Monday, December 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all (maybe) seven of my readers! (And anyone who may be reading that I don't know about.)

I'll post the stories from the rest of finals after the holiday.

Happy Holidays!
(And happy Christmahannakwanzaadanstice, too.)

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

One down, two (and a half) to go...

Just got out of my contracts final. The passages have been rited (rites have been passaged?) it went a lot better than I thought it would and I'm not dead yet, etc.

Now excuse me, but I have to go celebrate with ice cream.

*squee!*

Saturday, December 08, 2007

A call for help in Washington

To all (maybe) seven of my readers:

I received this email from a blogging friend today and surfaced from the pile of papers that is cramming for finals to pass it along:

Hello my lovely bloggy friends,

I spent the day yesterday helping dig people out of the mud and flood waters of Western Washington. Hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed and there is a HUGE need for help and donations as many of the families have lost everything. I’m need help spreading the word out about the relief efforts. I just posted a request for help on Daring Young Mom and Seattle Mom Blogs and I’d be so grateful if you’d send your readers my way. I don’t normally ask for this kind of help but I’m collecting as many donations of goods as I can locally and it’s just not enough. I think that if we work together, we can really make a difference in these people’s lives. Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you’re interested in helping, please take a minute to read my post.

http://www.daringyoungmom.com/2007/12/08/flood-washington-with-relief/


Cheers!

-Kathryn



Please take a moment to read her post for more information about the problem and for links to donate (including links to the American Red Cross and LDS Humanitarian services). If you could spread the word on your own blogs as well that would be great (although obviously you don't have to if you're not comfortable with that; I won't be offended).

Thank you for your support!


P.S. On a sort of related but less drastic note, Shallow Man and I could also really use your prayers right now and through the next two weeks as we're getting ready for and taking law school finals. (And in return I promise some sort of real update as soon as finals are done.) Thank you and we love you all.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Memo 3 = very no

Ick. That's about all I have to say. And all I have time to say. So, in my absence (Memo 3 is due Monday), I leave you with these words of wisdom.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, both Pavarotti and Mr Darcy = very yes.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Even past overwhelmed now...

I probably shouldn't have joked about fish last time, because the day after my last post, I figuratively got swallowed by a whale. Well, actually, I think the whale dropped on me first and then swallowed me, but at any rate, let's just say it was dark and depressing.

The eventual upshot of this is that I am now currently about a week behind in all of my classes except one (and that one is mostly because the professor issued a revised reading sheet because HE was running a week and a half behind). In one of my behind classes this doesn't really matter as much because I've already been grilled, but in the other one (the hardest class of all) I hadn't been called on yet. I emailed the professor and explained the situation to him and asked him to please not call on me for the rest of the week while I got things sorted out.

Well, he didn't get the email.

He called on me today (my first day back in class) and I had to say (in front of 100 people, give or take) that I hadn't had a chance to read that case yet. He moved on to the next victim and I sat there feeling stupid and bright red and cursing modern technology that can't deliver an email properly.

And then we moved on to the next case and he called on me again. "Have you had a chance to read this one?" I just had to shake my head and feel even stupider and bright redder. (Have I mentioned that my own personal version of hell is being publicly humiliated by being made to look stupid for all eternity? Well, that and being forced to watch all Will Ferrell movies -- with the exception of Stranger than Fiction.)

After class I went up and told him I'd sent him an email that morning and promptly started to cry (UGH) from embarrassment and the afore-mentioned whale issues. He apologized profusely and expressed his sympathy and we worked everything out, so I'm, in his words, "fully absolved" and he doesn't think I'm a slacker or anything like that.

But what is still making me squirm (and what will probably make me squirm for several successive four-o-clock-in-the-mornings to come is that now almost 100 people think I'm a slacker. And they don't even know that I had a more-than-good excuse.

Current number of actual recurring nightmares experienced while awake this week: Two.

I guess that's what I get for mocking fish.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Yup. Definitely whelmed.

