shiny happy person

In the spirit of the last post, I'm making another list. For some reason I'm having difficulty lately conceptualizing ideas in chunks of prose, which is my usual thought process. Needless to say, this doesn't bode well for all the thesis writing I have to get done by the beginning of next week. I'm sure it's a symptom of avoidance...on a very sub-conscious level.

Let's simplify things. What I'm happy about:
1. A 50 degree day today. Loooong fingers of water reaching across parking lots, snow mites on the surface eating decayed leaves, sun sun sun, warmth warmth warmth. It's scary how much weather regulates my mood--how a warm, bright day that comes just after turning the clocks ahead can snap a funk so easily. I need to bottle that shit and sell it.

2. My iPod shuffle selections tonight have been marvelous. Hit after hit. The last three have been St. Vincent's Marry Me (favorite song of the moment), Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Rich, Ray Charles' Lonely Avenue, and Missy Elliot's Hit Em Wit Da Hee. Quite a mix. Outstanding.

3. The potential opportunity to go to Korea for four weeks at the end of the summer and teach English to middle-schoolers.

4. My parents waited until after exams to tell me that we'd be taking a family vacation to the Ritz Carlton at Amelia Island in June. My aunt and uncle took them (and all the sisters and brothers but none of the "kids") last year to participate in their wedding (their second to one another, after a divorce a few years ago). My parents loved it so much they've decided to return and take us with them. The funny thing is that they are basically going on a vacation to the Ritz Carlton, not Amelia Island. They love the hotel: the food, the entertainment, the free bar with over-the-top cocktails in the lounge on every floor, the beds. They couldn't stop talking about the beds. I'm just happy to be going on a trip with my family again. It's been awhile.

5. Speaking of family and aunts, I'm also happy about Aunt Jane sending me a Happy St. Patrick's Day card two weeks early and signing it:
Love, Gary & Jane (and Rocky Boy Floyd)

6. Productivity. I sent off two job applications today (and one I might actually have a shot at), graded six research papers, kicked my ass at the gym (and L's ass, too), and enjoyed a bit of the day.

7. My clean apartment. I'm generally a kitchen/bathroom neat-freak, so those weren't an issue. The issue was the multiple stacks of books piled into mini Pisa's in my bedroom, living room, and in a not-so-convenient perimeter around my dining room table. They are now on shelves, organized by genre first then height. All spines facing the correct direction. Order. Balance. Need these to survive.

8. I finally saw Into the Wild the other night with the P-ster, and it wasn't good. This is not the "what I'm happy about" part. Though I would have liked it to be a good film and for Sean Penn to have succeeded, this just confirms my opinion that Into the Wild was one of the best nonfiction books ever written in its execution, research, reportage, treatment of character, and insight. So good it'd be nearly impossible to re-create the depth of the story on screen. I'll give the movie the final scene where Chris finally expires in the bus (for any unfamiliar with the story, I'm not spoiling anything here). It was moving, well-acted and well-shot. However. I found the script (which I think Penn adapted himself) heavy handed and trying a bit too hard. I found the effects and editing distracting; there was no reason for them. Oh, and the moose scene was riveting for the fact that it looked like real moose was used, but could have been done better. Hal Holbrook was amazing and probably deserved that Oscar nomination, but his performance came across as all the better against the sub-par performances of the others (except for the always good Catherine Keener). And while I'm on actors, every single shot with the lady-friend, Tracy, played by Kristen Stewart (I think that's her name) was ramped up like a sexified preteen beauty in cutoffs sweating it up in the desert Calvin Klein ad and although visually stunning, it took away from the story of the film. In sum, I'm happy that Jon Krakauer is an amazing writer.

9. Taking this spring break to catch up with my work. Like I was saying to someone today, instead of every day being a come from behind victory, now things are more even-keeled. Stoked about that.

10. The documentary My Kid Could Paint That. I don't have the energy right now to go into all the things that I admire in this movie. In a phrase, maybe just the way the narrative modulates. I don't know. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around it I guess.

11. My decision to reduce the five major assignments down to four in Comp. It's Spring Break and we've gotten through two thus far. It seems logical to me to take the last half of the semester for just two more and make them really good and in-depth. I'll have Easter and the onset of Spring figetyness to deal with, so this arrangement will be best for all.

12. I made a pretty delicious fish recipe this evening. Salmon with some garlic, honey, and spice. Not much because salmon is a pretty strong fish anyway. But it was good.

