checking in

How was everyone’s Christmas? Sorry I’ve been MIA, after my exams ended, I have been working everyday since Christmas Eve. I spent the 3 days been my last exam and work by watching films (was totally disappointed with Anna Karenina, and have mixed feelings about The Hobbit), skyping with my mom, and meeting with friends. I went shopping on Boxing day after work – and came home empty-handed. This is the norm for me, but I was so looking forward to buying a little something. The things I really wanted did not go on sale, and the things I didn’t care for were 50% off.

I am munching on a KFC sandwich right now. The meat is tough but it somewhat satisfies my craving for fried chicken.

I was supposed to get through my Aristotle readings, but I barely made a dent. I feel terrible for slacking off, but after 8.5 hours of work and trekking through all the slush and snow, I end up passing out on my bed. I did finish one of the novels for my CAN LIT class though. I’m starting on Margret Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace‘. I can’t say I’m absorbed, and I was never a huge fan of her writing – but hopefully, the story gets better.

I need to write more!! I have a ton of deadlines coming up and I don’t even have drafts for some of them. URGHH

I also need to reread those plays for my second semester of Shakespeare. I still have to meet up with people after New Years and it’s cutting into my prep time – but what can I do? Friends are important, and I need to loosen up a bit, too.

I went to see Frida last night. The museum is CRAZY crowded. It was a members only night, so I assumed it’d be dead – but I guess not. Sigh, I’d better go during the day time.

All my moaning and complaints about not having enough hours in a day are biased, I’ve been obsessed with this Korean drama called School 2013. It’s a refreshingly realistic (though occasionally exaggerated for dramatic effect) look at the Korean education system. I won’t fangirl about it here, but ARGH!!! One word: BROMANCE!

Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to a lot of jazz. It’s mostly Holiday themed – but still lovely. Do any of you use Songza? It takes me a while to find a playlist that is compatible with my taste, but it’s still pretty great!

 

taking the plunge

I have convinced myself that Sherlock would make an excellent subject for my linguistic anthropology paper. So i went ahead and did it – when i get it back, I shall post portions of it~

 

snail pace

[it’s 12noon right now–i just left this sitting in the drafts folder, that’s all]

here is the list of things I’d like to have completed by Tuesday Night. I’d allotted hours for each for practicality’s sake:

– Thesis & Outline for AFMAMH paper (4)

– Thesis & Outline for Henry IV Part 1 & Twelfth Night (3)

– Symb. Logic Unit 6 Review (8)

– Brainstorm thesis for Ling. Anthro paper (2)

– Symb. Logic Quiz 8 (3)

All of the above add up to 20 hours. I have 10 hours left of today. I have 10 hours free tomorrow. ARGHHH

OK. I shall be calm, and light some candles. It’s a lot of work (and that doesn’t include my readings for the second half of the week!) but I can do it!

UPDATE: Finished reading and highlighting Ch 3-5 for Ling. Anthro!

UPDATE: Have a fuzzy thesis for Shakespeare!! Need to reread second half of 12th Night though.

UPDATE: Attempted symb logic – gave up. shall try again later.

UPDATE: UGHHHHHHHH, I want KFC! I just watched a bunch of k-pop reality shows. Why do I do this?!?!

UPDATE (Nov 13): finished rereading 12th Night. The thesis is now pulling in too many directions.

UPDATE: Have fuzzy idea for AFMAMH.

manners

people have got to learn them! I’m encountering a particularly bad case at work. I teach on the side and there is one private student who is unable to stick to a schedule. Granted, she is an athlete, so I am giving her some leeway – but her organization does not impress me. I recently heard back from a friend who’s also dealing with some unreasonable people and I don’t understand why some people are unable to figure what what happens in the next week of their life!

Sigh–is it really too much to ask?

Anywho, I am working on my Shakespeare comparative exercise. We are given a 2 page length limit so it’s a pretty short assignment – but that just makes editing that much harder!! Here’s a teaser (hasn’t been manicured yet–so beware):

Theses remarkable torrents of correlations also venture into the perimeters of their working lives. Social classes and cultural conformity were strictly enforced and were very much an integral part of everyday life in the Elizabethan and Victorian era. For Shakespeare, social hierarchy provided the backdrop and often, the major source of conflict in many of his plays. His characters are caught between the desire to break away from those customs to fulfill their own yearlings and the hesitation to reject social conventions. The central hurdle for Romeo and Juliet is the parental opposition from both families (who consider each other to be socially inferior). For Macbeth, the path to the throne is not by loyalty to the king, but by murder and deceit. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom, the simple minded weaver, is given the most profound vision of the ballad. Shakespeare was not a member of the aristocracy and had none of the usual symptoms of “high society” about him. He was particularly sympathetic to the plight of women and of the lower classes. He often attributes intelligence and insight to the under privileged characters, rather than those of the nobility…

(I can’t get the font size to stay consistent on this blog. sorry)

I am going to follow this paragraph with:

For Shakespeare and Holmes, the casts of characters are not only governed by social hierarchy, but also by sex. Even during the Elizabethan era, women were not permitted to be on stage and all of the female roles were usually performed by young, somewhat inexperienced boy actors. Shakespeare was a savvy playwright who knew to write to his actors’ advantage. And hence, there are very few women characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Holmes, in stark contrast, is infamous for his vocal pronouncements of his disregard of women kind in general. His treatment of women is generally regarded as racist… 

we haven’t got all night

where the river tells you to turn

upstream, the rangers

they are weary of

waiting:

patience, lust, bellinis.

the capacity for human error

the late Nora Ephron composed this list. I’ve drawn up mine below (with ones stolen from her in italics). I’m not sure why I’ll have to miss things – but it’s cute.