I'm feeling pretty whelmed right now (as opposed to over- or under-).

Yes, it's a word. Archaic, yes, but a word nonetheless:

whelm
verb [trans.] archaic or poetic/literary:
"engulf, submerge, or bury (someone or something): a swimmer whelmed in a raging storm."

So there.



Note: While I like this definition and all, I personally prefer to define it as what it sounds like it should mean: The feeling you get after being whapped repeatedly with something unpleasant, like a large fish. You still get the same general idea, but it's so much more expressive.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Contracts

I love my contracts class. This probably has less to do with the subject than with the professor. So here are the top three reasons why my professor rocks (although this will probably do more toward proving my nerdiness than his coolness). I would do ten but law school kind of sucks out your creativity.

3) He looks just like the dad from Calvin and Hobbes.

2) He keeps us up to date on current events.
Example: "There was some very sad news from Australia today. The inventor of the boomerang grenade has died."

1) Taken from an essay he wrote: an excerpt from the typical dean's letter recommending a student for the bar:
In my judgment, this person:
Integrity
__ is as pure as the driven snow
__ is as pure as the driven snow after it has lain on the ground for a couple of days and gotten yucky stuff all over it
__ slithered out of a Dickens novel


(Note: That last one still sends me into a fit of giggles. Guess I just can't get away from my nerdly roots.)

Monday, September 24, 2007

Ah, late nights... (bork bork bork!)

I shuoold be-a vreeting a memu reeght noo. Boot I vuoold rezeer prucresteenete-a und Incheffereeze-a stooffff fur my blug insteed. Bork Bork Bork!

(Translation: I should be writing a memo right now. But I would rather procrastinate and Encheferize stuff for my blog instead.)

Seriously, since ITLAPD has come and gone, this site may be all I have to tide me over until next Sept. 19.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

It was inevitable, I suppose

The guy just can't leave anything alone, can he? :)


Wednesday, August 15, 2007

FREEDOM!

Today is the best day ever. Well, the best day I've had for a long time.

As of today, my job is officially "my old job."

Never have to go back.

Or see the CHB* ever again.

Yes, this is a good, good day.

:)


*Curly-haired boss; closely related to the PHB.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

My choice

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Common Courtesy; or, Incident at the Cinema

So we just got back from seeing The Bourne Ultimatum (which I quite enjoyed, but that's not what this story is about).

We arrived at the theatre in time and before the previews started but, since we had not seen fit to arrive an hour early to sit in line for seats, the theater was mostly full when we got there and aside from the very front row there weren't two seats open next to each other. I personally can't watch movies in the front row because, aside from not being able to see what's going on other than a minute inspection of Matt Damon's skin pores and chin stubble, I get a major headache and a stiff neck. Since I'm already having neck problems, we decided the front row was out and tried to find some other seats.

In general, I prefer the back of the theatre, but I also prefer watching movies with my husband, so when I saw two seats available on the first row of the back section, I decided we'd try there. Except that these two seats were separated by a couple already sitting down. I politely asked them if either of the seats were saved and they said no. I then asked if maybe they would be willing to move over one seat so --

I didn't get to finish before the guy started shaking his head no, they wouldn't be willing to move.

"So that my husband and I can sit together?" (This shouldn't have been necesary to point out, by the way; Shallow Man was standing right next to me.)

The guy absolutely refused to move.

Now, I realize they'd gotten there first. I realize that they wanted to sit where they were sitting. But I was only asking for one of them to move one chair over so I could sit with my husband. But this guy had apparently decided that the only possible seat in the theatre he could sit in was the one he was in and heaven forbid his date should have to move (in her defense, she was obviously unimpressed by his actions and she started to give him her opinion of them once we started to move on; but she didn't offer to move over, either).

So we ended up sitting on separate rows. (Some people on one row offered to scoot down three or four seats to let us sit together but it turned out one of the seats was already saved. Still, I greatly appreciated the gesture.)

Like I say, I understand that the up-front row people probably waited in line for a while to get good seats. Shallow Man and I did not.

