tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62436422011-04-21T21:31:06.026-05:00Flux You"In the afternooon, when she had the shade of two hundred feet of rock wall, the ruins on the other side of the gulf stood out in the blazing sunlight." -Willa Cather, <i>The Song of the Lark</i>Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.comBlogger851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1145306028363943712006-04-17T15:31:00.000-05:002006-04-17T15:33:48.373-05:00All right. It's been a while. I thought about starting a brand new blog, but then I figured that since there was almost no chance that anyone is even looking at this anymore, it can't hurt to just start it back up again. It's just like starting a new one, right? Right?I have a real job now, so I'm not really sure why I feel the need to go back to doing this; I think the reason I have blogged Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1112297272923598642005-03-31T14:20:00.000-05:002005-03-31T14:27:52.926-05:00Heredity and all that jazzI am on spring break, and you would think that I would have been loafing around doing nothing for a week, but I haven't. I've been spring cleaning, which is something I haven't done since I was about seven. My parents aren't particularly diligent housekeepers, and they handed that admirable trait down to me, along with massive social anxiety, which means that I'm a Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1110589047766911672005-03-11T19:47:00.000-05:002005-03-19T11:11:17.173-05:00Better and better and betterThe last time I blogged, I had just gotten an unofficial job offer. And then the paperwork took such a long time to go through that while I was still waiting, I got offered a different, better job. That's right, it's different, and it's better, and it's basically the job I always pictured myself working to get and finally getting only after 10 years of hard thanklessWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1108568912434672682005-02-16T10:38:00.000-05:002005-02-16T10:48:32.436-05:00Come on, baby, light my fireSeveral weeks ago, after a long and stressful day in a classroom full of eleven-year-olds, I came home and decided to make a cup of tea. I put the kettle on the stove, and went to go change my clothes. Suddenly, I heard the fire alarm go off, and one of my cats came streaking out of the kitchen like a lightning bolt. I ran into the kitchen, where I saw flames comingWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1107465602098318062005-02-03T16:15:00.000-05:002005-02-03T16:20:02.096-05:00Follow-Up
I just got a call from the interview people. I have a follow-up interview on Monday. The gentleman on the phone said it was so that I can meet the principal and "elaborate" on some parts of my original interview. That word causes concern for me. It makes me wonder what I wasn't clear on. But at least this time I have enough warning to hem my pants in time. At least I won't look Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1106862181952678062005-01-27T16:41:00.000-05:002005-01-28T12:20:26.653-05:00"One's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do." --A.C. Benson
I have a job interview tomorrow because of an impulse I had today. I am in shock, and without a comprehensive idea of what to do about it. My portfolio is not updated, and I don't know what to do about that either, but I imagine that this whole thing will work itself Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1106256147495375742005-01-20T16:09:00.000-05:002005-01-20T16:22:27.496-05:00An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. --The Buddha
I feel quote-alicious these days. But apparently not blog-alicious, as I have not been writing in here too regularly. Ah, well. I am currently engaged in a furious bidding war over a Le Creuset fondue pot that I'm really really excited Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1104953557798331702005-01-05T14:21:00.000-05:002005-01-05T14:32:37.800-05:00Delay not; swift the flight of fortune's greatest favors. --Seneca
I took the day off from work today. The above quote presented itself to me, and today I have access to two of my big picture dreams, but a lot of paperwork to do in order to move them along. And the outcome is that tomorrow I can move forward on the fun stuff. And it was nice to end up at the UPS store sending off all kinds of Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1104892594744504082005-01-04T21:27:00.000-05:002005-01-04T21:36:34.746-05:00She Climbs
North Carolina has been a pocket of springtime this week. Everyone I know is battling ice storms and blizzards and winter weather warnings. Today was 76 degrees and sunny, and I sent off the final draft of what will be my first published piece of writing.
People have been asking me where it's being published, and I don't want to tell them. In a few months it's going to be a blurb Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1103316061802654212004-12-17T15:37:00.000-05:002004-12-17T15:41:01.803-05:00Crash
Crash was my brother's nickname at the optometrist when we were in high school. He used to break his glasses so frequently that my parents finally got him those frames that bend rather than break. He found their one weakness and proceeded to break those frames in that one spot at least once a month for the next three years.
