Tuesday, March 31, 2009

My Neighbor

I haven't seen Kilauea: Mountain of Fire yet, but several people have said it's very good. Kudos to PBS for putting it online.

Monday, March 30, 2009

No Regrets?

Yet another depressing example of the depths to which some of the human race can sink (see also last year's rainbow condundrum). I didn't spend the $$ for this new book, although the public library did...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spring Break 2009

Just in case I forget tomorrow, I'd better post this now...

I will be out of the office, and therefore without Internet access, beginning Friday, March 20 and won't be back until Sunday March 29 (at which point it will take me at least three days to get caught up). But I'm getting a 9-day break and only using 4 days of vacation time, so it's worth it!

I have a to-do list that's a mile long, so send energy vibes my way, else I'll probably blow all this valuable time just reading and sleeping...

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Good Month

This year April - always a good month for me - brings the latest releases in two(!) of my favorite book series. I always buy the hardcover of Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series, and although in the past I've waited for the paperback of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, I think with this, book #11, I'll switch to the hardcovers.

Or maybe I'll use part of my tax refund and buy myself a Kindle 2. After all, I'll be turning 40 (gasp!) this year and won't be doing anything else to celebrate. To think that I could carry in my hand more books than are currently in the 12 bookcases in my house is a mind-boggling thought, along the scale of how many other galaxies, stars, and planets are in the night sky.

Life and Death

My step-mother's mother passed away yesterday. Grandma Ginny was 90+ and lived a rich, full life for almost all of those years. After retirement, she and Grandpa Don were able to travel the world and spend time with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. I hope that family who live closer than I do will remember that Grandpa Don is alone now for the first time since before I was born.

Monday, March 09, 2009

What I'm Missing

One week later, I've accepted that I'm not missing anything huge, but I am apparently letting many small things slip through. This must stop.

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Shakespeare and History

I'm taking "English History and Shakespeare" this semester. We're reading Shakespeare's royal history plays and comparing them with actual events and people. It's quite confusing at times with all the constantly changing names, titles, and allegiances.

On Tuesdays, rather than a lecture, our instructor lets us raise items we are confused about to discuss - this is very useful! Then we have a multiple-choice quiz (with fill-in-the-blank bonus questions). You can do quite well on the quizzes if you've read the assigned reading at least once and pay attention to the discussion (as evidenced by the fact that I'm averaging 104).

On Thursdays, we watch a production of whichever play we're reading (half one week, half the next). We didn't read King John, but so far we've covered Richard II, Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2), and Henry V; we'll also cover Henry VI (Parts 1, 2, and 3) and Richard III. We have to write a 3,000 word paper on Henry VIII (which we won't be discussing or watching in class).

Our textbooks are the Riverside Shakespeare, 2nd ed. (a shame, as I still have my 1st ed.), Shakespeare's Kings by Norwich, and two books by Antonia Fraser: The Middle Ages and The Wars of the Roses.

As an undergraduate, I studied only some of the comedies and tragedies, so the history plays are completely new to me and my history coverage, especially non-American, has always be sparse. I am enjoying this class and hope to be able to take other history courses in the future.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Look-alike

One of the student assistants at the Circulation Desk looks a little bit like Miss Lori. Not a lot, but enough so that when I catch sight of her out of the corner of my eye, I feel a little anticipatory jolt of happiness. Followed by "oh, bummer"...

Monday, March 02, 2009

Don't Do This

I had a mole removed from my left leg on Feb. 20 and it required stitches, so I wasn't allowed to walk around a lot. I've been walking at least 20 minutes a day this year (and sometimes as much as 90), so I needed a distraction that would keep me seated as much as possible and since I did a Lord of the Rings movie marathon late last year, I decided to do a Star Wars marathon of all 6 movies.

I do NOT recommend this.

The inconsistencies had me yelling at the TV, wondering if George Lucas bothered to re-watch Episodes IV, V, and VI before he filmed I, II, and III. At some point, I'll probably end up watching them again, but I'll be careful to do it as two separate trilogies, not one continuous storyline.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Catching Up?

I'm going to try to get back into the habit of posting once a day. Wish me luck.

I appear to be almost caught up at work, which means I must be missing a huge 'to do' pile somewhere. If not, I'll get to try all those cool projects I keep reading about that I never have time to do. I sure hope I don't find that pile any time soon...