see more dog and puppy pictures
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Land of the Lost
We watched a slew of these episodes during the marathon on Sci Fi Channel and it was fun; I was getting into the story line (yes, there was one!). I remembered a lot from seeing it as a kid, but of course grown-up eyes see much more. Like Holly grew up between Seasons 2 & 3 but they kept her in pigtail braids. There were only 3 Sleestack at a time because they only had 3 costumes. Will looked suspiciously like David Cassidy (turns out they had him lined up to replace Cassidy on the Partridge Family but then the show was canceled). The Sleestack aren't really that scary - they're dumb, move really slowly, and can't throw nets very well.
I'm saddened that the new movie coming out will be just a Will Farrell goofball vehicle, with none of the mystical science fiction element that made the old show so much fun to watch. Just another reason to despise Will Farrell.
I'm saddened that the new movie coming out will be just a Will Farrell goofball vehicle, with none of the mystical science fiction element that made the old show so much fun to watch. Just another reason to despise Will Farrell.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ice cream and memories...
Invited PMP for a spontaneous trip to Friendly's, which was then followed by a spontaneous trip to TJ Maxx. I can't believe my first friend in the City on the Edge of Forever is moving away in a few short days! Life will not be the same without her.
In Memorium
Today's about catching up the last week lost to The Sickness. Housework, laundry, and also getting a reading picked out for Mom's interment this Friday. Big Bro and his Wiffen are arriving on Wednesday, so I want the place to be ready for them. Peege and Beck are here Thursday, staying in a hotel. I am really looking forward to having my family around me again.
And of course I'm chomping at the bit to get to Mass. We've decided not to waste over $700 on an eleven-year-old car that keeps cropping up new problems. If I get this job I'm waiting for, I will purchase a good pre-owned car and leave this one to Bizarro for in-town driving. It is more economical to rent a used car via the place we've done before and have a safe, solid car to drive out in. I had thought to ride with Peege and family and rent a wreck when I got to Mass, but I need the alone time that driving can offer me. Road-tripping with my bad self.
I am ready for adventure, new sights, new experiences, new thoughts, new feelings, new insights. Let the Games begin!
I have arranged to spend some time at a surf shop in Scituate to do some research for the TV pilot I'm still working up. Gotta get some real-life people to inspire this thing. Also going to take a stab at writing a rom com this summer, which is way out of my comfort zone, but I need to change things up from the artsy/fantasy stuff for a bit. My manager friend says my idea so far is pretty conventional, so I need to spice it up. And you know in rom com spice often = raunch. Not so sure how well I can write raunch. I'll get back to you on that.
And of course I'm chomping at the bit to get to Mass. We've decided not to waste over $700 on an eleven-year-old car that keeps cropping up new problems. If I get this job I'm waiting for, I will purchase a good pre-owned car and leave this one to Bizarro for in-town driving. It is more economical to rent a used car via the place we've done before and have a safe, solid car to drive out in. I had thought to ride with Peege and family and rent a wreck when I got to Mass, but I need the alone time that driving can offer me. Road-tripping with my bad self.
I am ready for adventure, new sights, new experiences, new thoughts, new feelings, new insights. Let the Games begin!
I have arranged to spend some time at a surf shop in Scituate to do some research for the TV pilot I'm still working up. Gotta get some real-life people to inspire this thing. Also going to take a stab at writing a rom com this summer, which is way out of my comfort zone, but I need to change things up from the artsy/fantasy stuff for a bit. My manager friend says my idea so far is pretty conventional, so I need to spice it up. And you know in rom com spice often = raunch. Not so sure how well I can write raunch. I'll get back to you on that.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Will it ever end?
I have to pay over $700 to get my fucking car fixed. That's it. I have had it. If I get this full time job in the fall the first thing I'm doing is getting a newer used car. For all the money I've/we've put into this frakking thing, I could have been driving around a lovely 06 or 07 with a sunroof and a smoother ride. My next car will be a stick shift, as well. Oh I miss handling a stick shift. Do with that comment what you will.