Crash is also the noise that the three glass jars of pasta sauce Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1102734505953988102004-12-10T21:50:00.000-05:002004-12-17T15:37:06.613-05:00Hetero-Envy
There are three things that have always been pretty constant in my life:
1. I have rarely not had anything that I really really wanted. I don't mean stupid things; I mean the things that really matter. I've always had the basic needs and then some; I've never fallen in love with someone who didn't in some way and on some level love me back, even if it didn't ultimately work out; Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1101841402962663412004-11-30T13:52:00.000-05:002004-11-30T14:09:07.466-05:00Aloof?
In my local bagel bakery (among my vices is an addiction to bagels and cream cheese, which most people find strange, but those people can suck it) there is a priceless sign that says something to the effect of "Our hot chocolate machine has gone aloof [sic] and is currently out of order. We apologize for the inconvenience."
If we ignore the improper construction of "to go aloof" this Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1101228969408445212004-11-23T11:51:00.000-05:002004-11-23T11:56:09.406-05:00Domestic Goddess
There has been little time for blogging around here for the past couple of weeks. I've been subbing my little tush off, and working a lot of nights, and arguing with Anne's health insurance to see if they'll recognize me as a same-sex domestic partner, and all other kinds of nonsensical stuff.
My parents are coming for Thanksgiving and I'm determined to show off my kitchen Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1100036876606148162004-11-09T16:37:00.000-05:002004-11-09T16:47:56.606-05:00When you assume...
Today, the last class I subbed for decided that since I wouldn't tell them who I had voted for, that I must be a Republican. Their reasoning (which was extraordinarily faulty) ran thusly:
1. I wouldn't tell them, so obviously I must be for the enemy.
What I said: It would be unethical of me to share my politics with students.
What I didn't say: ...because I get really Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1099938600335806652004-11-08T13:18:00.000-05:002004-11-08T13:31:10.266-05:00Careful the wish you make
The scary thing about the presidential election is that people won't admit that electing Bush (for the first time, I might add) was a mistake. Then all of a sudden, in 50 years, someone will point out how much harm his administration did, and it will be so shockingly obvious (as if it weren't already shockingly obvious) that he'll be next to Nixon in the card catalogue Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1098976802765617572004-10-28T10:17:00.000-05:002004-10-28T10:20:02.766-05:00I voted today
That's a lie. But I did vote yesterday, and it was fabulous. North Carolina has the early voting option, and instead of standing in line for two or three hours (my locale happens to have a very politically active populateion) on Election Day, I waited 45 minutes to fill out an un-confusing ballot in a non-crowded room, with an adorable little man in a navy blue suit with an accentWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1098463125925883362004-10-22T12:24:00.000-05:002004-10-22T11:38:45.926-05:00Go Sox
While the Red Sox have been out committing historical acts so fantastic they border on the criminal, I've been working a great deal. But this is good, and I keep catching the end of the games on my way home from work at night. It's exciting. I'm excited, and for those of you who know how I feel about sports in general, that's a really big thing. The only thing more exciting for me Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1097939312099111032004-10-16T09:54:00.000-05:002004-10-16T10:08:32.100-05:00The things I don't believe in
October is always a loaded month for me. I used to think that all the moving would help with that, but it hasn't. Change of scenery, apparently, is not a cure for everything. In the past seven years, I think you could safely say that my character has changed so much that I am almost a different person aside from a few fundamentals.
Seven, numerologically Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1097871757500183852004-10-15T15:10:00.000-05:002004-10-15T15:22:37.500-05:00Old Friends
I have to say, of the many blogs I float through each day, my favorite one, hands down, is Daniel's. It may not have a theme, and maybe it's partly because he's one of my favorite Brandeis pals, but it is 100% Daniel; there is no posturing, it is never artificial, and while it is partly an account of the day-to-day, he never writes boring things. When he has nothing to say, he Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1097676938252180832004-10-13T09:01:00.000-05:002004-10-13T09:15:38.253-05:00Don't think you knew you were in this song
I've been keeping myself occupied between work and work and the gym and meeting new people etcetera. I've read a great deal, and once in a while a gorgeous fall moment will hit me.
Some of the leaves here turn purple. I don't think I've ever noticed purple leaves before.
I worked on Monday in a middle school that was built three years ago. It looks Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1096923281851840682004-10-04T15:43:00.000-05:002004-10-04T15:54:41.850-05:00Stalker
I am setting myself up for disappointment. I have a burning desire to read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, but I am determined (for reasons both financial and spatial) not to buy any books until 2005. I am, like a good citizen, using the public library. So I'm stalking the book on the library's online catalogue. Of course, to reserve a book costs money, and I am, in principle, Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1096828865689605642004-10-03T13:35:00.000-05:002004-10-03T13:41:05.690-05:00On a day such as this
It is absolutely gorgeous here, and that gorgeousness is highlighted by the fact that it's an absolutely gorgeous day. I've got my windows thrown open, and music playing, and the day off to read Foucault's Pendulum and make pasta arrabbiata.
