I'm downloading Better Than Ezra's Before the Robots on iTunes. It's too easy to spend too much money downloading music. I know, I know. If only I could do away with that conscience that nags me about file sharing. Oh, well. But I listened to the 30-second previews of all the songs, and I couldn't help myself. I didn't know any of them (except for that mysterious re-release of "A Lifetime"), but I felt like I did. Could be that all their music sounds the same. I don't know. Or care. It made me excited to think that there is a whole new group of songs that I could love as much as my Three-Wide compilation. I love you, BTE. You take me back to golden times.
Went to ADPi's Battle of the Bands tonight to support my dear friends and their philanthropy. And the DANCE-tigators!!! Yay, for some good bands!
I wonder...have I anything else to say? Nope. I think that's it.
Ah! P.S.! The John Mayer Trio has released a two-song single. Happy early birthday to me, happy early birthday to me... I'm having an iTunes party.
Friday, October 07, 2005
Things that impress me, Revisited
Geese. This specific obsession I share with my mother. I remember the time we were driving down the road (more than likely a two-lane, no-shoulder death course), and a gaggle of geese were flying overhead. She, who was driving, completely took her eyes off the road and said, "Ooooh, are they precious?" And for a quarter-mile, she kept whirling around in the driver's seat to get a better view of them working on their V formation. We very well could've met our ultimate demise on a Kentucky highway that day. Just because of geese.
As I walked beside the Lutheran church this morning on my way to class, hundreds of flapping specks in the sky caught my eye. They were organized in probably twelve Vs. I stopped right where I was and looked up at them with my hands stuffed in my hoodie pocket. I watched until they had rearranged themselves so gracefully into two large Vs. I just now realized that I hadn't heard them honking. They just silently glided into formation.
I went ahead and started walking toward the crosswalk at Main Street, and the line "birds are leavin' over autumn's endin'" floated through my head. It sure was cold, even in my hoodie, I thought, and I hoped that the autumn that had just began wasn't already over, which is just its style. But I, with hardly any sense of direction, compared their flight course to the north and south of 641, and they weren't exactly heading south. Before I crossed Main, I looked back over my shoulder to catch another glimpse of the geese, but they were gone.
As I walked beside the Lutheran church this morning on my way to class, hundreds of flapping specks in the sky caught my eye. They were organized in probably twelve Vs. I stopped right where I was and looked up at them with my hands stuffed in my hoodie pocket. I watched until they had rearranged themselves so gracefully into two large Vs. I just now realized that I hadn't heard them honking. They just silently glided into formation.
I went ahead and started walking toward the crosswalk at Main Street, and the line "birds are leavin' over autumn's endin'" floated through my head. It sure was cold, even in my hoodie, I thought, and I hoped that the autumn that had just began wasn't already over, which is just its style. But I, with hardly any sense of direction, compared their flight course to the north and south of 641, and they weren't exactly heading south. Before I crossed Main, I looked back over my shoulder to catch another glimpse of the geese, but they were gone.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
The Game of Five!
Songs I love
- "Why Georgia" by John Mayer
- "Passing Afternoon" by Iron and Win
- "Cry in the Sun" by Better Than Ezra
- "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks
- "Babylon" by Jennifer Daniels
Details about me
- I'm a senior in college, and I still don't really know when I am going to graduate.
- I'm becoming a bit ridiculous with my obsession with British children's literature.
- I have a Flickr Pro account for which I paid a small sum of money, and I use 0% of my 2 GB upload capacity every month.
- My 22nd birthday is a week from tomorrow.
- I was not in any of the pictures that Dr. Waag showed yesterday during his Segovia promotional slideshow. :-(
Things I did yesterday
- I found out I made a 92 on my History of the English Language test.
- I wrote a short short story that I titled "Rapture," but by the time I turned it in, I changed the name to "White Wash."
- I skipped conversation class at the BSU/BCM because...
- I went on a date with Holly to Asian Buffet.
- I watched an episode of The Cosby Show.
Things that make me happy
- New books
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe coming to theatres this holiday season
- Autumn
- Tuesday night English Education Impression Association get-togethers
- Dancing like no one is looking because, um, no one is looking
Things that impress me
- Artists -- of all kinds
- The night sky
- That John's still alive
- Segovia's aqueduct
- People who really listen and care
Things that don't impress me
- I'm with Jenny: bad grammar
- Yearbooks with trapped white space and without captions
- Jewelry (this could change)
- In-your-face and gratuitous religiosity
- Murray State parking
The next part is supposed to be "Five people who get to do this next," but let's get real. I don't have five people to push this off on.
Because of this, I checked A. A. Milne's The World of Pooh and The World of Christopher Robin out of the library today. Long live children's literature.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Spark
Today, Dr. Morgan asked us to journal about the most important text we've ever read. I had a difficult time coming up with something. I ended up saying that Brennan Manning's Ragamuffin Gospel has recently had a profound effect on me because it helped me to come the realization that I don't let myself be loved. Also, I'm now frequently reminded that I have my halo on too tight. That's what I came up with for my journal.