But whatever happened to common courtesy?

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Who knew? or, A Study in Procrastination

Because Kat did and because I should be cleaning right now:

Your Personality Profile

You are dependable, popular, and observant.
Deep and thoughtful, you are prone to moodiness.
In fact, your emotions tend to influence everything you do.

You are unique, creative, and expressive.
You don't mind waving your freak flag every once and a while.
And lucky for you, most people find your weird ways charming!



You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed.
Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.


You Belong in New Zealand

Good on ya, mate
You're the best looking one of the bunch
Though you're often forgotten...
You're quite proud of who you are



 
 
 
 
BLUE

You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!



You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing.
That doesn't mean you don't rock out...
You just rock out with meaning.
For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Huh.

I was just updating my booklist and realized that I read a lot of "initial" authors. Maybe I should talk to Agatha about going by A. M. C. M. Christie instead...

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

My Sweet Sonya

I have often wondered how I would ever manage to sell my car. In my head, I've played over the conversation with prospective buyers many times.

IMG_1170

Me: So one thing you need to know is that the gas gauge doesn't work.

Buyer: Doesn't work?

Me: Well, it sort of works. Like it accurately reflects a full tank of gas. And if it shows that you're at a quarter tank or less then you definitely are below half a tank somewhere. But it can be sitting on the "E" for empty and you go to fill it up and it'll still have a quarter-to-a-third of a tank of gas in there.

Buyer: So how do you tell when you're running out of gas?

Me: We usually just go by mileage. If you refill somewhere around 300 miles you should be good. You can just set the trip planner when you fill up. Unless it's not working. It sometimes jams and then you just guess. We've always been lucky.

Buyer: Uh-huh.

Me: Yeah, but 300 really should give her plenty of leeway because she gets about 37 miles per gallon highway.

Buyer: (oozing skepticism) 37? A 1995 Ford Escort Station Wagon?

Me: Yeah, we don't know why but she does. We keep track. (pause) We think it may be that not all the parts run and that conserves power and gets us better gas mileage. It's great.

Buyer: (longish pause) Now, when you say not all of the parts run, what does that mean?

Me: Oh, well, the cooling fan, for example. It only turns on about half the time so I know it's saving power for us. It generally turns on well before you overheat, though.

Buyer: Generally?

Me: Well, yes. It always works except when it doesn't. But that's only happened, what, three, maybe four times since we've had her? We got her less than a week after we got back from our honeymoon, you know, so we know her pretty well.

Buyer: Uh-huh. So what happens when it overheats?

Me: Oh, you won't need to worry about that. She only ever does that within a mile of home -- usually two or three blocks. Except for once when she stopped in the middle of University Parkway. But we were within a mile of the family reunion we were headed to, so it amounts to the same thing. At any rate, if you notice the temperature creeping higher you can always turn on the heater. That works as long as she's moving. Which reminds me, the air conditioner only works if you're going 40 MPH or above. And she doesn't like driving between 50-65 mph, so try to stay either below 45 or above 70.

Buyer: How does that work on the freeway?

Me: Oh, I just speed. The great thing about this car is that you'll never get a speeding ticket while you're in her.

Buyer: Why? Because she doesn't go fast enough?

Me: Oh, no, she goes fast enough -- She'll get up to 90 just fine, although you can't hear the radio then because of the squeaky belt. We don't think it's anything vital so we just let it be. The police just ignore her because she doesn't LOOK like she'll go any faster'n about 40.

Buyer: Yes, I can see that. I think the green bumper on the blue car adds to the effect.

Me: Yeah, that bumper's not original. The other bumper got hit a few too many times and finally fell off. (pause) But that was okay, too, because every time she got hit we got more money out of her. We made back 150% of the purchase price just from getting smacked in the bumper.

Buyer: But why green?