I am also greatly annoyed that the chest cold has moved into my nose and now I am sneezing and wheezing. I am in no mood to deal with anyone's crap. I have writing to do that hasn't gotten done because of this fucking cold, as well as house work in preparation for people coming into town next week.
For Mom's final interment. And of course there's money to shell out for that. I just want the whole dreadful week to be over and to be sitting in my bro's backyard with a beer, listening to ELP and listening to him talk about how the Liberals have fucked up the country. Sometimes there's comfort in the familiar.
I am also greatly annoyed that the chest cold has moved into my nose and now I am sneezing and wheezing. I am in no mood to deal with anyone's crap. I have writing to do that hasn't gotten done because of this fucking cold, as well as house work in preparation for people coming into town next week.
For Mom's final interment. And of course there's money to shell out for that. I just want the whole dreadful week to be over and to be sitting in my bro's backyard with a beer, listening to ELP and listening to him talk about how the Liberals have fucked up the country. Sometimes there's comfort in the familiar.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Music...nonstop...technopop
Spent actual money in an actual bookstore to purchase two CDs tonight (as opposed to ripping them illegally):
Tori Amos' new venture "Abnormally Attracted to Sin." I am enjoying it more on the 2nd listen through. I keep expecting to hear the Tori I remember from early/mid-90s, which just ain't going to happen. When I step back from that expectation, this album works as a Tori landscape, with a combo of trip hop (Give), dark vampy stuff (Strong Black Vine), some crashing piano (Lady in Blue) and Tori's wonderfully twisted sense of humor on "Mary Jane." I give this album a B+. I just bought the basic CD, not the enhanced version with the videos and extra stuff. Just the songs, ma'am.
Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion," the newest from this noise pop quartet with an echo of The Beach Boys ca. "SMiLE" and Kraftwerk's electronic, pulsing symphonies. I adore these guys and have to eat up everything they've ever produced. My introduction to Animal Collective was the 2nd track on the album, "My Girls:"
Tori Amos' new venture "Abnormally Attracted to Sin." I am enjoying it more on the 2nd listen through. I keep expecting to hear the Tori I remember from early/mid-90s, which just ain't going to happen. When I step back from that expectation, this album works as a Tori landscape, with a combo of trip hop (Give), dark vampy stuff (Strong Black Vine), some crashing piano (Lady in Blue) and Tori's wonderfully twisted sense of humor on "Mary Jane." I give this album a B+. I just bought the basic CD, not the enhanced version with the videos and extra stuff. Just the songs, ma'am.
Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion," the newest from this noise pop quartet with an echo of The Beach Boys ca. "SMiLE" and Kraftwerk's electronic, pulsing symphonies. I adore these guys and have to eat up everything they've ever produced. My introduction to Animal Collective was the 2nd track on the album, "My Girls:"
My Spirit Name
Tree Bender.
Sanctioned by a Lakota Medicine Man, chosen by yours truly after my love of Inipi-building.
Sanctioned by a Lakota Medicine Man, chosen by yours truly after my love of Inipi-building.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I'm hot on the tail of the TV pilot I started in January. Gonna hang out at a surf shop in Scituate MA for some research this June. Also going to try my hand at a rom com for my manager friend in L.A. Never thought I could write such a thing but it's worth a try.
Had my job interview today, which went well enough considering I have a chest cold and had a hard time speaking and/or focusing. Another round of difficult questions with 6 people. Jeezus! I was hoping the in-person round of interviewing would be more about showing me around and seeing how I would fit in with "the team." Based on the level of questions asked, I'd say they're really trying to figure out if I could handle the difficult end of the student spectrum at a community college. They also don't tell me much about the position; when I ask questions I get vague answers. One of them let slip (?) that the person they hire will basically be responsible for melding the writing and research support groups. Um really? Where is that in the job description? And why hasn't it been discussed in either of my interviews? She dropped this at the end of the interview, when I was tired and wiped out and ready to come home, snork some Mucinex and hit the couch. I have a feeling they like me but aren't convinced I can handle all that. I wonder the same. In my phone interview I'd asked what the hours were like and the joke was made that it was 35.5 hours but NO ONE only works 35.5 hours (Followed by a smattering of "don't I know it" chuckles. I was not amused.).