Several people shared their entries. Many people described the book that triggered within them an interest in language and reading. For some, it was the first book that they ever read.
I've been thinking lately about what made me choose English to study. How did I end up so interested in reading? Of course, that presumption could be debated. (See: All the books I haven't read.) But what started it? I'm not sure. If I had to pin a book down, it might be Charlotte's Web. In second grade, Mrs. Hawkins read it to us in class, and afterward, I got the book. I'm sure it was the first book that I ever read. But I've never thought of giving it credit for my literacy.
Maybe it was my cousin Arenda. When we were little, she (being two years older than I) would sit me down on her parents' bed and read Superfudge to me. Later, she made me read some of her books. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and A Wrinkle in Time are the ones I remember.
Oh, in third grade, there was this literacy push and the school gave us all a free book. I chose How to Eat Fried Worms. And at some point, I think I bought some Ramona books. I'm seeing a Judy Blume pattern, here.
And then, in junior high, there was R. L. Stine. Maybe that's where it began. I devoured those books. But I'm a little hestiant to credit Fear Street for everything.
I'm just not sure. And these days, I'm making up for lost reading with children's literature. If I had read about Narnia when I was little or if Harry Potter had've existed back then, I'm sure I know where I could place the (beloved) blame.
I guess I'm a fluke. Not that my parents aren't responsible for my active imagination. They told me stories and piqued my interest in the world. But reading wasn't something that happened very often. I remember being a kid and looking at a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on the bookshelf (with the encyclopedias, whose pictures I looked at for fun), but it never ocurred to me to read it. And I didn't until I was a sophomore in college.
But here's the thing. Kids need books to spark their imaginations. And it is because kids don't see any value in books that there is a whole generation of functionally illiterate people. And this, my friends, is a sad thing.
If you get the chance, read a kid a book. Give a kid a book. Write a kid a book. I know I sound like a Saturday morning public service announcement, but I think it makes all the difference in the world.
Several people shared their entries. Many people described the book that triggered within them an interest in language and reading. For some, it was the first book that they ever read.
I've been thinking lately about what made me choose English to study. How did I end up so interested in reading? Of course, that presumption could be debated. (See: All the books I haven't read.) But what started it? I'm not sure. If I had to pin a book down, it might be Charlotte's Web. In second grade, Mrs. Hawkins read it to us in class, and afterward, I got the book. I'm sure it was the first book that I ever read. But I've never thought of giving it credit for my literacy.
Maybe it was my cousin Arenda. When we were little, she (being two years older than I) would sit me down on her parents' bed and read Superfudge to me. Later, she made me read some of her books. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and A Wrinkle in Time are the ones I remember.
Oh, in third grade, there was this literacy push and the school gave us all a free book. I chose How to Eat Fried Worms. And at some point, I think I bought some Ramona books. I'm seeing a Judy Blume pattern, here.
And then, in junior high, there was R. L. Stine. Maybe that's where it began. I devoured those books. But I'm a little hestiant to credit Fear Street for everything.
I'm just not sure. And these days, I'm making up for lost reading with children's literature. If I had read about Narnia when I was little or if Harry Potter had've existed back then, I'm sure I know where I could place the (beloved) blame.
I guess I'm a fluke. Not that my parents aren't responsible for my active imagination. They told me stories and piqued my interest in the world. But reading wasn't something that happened very often. I remember being a kid and looking at a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on the bookshelf (with the encyclopedias, whose pictures I looked at for fun), but it never ocurred to me to read it. And I didn't until I was a sophomore in college.
But here's the thing. Kids need books to spark their imaginations. And it is because kids don't see any value in books that there is a whole generation of functionally illiterate people. And this, my friends, is a sad thing.
If you get the chance, read a kid a book. Give a kid a book. Write a kid a book. I know I sound like a Saturday morning public service announcement, but I think it makes all the difference in the world.
In spite
What am I waiting for? Maybe we're all waiting for something, so certain that it will come that we ignore the reality of right now.
For me, I think I'm expecting I'll wake up one day and I'll be skinny. And I'll be a real teacher. And I'll be happily married. I think I expect these things to happen. To happen to me. Just to materialize and take over so I can quit stumbling around. These are the things that I feel that are expected of me. The things I'm supposed to become. And whether or not I make any progress toward them, I think they'll come to me. And maybe they will.
But I can't sit here and dawdle and wait and hope in a future that may or may not come.
I am more than dreams. I am more than illusions. I am more than the teacher or wife or whatever that I may or may not become.
We've all been given life. And we need to live it despite the life we've made up inside our heads.
For me, I think I'm expecting I'll wake up one day and I'll be skinny. And I'll be a real teacher. And I'll be happily married. I think I expect these things to happen. To happen to me. Just to materialize and take over so I can quit stumbling around. These are the things that I feel that are expected of me. The things I'm supposed to become. And whether or not I make any progress toward them, I think they'll come to me. And maybe they will.
But I can't sit here and dawdle and wait and hope in a future that may or may not come.
I am more than dreams. I am more than illusions. I am more than the teacher or wife or whatever that I may or may not become.
We've all been given life. And we need to live it despite the life we've made up inside our heads.
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