Mercury Retrograde

You guys aren't really into apples and football, according to my last poll. So there goes my "Vikings and apple sauce!" theme party idea.

Honestly I have little to report, since it feels like I do nothing but grade, eat and sleep. But I did want to you warn you...Mercury is retrograde. I'm not one of those astrology freaks, but I read the wonderful Astrologyzone website (http://www.astrologyzone.com/) and have noticed that things get messed up about a week before Mercury is retrograde and until about a week after it's done (should end Oct. 18). Things just go WRONG, man. Every car problem we've had has been during a stupid Mercury retrograde. Mercury is supposed to be in charge of electronics, mechanics, communication, travel and so when it retrogrades, all those things are in the hands of demons! Again, I'm not saying I totally buy into all this, but I can't deny that things get freaky during these times. Even when I don't know it's retrograde (otherwise I'd just chalk it up to self-fulfilling prophesy). It will seem like there are endless problems and eventually I'll go "hmmm...could it be?" and look it up to find that yes! That horrible planet Mercury is messing with my cell phone. Or whatever.

So, be wary. I've had laptop issues, a package I ordered is missing, my printer at work is on strike, our smoke detector died, and (worst of all) I witnessed a squirrel fall to its death from the top of a tree! Actually, it may have lived. I went up to see if I could help and the squirrel was still breathing but not moving. Then later that day I walked past where it had fallen and the squirrel was gone. I'm hoping it took a little rest, stood up, brushed its fur off, said "whew!" in chirp-language, and then went into the hollowed-out trunk of a nearby tree where it could receive the squirrel equivalent of an x-ray. But that was a hard fall. It went "thump" and everything. I'll have to find out how to help a damaged squirrel in case of future emergencies. As for other Mercury retrograde issues, Dave uses 4 different computers at his work (he has 4 different classrooms, in case you're wondering), and 3 of the 4 computers aren't functioning properly right now. Not even their tech people can figure it out.

Next post will feature a photo of my newest watercolor.

We Don't Need No Education

Good morning!

Not much new to report with HP. I did work on it this weekend and almost finished the first chapter of the "dreaded middle bit" and then my computer kind of shut itself down for no reason and refused to start. Which is almost the exact same scenario that occurs in one of my anxiety nightmares. That said, I'm amazed at how I didn't even come close to freaking out. It was like "ho, hum, I guess that gives me some time to make rice krispie treats." My calm attitude was justified by the fact that I was able to get back into the laptop later, and I carefully saved my most recent HP version. But I suppose I should figure out what's going on. I think perhaps a new battery is in order? I've had the laptop for 4 years, which I know is a long time in our twisted world of disposable electronics, but I personally don't think that's a very long time to expect a laptop to work. I have no intention of replacing it any time soon.


In one of my previous posts I complained about how little time I allow myself to actually focus on finishing HP. Well, I did take one step recently toward better balancing all that I have going on. I dropped out of my E-Learning Certificate program (for the time being). There are all kinds of reasons I did this. One reason was the nagging panic I had been ignoring. Even though my alert, ambitious self had been saying "of course you can handle working full-time, teaching college, and being a full-time graduate student! You just need to be organized and diligent," my subconscious, realistic self had tripped the emergency sirens. Plus last week I was finally able to see the syllabus for my first graduate class, and seeing the details of this class is what finally helped me realize that this was not the time to start a graduate program. Nothing looked particularly difficult, but it did involve a lot of little details and one big group paper/presentation. And I know how those horrid group projects usually go. Especially if one member of the group is an English teacher. Other considerations played into my decision as well: the strict cohort structure of the program, the fact that my husband has just started his new job and that's meant a lot of changes, the fact that we're also both still property managers and need to stay on top of all that, and the knowledge that we'll be buying a house in spring and moving. Plus, yes. There's the novel to be finished. With so much going on, it became clear to me that now was not the time to throw yet another goal onto the huge bonfire of my time. Doing the graduate program next year makes more sense.


So, that does free up more time for HP (I hope to use the time I would have been in class to work on the novel instead). And that's why I had time to work on the novel this weekend. And make rice krispie treats! Which were, by the way, delicious.


Hope you had a great weekend!

September Weekend

I'm just popping in for a quick post, knowing I won't be able to again for another week. Hope your weekend was lovely! Mine was ok. I had a lot of little chores to get through and felt really tired all weekend, so it wasn't the best weekend ever. But it's probably the last weekend I'll have until Christmas that doesn't involve some kind of grading, so I tried to fit in some relaxation and thankfully there were some wonderful moments. Here are the highlights:


* Found some magical beads at Michael's Crafts; under normal light they're a pale amethyst color, but under fluorescent lights they're robin's egg blue! They make me think of fairies. No specific plans yet, but they're bound for something special.

* Enjoyed the perfect "autumn weather moment" on Sunday. While I love fall's crisp sunshine and apple orchards just as much as anyone, even more I love the introspective melancholy of a wet autumnal Sunday, complete with church bells, the sounds of a distant train and someone chopping wood, yellow leaves sticking to your shoes, and the comfort found in returning to a warm home and making yourself a hot cup of sweet tea just as the rain begins to really pour.

* Dave and I shared some ginger cookies I picked up at the bakery at Kowalski's. Normally I'm underwhelmed by their bakery, but these cookies were amazing! They were the culinary equivalent to my perfect fall day, only smeared with frosting!

* Did some writing...still working on the same chapter as before, feeling frustrated because my descriptive abilities pale in comparison to Joyce Carol Oates and all her annoying, disconcerting talent (On my lunch breaks I've been working my way through her famous short story collection The Wheel of Love).

* Made some progress on the unending, soul-sucking filing project. To make this project less like torture, while sorting my piles I watched the Masterpiece Theater production of Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen (the one with Anne-Marie Duff). Definitely made my task a little less hateful. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/virginqueen/

* Had brunch at Mickey's with a couple friends and had great coversation about books, movies, travel, and teaching! And as much as I wanted to order the buttery decadence of Mickey's bacon omlette, I ordered the chaste and demure oatmeal instead. That makes me pretty awesome.

Hope your weekend had plenty of highlights as well!

Daniel

This is another watercolor I thought I'd share. I started this one over July 4th weekend. I actually did most of it while lounging around at Gooseberry Falls, but only finished it up last weekend. I'm hoping to do a whole series of these mysterious, slightly sinister Edwardian children. Whenever I'm in an antique store I snatch up some of the sad discarded photos they usually have in stacks somewhere near the counter. I always wonder about those. Where do they come from? I assume the photos come from estate sales, where someone has died and photos are left behind and they figure why not sell the photos to people like me, who buy them for their own weird purposes. But why wouldn't relatives want them? Everyone must be dead who knew the people in those photographs, and now they're just being sold to strangers in some store. Sad. Anyway, I modeled this intense little boy on a child in one of those antique store photos. I have plenty more to work with. Next will be a scary little girl named Clara, who I suspect likes the seaside, caramel apples, and dead trees.


Tomorrow is my first class of the semester. I'm as prepared as I can be (without going overboard), so tonight I hope to relax and get some sleep.


Oh, and you've voted and Jay Gatsy wins the presidency! Great choice, old sport! And seeing animals is your favorite thing to do at the State Fair.