Me: Well, the place we went to couldn't find a blue one and we figured that since 1) my husband is colorblind, 2) it was getting close to the re-registration deadline and we needed a bumper to pass inspection, and 3) whatever bumper we got was just going to get run into again anyway (there was a definite pattern and we saw no indication that it would stop), why bother with the hassle of trying to get it to be blue? You'll notice the front bumper was also beat up and would probably need replacing soon anyway, so we could have just put green on there too and make it match. Besides, it always made the car easier to find in a parking lot.

Buyer: Yes, I meant to ask about that front bumper.

Me: Oh, that was from one of the times we got hit in the back bumper. It bumped us into the car in front and dented up the front bumper too. But that's all the damage from that accident.

Buyer: Oh, so she's been in an accident? Did the airbags go off?

Me: No... They may or may not work. I've never bothered to check. I just trusted to my seatbelt. Which reminds me, the motor in the driver's side seat belt broke so it doesn't move now so you have to manually buckle the shoulder belt and the lap belt. Of course, the broken motor makes the car think that the seatbelt is always unbuckled so we had to put black electrical tape over the seatbelt warning light because it would never go off.

Buyer: So does the warning sound go off all the time?

Me: No, that doesn't work on the driver's side. The relay's messed up or something so the driver's side door doesn't trigger the door alarm, the dome light, the ignition light, the headlight warning noise or anything like that. You just have to remember. You'll get used to it.

Buyer: Riiiight. (Edging away) Well, I need to go home and do... stuff... (breaks into a full run)

Me: (calling after) Wait! I haven't explained about the leaky coolant trick yet!



I always just concluded that I would have to let a family member inherit Sonya or sell her to someone who didn't speak any English.

But that problem has now been solved.

Thus ends Sonya

My gallant little car has looked out for her family up to the last. When the little CRV in front of us tried to take over the center lane, causing the SUV right next to them to flinch, overcorrect, and spin wildly out of control across the entire interstate and into our poor little car, Sonya stood firm. When the impact happened, rather than letting the whole driver's side door just move into the driver's seat with me, Sonya said "Thus far -- and no farther." When the force of the impact swung us completely around and back across the two lanes of traffic we had just left in an attempt to avoid the spinning SUV, she stopped us before we hit anyone and kept running so we could slowly back off the highway. She stared the oncoming cars down and dared them to hit us again. They all stopped and let us get out of the way.

Instead of letting the doorpost crash into my head, she crumpled it just behind. The rear driver's side door now sits directly behind the driver's seat, so that anyone with longer legs than me wouldn't be able to move the seat back. The edge of the door is roughly one-third of the way into the car.

Thus ends Sonya

You can now see into the car at the bottom of the passenger door. But none of our belongings, piled in the trunk and the backseat since we were on our way home from a camping trip, spilled out or were damaged. (Unless you count the fact that the keys were knocked out of the ignition; but I don't hold that against the poor girl. The fact that the keys didn't really fit properly and you could have started or shut off the engine with almost any key was one thing I also never knew quite how to explain in the fantasy...)

Even when both windows shattered and a fair amount of glass went down the back of my pants, it didn't cut me. Sure, I had to walk bowlegged for a bit until I could change in the ambulance (let me tell you, it's nerve-racking to change your underwear in the middle of the interstate even when you know the windows are tinted so nobody can see in... I'm just glad I had the extra clothes there because of camping), but that was a minor price to pay.

When the paramedics looked at you, Sonya, and said that if they had just seen a picture of you they would have sworn that someone in the car would be going to the hospital, I got choked up because I knew you had kept us from anything more major than a wicked seat belt burn on my neck and shoulder and some cuts and bruises. And that was part of why I was crying, Sonya -- but it was also partly because I knew I would never get to drive my first little car ever again. (We're ignoring the obvious aftereffects of shock here.)

