I may have dealt with more animal excrement (literal, even, not figurative!) over the past three days than in my entire life heretofore.
However, I've also pretty much gotten through commenting on my minimum number of papers for the night, which is not nearly as impressive as it sounds because I only have twenty students and about four more days to grade.
So I'm going to come back to this whole thing later and hopefully comment on another paper, because the plagiarized one I set aside probably doesn't count. But for now...
For now, my stomach is full of barbecue pork and a little bit of salad.
For now, I have two chapters left to read in the fantastic A Year in Provence, and I'm going to save them for when I get through more papers.
For now I'm going to Wegmans to buy supplies for my very own Quarter-Century Birthday Celebration and Dessert Festival, which takes place tomorrow night, on the eve of my birthday. Despite the ever-increasing number of cookbooks and cooking blog sites I read, when it came to what I would make for this occasion, for the occasion of my twenty-fifth year and a gathering of as many of my generally-in-the-area close friends as I could summon, I decided to go with the experts. I chose two recipes...because it's my party, and I'll make two desserts if I want to. And, yes, I certainly want to:
-I am making this if I can find a good pan to do it in.
-And, of course, I am making these because, seriously, why would I not? (But I am halving the amount of butter and sugar called for, the variation Carrie and I tried at her house to previous success.)
And if I had time beyond that, I would make a flourless chocolate cake, because I think the last time I had some was when I made one my senior year at Alfred for Death by Chocolate, and it is high time I had some again.
But I don't think I do have time, so instead I'm going to prep for this party, which is so exciting (if I were Anne, I would go all German-style capitalization on it and write "which is So Exciting"). And I'd better do it right now.
4.30.2010
because, that's why
My students' papers are probably a little better than they looked last night. Or else I'm more willing to think well of them because I had them write about the paper during a few minutes of class today and tell me what they had trouble with, or maybe it's because I purposely graded one of the better ones first, or maybe things are better because it's sunny and warm and Kay from church helped me with the house and animals today, or maybe the papers really are that bad but I've finally gotten over the initial shock of it.
Not that I suddenly magically think I'm going to succeed in this career - ultimately, I still rather think I won't, and frankly still have very little desire to, but right now I'd better try to because I sure don't have any better ideas.
Right now my biggest problem is really just how long it takes to grade them all well, and how little time and motivation I have. I guess that's my fault, as usual. I've been avoiding the things all week.
Not that I suddenly magically think I'm going to succeed in this career - ultimately, I still rather think I won't, and frankly still have very little desire to, but right now I'd better try to because I sure don't have any better ideas.
Right now my biggest problem is really just how long it takes to grade them all well, and how little time and motivation I have. I guess that's my fault, as usual. I've been avoiding the things all week.
4.29.2010
Just So You Know
I have pretty much forgotten why I ever liked cats, particularly male ones, but really all of them. I suppose I'll have to wait for a mouse infestation somewhere in order for me to remember.
4.23.2010
Seven Very-Quick Takes Friday
Vaguely in the style of Jen Fulwiler's series:
1. Last weekend I went to Rhode Island and saw (besides, of course, Albert and his family) the RI School of Design museum and, perhaps best of all (except for Albert himself), some pretty sweet live figure skating (including Olympians!). Oh, and all the places where land that used to be there got washed away by the Pawtuxet River's crazy overflow. And, for that matter, two Food Network shows that I have never watched before. It was all a very good time. (Driving back home late at night: not as much fun. I needed it to stay awake, but when I haven't had caffeine for a while, I always forget how much, the next day, I resent caffeine.) What've you all been up to lately?
2. On the cooking front, I made some enchiladas this week. I started with Pioneer Woman's recipe, but tweaked freely - deleted the olives and chilies, added green pepper, changed up the hamburger for chicken and the corn tortillas for wheat ones (the latter accidentally). They came out pretty well. Anyone out there have any recommendations for good pre-made enchilada sauce, though? The Old El Paso stuff's a bit too tomato-soupy in taste for my liking.
3. While we're on the subject, here's how you know either your last-minute cooking is better than you think or else your housemates just eat so much cruddy food that they don't recognize good stuff (call that the MFK Fisher Theory of Culinary Success, since she proposes that that's why Americans take pleasure in such mediocre food, because we're so used to outright bad food): the bodgy egg-drop soup I made last night got an enthusiastic review from, of all people, my Chinese-American housemate Brian. Then again, he said it was really good - he didn't comment on its authenticity level.
4. Speaking of housemates, I'll most likely be moving out of my current place by June 1st. Where I'll be moving to next, however, and with whom, is still coming together. Binghamton has these zoning laws that make it really hard for upwards of three unrelated people to live together, which's slowing down the hope that Ife, Zack, Leah, and I have for splitting rent/utilities for part of some house somewhere.
5. My lesson-planning and church-work have both been terribly-executed this week. When you have two jobs, sometimes you're just lame at both of them at once. It's probably because I'm so tired. I am really tired. Which is mostly my fault.
6. Allergy sufferers: I heard on the radio that a spoonful of honey per day, particularly if it's locally-made, can help lessen the effects because there's pollen in it and it's a way of building up a tolerance. My allergies are usually only light, but I'm trying it anyway. (And as for where the honey comes from, surely the flowers in Alfred are similar to the ones in Binghamton?)
7. On a final, football-drafty note: Dear Buffalo Bills, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy are still available, and we have the ninth pick of the second round. PLEASE draft one of them. And/or the best offensive lineman you can find. Thank you.