Glorious weather always (for no good reason) makes me want to watch the movie Elizabeth, and since I have the day off, perhaps I Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1096562380640419672004-09-30T12:33:00.000-05:002004-09-30T11:44:54.666-05:00Dedication
I've joined that gym that I was trying to talk myself out of joining. I've started working out every other day, and I have joined a pilates class. I went today for the first time. In honor of my first Pilates class, where I had no idea what I was doing (or more importantly, what I should have been wearing in this class that involves a lot of lying down and raising our legs up high, oh Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1096464645339441582004-09-29T08:21:00.001-05:002004-09-29T11:11:03.660-05:00cosmic
Very very occasionally, a series of seemingly unconnected and bizarre events align themselves in a way that makes it seem like the Universe really is looking out for me. It started on Monday when I met M. in the cafeteria of the school where we were both subbing. M. is a tall man, a few years older than I am, and apparently a little bit shy. Tall shy men, unfortunately, are the men who Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1095867663098558982004-09-22T10:32:00.000-05:002004-09-22T10:41:03.100-05:00scrap and setback
I've scrapped my pitch and started over. I'm glad I did that-- the other one was just headed in the wrong direction. And now this one just makes more sense as an opener kind of deal.
And I'm considering joining a gym. For real. Or not. I really hate this whole working out thing. Maybe I just need to be stricter with myself about going over to our apartment complex's one Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1095711770173920082004-09-20T15:21:00.000-05:002004-09-20T15:26:10.430-05:00out on a limb
I haven't been this bad at waiting since college.
I want to know whether my piece got accepted. I have ideas about how to tailor it for a different publication, but it's illegal to submit this kind of thing to two places at once.
Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1095704858774775372004-09-20T13:21:00.000-05:002004-09-20T15:25:25.683-05:00The year no chickens hatched
I am laughing long and hard at myself right now. This blog is not even a year old, and I've apparently jinxed myself more than a few times. At the beginning of February, when I was "hired" by a Middle School, I vowed never to waitress again. By March I was enjoying teaching so much that I was sure that I would have a full-time job this year despite moving. I swore up Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1095109019786866052004-09-13T15:44:00.000-05:002004-09-16T08:46:13.863-05:00They were just fireflies to the untrained eye but I could always tell
I've been working a ridiculous amount and working on my treatment for Jeffrey. I am waiting to hear back from this woman about whether my piece is going to be published in her book, which I will hear about "sometime after the High Holy Days". My people truly have a different calendar.
So between all the writing and the two jobsWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1094828878368732132004-09-10T10:02:00.000-05:002004-09-16T08:45:42.840-05:00Two Little Wings
Here I am feeling strong with my apartment and my two jobs and my gal and my writing and I'm feeling nervous because letters about whether my piece got accepted into this questionable publication are going to be coming out in a couple of weeks, and I don't like waiting for things at all.
And I'm working on a new project. Research involves watching a great many episodes of the Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1091919760126039972004-08-07T18:00:00.000-05:002004-08-07T18:02:40.126-05:00What doesn't kill you...
Today I fell over a box that someone had placed in a choice spot at work "just for a minute" and what can only be described as a goose egg is now popping itself purply out of my knee.
Well, if nothing else, I've gotten a new adverb out of the situation.
Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1091809870172572752004-08-06T11:16:00.000-05:002004-08-06T11:31:10.173-05:00intrusion
Hiding behind Jane Eyre in my local coffee shop this morning I listened to a conversation. Two girls were talking-- they must have been sophomores or juniors in college. One was going on and on, almost literally without taking a breath, about how the novel as we know it is going to disintegrate completely because people don't have the attention span; and how what life is really about Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1091289542811167632004-07-31T10:52:00.000-05:002004-07-31T10:59:02.810-05:00...Mission Accomplished Further
And now I've found myself a job right around the corner at a little store that sells organizational supplies. Let me use my listing power to explain why this job is good:
Without getting too specific, there is a networking opportunity provided by said jobPerhaps some of the organization will rub off on meThey need someone for nights and weekends, which is good forWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1090955017743524332004-07-27T13:58:00.000-05:002004-07-27T14:03:37.743-05:00Mission Accomplished
We did it. We bought a table (it was twenty dollars at an army surplus store, a beautiful table, an old table, a rickety table, a table in need of love) and we cleaned it and got the rust off the bolts and replaced the nuts with wingnuts and then stripped it and sanded it and stained it, and in an hour we will polyurethane it. I am in love with my table. It's wobbly, sure,Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1090446017048086492004-07-21T16:20:00.000-05:002004-07-21T16:45:14.636-05:00Living in Color
Thanks to the technological improvements in Blogger, I can now:
create a bulleted or numbered listwrite in coloradd a picture (which I'm not going to do, for the sake of my own vanity)and use keyboard shortcutsI imagine that this will make my blog a lot prettier, if not more profound, here in my cotton-candy pink apartment. I love my new apartment aside from two things:The Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1089488449274629662004-07-10T14:39:00.000-05:002004-07-10T14:40:49.273-05:00Snag
The first snag has happened, and compared with missed flights and torn ligaments, it hasn't been that bad. The movers arrived with a truck that wouldn't fit into the driveway of the apartment, so they're going to have to come back on Monday.
Among the many things that I am feeling right now, I can't helped feeling relieved that this means a two-night reprieve from sleeping on the floor.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1089397180556374602004-07-09T13:03:00.000-05:002004-07-09T13:19:40.556-05:00Chimera
Last night I dreamt that Anne and I went to see Farenheit 9/11, but that one of our cats snuck out the door and jumped into the bed of her truck. We didn't realize that he had stowed away until about 10 minutes into the drive, when he knocked on the window of the cab and asked me for a shot of whiskey. I wanted to turn around and bring him home because I didn't think they would let a catWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1089319303527660832004-07-08T15:26:00.000-05:002004-07-08T15:41:43.526-05:00Sea of Cardboard
Well, it's finally happened. All of our stuff has magically placed itself neatly in boxes, which have been clearly labelled, and stacked into piles according to category.
OK, it didn't happen quite that smoothly, but I feel comfortable saying that we are 99% packed. The movers are arriving on Saturday, Carly is coming down on Tuesday, and all three of us plus the three cats areWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1089046688071758412004-07-05T11:47:00.000-05:002004-07-06T05:55:22.413-05:00You'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
Well, we've started packing in earnest, and it's very eerie to be leaving yet again. It makes me wish we hadn't unpacked in the first place. It was just a year ago that we were heading out to Annapolis to see friends for the weekend of the Fourth in order to escape the boxes, and now we just can't get away.
The movers are coming either Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1088495932893585012004-06-29T02:55:00.000-05:002004-06-29T02:58:52.893-05:00I am very very very angry right now. I am not angry about politics, or my family, or my lack of a job. Right now I am angry at the cat, who has decided that his mission in life is to ensure that I cannot get a full night's sleep at all. Ever.
Every time I lie down, the cat decides he's going to start meowing loudly, or scratch at the front door, or attack the other cats, or scoop in the Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1088294732799429332004-06-26T19:00:00.000-05:002004-06-26T19:05:32.800-05:00Stonewall Anniversary
If there's one thing Jewish guilt has taught me, it's that no matter how happy you are, you can always be depressed if you think about the people who aren't as happy as you are.
No, in all seriousness, tomorrow is the anniversary of Stonewall. Be happy, but also, read this article and then get out there and be an activist. It's time this kind of thing didn't happen anymore.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1088167579890839102004-06-25T07:41:00.000-05:002004-06-25T07:47:08.903-05:00Good Morning, Dr. Chandra
Sometimes, particularly when I'm using the internet, or learning about "beaming" things from one PDA to another, or reading the NY Times article about how they have teleported an atom, I get a kind of Spacy Odyssey feeling. By this, I mean that in an intellectual sort of way I understand that we are living in a time when new inventions and scientific discoveries are Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1087909365793421282004-06-22T07:57:00.000-05:002004-06-22T08:02:45.793-05:00Signs
I should have known it was going to be a crazy trip when the toilet broke. Thursday night, just as I was double-checking that my alarm was set and that I had my toothbrush, the flush mechanism broke on the toilet, so that in order to flush, we had to take the lid off the tank and pull the little stopper up manually. Not a big deal, but, to those of us who are superstitious in retrospect,Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1087475279296813162004-06-17T07:14:00.000-05:002004-06-17T09:57:48.646-05:00Night and Day
We watched The House of Sand and Fog last night. No one warned me how immeasurably depressing that movie was. We both went to bed feeling lower than low, and I tossed and turned. When I did finally doze off, my mind spun some weird tale that had nothing to do with the movie, but I still think the movie made me have this dream. The images of the dream came from the book I'm Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086872729203433552004-06-10T07:49:00.000-05:002004-06-10T08:05:29.203-05:00Loom
The move is now official: we have moving men, we have an apartment, we have graduate school, we have given our notice. Now all we have to do is pack, set up mail forwarding, and wait... tables, that is. Har har.