Sonya, you were our miracle car. You had an Elijah aspect about you -- you kept lasting one more day, and one more day after that, when we needed you to. You got better gas mileage for us than you probably should have gotten straight out of the factory. You took us on vacations and helped us move eight times and most of all you kept me from an extended hospital stay or worse. I will miss all your little quirks and oddities -- and I'm strangely thankful that I won't have to try to explain them to a stranger, who may not have loved you as well as we did. Your old license plate frame sums up my feelings for you best: "They're not dents; they're beauty marks."

IMG_1169

Rest in peace
Sonya
1995-2007



Note: Of course I don't for a minute credit this miracle to anyone other than God. For about three seconds on Saturday afternoon, when I saw the SUV spin out of control 20 feet ahead of us to the time I saw it heading straight for me, I knew I was going to die. I still cannot believe, looking at the car and at the pictures, that both Shallow Man and myself are not only alive but relatively unharmed. I know that Heavenly Father put his hand out and kept us safe and I only hope that I will continue to feel the awe for life that I do today, and be able to take better advantage of this amazing and precious gift.



P.S. The driver of the SUV was also basically uninjured, although rather shaken, and no other cars were involved, which is another miracle in itself when you consider that we were driving on I-15 at the end of a holiday weekend. I'll keep you posted on the search for a new car, although I currently am enjoying the rental car, a Ford Focus we have nicknamed "Zippy".

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Checkin' in

So Rachel started complaining that I never update my blog.

So I'm updating it now.

Briefly.

I'll do a bigger post later because right now I'm too busy helping said Rachel play with my nephew.

Who is still cuter than yours.

So there.

(Like, WAYYYYY cuter.)

(And he doesn't just think he can dance. He totally can.)

(So there again.)

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I'm an Aunt!

And my nephew is cuter than yours. That's all I have to say. :)

Congratulations, little sis and brother-in-law!



(This is the first nephew or neice for both Shallow Man and myself, so we're pretty excited, in case you couldn't tell.)

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Bachelor

(Hands off, girls, cuz he's already taken!)

Shallow Man is graduating with his Bachelor's degree this Friday and I am thrilled.

That is all.

:)

Friday, April 20, 2007

Going into the moon's shadow

We're disconnecting the internet and TV tomorrow in preparation for our big move on Saturday and won't get them set back up until Monday.

This is always the part I hate the most about moving (well, besides the packing and loading and cleaning and moving and unloading and unpacking and not knowing where your hairbrush ended up for the next three weeks and having to figure out a new lightswitch system and where the hot spots in the oven are, but other than that...), where we go into blackout mode, technologically speaking. I always feel like I'm completely cut off from the world and that something extremely vital will happen (i.e., long-lost rich uncle dies and the executor sends me an email saying please call within the next 24 hours for your inheritance of three gajillion dollars and if we don't hear from you by that time it will all be donated to the society for the prevention of cruelty to mushrooms) and I won't know about it until later, when it's too late.

So I guess all I can say is, nobody say anything important while I'm gone, and I'll see you on the other side.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Did you feel that microburst?

That was just Shallow Man and me giving a huge sigh of relief.

That's right, it's all signed and done and we move in on Saturday.

Ahhhhhhhhhh..............

Soon, soon...

it will all be over.

Our house-buying entourage should be arriving at our apartment within the next 15-20 minutes for closing. It's almost over. Then the sellers will move to Alaska and I will never have to deal with them again.

We'll be moving on Saturday and then I won't have to deal with moving for at least another three years.

The multiple baby showers for my sister are all over now, so I have a few months' peace before I have to start planning the ones for my sister-in-law.

In a week and a half I meet the rest of my in-laws. Actually, let's not think about that one yet.

Let's just think about how in an hour we'll have closed on our first house.

Yes. That's a good feeling.

Soon, soon, soon.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Offers and counteroffers

Let this be a lesson to you all:

If you're trying to sell your house to Shallow Man and me, don't get greedy. This will only force us to get firm with you.

