why i'm burning savings to live in la and commute:
here's a doozy of an la times piece about irvine.
i urge you to read all the way to the end. "It's the ones like that that we guard against." |
last friday night, my beloved kcrw and garth trinidad did an extended tribute to michael jackson, bringing in djs to play mixes of work from all over his career. you should check it out.
also, i just read this salon piece about the raging debate over "socialized law enforcement." in case you needed a satirical outlet for some lefty angst this afternoon. |
sunny sunday six pm after a weekend packed full of angeles goodness. friday i met my friend tia in torrance for a designer warehouse/sample sale, thinking i might find something to wear to a wedding next week (fashion editor marrying spanish landed gentry - the old navy cotton shift may not cut it). on discovering all the designers to be giants in the field of skater fashion, we scrapped that plan and headed to manhattan beach to finally try much-lauded glacier ice cream and gelato. my verdict - the gelato was too dense (i know, what?) and the flavors didn't pop in that way that makes gelato give me butterflies.
tia headed back to irvine for the mfa prom, but i skipped out (though i did have a good "great gatsby" themed outfit in mind) and rode the coattails of henry and nitzan's momentum to get myself over to lacma. we were supposed to be there for a screening of bob le flabeur, but got distracted by the twilight admission prices (pay what you want after 5!) and explored the modern art building instead before rounding out the evening with vegan thai. mm, spicy pumpkin chunks.
saturday, my promise of big city adventures brought jordan bounding up and we hit tokyo 7-7, which has been on my list since moving here. to call it a hole in the wall wouldn't do it justice. elderly japanese women serving a small menu of greasy diner fare/what one review calls "summer camp food"/udon and spam and a few japanese dishes for prices that haven't gone up since before i was born. jordan loved it to pieces. charming as hell, but i think that was kraft in my omelete. next time i go with the udon.
fully fueled, we headed westward to venice beach and the venice carnavale. which turned out to be a big nothing, photos of naked people and body paint be damned. but it was on the edge of the boardwalk in venice, and it's always fun to inflict that on newcomers. haven't been? this video provides a peek. but i've gotten ahead of myself before what made the day extra-la was spotting the kogi korean taco truck on our way in, racing (with kogi-ignorant and bemused jordan in tow) to get in line, and having the line cut off two people in front of us. the authentic kogi experience, i think.
instead of kimchi quesadillas, we had good gelato, this time at n'ice cream in the chicer abbot-kinney area of venice. salted caramel and cherry chip. yum. our last stop was ucla for some campus coveting (so pretty) and afro funké at the fowler museum (i love you kcrw).
and today i slept in and made my first grocery run for the house, learning that costco on a sunday is a place i'd rather not be. i did make it back in time to walk (!) to the soro festival (that'd be south robertson, my neighborhood) and am planning to take a bike ride after dinner (my helmet finally came! it's pinstripe fabric!). that or go in our heated swimming pool - to prove to myself that, while it may not have been what i ever hoped for, a good angeleno i can make. |
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i kept meaning to post about my brother's comedy success and 25th birthday show, but he's taken care of it for me! he gave a great performance - i was busting my buttons. plus, i discovered dov davidoff, who is nuts and terrific. a fabulous night. |
somalia as libertarian paradise.
think the (loud and large) ayn rand club at uci would dig it? |
i've been confused by necklace lengths for ages. internet to the rescue!
thanks to that, i've made my first etsy purchase. i went on the site to find something for mother's day, and this just fell into my cart. purty, no? got my eye on something for mom too. |
i hope this church sign war is real. regardless, it made me laugh out loud.
update: not real. but that just means someone is very clever, and that's great too. |
just briefly. but yay! um, can i say that despite the tragic context?
speaking of which, i just got an email from eugenio, my mad poet/translatee buddy, saying "we are living in terror." and i don't think he's even being flip - eugenio, who has never written a non-flip sentence in his life. though he does go on to talk about having five different colored face masks so he can coordinate with his sunglasses and shirt (i assure you he is not kidding). he also says that "the mexican people say that is a cruel goverment joke: our situation is really bad and sad: poeple is square and they follow all instruction to be cool...
