This evening was the induction for Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society, so I am now officially stigmatized as an English nerd. And yes, the group DOES use the acronym STD — how could anyone resist?! It was short and sweet, but fun to socialize with other English nerds.

A couple of our professors were there, including the prof for my poetry class. I met with him Monday morning to discuss the folder of work I’d turned in at midterm. All in all, it was very productive. We spent a long time puzzling over a particular poem that (after revision) I was fairly pleased with, but he was concerned about its “piety”. I was nonplussed over that one — with it’s strong religious connotations, “piety” is not a word I generally associate with myself or my work. Finally, though I did come away with the general idea that it needed more tension of some sort.

That very afternoon, this professor joined us in my contemporary writers class to talk with us about his own poetry, much of which seems to stem from a somewhat dark worldview.

This evening after the induction, a friend of mine thanked him for joining us in contemporary writers. I added that it had given me a prospective on what we had discussed concerning my work. I told him he really should just have told me, “Katie, this poem is too damn happy!”

Categories: college
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No animals were harmed in the making of this game:

Cat Bowling

Enjoy!

11/3/05:   Sadly, the game seems to have been taken down. Apparently someone doesn’t think that Halloween should last all year. I love the holiday – it’s fun to be something…else…just for a night. I would love to live in a neighborhood where there are enough trick-or-treaters to where dressing in costume to answer the door would be warrented…heheheheh. Too many old people around my parents’ place. -Lady V.

Categories: miscellany
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I don’t really have anything else to say, but this needs to be shared.

Quote of the day:
“I don’’t darn socks; I damn them to the trash can!”
-Jen

Categories: college
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Why are my downstairs neighbors out on their balcony, trying to toss around a football with buddies on the ground?

When out on the balconies I heard such a clatter… hmmm, shall we spoof Clement Moore?

At least they’re not breaking in…they’re just being stupid. And loud. If there are going to be men under my window, they ought to be serenading me. Or at least they damn well better not be grunting and making ape-ish, testosterone-induced noises.

Ahhh…college life. Just another perk of university housing. Right up there with being told that a toaster oven is a fire hazard. It has an open heating element, you see. Unlike a regular pop-up toaster. The fact that one has a door where the other has open slots for sticking in one’s fingers/a wet fork/random falling debris doesn’t seem to have occurred to the Housing Apes.

There seem to be too many apes in the world tonight. They need to get off campus and go back to the jungle so they can stop being endangered out there.

Categories: college
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CSC Quote list

I just addded a bunch from (I think) last June, when four of us were playing Apples to Apples at Liz & Elf’s place. Commentary and context welcome.

Categories: home
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Wow, I leave for two days and the CSC LiveJournal community EXPLODES!!

Because I’m more amused by this one, here’s the movie quote quiz:

[1] Pick 20 of your favorite movies.
[2] Pick a few lines of dialogue.
[3] As people guess the film, strike out that entry (and put the movie title, and who got it).

1. “Are you frightened?”
“Yes.”
“Not nearly frightened enough. I know what hunts you.” The Fellowship of the Ring (Aragorn and Frodo) - Pug

2. “Why, you ask, was I bound and chained in this cold and dismal place? Not for any mortal sin, but the wickedness of my abhorrent face!” The Phantom of the Opera - Elf

3.”And what exactly is it you do…do?” Young Frankenstein - Elf

4. “I have recieved two forks as well-
“Forks?”
“Yes. It’s a new instrument, a devilish little thing to look at - and to use too. It’s for pronging meat with and carrying it to your mouth. It saves you dirtying your fingers.”

5. “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue.” Much Ado About Nothing (Benedick) - Crunch

6. “But we could get killed - or worse, expelled!” Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone (Hermione) - Crunch

7. “This corpse here - he comes back to life, Prince ********** suffers?”
“Humiliations galore.”
“Now THAT is what I call a worthwhile reason!” The Princess Bride (Inigo and Miracle Max) - Crunch

8 “Hokey religions, and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.” Star Wars: A New Hope (Han) - Crunch

9. “Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most . . . human.” Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Kirk) - Crunch

10. “You’re an accountant. You’re in a noble profession. The word “count” is part of your title.” The Producers (Max) - Pug

11. “The question is not whether I’ve treated you rudely but whether you’ve ever heard me treat anyone else better.” My Fair Lady (Henry Higgins) - Pug

12 “If we have unearned luck now, to ’scape the serpent’s tongue - we shall make amends ere long!” A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck) - Elf

13. “Shall I describe it, or would you like me to get you a box?” The Two Towers (Legolas) - Pug

14. “This once belonged to a young, foolish boy, who spent more time slaying dragons than doing his studies.”
“This was yours?”
“Yes. My father had it made for me.”
“Well, I’m taller than you were then. Though I’m not likely to grow anymore… except sideways.” The Return of the King - Pug