So anyway, yeah. The pay range seems very on the low end with all that on the table. We'll see if they even offer it to me. And I will ask many pointed questions if they do. I also would expect to be on the upper end of that range. So we'll see...
I have lilacs here in my little office and the perfume is heady. Mmmmm fleurs.
Pancakes and eggs for dinner tonight. I need comfort food.
Had my job interview today, which went well enough considering I have a chest cold and had a hard time speaking and/or focusing. Another round of difficult questions with 6 people. Jeezus! I was hoping the in-person round of interviewing would be more about showing me around and seeing how I would fit in with "the team." Based on the level of questions asked, I'd say they're really trying to figure out if I could handle the difficult end of the student spectrum at a community college. They also don't tell me much about the position; when I ask questions I get vague answers. One of them let slip (?) that the person they hire will basically be responsible for melding the writing and research support groups. Um really? Where is that in the job description? And why hasn't it been discussed in either of my interviews? She dropped this at the end of the interview, when I was tired and wiped out and ready to come home, snork some Mucinex and hit the couch. I have a feeling they like me but aren't convinced I can handle all that. I wonder the same. In my phone interview I'd asked what the hours were like and the joke was made that it was 35.5 hours but NO ONE only works 35.5 hours (Followed by a smattering of "don't I know it" chuckles. I was not amused.).
So anyway, yeah. The pay range seems very on the low end with all that on the table. We'll see if they even offer it to me. And I will ask many pointed questions if they do. I also would expect to be on the upper end of that range. So we'll see...
I have lilacs here in my little office and the perfume is heady. Mmmmm fleurs.
Pancakes and eggs for dinner tonight. I need comfort food.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
My first Inipi (Sweat Lodge)
This weekend I went to my friend Judy's for to build and participate in a sweat lodge. Now you might be wondering, "Ms. Bizarro, why a sweat lodge?" The point is to cleanse and clarify and ask for blessings. And who couldn't use a bit of all that? Your next question may well be, "Ms. Bizarro, what is a sweat lodge, exactly?" To which I would answer: In the Lakota tradition, it's a small hut-like structure with a pit for hot stones and water in the center. People sit in there, sweat, have visions, support each other through processing whatever's going on, sometimes with guided meditation and always with prayers from whomever is leading, in this case a Lakota Medicine Man.
Judy's had a sweat lodge on her land for 5 years, the building of which was overseen by same Lakota Medicine Man. After 5 years, the structure had become weathered, and also she discovered it was well onto the property of her neighbor. So - time to build a new one.
Judy and the Medicine Man had already cleared out the area so we were ready to build lodge and firepit come Saturday. Initially, there were to be many more participants, but by the time Saturday morning arrived, there were only 6 of us, one of whom could only stay until 2:00. We started the morning by blessing the old site and cutting saplings that would become the frame of the new lodge. It was my job to drag these saplings from where they were cut to where they would be gently coaxed into bending and being tied in place to form the frame.
This seemed an easy task at first, the saplings being thin and light, but as Judy and the Medicine Man ventured farther out into the woods to cut the saplings, I found it harder to make my way back to the lodge site. I had to develop an instinct for which way to walk, and to trust it. At one point I tripped hard over a root and felt myself flying through the air. I landed on my left knee, but somehow didn't manage to hurt myself other than a few scratches and a slightly bruised ego (only the trees were watching). Was it just a coincidence that only a minute or two before my aerial, I'd axe kicked at half-dead branches barring my way on the particular path I'd chosen? I was very proud of that axe kick. Heh. But by the last load of saplings, I was able to find my way around the woods without too much trouble. The trees had offered me the lesson of humility, patience, and trusting my own instincts on where to move.
