Month: September 2006

  • M NERD

    Another day of rain, another headache. Alas!  At least they don’t last all day but come and go like Valkyries.  (Like the simile?) The book I’m currently reading has a graphic novel section that one of the characters in the book is supposedly writing. His main character is Duncan, a guy surprised to find himself in Dante’s Inferno.  My favorite bit is this:

    Duncan:  Hell? That’s what the demon said, too. I thought…it was a metaphor or something.
    Virgil: There are no metaphors in hell. Only similes. 

    Yesterday, I did something I rarely (never?) do. I turned on the TV and watched the evening news and Jeopardy.  I had a huge pile of ironing and thought it would help to pass the time. I was pleased to see that I was batting about 500 on Jeopardy questions, even after my long hiatus. 

    As to the title of this post, I discovered yesterday that the first letters of my children’s names spell M NERD.  I feel this is significant, but I’m not sure how so. What do you think?

  • Tag! I’m It!

    Here’s one of those surveys that go around. I saw it on LaDameShallot‘s site and swiped it. Then, she came along and tagged me anyhow.   Since I’m such a bibliophile, I liked it.

    1. One book that changed your life: Well, the
    obvious answer is The Bible.  The
    unobvious answer is Seaview Manor,
    the first adventure/romance novel I ever read. 
    I’m sure it is SUPER cheesy, but it was the first book of that genre I
    ever encountered.

    2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Just
    one?      Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, Minerva by
    Marion Chesney, Pride and Prejudice
    by Jane Austen, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

    3. One book you ’d want on a desert island: I think
    this is an unfair question.  It’s like
    saying, “Which child would you choose?” 
    I’d want variety to suit my moods. 

    4. One book that made you laugh: Louise Rennison’s
    books. I know there are others, but hers were the most recent.

    5. One book that made you cry: (What is it with this
    quiz and ONE book?) Cold Mountain,
    Charlotte’s Web

    6. One book that you wish had been written: Every
    year I’m pleased with the fun, new selections of books out there.  I suppose The
    Life and Times of Mary Sellers     would be a good book to have been written. But,
    the audience would be rather limited.

    7. One book that you wish had never been written: I didn’t care for The Narrative of the Life
    of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket     when I read it in college, but I might
    like it better now.  Lady Chatterley’s Lover gives me the creeps.

    8. One book you’re currently reading: I just started
    The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult last
    night. She’s a new author for me and the jury is still out on whether it’s a
    good book or not.

    9. One book you’ve been meaning to read: The Chosen (just for you,
    words_are_things!), finally finish The
    Inferno    , reread Wuthering Heights,
    Cry, the Beloved Country, Bless Me, Ultima, and a whole bunch of
    other ones that I have on my bookshelf.

    10. Tag some people: I could tag the obvious folks, but I’m going to tag those whose reading choices or answers are little known to me and are of interest. So, I tag  TrapDoorSpider,  words_are_things, aj1965, ElizabethDNB, MathMom, TheGoodDoctorJ, and  natureg0d.

  • With Apologies to Sandburg

    The fog comes
    on little cat feet.

    It sits looking
    over my miserable headache
    on silent haunches
    and Advil does not move it on.

    Does anyone else get blasted with headaches when the weather is — whatever the weather is — that has kept Stormstown foggy for over a week?

    Today was Michael’s first football game of the season–a win!  It was a lot of fun to watch. Yesterday, Rachel cheered at her first game.  She’s really good for a six year-old cheerleader. She paid attention, had a big toothless grin the whole time, and did the cheers quite well.  Also last night, I spent a few hours in the ER as Nathan hurt his foot playing tackle football at a friend’s birthday party. They think he strained the ligaments in his ankle, and he’s in one of those velcro shoe things and on crutches. Yesterday, he couldn’t put any weight at all on his foot. Today, he can put some slight pressure on it without excruciating pain, so I don’t think the injury will lame him for life.

  • My Freshman Year

    Review of Life and Books

    Life has been dashing along here. We’ve not eaten supper at home all week.  It’s been something every night in addition to football and cheerleading: Labor Day, orthodontist, Libby’s cast removal, David’s art lesson.  Our school days have been going … well enough.  I don’t think everyone is back into the mentality of school work quite yet.  Or, perhaps it’s just me feeling like I’m not quite on top of things.

    I read the most fascinating book, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who works with college students or with upper-level high school students. My Freshman Year: What a Professor Learned by Becoming a Student was written by Rebekah Nathan, a pseudonym for a 50-something anthropology professor. She decided to take her sabbatical year and enroll as a freshman at her own university. She paid her own way, lived in the dorms, ate in the dining hall, took classes, and generally tried to act just like a freshman would. 

    In the early chapters, Nathan carefully explained how and why she conducted her research.  These explanations continued here and there throughout the book as she felt they were necessary. The first thing she observed were the physical spaces and decorations of the dorms.  Just looking at the change in the size and structure of dorm rooms raised some interesting points. 

    The sections I found the most thought-provoking were why students do or do not complete their homework/class assignments, how international students viewed American college students, and why students don’t “get involved” more with clubs and community social activities.  Yes, Ruth, I think you and yours should read this book!

    The book I’m currently reading is also worth mentioning.  Vanya by Myrna Grant tells the story of Ivan Moisyev, a young man in the Russian Army in the 1960s.  As a Christian, he was required to accept the atheistic teachings of the church, something he could not do.   The many tortures he underwent, only to be preserved miraculously by God, testified even more fully to the truth of his testimony.  I have not yet finished the book, but I’ve been challenged and encouraged by this man’s incredible faith. I plan to buy my own copy so that the kids can read it and I can loan it out!

    What are you reading lately?

  • Crocodile Hunter

    Steve Irwin, also known as The Crocodile Hunter, died yesterday.  We spent many enjoyable hours watching his antics. We even have his biography.  I am very sad.

  • Labor Day Early

    I’ve been exhausted the past few days, so it was such a blessing when TGD cleaned up the kitchen for me, not once, not twice, but three times today!  Since he doesn’t much care for kitchen chores, I’m even more grateful.

    Now, I’ll take my tired self to the Land of Sheets and Pillows and hope I actually fall asleep before lying there 2.5 hours.