"nobody can work nobody can go to the school and it is good but nobody can go to disco and bar and raves and something else: is not allowed to kiss and hugh: we have to wait during 10 days more in home: please send me good vibres to live and i send many kisses for you"
sending all the good vibes i have. |
last night, my brother and i capped off his wondrous birthday week (more on this soon) by driving down to long beach (the two la venues were sold out) for the this american life broadcast event. we hit the packed theater just as it began, and slid into way-too-close-to-the-screen seats to soak up the ira-love. so much ira-love. rolling off the audience in waves. starlee kine was great, as were mike birbiglia and the (bizarre but) gorgeous cartoons. but dan savage broke our hearts. both of us, and surely the bulk of the theater behind us, with tears running down our cheeks. i've always liked dan savage, sure, but never followed the column or read his book. now, though, i will count myself among his devoted fans. the audio version of the show airs in a couple weeks, and an encore of the broadcast will be shown may 7th.
rounding out the evening was mr joss whedon (ira and joss on the same stage! my giggle hit an unholy pitch), performing a song not from dr horrible but from the dvd *musical commentary* for dr horrible, a meta-song that critiques its genre and defends storytelling from critical onslaught (and compares joss to homer).
this appearance was especially exciting as i've been missing joss recently. my doubts about dollhouse are making me miss vintage joss (just me or shouldn't special agent rugged have fallen apart just a little freakin bit after the revelation in that bathroom scene?? i mean, only if they want me to give a shit about his interiority...). so i've been indulging in a little buffy therapy. my original buffy education coincided with my senior year of college, when the seventh season was on and my apartmentmates determinedly sat me down in front of their boxed sets. i've revisited it sparingly since then, watching season one last year for the cute kitch of dorky willow and praying mantis teachers and the relative light and cluelessness. now, in a clear attempt to sabotage my exam reading and paper grading, i'm enjoying season three on hulu, and it's much as i remembered: classic. still high schooly and surprisingly light, but with all the buffy leitmotifs and joss-obsessions on full display.
this afternoon, i indulged in an episode i'd forgotten, beauty and the beasts. principal snyder and the mayor scheme. faith has arrived but not imploded. oz is a werewolf and besotted with willow. zander is mysteriously dating cordelia. buffy is trying to get over angel, who she sent to hell and who has now, perhaps, returned. i enjoyed the episode immensely, and i came to three conclusions: first, that sarah michelle gellar, at least in her role as buffy, is much better than i've given her credit for. she certainly beats the pants off ms dusku in dollhouse. second, that anthony stewart head remains my favorite part of the series. third, that, ten years later, this may still be one of the best, and pithiest, explorations of domestic violence to appear on television. that all of the broad-strokes-silliness allowed joss to do really serious and important things is precisely why so many of us so love this ridiculous show even still. in fact, it's also at the root of my ugly betty-love.
i really don't want to grade my kids' papers. |
i'm spoiled by many flattering messages on my online personals site, often from people who live elsewhere or are otherwise not an appropriate match, but feel like writing just to say they like my profile. so i guess i should be able to take it when i get my first nasty note.
but, really, my hackles are fucking up. because it's not like the person said, "your ugly" or something charming like that. no, he wrote to inform me that - despite my clearly-professed intention to date men on the site - that he can tell from my (really rather femme!) photos that i'm a man-hating lesbian. not a lesbian, mind you. a man-hating lesbian. y'know those lesbians, right? cause i don't.
i was apparently selected as one of this man's most likely matches. casting significant doubt on the whole matching algorithm basis of the site. before blocking him, i gave as restrained a reply as i could manage:
an excellent side effect of having short hair is that it keeps the bigots away.
alas, though, not foolproof.
still riled up, though, and i really need to get to sleep. bothersome bigot. i may be particularly raw as i just now watched xxy. recommended. |
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fun to share a city with keith knight. maybe i shouldn't get a bike? i love the lower left panel. OH LA. |
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obama and habeas corpus. and warrentless wiretapping. the man can shove his first white house seder and happy vegetable garden up his traitorous ass. |
pi panorama! not everyone, but most. elizabeth and jaime and coraline had already left for snowier climes. carolyn is in fetal position under the table. josh may be as well. there are lots of great photo sets, but jan's are characteristically artistic.