1. Last weekend I went to Rhode Island and saw (besides, of course, Albert and his family) the RI School of Design museum and, perhaps best of all (except for Albert himself), some pretty sweet live figure skating (including Olympians!). Oh, and all the places where land that used to be there got washed away by the Pawtuxet River's crazy overflow. And, for that matter, two Food Network shows that I have never watched before. It was all a very good time. (Driving back home late at night: not as much fun. I needed it to stay awake, but when I haven't had caffeine for a while, I always forget how much, the next day, I resent caffeine.) What've you all been up to lately?
2. On the cooking front, I made some enchiladas this week. I started with Pioneer Woman's recipe, but tweaked freely - deleted the olives and chilies, added green pepper, changed up the hamburger for chicken and the corn tortillas for wheat ones (the latter accidentally). They came out pretty well. Anyone out there have any recommendations for good pre-made enchilada sauce, though? The Old El Paso stuff's a bit too tomato-soupy in taste for my liking.
3. While we're on the subject, here's how you know either your last-minute cooking is better than you think or else your housemates just eat so much cruddy food that they don't recognize good stuff (call that the MFK Fisher Theory of Culinary Success, since she proposes that that's why Americans take pleasure in such mediocre food, because we're so used to outright bad food): the bodgy egg-drop soup I made last night got an enthusiastic review from, of all people, my Chinese-American housemate Brian. Then again, he said it was really good - he didn't comment on its authenticity level.
4. Speaking of housemates, I'll most likely be moving out of my current place by June 1st. Where I'll be moving to next, however, and with whom, is still coming together. Binghamton has these zoning laws that make it really hard for upwards of three unrelated people to live together, which's slowing down the hope that Ife, Zack, Leah, and I have for splitting rent/utilities for part of some house somewhere.
5. My lesson-planning and church-work have both been terribly-executed this week. When you have two jobs, sometimes you're just lame at both of them at once. It's probably because I'm so tired. I am really tired. Which is mostly my fault.
6. Allergy sufferers: I heard on the radio that a spoonful of honey per day, particularly if it's locally-made, can help lessen the effects because there's pollen in it and it's a way of building up a tolerance. My allergies are usually only light, but I'm trying it anyway. (And as for where the honey comes from, surely the flowers in Alfred are similar to the ones in Binghamton?)
7. On a final, football-drafty note: Dear Buffalo Bills, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy are still available, and we have the ninth pick of the second round. PLEASE draft one of them. And/or the best offensive lineman you can find. Thank you.
4.22.2010
Right On, Sir
Heard this week at the end of a pastor's answering-machine recording:
"Now have a blessed day...unless you've already made up your mind to do otherwise."
"Now have a blessed day...unless you've already made up your mind to do otherwise."
4.20.2010
On a Completely-Different Note
Two psychoanalysts met on the street and greeted each other: "You're fine. How am I?"
-Source Unknown
-Source Unknown
4.19.2010
Monday Thought, Following Tim's Pictures of Spain
I really believe that getting to know a "normal" place profoundly is of incredible value. I really believe that places are not defined by their sights, but by their people, and that you should come to love a place just because you live there and can sit in a random patch of grass and know you know it. I believe that Jesus, who was from a small and backwater town, values normal places. And I know that great and beautiful cultures are made up of very normal people, just doing all the things that normal people do.
I am not, despite all the stuff I did in high school, a revolutionary. I don't yearn for the exotic or necessarily the heartrending; I live at home and I do what I do, and on most days that is what I want. That said, sometimes I wish Binghamton were more interesting and impressive than it is, and many days the world is big and God's purpose is entirely beyond me.
I am not, despite all the stuff I did in high school, a revolutionary. I don't yearn for the exotic or necessarily the heartrending; I live at home and I do what I do, and on most days that is what I want. That said, sometimes I wish Binghamton were more interesting and impressive than it is, and many days the world is big and God's purpose is entirely beyond me.
4.02.2010
Friday Link
I am posting this for multiple reasons, namely:
1. Because the piece's author is the (witty and lovely) wife of someone I know.
2. Because it is, as I can say because I know them personally, absolutely believable. That totally is the kind of stuff "Napoleon" does...but also, towards the end, the kind of funny and decent he can be, too.
3. Because it's about cooking.
4. Because I am so relieved by Jillian's admitting to the kind of in-despair-about-the-whole-world fetal-position sob (while trying to be "systematic and rational") of which I have more than once been guilty, both from a romantic standpoint and not.
5. Because I should use it to help me figure out how to teach personal narrative to my students, even though this doesn't work as a narrative.
Today is Good Friday, but this actually would have been a good Ash Wednesday piece. Not that anyone's timing was deliberate anyway.
Anyway, you should read it. And I'm too tired today to say anything more inspired than that. The end.
1. Because the piece's author is the (witty and lovely) wife of someone I know.
2. Because it is, as I can say because I know them personally, absolutely believable. That totally is the kind of stuff "Napoleon" does...but also, towards the end, the kind of funny and decent he can be, too.
3. Because it's about cooking.
4. Because I am so relieved by Jillian's admitting to the kind of in-despair-about-the-whole-world fetal-position sob (while trying to be "systematic and rational") of which I have more than once been guilty, both from a romantic standpoint and not.
5. Because I should use it to help me figure out how to teach personal narrative to my students, even though this doesn't work as a narrative.
Today is Good Friday, but this actually would have been a good Ash Wednesday piece. Not that anyone's timing was deliberate anyway.
Anyway, you should read it. And I'm too tired today to say anything more inspired than that. The end.
4.01.2010
You Know I've Always Got Your Back...Really
I drew it myself. Feel free to print, cut out, and tape to an unsuspecting passerby today.
Happy first of April, everybody. And happy Maundy Thursday, too! All you Christians out there, once you've fooled people with your fish, go wash their feet. :)