13. Did I mention the warmth? and the vacation? and getting a lot of shit done? So many things to be happy about. Making it to number thirteen on this list, for consistency sake. That's good, too...you know, with the Order & Balance and all.

ahh nostalgia...i'm all nostalgic for you

My time in Minnesota is almost through and here are some things I'll miss:

1. Tuning the radio dial to 89 7 on Thursday nights for a most magical musical hour between 6 and 7 with Shelly and Tim.
2. The 3 hour block of World Cafe that preceeds Shelly and Tim on Thursday and fills the afternoons the rest of the weekdays.
3. Living 2 minutes away from a pretty decent library that's always stocked because the students do their research online.
4. Returning home to a family I haven't seen in 4 to 5 months.
5a. The wine bar where the old and fairly harmless looking but obviously shitfaced guy started braiding my hair with his dirty fingers and offered to buy me a drink.
5b. Accepting drinks from old and fairly harmless looking but obviously shitfaced guys at the wine bar because look, they're Minnesotans. Is there really any reason to worry?
6. Finding all the things that make Iowa better than Minnesota.
7. My students. My freaking a w e s o m e students. The bright, smiling faces, the cooperation when they sense their teacher has only gotten 3 hours of sleep and is still trying to make English interesting and challenging, even the OCCASIONAL eye rolls (especially the ones they think I don't see). All of it.
8. Delicious recipes concocted from desperation, an empty pantry and limited appliances/utensils.
9. The $2 movie theater downtown.
10. The trees.
11. The Grass.
12. 1st Ave in Minneapolis for their sweet concerts and crazy pre-show vintage kiddie commercial projections.
13. Conversations in the TA office. Notably those that center around the Russian Civil War. Namely the one C and I had for a solid forty-five minutes (and how quickly that time sped by) after which he handed me two 300+ page books on the subject for nothing more than my personal interest. Books he happened to have in his desk. Lit TA's are a trip.

ask yourself

I played the song What? by Tribe Called Quest for my students and asked them to come up with their own what lists. Here are some of mine.

what’s a white girl like me who happens to like the Tribe?
what’s the point of music if you neglect the vibe?
what's a Tribe album without a funky beat?
what's the fun in dancing if their aren't four feet?
what is the tango without the sex?
what's the chance you'll have it if you don't learn the steps?
Q: what's bill clinton without hillary?
A: what's the definition of: reciprocity.
what is a bong if it hasn't got the water?
what is a writer if she hasn't got the fodder?
every woman alive is another woman's daughter
What's Today without Matt Lauer?
what's Sarah Silverman without a little raunch?
what is the seashell if not the conch?
what's a fat man without a double-chin?
what's Tom Collins without the gin?
what's Maroon 5 without Adam Levine?
what's The Color Purple without the final scene?
(you know, when the family finally reunites)
what is Alice Walker without a pen to write?
what's SNL without Lorne Michaels?
what's RAGBRAI without bicycles?
what's Los Angeles without film sets?
(not to mention big money, big houses, big breasts)
what is the x-files without conspiracy?
what's sexual tension without Duchoveny?
what happens to Charlotte if you take her web away?
what’s the first amendment if we don’t have equal say?
what good is a story if it doesn’t have an ending?
why break a rule when there’s room for bending?
what is a smoothie without the blender blades?
what’s a BLT without the mayonnaise?
what’s an education without putting in the work?
what’s a grocery store without a clerk?
what’s a PhD without a plaque on the wall?
what’s a base jump without a free-fall?
what is a what if you don't care to know?
the quest for knowledge should reside in the soul.

What do your band names say about you?

FOUR SENTENCES I'VE NEVER SAID.

1. "That skort looks really good on you."
2. "Baby farms...that's genius!"
3. "Sure, I'll go to the local Republican rally with you."
4. "No thanks." (to someone who has passed the dutchie)

SONG TITLES THAT REFLECT HOW I'VE FELT THIS WEEK.

1. Who the Fuck? by PJ Harvey. Because I met someone out on Thursday night and apparently this girl knew me and I had absolutley no recollection of her. I didn't even pretend to know who the fuck it was.
2. Pretty Good Year, by Tori Amos. Because I just got my taxes back and despite owing the state of Iowa $17.23, I'm getting much more back from the govn't than I had expected.
3. I'm a Cuckoo, by Belle and Sebastian. Self-explanatory.
4. Another Kind of Green, by John Mayer. Because I'm currently all out of my other kind of green.
5. Panic Striken, by Leona Naess. (See number 4)

WHAT I'D BE DOING ON A PERFECT DAY.

Hopefully I'd be enjoying it.

5 ROCK BAND NAMES I CAME UP WITH.

1. White Rabbit
2. The Sunday Nights
3. The Intrilligators
4. A Little to the Left
5. All Together Nows

I GET TO GO BACK IN TIME AND STOP 3 SONGS FROM BEING WRITTEN.

1. "Seasons of Love" from RENT. For that matter, all songs from RENT except for "La Vie Boheme" because it's the only one that doesn't make me cringe. Even Roasario Dawson couldn't save that movie.

2. "Barbie Girl" by I don't even know who...it's the one that goes, "I'm a barbie girl, in a barbie world / life in plastic, it's fantastic." I don't know who I blame more, the person who wrote the song or the people who had a hand in its popularity.

3. "I'm a Little Tea Pot." It gave me terrible body-issues as a young, impressionable tot.

Movies that I have recently re-viewed and even though I liked them the first time, I just realized how effing awesome they are:

Kill Bill, Volumes I and II
Adaptation
Elf
Apocalypse Now