aaaand... the locavore iphone app! tells you what's in season in your area every week! could this be more squarely aimed at my demographic? |
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walkscore gives addresses "walkability ratings," complete with categorized google map ("grocery stores," "bars"). be sure to click "expand all." i'm super excited to explore my neighborhood. on foot and bike - check out the fab helmet i found to go with my new (wished for) cruiser! i think i'm going to ask for help with both for my birthday. cause i'm eight years old. |
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hello, lj brain trust. this week i've been exploring my neighborhood on foot and so delighted to be walking again. i'd assumed my fear of la drivers would keep my feet on the ground, but i've just learned that sidewalk biking is legal in la! (there are nearly no pedestrians to worry about anyway.) so i clearly need a bike. a basic, *cheap*, comfy, *cheap*, run an errand bike. bike cruisers are common around these parts, but it seems like a few speeds can't hurt, so i think i want this. in red. i know nothing of bikes, though, so input hereby solicited! |
(as some on here are)
i just watched a japanese film called "paprika," and submit that it was the trippiest thing i've seen in some time. it weaves together dreams, film, and the internet in brightly colored, deeply disturbing ways. i'm astounded that such bizarre, complex, and open-ended work apparently flourishes in japan. puts my occasional frustrations with murakami into context.
has anyone else seen this? here's a review. it's streaming on netflix for a few more weeks and i do recommend watching. i've been sleeping poorly the last handful of nights due to nightmares of my own, so i hope this will prove therapeutic rather than provocative. |
i'm not capable of cooking something without tasting it a thousand times in the process. i suppose it'd be lessened if i worked from recipes rather than improvising and revising and revising. this means that i end up unhungry at mealtime but attempt to eat a little to be social.
dinner was worthy of overeating, at least. we're at the end of a food cycle and *all* leaving for the weekend, so i scrounged up all the odds and ends that might go bad and made:
roasted carrot and orange curry soup
red quinoa salad with roasted califlower and squash and flax seeds
fruit salad chocolate mousse unpie
yum! last week i did moroccanish spiced ground turkey-black rice stuff and cabbage-yogurt salad in pita pockets. with sweet potato oven fries. and the week before... i do not recall. but the week before was when i taught myself to gut fish! little fish, croakers. i roasted them and a lot of vegetables and served it all with a crazy strong garlic-miso sauce.
(edit: now i remember the in-between week. this elaborate black bean soup kind of thing. and some mashed banana and cookie stuff i concocted cause the bananas were turning and which was remarkably tasty.)
and in the morning i'm off to my pi(e) gathering in carmel with twenty friends! i'm a little cooked out, but i'll have to get unfull fast, because i plan to eat! |
she and her friend are trying desperately to get into my (full) spring quarter class and i told her that i was moved by their enthusiasm. she responded just now:
"Having you as a teacher in the fall was wonderful for us too! Your class was exactly what we were hoping for in one of our first college classes, so thanks!"
as my dad would put it, i'm busting my buttons. |
first of all, have you seen if i made a commercial for trader joe's?
second, a very cute boy i've just started seeing is taking me out for a fancy valentines dinner at a way too fancy place! a little intense for date number, like, four or five, but i'm super excited. today i canceled class (to give my kids extra time to write their papers) and didn't have to drive to irvine, so we bummed around his neighborhood (los feliz) and ate at the best fish taco in ensenada. i don't know ensenada, but it was far and away the best fish taco i've ever eaten. (flight of the concords likes it too!)
third, i feel like, at least for now, keeping track of what i've been cooking for co-op dinners. last week was my first meal for the house, so i thought it fitting to bring it. i made a big pan of something related to enfrijoladas, with corn tortillas on the bottom, then chicken i baked and shredded and marinaded, then a spicy black bean puree (throw a few cups of black beans and bean liquid in the blender with a can of chipotles in adobo; smooth out with yogurt or other dairy if desired; pour on anything), then a top layer of crushed up tostadas. on the side i made a jícama and avocado salad, and for dessert there were fried bananas.