No, seriously. Last week, a guy in his mid-twenties or early thirties came into the restaurant with his daughter and told me about how he had just spent 7 years in jail for a sex Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086610674406370842004-06-07T07:16:00.000-05:002004-06-07T07:22:33.006-05:00
You're Moby-Dick!
by Herman Melville
You've spent your whole life seeking something grand and elusive. What
this is seems clear to you, but is hopelessly confusing to everyone else. You see it as
a simple hunt, but others have called it a metaphor for just about everything in the
world. Weary of metaphors, you are quite concerned that this quest will be your undoing.
Make sure any ship you Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086559524158076392004-06-06T17:02:00.000-05:002004-06-06T17:05:24.160-05:00I am a liberal
In response to Daniel's comment I am going to attempt to manipulate the ads at the top of this page to suit my own political agenda. I LOVE liberals. I LOVE same-sex marriage. I LOVE lesbians. I LOVE chocolate. I LOVE magnolia trees. I LOVE books. I LOVE non-profit organizations. I LOVE John Kerry. (OK, I don't LOVE John Kerry, but I'm going to vote for John Kerry, and youWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086480441416165412004-06-05T19:03:00.000-05:002004-06-05T19:07:21.416-05:002+2=?
A good demonstration that computer ads that scan the text of the webpage below in order to advertise to the readers who are reading is this: after my entry about the guy who thought I was conservative, two ads popped up, one for people who were both conservative and anti-war, and another suggesting that I ought to support the "President's" compassionate conservative agenda.
I'll believe Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086480036638099192004-06-05T18:50:00.000-05:002004-06-05T19:00:36.636-05:00Heart and Soul
The difference between an inept adaptation from novel to film and an, er, "ept" adaptation from novel to film can be seen when comparing the first two Harry Potter movies to the third one. The first two were not horrendous. They were a very very literal transfer between media and didn't have the Rowling touch.
This third one, while slightly (and I mean VERY slightly) different Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086351461578851312004-06-04T07:09:00.000-05:002004-06-04T07:20:16.343-05:00Bass-Ackwards
Florida often surprises me with itself. Being a sheltered New Englander in Maryland didn't often present me with circumstances I didn't understand. Being a sheltered New Englander in Florida has landed me in some interesting situations.
I expected a few isolated run-ins with folks of the born-again persuasion, and I ended up having them. But there was one guy where I was Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1086349996684673642004-06-04T06:42:00.000-05:002004-06-04T06:56:14.283-05:00May Day Cafe
I am currently working at the restaurant again, and swearing that really, this time, I really really won't waitress anymore in the next place that I live. Really.
The restaurant doesn't open until 11:00 and it's a real shock after being at work at 7:00 every day for the past three months. I wake up ridiculously early and sit here feeling a little useless. It's too early to start Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1085933079560360062004-05-30T10:56:00.000-05:002004-05-30T11:04:39.560-05:00Cut Away
As a child, I was always determined to help in the kitchen. I loved my mother's cooking, and pestered her endlessly in order to have a hand in what I imagined to be the best cooking in the world, which it very likely may be.
Her mantra, when letting me help, was "Cut away," meaning that I should try to cut or peel somewhere far from where I was gripping whatever vegetable I was Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1084235618461538132004-05-10T19:26:00.000-05:002004-05-10T19:33:38.460-05:00Cram
I am currently attempting (among other things) to learn all of math. It was shocking to find, upon taking the diagnostic test in my Praxis study guide, that I have forgotten all the math I learned after the whole order of operations fiasco (otherwise known as "Don't bother excusing my dear Aunt Sally"). I don't even remember how to add fractions. This is stuff that my students are Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1084037555222199362004-05-08T12:16:00.000-05:002004-05-08T12:37:04.700-05:00Not without opening another
I'm experiencing endings right now: end of the school year, end of a book, end of my lease, but we all know the sayings about doors.
I have just finished reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves, which, for all you grammar and punctuation mavens out there, is a must-read. I feel like a better person for having read the book, but sad that there was not more of the book to read.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1083196175333560992004-04-28T18:42:00.000-05:002004-04-28T18:54:10.890-05:00French Toast as a Healing Food
It's been a long week and a half. A trip to Connecticut to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my dad's Bar Mitzvah made it longer. The kids are turning in research papers. I'm applying for a new job. I need to catch up on laundry, grocery shopping and bills, and without a doubt, I am exhausted.