Other things that needed to happen: drag stones and wood to the site. Build fire pit, and start the fire with the stones a full 2-3 hours before the actual sweat so the stones would be hot enough. Dig out stumps in the area. In order to build the frame, the saplings had to be stripped, holes in the circle of the lodge area dug at precise-ish intervals, poles uprighted and then bent to form the frame. This was my favorite job of the day.
How to bend a tree
Insert your stripped sapling pole in the pre-made hole. Stand against the pole, hands grasping the pole above your head. Begin pulling the tree down over your head, pushing your back and butt up and out to guide its arc. Slowly bring down until it is ready to be tied in place. It feels like Yoga. It feels better than Yoga.
After the poles are bent and lashed into place, with horizontal rings and door frame, blankets and tarps are put over the frame, and rugs, sheets, towels, etc. for inside are laid down. Meanwhile, the old site had to be dismantled, with those poles going into the new fire pit.
Now. All this. In pouring rain. 5 inches in 4 hours. With more to come. Working in mud up to our ankles. I am here today to tell the story because of Judy's daughter's Wellingtons.
We didn't need to pour water on the hot stones because there was so much water from the mud and rain already in the hole. The steam from the first round was intense, and smelled like earth and sulpher. The rounds became less intense from then on.
For me, this was absolutely a sacred space for deep introspection and clearing the way. It felt good to sweat in a lodge I'd helped to build, and I look forward to future sweats. Preferably not after a day of pounding rain and Wellington-inducing mud.
Ah ho!
Judy's had a sweat lodge on her land for 5 years, the building of which was overseen by same Lakota Medicine Man. After 5 years, the structure had become weathered, and also she discovered it was well onto the property of her neighbor. So - time to build a new one.
Judy and the Medicine Man had already cleared out the area so we were ready to build lodge and firepit come Saturday. Initially, there were to be many more participants, but by the time Saturday morning arrived, there were only 6 of us, one of whom could only stay until 2:00. We started the morning by blessing the old site and cutting saplings that would become the frame of the new lodge. It was my job to drag these saplings from where they were cut to where they would be gently coaxed into bending and being tied in place to form the frame.
This seemed an easy task at first, the saplings being thin and light, but as Judy and the Medicine Man ventured farther out into the woods to cut the saplings, I found it harder to make my way back to the lodge site. I had to develop an instinct for which way to walk, and to trust it. At one point I tripped hard over a root and felt myself flying through the air. I landed on my left knee, but somehow didn't manage to hurt myself other than a few scratches and a slightly bruised ego (only the trees were watching). Was it just a coincidence that only a minute or two before my aerial, I'd axe kicked at half-dead branches barring my way on the particular path I'd chosen? I was very proud of that axe kick. Heh. But by the last load of saplings, I was able to find my way around the woods without too much trouble. The trees had offered me the lesson of humility, patience, and trusting my own instincts on where to move.
Other things that needed to happen: drag stones and wood to the site. Build fire pit, and start the fire with the stones a full 2-3 hours before the actual sweat so the stones would be hot enough. Dig out stumps in the area. In order to build the frame, the saplings had to be stripped, holes in the circle of the lodge area dug at precise-ish intervals, poles uprighted and then bent to form the frame. This was my favorite job of the day.
How to bend a tree
Insert your stripped sapling pole in the pre-made hole. Stand against the pole, hands grasping the pole above your head. Begin pulling the tree down over your head, pushing your back and butt up and out to guide its arc. Slowly bring down until it is ready to be tied in place. It feels like Yoga. It feels better than Yoga.
After the poles are bent and lashed into place, with horizontal rings and door frame, blankets and tarps are put over the frame, and rugs, sheets, towels, etc. for inside are laid down. Meanwhile, the old site had to be dismantled, with those poles going into the new fire pit.
Now. All this. In pouring rain. 5 inches in 4 hours. With more to come. Working in mud up to our ankles. I am here today to tell the story because of Judy's daughter's Wellingtons.
We didn't need to pour water on the hot stones because there was so much water from the mud and rain already in the hole. The steam from the first round was intense, and smelled like earth and sulpher. The rounds became less intense from then on.