last night was a little less elaborate, but i concocted a pretty good approximation of larb/laab, using ground turkey, most of the necessary spices and acids, and pre-ground toasted rice powder. in the fridge, i found week-old rice and left over coconut milk, so i combined them along with an egg, some spices, some flour, oats, grapenuts, a splash of rum, some shredded coconut, whatever came to hand, and formed little fry cakes. tasty!
everyone's family dinners, thusfar, have been really pretty stellar. i'm sure i'm going to gain a little weight living here, but i'll be happy while i do it! |
| » happy obama day! |
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celebrate with the obama lama song. can't embed, but it's worth rewatching for the sheer mania.
Jan. 20th, 2009 @ 01:07 pm
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| » i fear stanley fish is right for once. |
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"the last professor."
it's not that i want out of this world so much as that this world truly feels done for.
Jan. 20th, 2009 @ 01:04 pm
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| » blissed out. |
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i woke up early sunday morning to putter around my beautiful room, warmed by the generosity of jordan, who came for a lovely visit saturday and bequeathed me his tiny space heater in exchange for teaching his newly-vegetarian butt about rices and beanses. downstairs, there were housemates and the nytimes and bagels and some cupcakes the girls from one of the cottages brought over. i'd retrieved some coffee and returned to work on some finishing touches when anne sat down at the grand piano in our parlor and filled the house with a chopin nocturne. my life, a film about the upper west side.
i did no work, nor for a week or so now (minor teaching prep aside). at last utterly convinced of the futility of this degree, i'm working my way toward a new relationship to it. i'm not dropping out this year, but i'll try to make it only one corner of my universe: a remarkably low-paying but sometimes wonderful job that i can keep while enjoying life and considering opportunities less punishing than academia. nonprofits appeal. skipping the country is always good. creating more distance from my degree and the path i've been on so long will be a challenge, but it feels like time.
in the afternoon, my darling friend henry escorted me to a free concert at the getty center, where we had our minds blown by andy statman's bluegrass-klezmer-jazz and took a turn around the gardens in the clearest la air i've seen. who knew that the getty was so close to the pacific? or that the city (and surrounding cities and mountains) could be so visible?
we returned to casa rocha for family dinner, tj's beer and cake in tow. afterward, the first small gathering in my room made the cozy space finally home. who could ask for anything more?
Jan. 19th, 2009 @ 10:23 am
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| » kiva again. |
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this is the microfinancing site i use and have an institutional crush on. one of their volunteers made a lovely video.
A Fistful Of Dollars: The Story of a Kiva.org Loan from Kieran Ball on Vimeo.
Jan. 12th, 2009 @ 11:06 pm
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| » i wrote this on the plane friday. |
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i've been to some good parties and i've cuddled with a beau on a mexican beach, but this new year's eve i stayed in. in my parents' house in the sticks. and it was perfect. so perfect that i feel like preserving it for dubious posterity.
for dinner, we followed an nyt-featured recipe for baked sweet potato latkas (note: unless for breakfast, they need more onion, less cinnamon), broiled enormous (scary great big) lobster tails, and opened the fancy bottle of wine i ordered on gary vaynerchuck's recommendation. after happily gorging ourselves and toasting their anniversary, we beached our full bellies on the living room couch and listened to npr for the excellent, annual nye capitol steps concert. some fun with the golden retriever and then we watched "young @ heart," a documentary about an elderly choir singing unexpected songs. at midnight, we momentarily flipped on some screaming, cold people and ate brownies with a little champagne (mostly mango juice, and mostly down the drain). we watched craig ferguson (we're groupies) and went to bed at one so we could wake up bright-eyed and drive to the milwaukee art museum, which is enjoyably small and impressive and beautifully set on lake michigan.
and today i flew "home." (i'm writing on the plane now.) time to face teaching 2.0, my big list meeting (monday!), all the work i didn't do over break, and accumulated angst over phds and life. however, after a few weeks of madness, i'll be based partly out of a wonderful co-op in la – much poorer, but much happier. and i'll miss my parents enormously. they're my favorite people and always will be. my tone here may be sleepy and uninspired, but i'm very moved by getting to spend three wonderful weeks and a perfect new years eve with them.