At this point we're considering how best to show our utter contempt for their current counteroffer (when the appraisal came in lower than their initial ridiculous counteroffer, what a surprise!). We've been fairly patient and more than reasonable up to this point, especially in making our offers. We were hoping they'd decided to be adults about this but apparently that's not the case. *Sigh.*

We're considering asking that they include a pony and install a small -- but serviceable -- bowling alley in the crawl space prior to closing in our counter-counteroffer. Including, of course, a note in the addendum that we like a good joke as much as they do. This will be no less of a joke than their current offer to us and makes for a much better story later on all sides. Hopefully it would also get the message out to them that we only entertain serious and reasonable counteroffers, not insults.

Unfortunately, our innate sense of professionalism (don't laugh so hard; I don't want any of my maybe-six-or-seven readers to choke and die -- there are few enough of you as it is) will probably win out and we'll end up leaving the pony out. Which is just as well, since I don't know where we'd put it -- what with the babies on the way we're probably going to need all the room for other things anyway.

*Sigh* again. What I put up with to stop paying rent.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Heheheh

Just cuz Kat did:




You are Green Lantern
























Green Lantern
85%
Spider-Man
85%
Superman
65%
The Flash
65%
Robin
60%
Supergirl
60%
Wonder Woman
60%
Hulk
60%
Catwoman
60%
Iron Man
40%
Batman
25%
Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination.


Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Monday, March 19, 2007

pant, pant, whimper

Oy. I would ask Erin's forgiveness for not posting anything sooner than this, but I'm too out of breath, stressed, and bald.

So, yeah, that house-buying thing. Lots of work. Not much fun.

Although hopefully it will start being fun on or around April 17th. Because hopefully it will all be over on or about that time.

(Yes, we're currently under contract for a cute little townhouse in Provo and it should close around the 17th, assuming that none of the million things that can go wrong between then and now do. Hence the stress.)

Of course, that means I'll have to move again, but I'm taking comfort in the fact that if this move happens, it will be the last move for about 3 years. And you have no idea how excited I am about that.

Or would be, if I had any energy left.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

*snirt*

Funniest thing ever. Right here.

That's all I have to say right now.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

For Erin; or, Vindication for the Dwarf

First off, let me just say that life was great on Friday because I got to see Erin again. It's been almost two years, which is really too long, and Shallow Man and I had a blast hanging out with her and her sister and brother-in-law. And their turtles. But I digress.

Erin informed me that, amazingly enough, there are in fact people who read my blog (maybe even as many as six of them). And therefore, she told me, I need to update more often. I told her contritely that I would try to be more diligent about that, and vowed that as soon as something interesting happened to me, I would blog about it.

Well, not much interesting has happened to me yet, but in the interrim, and because I told Erin I would, I would just like to say that it's about time somebody gave proper recognition to deserving dwarves.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

New Addiction

I'd been hearing a lot of people talking about Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer, recently and I was intrigued -- you've got to be curious about a novel about vampires written by a BYU grad (and lest you chide me for potential spoilers, that's all spelled out on the back cover of the book). So I picked up a copy at the bookstore last week and started reading it, mostly in fits because I didn't have very many large chunks of spare time until Friday afternoon. At that point, I settled in and read almost straight through till the end.

I only stopped long enough to get up and order the sequel off Amazon when I realized there were only three chapters left of this absolutely wonderful book.

Then, when the sequel, New Moon, arrived on Tuesday afternoon (can I take a moment to say just how much I love Amazon Prime?) I jumped right back into the story. And remembered the real world when I finished the last page at 11:00 p.m., not having stopped to eat dinner or do laundry or really even say hi to my sweet and understanding husband when he got home about an hour into the book.

I then spent several hours on Wednesday and Thursday prowling around Stephenie Meyer's website and the Twilight Lexicon, and pondering the respective merits of Edward and Jacob, and I have now come to the conclusion that I'm addicted. I had suspected it before but my suspicions were confirmed when I realized that I'd been complaining to Shallow Man for the last ten minutes (who was listening very patiently, I might add) that I had to wait until FALL before the next book in the series came out, GOSH!, and how on earth was I supposed to wait that long to find out what happened???