Anne and I will be going out for breakfast tomorrow. Our breakfast Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1082238430840382512004-04-17T16:34:00.000-05:002004-04-17T16:51:11.560-05:00Wandering Jew
I used to have a wandering Jew plant named Disco Stu. The irony is that I killed Disco Stu during one of my many moves. Now, it seems, I must be the Wandering Jew in place of Stu. Anne and I are off to Chapel Hill, NC in July.
I can't say I'll be sad to leave Florida. It does get too hot in August, there are a lot of the born-again types around here who I find a tid bit scary.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1081710795698143712004-04-11T14:07:00.000-05:002004-04-11T14:17:29.436-05:00Waiting Is
We are waiting for Anne to hear from Yale. The waiting seems interminable to both of us (although probably more for her than for me). In this age of internet instant gratification, it would seem that they might be capable of some electronic form of letting people know that would be quicker. Why is the Ivy League still in the dark ages?
I am making carrot ginger soup today. I'm Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1081544940442248252004-04-09T15:58:00.000-05:002004-04-09T16:15:34.873-05:00A Moment in the Dali Universe
We are still waiting to hear whether Anne got into Yale, and as the stress is getting to both of us, last night I went to the grocery store on an emergency Haagen Dasz run. I left the house and looked nervously at the man who sits in his truck every afternoon and evening. He doesn't go anywhere; he just sits in his truck. Initially, we just thought he was out Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1080501904207964452004-03-28T18:47:00.000-05:002004-03-28T18:51:38.170-05:00With cats like these...
Today, the cats have tried to kill me. Not in any violent sense of the word; just with anxiety. At 7 AM, I was awakened to hissing and shrieking. After showering, having breakfast, and opening the glass door to let them out onto our screened-in porch, I was torn from my (last-minute) grading by a weird, low whine accompanied by a noise I could not identify. I dug Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1080412475152452242004-03-28T09:13:00.000-05:002004-03-28T09:35:13.796-05:00Vacation!
Last week, I noticed that my front left tire was looking low. I put some air in it, and checked it that night and it looked fine. I didn't think anything of it after that, until Wednesday morning, when Anne and I were intending to be on the road headed South toward Key West by seven. Anne made us some eggs, and I took out the garbage and changed the cat litter out, and we were ready Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1080069808625637332004-03-23T14:20:00.000-05:002004-03-23T14:27:06.140-05:00Welcome to the Information Age
I took out the garbage just now, and saw a young boy who couldn't have been more than 10 or 11 riding his bike wobbily around the sidewalk and muttering. His head was tilted at an angle that is not conducive to proper steering of a bicycle. As I passed by, I noticed that he was talking on a cell phone.
Somehow I feel that when a cell phone is involved with playingWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1079884817486985002004-03-21T10:44:00.000-05:002004-03-21T11:03:41.246-05:00Spring has Sprung
Florida was so green over the winter (compared with everywhere else I've ever spent a winter) that I didn't realize it had faded to a sort of olive and tan camo sort of color scheme. But overnight, it became brighter and glossier and my car is now like one of those shimmery pieces of fabric: from one angle, you can see the blue paint, but if you look at it head-on, it's Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1079809803331717492004-03-20T13:56:00.000-05:002004-03-20T14:13:25.763-05:00A Question
Where do you go for Spring Break if you already live in Florida? The answer: Florida. We will head for Key West this Wednesday. If you've been keeping up, you will probably have noted the 1:1 ratio of blog entries:mentions of Key West trip, and the reason that I just can't let go is that I'm excited. It has been years since I went on a vacation that was not induced by unemployment.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1079286658789114332004-03-14T12:41:00.000-05:002004-03-14T12:55:24.200-05:00only the good
Last week, the thing we had all been dreading at work happened. The kids handled it well, the staff handled it well, and then I went to one of the most disturbing funerals I have ever been to. Good web-iquette prohibits detail, but I came home Thursday night in hysterics. Poor Anne.
I recovered sufficiently to get through Friday. The ESE Inclusion teacher on my team continues toWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1079187050433309722004-03-13T09:10:00.000-05:002004-03-13T09:14:03.046-05:00Visited States
These are the states I've visited, courtesy of Gwen.
create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.
Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1078526552007875732004-03-05T17:32:00.000-05:002004-03-06T10:04:41.576-05:00The Pride and the Covenant
Any yahoo on the street can tell you that a rainbow is a symbol of queer pride. And any Jewish yahoo on the street can tell you that a rainbow is a symbol of God's covenant with the Jewish people. And any queer Jewish yahoo on the street (like moi) can tell you that once in a while, the feelings become confusing. Granted, one can separate actual rainbows in the sky Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1078079059917562012004-02-29T13:12:00.000-05:002004-02-29T13:27:14.763-05:00Schedule-Monster
My March has run away from me. The idea was for it to be relaxing. For the past four weeks, I have been out the door every morning by 6:30, and most days I haven't come home until 5 or 6. It is a testament to my new job that I don't mind that fact. But it has been taking it's toll on me, and so I resolve this month to cut an hour off my workday. (That being said, I'm not Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1077379077028232952004-02-21T10:42:00.000-05:002004-02-21T11:00:40.216-05:00Piccolo Intervista
If you want to be interviewed:
1 - Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2 - I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
3 - You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4 - You'll include this explanation.
5 - You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Questions from Carolyn:
how's the teaching?
The Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1077378031529478102004-02-21T10:20:00.000-05:002004-02-21T10:43:14.936-05:00The Five-Year Reunion, Six Years Later
I recieved an e-vite to my five year high school reunion. Five years? First of all, it's been six years since I graduated from high school. Second of all, why would anyone need a five-year reunion? For the first four years after high school, we were all in college. People from small towns are very easy to track down. We all knew where everyone went to Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1076768085822896162004-02-14T09:07:00.000-05:002004-02-14T09:17:19.873-05:00Enough Is Not That Much
While I was teaching 10th grade, I used to complain that I was shorter than most of my students. It's pretty sad that I am now teaching 6th grade and am still shorter than many of my students.
But I am enjoying myself. I have, in the past, frequently said things to the effect of "You couldn't pay me enough to teach middle school." Without much provocation, I am Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1076022852755710352004-02-05T18:06:00.000-05:002004-02-05T18:19:40.110-05:00Vulture Rug/Vulture Teacher
A time-tested family story reads thusly:
When my mother, many years ago, was a practicing estate lawyer, she had an elderly client for whom she was writing a will. We will call the elderly client "Helga" (not her real name). While writing up the terms of the will, my mother noticed a beautiful rug that she absolutely loved. She whispered to her colleague, "When Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1075771426705980482004-02-02T20:18:00.000-05:002004-02-02T20:26:04.700-05:00Old Year's Resolution
I am late in my resolution, and I'm ok with that. Instead of my usual list of un-keepables such as not killing any more houseplants (let's face it, I love having plants, but I hate taking care of them: the results are predictable) or keeping my apartment cleaner (in 23 years I have not managed to keep a single room tidy-- can't imagine what I think is going to make me startWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1075656104444464762004-02-01T12:19:00.000-05:002004-02-01T12:24:00.623-05:00Narrative Threads
Looking back over the first entries in my blog, I realized that the funny thing about New Year's Day was that we should have seen the heart attack coming. Our downstairs neighbor, Bob, is the guy who was smoking all the cigars that I was complaining about in one of my earlier posts. In the weeks leading up to New Year's Day, the smell of cigar smoke got thicker and stronger.
Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1075654849648352692004-02-01T11:43:00.000-05:002004-02-01T12:12:09.593-05:00Sneezers
First, I wish to note that it is interesting (and only interesting) that when I blog, I prefer to respond to something. It is not so much of a journal as a forum for my responses. I am, at my most basic level, one of those people who spends a lot of time thinking of the witty and offensive retorts I could have made at the time of an incident. Some people could term me a doormat, but IWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1074539265043603732004-01-19T13:52:00.000-05:002004-01-19T14:11:13.280-05:00Cogitating Kate
Once in a while, my old friend Kate crosses my mind. I haven't seen or heard from her in probably, oh, eight years. I always wonder how she is. She was a good friend from summer camp, and it was one of those strange friendships where you're actually closer when you're really far apart and writing letters than you are when you're right there sitting next to each other. But, Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1074489201688404082004-01-18T23:57:00.000-05:002004-01-19T00:15:19.450-05:00Insomnia Strikes Again
I have found steady work, and I suppose that the hours could be better, but it leaves me with enough room to sub one day a week, and to find work in one of those call centers a few nights a week. Clearly my overpriced education is of no value whatsoever anywhere south of Virginia. The new jay-oh-bee is out on the Island in a little bookstore/cafe owned by a hysterical Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1073048429785347272004-01-02T07:55:00.000-05:002004-01-02T08:00:48.283-05:00No good deed goes unpunished
New Year's Day. Yesterday. I returned a video to Blockbuster in the morning, and when I came home, I heard our downstairs neighbor calling for help. He said he was having a heart attack. I yelled up to Anne to call 911, and I ran into the guy's apartment. He was still conscious, and there were cigarette butts everywhere. I asked him about chest pain, arm pain, Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072587329054191112003-12-27T23:32:00.000-05:002003-12-27T23:56:38.856-05:00D--n it feels good to be a...