Jan. 4th, 2009 @ 09:01 pm
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| » movies. |
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i'm hanging at my parents' house in outer chicagolandia, so it's been movietime. no actual commentary here, just some movies i've especially enjoyed in the past couple weeks and would recommend to you:
frost/nixon (langella best win an oscar)
milk (emile hirsch was lovely - i need to seek him out)
cadillac records (really loved this)
i'm not there
slumdog millionaire
lars and the real girl
the marvelous third season of dexter (not a movie; i don't care)
gangs of new york was so boring i couldn't finish it, and rereading the master and margarita is a joy!
Dec. 27th, 2008 @ 07:32 pm
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| » life change. |
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i think i'd best friends-lock this, so if you're one of the wonderful peoples who reads my lj but doesn't have an lj account with which to friend me, apologies. you'll just have to email me for the scoop!
Dec. 24th, 2008 @ 10:34 pm
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| » translations. |
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diamond to npr for gently reminding listeners its listeners that "In order for us to read the best of what the rest of the world writes — and in order for the rest of the world to experience our best literature — skilled writers must work in the art of translation". coal to the translator they quote who had to dredge up the ancient, annoying, counterproductive spirit channeler metaphor. (then again, i guess i should thank her for giving me an opponent.) nice that they even included a tiny comparative passage.
related excitement of the week: a translation of mine is being published in super pretty circumference magazine! i haven't translated anything in a year or so (the poem they're publishing is from my first year at iowa), which is a situation i should maybe rectify.
unrelatedly, i've been meaning to post this for a while. beautiful online music-making game called auditorium.
i'm visiting my parents in chicagoland (11 degrees and snowy) and working on a potential life change, so i should be good for a real post soon.
Dec. 16th, 2008 @ 04:11 pm
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| » christmas music??? |
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i do, i hate it, it's already reached me in my bubble and brought tears. but dooce just recommended merry mixmas and i was curious - previews on itunes. so neat! merry christmas, djs?
Dec. 8th, 2008 @ 04:58 pm
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| » odetta |
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i first heard a clip of odetta on the soundtrack for some 60s chronicle or civil rights piece, and scrambled to figure out who she was. then, years later, another clip turned up in the dylan biopic and my jaw hit the floor all over again. so sorry she's gone, and before the inauguration. the nytimes has posted this terrific video interview.
Dec. 4th, 2008 @ 10:39 am
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| » local restaurant lust; sand. |
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in case you were wondering, bury me in bouillabaisse.
not enough local people read my blog for this to be relevant, but i love how many obsessive food bloggers we have in orange county - not to mention la! this really is a great place to eat.
it's also a good place for the beach in november. last weekend i went over to crystal cove with some of the english dept first and second years. they're a funny bunch. eric (with the shirt on his head) is the singer in a serious hardcore band. which i pretend not to be bewildered by.
Nov. 13th, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
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| » neave. |
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a designer's super cool web art and toys, which i got from flea, the first blogger i ever read (adorable videos in her post today).
(i'm commenting on student papers, see, which means i must waste as much time as possible online, giving myself a haircut, making lunch... i'm also supposed to be reading all of benjamin's the origin of german tragic drama for tomorrow. make it stop.)