I wasn't even this obsessed when Harry Potter 6 came out. Granted, yes, I did read that one straight through as well, but I haven't re-read it since and I don't spend hours thinking about the implications of being with someone who did magic (like I was trying to figure out how the whole eating dinner as a family thing would work out if Bella and Edward had a family -- because she'd start telling the kids to eat their veggies and they say "But Daddy doesn't have to eat them!" and then she'd have to explain that's because Daddy doesn't eat real food.... Yeah, I should probably stop now).

I'm making myself take a little break now while I finish re-reading Jane Eyre, but I'm not really fooling myself. Because I know as soon as I finish it, I'm just going to re-read Twilight.

My name is Elliespen, and I've been in love with Twilight for eleven days.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Changes, Jane Eyre and old grudges

I've decided I like the updated version of Blogger because it's easy enough (mostly) to navigate that even just-barely-techno-savvy-enough-to-turn-on-the-computer people like me can figure out how to make it look like more than just the barest of bare bones blogs that I had before. And apparently it inspires loads of alliteration. But at any rate I like the way my blog looks now. Hooray!

I just finished reading The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde, which I very much enjoyed. I mean, how can you not like a book where the main character and narrator is named Thursday Next? Who is a literary detective, no less? Basically, an evil, evil man manages to get inside the original manuscript of Jane Eyre and kidnaps Jane. Thursday and Rochester have to work to make sure that nothing in the original narrative is changed. Even though I got extremely confused by the alternate version of history that is revealed bit by bit (in case you couldn't tell, it's in an alternate but similar reality where time travel is common, for one thing, and they keep mentioning little bits and pieces of what is history for them but it's not the same as ours. For instance, the fact that Wales is a separate republic and the border between Wales and England has been sealed off... stuff like that), I loved all the literary references, especially the continued debate about the true authorship of the works of William Shakespeare.

It reminded me, though, of the first time I read Jane Eyre, which was in 9th grade. I was reading it on my own, but at the same time it was an option on the book list for my English class and some of the people in class had read it for their quarterly project. This meant that one day I found myself in class listening to a girl named Rachael giving a book report on Jane Eyre while I still wasn't very far in.

Now, giving book reports should be like giving a movie review. Or the blurb on the back of the book jacket. Give just enough plot information to interest people and talk about a few relative points -- see the previous description of The Eyre Affair. You know the basic idea but not enough to ruin any enjoyment for you. Never, never, never give away plot spoilers. Ever. If you have a captive audience this is even more of a cardinal sin than usual. At least if it's a written review they can stop reading.

So it should be understandable that I still hold a grudge against Rachael (whom I have not seen in years and probably only remember her name because of this experience) for ruining Jane Eyre for me. I had no idea what the plot was when I started the book. So when I had to sit there and listen to her enumerate every single twist and turn, right up until the end, when I had only BARELY reached Blanche Ingram, well... words really don't express it.

In fact, it still makes me angry just thinking about it.

Must go gnash teeth....

And Rachael, if I see you, watch out!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Big news at the Scritchy household


There's a new addition at the Scritchy house.

Its name is Clavinova.

Yamaha Clavinova.

I love it.

Very, very much.

Not only is it mighty attractive, but it also makes cool noises and is quite easy to move around, being digital and light and all.

Which is a very good thing because we will be moving within the next six months or so.

Because we both got letters today, the Shallow Man and I.

Good letters.

Of the sort that begin with the word "Congratulations."

And not about the new Yamaha.

About a new opportunity to move to an old town.

About like a-this.

See you next fall, baby!



Disclaimer: We're still not sure if we'll both be starting up at the same time. I may continue to work for another year if my job goes to at-home, so as to keep things like insurance and incoming cash flow. But this doesn't change the fact that we both got in. Or the fact that I only studied for the LSAT for about two weeks beforehand. Take that, suckers!

P.S. Yes, Margo, I did get a digital. But it's a nice one that feels real. :) I've been playing our songs and remembering fun times in the HFAC.