awake more than 24 hours before. Friday night was MBU overnight, which started at 7pm and which was APO's opportunity to staple things, sort things, and do whatever else needed to be done before the boy scouts arrived. (We were able to rent space in the business school, so it was also an opportunity to make fools out of ourselves in front of business majors who apparently do homework on Friday night. What?!) Nobody slept more than an hour or two.

We were done with all major work by about 1am, which was apparently quite unusual for an MBU overnight. At 5am, we were put to work again, moving everything from the business school across the street to the UTC, the building where all the classes would be taught and where our volunteer headquarters would exist. We met the sunrise (we couldn't WATCH the sunrise like I hoped because it was cloudy) in the throes of caffeine withdrawal and exhaustion.

The boy scouts were supposed to arrive at 7am, but many showed up at 6:30, because apparently boy scouts can keep time and do things like show up early. Volunteers were fed donuts and coffee and sent to their rooms around 8. At this point, I had little concept of time but I was happy to go to my classroom armed with both a soda AND a cup of coffee. Double the caffeine! Weeee!

Now, a few weeks ago I 'tricked' Mom into agreeing to teach a class called Personal Management (money and time management) for MBU. I don't know how I would have done without Mom, who allowed me to sulk at the lectern with my computer and not speak much. Somewhere in the middle of the first class, I lost my grasp on the concept of "time", except that every once and a while I would glance at the clock and calculate how long I'd been awake and how long it was until I'd go to sleep. When at some point during the day Mom asked me how I was feeling, I'm pretty sure I told her that I was doing well, but running on caffeine, adrenaline, and poor choices at that point. There's a point where you stop feeling any more tired, and you're almost tricked into believing that you aren't tired at all.

So by the time I got to sleep, I'd been awake for 34 hours. Not doing THAT again anytime soon! I got home and slept from 6pm until 9am, and at that point I decided it might be a good idea to get up and shower.

MBU was a huge success, and Mom said she'd be willing to teach again next year... so even though I 'tricked' her, she hasn't yet disowned me or cut me off. Yet, anyway. ;)

Well, despite the fact I gave APO 23 hours of my time this weekend, I'm off to the Sunday meeting and then off to study. I think I'm ALMOST ready to become a functioning human being again, given a little more caffeine.

Coffee Zombie

2011-02-15T00:49:00.003-06:00

If I were a zombie, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't crave brains. I'd crave coffee.

I've been less productive in my apartment recently, and so rather often, I migrate over to this coffee shop about two miles from my apartment that has delicious and cheap coffee to do homework. It's open 24 hours a day, so there's no threat of imminent closure - which I am a fan of.

At the moment, I'm reading a lot of the Old Testament for my Bible class. It's tough to wade through and thoroughly exhausting. Usually by the end of the night (somewhere around midnight or 1am for me) I crawl home and collapse. No matter how recently I had a cup of coffee or tea. Mentally spent, I fall asleep quickly.

This week is unusual because Emma and her family are on vacation, so I do not have to go to work. It tricks me into thinking that I have spades of extra, spare time which which to goof off, but in reality, it's not that much.

Well, I'm off to go back home now. No more coffee for me tonight!

Fanfiction, danube-ing, and the stinking Texas weather

2011-02-10T22:17:00.003-06:00

Recently, I have stumbled upon someone who writes fanfiction on fanfiction.net (a site which I, rather predictably, frequent often). This person has written 247 stories since late 2008, and while I usually have a problem with ridiculously prolific writers, I suspend my judgment for Hans von Hozel.

He is a German from Berlin, and he supposedly writes to "make an improvement of his English". (I love people whose native language is not English; I think their sentence structure is something beautiful that native English speakers generally can't replicate.)

However, poor Hans von Hozel's English is not improving through his fanfiction-y endeavors... really, he just makes a fool out of himself and his poorly constructed English. And he really doesn't know anything about the categories which he writes about, he just takes the titles and goes with them. What is so brilliant about Hans' stories, however, is how hilarious they all are! His poor grammar makes for some seriously side-splitting moments:

For example, his fanfiction about Beethoven (supposedly the dog, but he makes it about the composer):

Beethoven were try to make a musics but no musics went on the paper.

"Oh no I have run out of musics!" say Beethoven, sit at piano.

Suddenly, Mozart ran through the door.

