Accomplishments and Events

They are small accomplishments, but here they are:

• Almost one page of thesis writing! Okay, so it looks miniscule when I type it out...but if I do one page tomorrow...and maybe two pages the next day, that's four pages before the end of the week*.
• I got up and ran 4 miles this morning
• I sketched out a rough, preliminary outline of my thesis. Just to get thing moving.
• I printed off some documents for the engineering class so I can start working on my syllabi
• I read a chapter of a book for my thesis.
• I started a new knitting project that should be finished soon. More details later.
  

*My goal is gradually increase what I'm doing until I've got it done. Or something like that

And now, for events:

• I went to the dentist today, and I have groovy teeth. Groovy is good for music or hippies, but bad for teeth apparently. Even though I'm a good brusher and I floss and I don't drink soda, I have some teeny spots that have to be filled next week. Uggh. My first non-cleaning dentist appointment.
• They later called to tell me the price. It is then that I discovered that my dental insurance sorta sucks.
• I've thus been weird about my teeth all day. I think I'll go brush them now. And floss.
  
• It's raining. My cat is hiding under my chair (she doesn't like bad weather).
• My new boss started today. I think he's all right. He even poked fun at me about my thesis.

And now I'm heading to bed so that I can run and work on my thesis tomorrow. I really want to graduate this semester, and I'd also like to say I've been productive when six people in one day ask me about how my thesis is going.

In Which Jenn Gets Sick (and Knits)

Some of my fellow knitters (and readers of this blog) will notice a sudden increase of posts on the Kniterati group blog. Apparently I can post there a lot and ignore this blog. I'll try to swing that a different direction--more posts in both places, perhaps?

My semester finished out nicely (still sporting a proud GPA, yay!). The weekend after the end of classes was crazy and full of activity, including seeing my parents*, seeing Lance's parents**, attending parties, and trying to sleep a little more. Fun times.

Then Wednesday, I got sick. Really sick. I ran a fever for a day and a half and lay on the couch and watched Gilmore Girls. It was great fun, really.

This week, I'm back at work. I took last week off from schoolwork, read a book for fun (The Jane Austen Book Club), and knit a lot and got sick. This week, I planned to start thesis reading, but I'm still feeling like I want to enjoy more of a work-free summer. I just got over feeling guilty for doing fun stuff instead of doing homework. Lance and I went and saw Prince Caspian last night, which was a lot of fun. We'll probably go see the new Indiana Jones next week.

So that's what I've been up to! (Basically a whole lot of nothing). I started reading Robin McKinley's blog, who happens to be one of my favorite writers ever, so it's been loads of fun.*** Time for me to go outside and play in the sunshine...

*After some arguing and cursing because they refused to tell me WHAT WAS GOING ON. We ended up meeting at a Denny's^, where the waitress looked at me funny for ordering a veggie burger (she didn't know what it was) and wanting to substitute fruit for fries^^. Then then "forgot" to tell me that my brother was in town this past weekend and that they were having the family over for a barbecue. Argh, family. Mine is terrible about communication.

^Gross. And in the armpit of NWA, no less!
^^Because apparently the usual patron of Denny's would sniff suspiciously at anything not made of beef or chicken or pork, then demand a bucket of meat and eggs. And forget substituting fruit--bring on the fried potatoes!

**And grandparents and brother and uncle. After seeing my family, I headed over to Lance's grandparents' house, where I received a warm welcome and many proclamations about how I was missed at church and lunch. Why is it that seeing Lance's family is less dramatic than seeing my own? I want to steal them.

***And has inspired me to make use of copious footnotes, just for the hell of it.

Me? Blog Daily for a Month?

That's right, folks. In an attempt to aspire to more conscientious posters, I am participating in NaBlogPoMo. Blog each day in November. Can I do it?

I've discovered a blog that makes fun of misused quotation marks. I also hate that...

It's Stephen Crane's birthday, by the way. If you don't know who he is, that's okay. (He wrote The Red Badge of Courage). John Keats, however, is inexcusable.

I was invited by my Grad Studies professor to take her Advanced Romantic Poetry class. My heart yearned to do so...but, alas, I have to take another class, and my job only permits me to take one during the day. She's a great teacher, and I'd love to learn more about the Romantics from her. I think they really are my favorite period, if I had to choose. Occasionally, when I falter with my Rhetoric Composition plans, I think fondly of doing something with the British Romantics.

I've been enjoying the "Books" podcast from NPR. It puts the different segments involving new books together into one weekly podcast. NPR has become a tool for me to keep up with new literature that I might otherwise read much, much later.

The trees are starting to take on their autumn blushes. I love fall colors, the weather, the sweaters I get to wear--it really is my favorite season.

Excuse the rambles. My brain is all over the place today...

Halloween Happenings

First of all, I would like to note that today is John Keats's* birthday. Some facts: he was from a lower class (and therefore lots of people got irritated about his awesome poetry), he was a surgeon (thus crossing class lines, further irritating everyone except the Romantics--they love class hopping), died of tuberculosis (awww). He was 25 when he died, which made the Romantics love him all the more, since he was a gifted poet AND died young. If you have not had the pleasure of enjoying Keats, please go read at least "Ode on a Grecian Urn". It's lovely.

Another interesting tidbit: I subscribe to the Oxford English Dictionary word of the day, and today the word is "zombie". How appropriate. The first documented use of "zombie" occurred in 1816 by R. Southey, and it originally meant "In the West Indies and southern states of America, a soulless corpse said to have been revived by witchcraft; formerly the snake-deity in voodoo cults of or deriving from West Africa and Haiti." There are many more uses, but how neat is it that I get to learn all about words everyday! (Yes, I'm a word-nerd).

I made a giant cupcake for work today--pumpkin. I took the recipe from the Cupcake Bakeshop, who got it from Martha Stewart. I highly recommend this recipe--it's moist and pumpkiny, and delicious. It doesn't even need the icing!

Last Halloween thing of note: ghosty meringues!

Have a safe and happy Keats's Birthday/Halloween!!

*If you have never heard of John Keats, you are dead to me.