So there.

What I Won’t Miss

sun burn (I knew i forgot something when i went golfing yesterday!)
Bad dinners like the one we went to last night
My closet
smudged lenses
Seasonal flues and allergies
Polls
Fox TV
Mammograms
Dead flowers
The sound of the vacuum cleaner
Bills
Small print
the smell of dust
badly dubbed videos

What I Will Miss

Spring
Fall
Waffles

Bacon
A walk in the park
The idea of a walk in the park
Shakespeare in the Park
The bed
Rereading loved books
Dinner with friends
Paris
Pride and Prejudice
The Christmas tree
Taking a bath

good mornings

PS. Sorry I’ve been AOL lately. So much on my plate – no time to digest. I’ll be travelling a lot this month so updates will be random (but frequent, hopefully – am glaring at my drafts folder right now, oh sigh).

NEW FEATURE: A CASE FOR WORDS

I’ve been getting emails asking me what I’ve read recently (I used to report this pretty often). To be honest, I usually have a couple of books going on at the same time so it’s hard to note any sort of pattern. I read a lot of non-fiction (I tend to stick to award-winning fiction). Currently, I’m one chapter into Wild (by Cheryl Strayed, who was “outed” as the beloved author of the incredible Dear Sugar column) and it’s heart-achingly fantastic chronicle of Cheryl’s physical and emotional journey as a young woman who lost her mother to disease to someone who becomes self-actualized and balanced.

Anyway, all these requests have inspired me to start a new feature: A CASE FOR WORDS – in which I shall show and do a review of whatever literature I read. Obviously, I won’t have time to write extensively about every work I come across, so I will take requests instead (or if I feel especially compelled to spazz about a certain work). Comment on the relevant post (or email me) to let me know which work you’d most like to read about and I shall do a write-up. I also welcome you all of you to discuss the books featured in these regular posts.

THIS WEEK:

The Unbearable Lightness of Being [Milan Kundera]

The Letters of Ernest Hemingway

Thinking Fast and Slow [Daniel Kahneman]

Londoners [Craig Taylor]

Sounds good? Request away!

ERROR MESSAGE

I’m so glad people are responding favorably to the addition of images and other media to this blog!

Anyway, I was appalled at the amount of grammatical and spell mistakes peppered through my posts. I know I once said it didn’t bother me, but well, my lack of literary vanity has a limit too – so I’ll be tech-editing as many posts as my ego can stand.

EDIT: I only got through 5 posts and now I’m bored. Ta-da!

PS. For those lucky folks w/ an ipad – I’ve enabled OnSwipe!

PENDING

I realized, during my frenzied posting, the reason why I was so hesitant to publish entries in the early days of this blog.

I was too concerned with whether my thoughts were meaningful enough to jot down. I was too caught up in making sure they were all polished and whatnot (ha! what a joke).

Sometime in the last year, I managed to shed (or turn a blind eye to, I’m not sure which) that worry. I’m not being graded, I am not being judged (and if I am, well, I’m not aware of it, at least), and it’s all subjective.

I’m really thankful to have lost that weight on my shoulders. I have a tendency to obsess over perfection. And to be honest, most of the time, I’m not entirely certain what that means. Perfection is changeable, anyway.

PS. I’m doing my nails right now. See if that adds any context to this post.

I swear I’m not like Neo at the beginning of The Matrix. The lighting just came out really dark!

pause

I haven’t had any physical exercise (save for that 3 km walk the other day) for the past week and my body is feeling icky. I’ve just been so consumed in critical analysis and readings- God, endless readings…

Anyhow, i fully intend to revert back to my active self once this haze is over. I’ll focus mainly on cardio (because I don’t wish to be a body builder and my thighs are chunky enough, thanks): tennis, biking, running, etc.

Here’s my food log so far:

MONDAY: Grapes, string beans and pork, butter chicken, rice, orange juice

TUESDAY: Fish (Haddock) and coleslaw, coffee, chicken strips, oreo cakesters

WEDNESDAY: Mango juice, steamed salmon, cucumbers, rice, pear

THURSDAY: Timbits, coffee, steamed salmon, rice…

[ETA] I have a deadline on April 23. I have a poetry launch on April 25. And after that, I will be working 24/7 and my mom is coming for a visit and I want to go shopping for shoes and clothes (a whim I rarely entertain) and GAH i want to do so much. TO EXPLORE TO KNOW TO LOVE. Also, during this moment of unavoidable procrastination, I will create a workout schedule for May.