"I have a potion!" say Mozart, "To make your composings of the better!"

"Is goodly!" say Beethoven, and a drinking of a potion.

"AHAHAHAHAHAH!" laugh Mozart, "IS WRONG POTION!"

The potion made Beethoven loose all his music skills.

"AHAHAHAHAH!" laugh Mozart, "NOW I AM THE BEST AT MUSIC!"

And Mozart went away.

"OH NO MY MUSICS!" say Beethoven, make a sadly.

Or of Waterloo:

One day, Napoleon was trying to take many Swedens.

"NOT OF THE TAKING SWEDENS!" shout ABBA, as they danube to where Napoleon was, "We must defend our ABBA Empire again!"

But Napoleon had become equip with many horses.

"Nay," say the horses, as they prepare with their horseshoe!

"Ha ha ha," say ABBA, "But the joke has made itself onto you, as we make a poison into your horses apples!"

"Nay?" ask the horses, and they all make a fall down.

"OH NO!" shout Napoleon, "I HAVE MISCALCULATED MY ERROR!"

ABBA danubed closer to Napoleon.
"No!" say Napoleon, "Stay back you malfunction!"

And so ABBA made a lazer beam over Napoleon and Napoleon made explode.

"Is a victory to the making!" say ABBA!

ABBA gave each other high fives and danubed again to Swedens.

For some reason, he uses danube as a verb? I don't know how to danube, but I can only imagine that danubing is some kind of awesome dance or something!

Do visit his profile and click through a few of his stories... They are SO FUNNY.

-----

Back to homework for me! I'm having trouble concentrating tonight as I have the whole internet at my disposal! I am certainly ready for it to be Friday! Last night, I crashed at 10:15 and slept right through till 9:30, and as I feel like I might be getting a little sick (probably something to do with the weather, which vaulted itself from below freezing to seventy degrees and then back to below freezing TWICE in the last two weeks) so the sleep was much appreciated! I hope to get to bed before midnight again tonight. :)

three by five

Three-ingredient, gluten-free, dairy-free, idiot-proof cookies

Bread!

Maryland, Classes, Nerdfighters, and (gasp!) Books

Breakathon Readathon: The Results

Breakathon Readathon Review: Pretties

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Fault in our Stars

In defense of eBooks

Breakathon Readathon Review: Uglies

Meet Lily

Memories of 2011 - a photographic representation

New Years Resolutions - 2012 Edition

Breakathon Readathon Review: Leviathan

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Name of the Star

Californialand!

Breakathon Readathon Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door

Breakathon Readathon Review: Mockingjay

Breakathon Readathon Review: Seriously, I'm Kidding

Breakathon Readathon Review: Catching Fire

Breakathon Readathon Review: Earth (The Book)

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Last Little Blue Envelope

Breakathon Readathon Review: 13 Little Blue Envelopes

Breakathon Readathon Review: The Hunger Games

Breakathon Readathon Review: An Abundance of Katherines

Breakathon Readathon Review: Bossypants

Challenge: Breakathon Readathon

Penultimate Day of Classes Blog

Class Rings, (gratuitous pictures of) Emma, and the Best Class Ever

A Knitterly Post

What's new, Scooby Doo?

Dumb Questions and New Changes

Backlighting

Wrapping Up!

A Day in the Life of Stefanie and Caron, in Three Parts

More Cemeteries...

The Chawton Austens

In a Cemetery, All's Well that Ends Well

And Finally Back to Oxford

A Weekend in Yorkshire

A Paltry Excuse

(Not Taking a) Bath and a Walk Through a Park

A Little Gushing about Classes, Shakespeare and Oxford

Greetings from England!

Occupied

I don't blame them...

3x5

Little Tasks, Peacocks and Photoshoots

Judas, an Analysis

Questions for Authors

Oh FINALLY.

Nominated for Best Beta

Secrets

A Feather in My Cap

*Explodes*

Liveblogging: A Paper for My Bible Class

Exam, an update

I have an exam tomorrow, so... book reviews!

Bossy McBossypants

The Break that happens in Spring...

An Epic Tale

Thoughts of Shakespeare and Love

Mucus Monsters, Inc.

"Liveblogging"

Caffeine, Adrenaline and Poor Choices

Coffee Zombie

Fanfiction, danube-ing, and the stinking Texas weather

Explodes