For me, this was absolutely a sacred space for deep introspection and clearing the way. It felt good to sweat in a lodge I'd helped to build, and I look forward to future sweats. Preferably not after a day of pounding rain and Wellington-inducing mud.
Ah ho!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What your soul sings (Massive Attack)
Don't be afraid
Open your mouth and say
Say what your soul sings to you
Your mind can never change
Unless you ask it to
Lovingly re-arrange
The thoughts that make you blue
The things that bring you down
Only do harm to you
So make your choice joy
The joy belongs to you
And when you do
You'll find the one you love is you
You'll find you love you
Don't be ashamed
To open your heart and pray
Say what your soul sings
To you
So no longer pretend
That you can't feel it near
That tickle on your head
That tingle in your ear
Oh ask it anything
Because it loves you dear
It's your most precious king
If only you could hear
And when you do
You'll find the one you need is you
You'll find you love you
Open your mouth and say
Say what your soul sings to you
Your mind can never change
Unless you ask it to
Lovingly re-arrange
The thoughts that make you blue
The things that bring you down
Only do harm to you
So make your choice joy
The joy belongs to you
And when you do
You'll find the one you love is you
You'll find you love you
Don't be ashamed
To open your heart and pray
Say what your soul sings
To you
So no longer pretend
That you can't feel it near
That tickle on your head
That tingle in your ear
Oh ask it anything
Because it loves you dear
It's your most precious king
If only you could hear
And when you do
You'll find the one you need is you
You'll find you love you
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
At Tops Market today:
I went through the U-Scan and of course the automated soma voice tells me to "Put the item in the bag."
Which I amended into: "Put the item up your nose."
Which I amended into: "Put the item up your nose."
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Bottle of Wine Glass is located somewhere on the "classy" continuum between "a passed out drunk clutching the last sips of his bottle of Nightrain" and drinking straight from the bottle. And that's exactly where we like to be.
Maybe I can't smell the hints of chocolate or raspberry while swirling a fine Chardonnay. But I can put that entire bottle of self-indulgent smugness into my giant wine glass and make you pay another $75 so you can have some. And yes, I do bring my own wine glass to restaurants.
Vat19
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Take me to Aruanda
There's a land, Aruanda
Diamond sand, Aruanda
Silver stars on the hill top
Take me to Aruanda
Lots of fish in the stream near
Lots of dangers to dream there
Golden sun in the valley
Take me to Aruanda
There where nobody worries
There where nobody hurries
Easy life waving you're welcome
Take me there
Leave my sadness behind me
Let sweet paradise find me
Heaven waits over yonder
Take me to Aruanda
Diamond sand, Aruanda
Silver stars on the hill top
Take me to Aruanda
Lots of fish in the stream near
Lots of dangers to dream there
Golden sun in the valley
Take me to Aruanda
There where nobody worries
There where nobody hurries
Easy life waving you're welcome
Take me there
Leave my sadness behind me
Let sweet paradise find me
Heaven waits over yonder
Take me to Aruanda
It would be wise to heed mercury in retrograde, y'all. This means communications, travel and appointments are gummed up. Fabulous. Just in time for my job interview on the 19th. I must be as Bruce Lee advises:
So I should follow my own advice in these coming weeks. Mercury goes direct on May 31.
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.One time I told an ex-boyfriend of mine about the mercury in retrograde thing and his response was "Way to be limited." I said, "No you don't get it. You don't stop doing things you just have to be more attentive to details that can get snarled up, and be prepared to maybe wade through a bit more annoyance than usual."
So I should follow my own advice in these coming weeks. Mercury goes direct on May 31.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Bacchus get your ass down here now!
I just finished grading my last student portfolio for class tonight. And then I cleaned out my desk and took my stuff down off the wall here. It's weird knowing I may not be back. I have a 2nd, in person interview at the community college in a couple weeks so I may be working someplace else come September. How strange that would be, after 3 years here.
I am anxious for summer to get underway. I still have grades to turn in and a small stack of short scripts to grade for the community college. So by next Wednesday I will be completely and totally done with everything for the year. Let the bacchanalian orgy begin!