Nov. 11th, 2008 @ 01:37 pm
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| » echo park. |
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i've been threatening, for some time, to move myself and my little grad student life up to echo park or thereabouts (silverlake, thai town, all good). this is very much budget-permitting, and can't happen until my lease is up next summer, but, still, a dream much cherished (commute aside).
last night, i broke my la driving rule (must be someplace twice as long as it takes to drive there/back) and headed to the birthday party of a recently-arrived iowa city friend. she's on the angelino hills edge of echo park, quite close to sunset - a fairly patchy area. graceful old houses, graffiti ("varrio echoxpark," read the wall by my car), and, like much of sprawling la, almost no foot traffic. i've never felt safe anywhere without foot traffic (oh ny!) and have had that instinct confirmed with two full-on chases (providence, barcelona) and a brief, terrifying assault (new haven). but i refuse to be nervous just because a neighborhood has scraggly bits and i desperately want to make a life up there, so i zipped up my tough girl jacket and stalked down the street like i belonged.
which works much better when you can find the address you're looking for. the second time i passed the quietly catcalling young dealer guy (i keep wanting to say "hopper"), i started to get unhappy. when i realized that the number must be within the complex he was circling, i got less happy. keeping scott on the phone (good idea? bad?), i strode into the complex, and when the guy walked in behind me and asked if i wanted to buy, i said brightly, "could you just tell me where 1126 is?" "back that way," he told me, gesturing, and i thanked him, turning purposefully toward the recesses of the cramped courtyards.
"yeah, just keep walking all the way back," he said. i started forward - and decided he was lying. i spun with a mumble about the wrong address, walked quickly-not-scared-quickly back to my car, and locked the door. a call to my friend john (yay google streetviews) confirmed my guess. john helped me figure out where the actual house was, and i got myself there furtively via the other side of the street.
maybe this was dumb. maybe i should have just driven home and not walked yet again down that empty street. he was lying. i don't want to think too hard about that. it makes me furious to feel perpetually, constantly constrained by the specter of sexual violence. but it was good to see katie. dude was gone when i left.
Nov. 9th, 2008 @ 11:34 pm
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| » snow. |
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there are days when i realize that, despite my fervent objections, it's going to be hard to leave southern california.
Nov. 6th, 2008 @ 06:50 pm
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| » obamanation. |
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my friend brian posted a brief reflection on tuesday's win, with a stunning clip from an interview with james baldwin. check it out.
latemodel linked to a fascinating page that will make you rethink the electoral map, red and blue, forever. wonderful.
i learned today that mccain aides are anxious to spill stories about palin, such as her temper tantrums and the fact that she neither knew what countries are in NAFTA nor that africa is a continent (here it is a la scott bateman). may she never leave alaska again and may the people there vote her out of office at the first opportunity.
i'm having trouble making eye-contact with my (mormon) neighbors, even the one i like and suspect of covert progressive views. glenn greenwald (love!) explains that obama needs to repeal the defense of marriage act, which he's vowed to fight for years. and, as greenwald points out, in the vp debate, biden said agreed vigorously: in an Obama-Biden administration, there will be absolutely no distinction from a constitutional standpoint or a legal standpoint between a same-sex and a heterosexual couple. . . .
also, i continue to love heather havrilsky, and find her gen x apology to the boomers in the wake of obama's election very funny and honest.
some remarkable takes on the election i advise you not to miss, and some very clever short responses to salon's question, what does obama's victory mean?
Nov. 6th, 2008 @ 05:58 pm
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| » rollercoaster. |
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i'm an emotional wreck, and so all over the place. still scared to be happy about obama (i want to be, but how long will it take for my nervous system to believe it's true?), so relieved about the supreme court, distraught over 8 (and 4?), fucked up from a night in which my brother hurt me enormously and i heard cnn call it for obama in a room full of strangers.
i fled to venice beach where brown grad(!) at danah's(!!) party treated me to a half hour tirade about how prop 8 makes sense because parents are right not to want gay people near their children because children are so plastic and will be brainwashed and become gay (and it matters whether those gay people near or not near their children have equal rights, apparently). if i had kids, he tells me, i wouldn't "expose them to gay people." if i'm gay and my brother, no matter how "liberal," has kids, he bets i won't be very welcome. history proves this - just see ancient greece and contemporary france where "forty percent of girls have slept with their fathers." cause, you see, children aren't exactly victims of abuse, because they're really in relationships with the abusers, which is why they don't speak up. like those kids abused by priests - they're so plastic that they are brainwashed and are in a relationship with them. you have to understand these things metaphysically. see! the fact that most women i know have been abused or assaulted proves his point! no, he's not saying it's the victims' fault, but it's a "two-way street." and what about god's role in this? oh? i'm an atheist? ha. well, that proves his point again!