15. “I submit this as Exhibit X - ***** ****’s diary!”
“I object! My client has never held a diary! And even if she did, this would be… invasion of privacy, and violation of the fourth amendment, and… and illegal search without a warrant!”
“Yeah, AND she broke the lock!” Chicago - Pug

16. “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!” Dr. Strangelove (the President) - Pug

17. “The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin or the plover seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land.”
“Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?” Monty Python and the Holy Grail - Pug

18. “Can we start with the part where ***** gets knocked out by a 90 pound girl? Because that’s never getting old.” Serenity - Pug

19. “Have you ever seen the ***** *****?”
“No.”
“Well, how do you know it’s really there?”
“Some things you see with your eyes; others you see with your heart.” The Land Before Time - Pug

20. “Look, I have ONE job on this lousy ship! It’s stupid, but I’m gonna do it, OKAY?” Galaxy Quest - Crunch

Categories: miscellany
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I don’t post nearly enough funny stuff. This is me and Carmen from earlier this evening.


Show me more… »

Categories: miscellany
11 Comments »

Finally, finally, I know. Don’t look so shocked.

Academically speaking…

I think my favorite class this term is going to turn out to be Writing Poetry, which is with a professor who intimidated the hell out of me in freshman humanities. He seems more human now – not sure if it’s me or if it’s the chance in venue. He’s more personable in a small class setting (there are perhaps 15 of us), but I expect he will still push and challenge us; should be good. We’re reading and discussing a lot of poetry as well as writing our own (I might start posting some here if anyone would be interested.) Unfortunately the class includes a girl who exhibits all of Hermione’’s worst qualities with none (that I’’ve seen) of her good ones. She annoys most all of us –– though I heard someone say once that the qualities we like least in others often tend to be things we don’’t like about ourselves. I worry that there may be some of this going on. I try to be nice, but sometimes it takes effort.

Furman Hall renovations are all but done –– they’re still finishing a few cosmetic details — –and it looks really nice. The English department is settled into its new home at the end of the hall, and right next door is an “English lounge” –– couches and comfy chairs and such. I think this is a great thing and have been spending my hour between poetry and lunch in there, reading.

It was clear from the first day that my grammar class has the potential to be either truly fascinating or deadly dull and it’s taking some time to decide which. The linguistics book we started with (I’’m guessing Carmen may be familiar with de Saussure?) was a slog (we’’ve moved on to a grammar text now, though), and the prof is not the most engaging lecturer, but the material itself is okay.

I have discovered that the reason many people are taking the course is because the professor is reputed to be easy, and it’s not hard to see why. He is deeply concerned about things like grade inflation –– he points out that Furman’s cataloge describes a C as “satisfactory”. Of course this being Furman, none of us regard a C that way; neither do our parents or grad schools or anyone else. His way of dealing with this is to simplify the process: either you put in satisfactory work and you get an A and he allows everyone to be happy, or you don’’t and you get an F. He assuages his conscience by writing you a letter at the end of the term, giving you his professional opinion of your work (“here’’s what I REALLY think….”). Personally, this sounds a bit fishy –– is he not adding to grade inflation more than anything? At any rate, this is apparently why there are about fifteen people in grammar, rather than about five.

My other class, Contemporary American Writers, brought lots of excitement last week. Part of the fun is that the prof manages to get at least some of the writers you study to come speak to the class. We actually had two come last week; they were in town to speak at an event with a couple other local writers that evening, which was very neat. The two who came to class were Tommy Hays (author of The Pleasure Was Mine) and George Singleton (author of Why Dogs Chase Cars) and they could not be more different! Each man is exactly the sort of person you would imagine from reading their books –– one a quiet, Southern gentleman type, the other outspoken, chattering, and a bit crazy. I’’ve been fighting all weekend to write a short paper on the Hays book, which is about a family’’s struggle with Alzheimer’s, loss, and related themes. It’’s a sweet, sentimental, thoughtful book, firmly in the noncommital “”It was nice”” category. Finally realized I just needed a new topic –– required to pick one of three and this is just not the book for writing about themes. The Singleton book, however, is hilarious –– I haven’t quite finished it, but I do recommend it to those of you with a twisted sense of humor.

With an eye to the future…
…I have been exploring all sorts of scary things like job openings, grad schools, and the GRE. Still deliberating about the whole grad school thing – I could probably pick up anything a master’s in publishing could teach me, but it might be a trump card in a job search. Current plan is to take the GRE and apply to schools, but if a promising looking job opportunity comes up, I may spring for it. Basically, I’’m trying to avoid making a decision…

In other news…
…I have gotten seriously hooked on Firefly. A couple of the local radio stations hosted a free screening of Serenity last Wednesday, and Cort was able to get some tickets. Each one admitted two people, so of course Cort and Jen were one, while Genie graciously agreed to be my date. It was AMAZING and you should all go see it, even if you haven’t seen anything of Firefly. I hadn’’t (though am currently working to remedy that), and you really do catch on pretty quick.

Categories: Firefly, college
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