I am in a better mood. I spent the evening catching up with Bonnie, and watching "Office Space". I now have plans to go to a couple of temp agencies on Monday, after which I will send Glenn an e-mail accusing him of having a case of the Mondays. Maybe I will remind him about his TPS Reports. Or I could just pose as an internationally-renowned oncologist and Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072565943174126312003-12-27T17:39:00.000-05:002003-12-27T17:59:19.396-05:00Stu
I once had a plant that I named after Disco Stu from The Simpsons. The plant was Disco Stu the Wandering Jew. My best friend from high school thought that it looked like Disco Stu's hair; hence the name. I killed it, just as I kill all plants that I purchase. I also killed a spider plant that year. It took me two years after that to kill my next wandering Jew, but then last year, I killedWise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072558661635803072003-12-27T15:43:00.000-05:002003-12-27T15:57:58.663-05:00Wasted Potential
I had big plans for cleaning etc. today, and they did not come to fruition. I like saying it like that, like it's the plans' fault that they didn't happen. In reality, I spent the morning talking to people on IM (in my defense, I haven't spoken to anyone from college except for Margo and Carly in months, and had a lot of catching up to do) and I've spent the afternoon messing Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072493818751638582003-12-26T21:52:00.000-05:002003-12-26T21:57:15.603-05:00Spinsterrific
I am officially a cat-lady, although technically I am not a spinster. Or rather Anne and I are "spinsters" in the nudge, nudge, wink, wink, know-what-I-mean, say-no-more sense. But the point is that Google has this function that scans my blog and puts "content-appropriate" product placements in the banner ad at the top of the page. The idea is that anyone who reads my page is Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072474936392123972003-12-26T16:33:00.000-05:002003-12-26T16:42:32.733-05:00A Diluted Passion
I just saw "Cold Mountain" and my diluted passion does not have anything to do with the plot, but rather my lately-realized love for Philip Seymour Hoffman. You won't like him either when you see this movie. I liked the movie. I thought that the amount of nudity (and the, er, detail involved in the nude scenes) did not at all contribute to the film, and that some of the Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072392201659881682003-12-25T17:25:00.000-05:002003-12-26T21:58:02.243-05:00Unbirthday
Christmas for Jewish people sometimes seems a little bit like an unbirthday party. (Incidentally I had a friend in college who picketed Brandeis's "Unbirthday Party" because it happened on his birthday. He's in law school now.) I always spend the day doing something fun but non-denominational. Last year I went hiking-- in the FREEZING cold. This year I spent the day cooking the Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072277367893751222003-12-24T09:37:00.000-05:002003-12-24T09:50:38.683-05:00Good Morning
Instead of going back to sleep, I watched Frida. I liked it. I saw it in the theater, and liked it then. I still like it, and now I can't remember where I put my biography of Frida Kahlo. If anyone reading this wants to get me a birthday present way ahead of time, I want a print of "Viva La Vida".
Today's tasks will be:
1. Purchase cat litter.
2. Scoop cat poop.
3. Clean up Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072260667940454272003-12-24T08:10:00.000-05:002003-12-24T05:11:23.960-05:00Hello?
Now I'm not sure why this isn't posting, and soon I will have this stupid post on my page, and I won't want it there. How sad is this? The same thing happened when I set up my last blog, and apparently while I remember lessons I've already learned, I don't do anything about them.Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6243642.post-1072259399221931842003-12-24T07:50:00.000-05:002003-12-24T05:02:38.420-05:00A new blog
I had a blog a while back, which I won't even bother linking here. That's not to say that the blog was not worthwhile, or anything, it's just that it is perhaps better for me to separate this one out. Clearly I am starting this blog at an ungodly hour of the morning, and clearly I am not as alert as perhaps I would like to be, but this is a journal, and journals are often begun Wise Womanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07384647067217158334noreply@blogger.com0