civil unions do not afford the same rights as marriage. civil unions do not afford the same rights as marriage. people still have not gotten their heads around this. this is not just a matter of nomenclature. this is of real, and enormous, import.
fortunately, danah and (most of) her lovely friends have love and snuggles to spare, which helped calm me from my shaking. and it was fun, at first, being pursued half the night by a very cute guy who then mentioned that he got back from iraq a week ago and is planning to stay in the reserves his full twenty years. universe, enough with the military guys. no, really. wtf.
amazing and excruciating to see jesse jackson cry last night. and obama's preacherly riff on ann nixon cooper broke me wide open.
Nov. 5th, 2008 @ 11:38 am
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| » twitching mass of yesobamano4&8. |
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my parents got tickets to the obama election rally at grant park for tomorrow night! may balloons rain on their heads and may they stand close enough to the stage to see the man announce his victory!
my mom's in wisconsin today, knockin on those doors. we've both been phone banking, but it hasn't felt like enough, and she's close enough to a less than sure thing state to make the day trip. they went to ohio for a family bar mitzvah and half the family got in on the canvassing act. so, in honor of their jewish excuse to get to a purple state, here's an old yiddish song rewritten to convince those misled old bubbes and zadies in florida.
(of course, my floridian grandparents are neither jewish nor capable of processing information that hasn't come from the eternal word television network. i grew up with my parents saying they couldn't wait until peter and i could vote - because they'd been using their two votes all those years just to cancel out my dad's parents.)
going up to danah's tomorrow for some election night goodness. i don't actually have any desire to watch the returns (i am a delicate flower and that much adrenaline can reduce me to a sad puddle of nonfunction), but it'll be good to have people around regardless of outcome (may there be one before two am!). also hoping to swing by the party thrown by my brother's new benefactors. he's just moved into a guest house behind the beverly hills cottage of two members of hollywood's famed liberal elite. i hear scarjo has canceled and won't be at the shindig, but i wanna scope this thing out. and hopefully catch sight of my parents among the teeming, celebratory, balloon-bating masses!
Nov. 3rd, 2008 @ 10:41 am
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| » JOY. |
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my kids had to write mid-quarter evaluations of themselves and the class on their class blogs.
now, i know they're not likely to rip into the class/me while i'm still their teacher, but they could certainly be anemic or say that there's too much group work or i wish we did more blah or whatever. thusfar, one vote for "things started off dull and the historical stuff is boring, but now the class is kinda cool, i guess." that aside, these are really making me kvell.
they thought the class would be a blow-off and are surprised that it's the hardest in their schedules - and more surprised to be having fun! they thought the theme ("empire") would be lame and are shocked to be digging it. they're excited to finally learn something about africa. they've realized how much further writing and analyzing goes than their high school classes showed them. group work has been really helpful (good to know, i wasn't sure). they're starting to understand what this rhetoric idea is and that it has broader implications. they like when i put them in a circle. they're supposedly talking more than they ever did in high school; they wish more people would talk (so talk!).
they think i'm doing a good job weaving all the different strands together (thank fucking god); they didn't realize how much they were learning until friends in other classes showed them crappy theses and they were able to help improve them (FOR THE WIN!).
Oct. 30th, 2008 @ 11:43 pm
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my macbook fan died last night. my tiny acer arrived today. now that i no longer have macbook functioning as desktop, i'm anxious to see that acer can hook up to external monitor. external monitor has slots for dvi and "rgb," but this rgb fits a vga connector and has me baffled. acer has wvga, but when i hook up vga to "rgb"/vga, monitor knows something is happening, but says no digital signal. of course no digital signal, but analog signal, no?
i guess the next step is to go buy a dvi/vga adapter and see if that works, but if any of this raises a flag for anyone, let me know? could the Wvga part possibly be an issue? ugh.
coming soon to this space: more computer confusion.
Oct. 29th, 2008 @ 10:52 pm
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eighthblackbird's journal
