it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
–Macbeth.
Not much in the way of updates lately, huh? The days have been crazy. I have been running for over 12 hours on about 4 hours of sleep too many times. I really need to get in a more consistent routine or else I’ll have bags under my eyes every day opposed to the current Monday, Wednesday, and Friday sleepiness. The past week and a half have felt so long, been so intense, and so fulfilling. I’m glad to be in grad school; I’m glad to be teaching my classes. I think these two years will open up the future for us a lot.
We are almost finished reading The Sound and the Fury. I am ashamed to say that I had never read anything by Faulkner before. I avoided him since everyone always complained of the complexity. We just have one section left and I have loved it. I really have a thing for Southern Grotesque and the examining of dysfunctional families. Rather strange, I guess. Maybe I’ll do my thesis on the Southern Grotesque and include Ellen Glasgow? Probably not. Faulkner has a great way of describing things and creating characters. You read the first section narrated by Benjy and it is beautiful, even if everything is a statement and an observation opposed to emotions described. Then Quentin’s section is completely different and wonderful in its own way. This is why I love to always be in school. I get way too excited over literature.
So, for now my brain is toasted, but I don’t care too much about that.
I also am way too excited that Olive Garden has brought back the never-ending pasta bowl. Chris and I have plans, oh plans indeed to get our money’s worth and then some.
Published at August 23, 2007
in Blabber.
I have been wanting a big, round hanging bird cage full of finches for some time, however keeping finches caged to me seems especially cruel since you can’t even take them out. Instead we have many finches visiting our porch and taking our birdseed. They seem to be continually coming, but refuse to be photographed. This was the best that we could get. We’ll have to find a way to hang the birdfeeder up higher.
Last night we took Abed-nego for a walk after class. We went to the park at our apartment and climbed up in the clubhouse. We talked about our childhood and I felt like a runaway.
After 30 hours spread over two weeks, our GSA training is complete and we will begin classes on Monday. Yesterday we mostly sat around, did some cleaning, and then in the evening we went to Percival’s Island. We took some photos downtown of a condemned building that used to be a flour factory.
Filter face.
When we walked around Percival’s Island, there were gnats everywhere. I thought it was pretty disgusting, but Chris kept taking photos of them. Ugh. They finally disappeared after we got off the paved path and walked along some trails.
I’ve been reading Aristotle’s Poetics for class and I really find it so much easier to understand when I have the full text opposed to an excerpt in an anthology. I find it hard to read out of anthologies, like I need to rush through. I think this is because the pages are so thin, the font is small, and somewhere in the back of my head I start thinking that I have to read the whole anthology at once.
The first week of training is complete. I’m not very nervous, but I’m sure that will change in another week. Have I said this before? Anyway, we are probably going to Barnes and Noble purchase Love in the Time of Cholera in Spanish to try to read and brush up. It looks like we’re going to have a foreign language proficiency exam, so that should help. This foreign language requirement was what has been scaring me away from the thought of maybe going to my Ph.D. However, if I’m going to have to maintain a foreign language competency anyway, then why not? Of course, it is all way too far off to tell.
We’re house sitting for my aunt and uncle through Tuesday and I can’t think of a better place to be tonight. A meteor show is expected and my aunt lives on a mountain where the nearest street light is about a 15 minute drive away. I’m pretty excited for that, plus Abed-nego loves to play with their dogs. And they have cable. The only thing strange about meteor showers is that we think they are pretty when if it was our sun, then we’d be in big trouble.
Christopher was listening to the new Rilo Kiley the other day and I asked him if it was Shania Twain. It sounded that off. I only heard two songs once, so maybe I’m wrong. I hope so.
I finally put all of the pictures from the camping trip up on our photography site.
Published at August 8, 2007
in Blabber.
We have survived the first half of the week in our first graduate course: Teaching Composition. So far I have really enjoyed the professors that I have met and the course has been very encouraging. My biggest issue with nervousness resulted from imagining the professors as large dark shadows since I did not have a face or a voice to accompany the names. That which is dark and shadowy is often scary and I felt behind already and like I was not meeting my professors’ expectations when in reality, nothing had been assigned. I feel comfortable with everyone, like I have been in this class for a month already. Maybe it has to do with the fact that it is three hours every night.
Today all the English Graduate Student Assistants went to some faculty workshops where presentations were given on common grammar errors and an MLA refresher. It was strange seeing professors ask questions and to see that they are not actually perfect people, even if they do have a Ph. D. Afterward, Mrs. Towles (the GSA Coordinator) showed us where our offices are. We get cubicles, however we have to share them with one other person since the Communications GSA’s are also in the same room.
I am still a little nervous about class starting, and I know I will grow more anxious as it gets closer to August 20th. I hope after graduation that we can somehow remain in the college system and do something with it for a profession. I enjoy the learning environment so much and don’t want to have to leave.
Operation Camping was a success. By that I mean that our food was eaten by us and not a bear. No one died and the injuries consisted only of one blood blister on Christopher’s finger from a rock in the Tye River and one bruised, swollen Katie knee from falling on a rocky path while hiking. Way to go, Katie… I suppose that it was due mostly to not having hiking boots. Despite this, we had a really good time and were happy to find that Crabtree Falls is only 45 minutes from our apartment.
Taken at the lower fall at Crabtree Falls.
The campground was for the most part empty since it was in the middle of the week. We camped down by the river where you can’t take your car, thus only tents are allowed. No one else was there on the river except for a copper head who shared our site. Luckily, he was mostly anti-social and stayed under a rock.
Chris having a powerbar and coffee for breakfast on a huge rock by the river.
We went for a hike to get to the top of Crabtree Falls, but between my fall and the impeding darkness, we quit after trudging up the mountain for over an hour. I was hoping to get a nice shot from the top, but maybe we’ll save it for another trip. Instead I captured this photo at a clearing about half-way up. We saw lots of pretty sites and I hope to go back sometime soon and find more.
Abed-nego soaking up the sun, as he loves to do.
It was good that we turned back when we did, because it was pitch black by the time we were able to get dinner together. We put chicken and potatoes in aluminum foil and cooked it in the fire. Then he cooked corn on the cob (given to us by Chris’ grandparents when we went to Nags Head) on the Coleman grill. It all worked out and tasted a lot better than I had expected. The stars were so clear with fire flies up in the tree tops pretending to be stars as well.
I’ll post more photos later. For now I’m just feeling lazy.
Published at August 1, 2007
in Blabber.
I got some additional information about the GSA position today, including my assigned sections. I have to be up at Liberty Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 7:40 am for office hours and my last class on Monday doesn’t get out until 10:00 pm. It is going to quite busy and exhausting, but completely worth it. I’ve been too spoiled throughout undergrad with fantastically sleepy schedules, only taking two 8:00 am classes the whole time.
Tomorrow we plan to go camping at Crab Tree Falls for a night. It has the tallest waterfall on this side of the Mississippi River.
Then Monday GSA training begins. I’m more excited as I realize that everyone is human. I’m just afraid of being on the outside since I didn’t go to Liberty for undergrad.