I am anxious for summer to get underway. I still have grades to turn in and a small stack of short scripts to grade for the community college. So by next Wednesday I will be completely and totally done with everything for the year. Let the bacchanalian orgy begin!
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Taking back the turkey
My entire life, I've believed that my drowsiness after eating a turkey sammich was due to tryptophan (an amino acid our bodies need which cannot be manufactured, only ingested, to help produce Vit. B3, melatonin, and seratonin). It was pointed out to me recently that this is a myth (the drowsy after eating turkey thing) and that I've been brainwashed into wanting a nap after eating said bird. Sure 'nuff, I looked it up on the internets, and I am here to set you all free of this web of LIES!
I am PISSED AS HELL that my post-turkey club nap-time has been based on a SHAM. Yeah, the reason why we're all so tired after Thanksgiving dinner is because we've been feeding our faces for HOURS, jamming in everything from bird to stuffing to smashed potats to pumpkin pie and ice cream all freakin' day. It has nothing to do with the poor, maligned turkey. Who started this massive gastronomical rumor? My money's on the National Cattleman's Beef Association. Maybe they even joined forces, temporarily of course, with the American Soybean Association (freakin' hippies).
And to think of all the turkey sammiches I passed up over the years because (whiny Luke Skywalker voice) "I didn't want to be tired in the afternoon." I plan on eating turkey for lunch AND dinner every day for a month to make up for all the turkey I've missed out on. Turkey meatballs, turkey clubs, roasted turkey, turkey cutlets, turkey cubes on my salad, turkey salad with red onions, Manwiches made with ground turkey, even turkey jerky. Hells I will even go to a REN FAIRE just so I can eat giant turkey legs all damned day!
The lie stops here. Join me. Take back the turkey.
I am PISSED AS HELL that my post-turkey club nap-time has been based on a SHAM. Yeah, the reason why we're all so tired after Thanksgiving dinner is because we've been feeding our faces for HOURS, jamming in everything from bird to stuffing to smashed potats to pumpkin pie and ice cream all freakin' day. It has nothing to do with the poor, maligned turkey. Who started this massive gastronomical rumor? My money's on the National Cattleman's Beef Association. Maybe they even joined forces, temporarily of course, with the American Soybean Association (freakin' hippies).
And to think of all the turkey sammiches I passed up over the years because (whiny Luke Skywalker voice) "I didn't want to be tired in the afternoon." I plan on eating turkey for lunch AND dinner every day for a month to make up for all the turkey I've missed out on. Turkey meatballs, turkey clubs, roasted turkey, turkey cutlets, turkey cubes on my salad, turkey salad with red onions, Manwiches made with ground turkey, even turkey jerky. Hells I will even go to a REN FAIRE just so I can eat giant turkey legs all damned day!
The lie stops here. Join me. Take back the turkey.
Final Frontier
This week is the big grading push push push. I got one class done and handed those back this morning, now working on the rest of the other class for Thursday night. I had to fail two students this semester for not turning their scripts in at the deadline (and not bothering to say anything about it until 5-6 days later and then expecting me to read it, grade it and give notes - WTF?). That made my day today. What really sucks is I have to do the student evals Thursday night and one of those students knows he's failed. That's life.
I almost forgot that I have to TEACH tomorrow morning at the community college, AND be observed! Can you imagine if I'd totally blown it off when the freaking Dean was there to observe me? That's like one of those nightmares where you go to class and realize you are naked and you haven't shaved all winter.
Looking forward to seeing the new Star Trek movie this Friday. I will write a review when the time comes, so stay tuned for that (esp. SMJ and PMP who I know LOVE Star Trek).
I almost forgot that I have to TEACH tomorrow morning at the community college, AND be observed! Can you imagine if I'd totally blown it off when the freaking Dean was there to observe me? That's like one of those nightmares where you go to class and realize you are naked and you haven't shaved all winter.
Looking forward to seeing the new Star Trek movie this Friday. I will write a review when the time comes, so stay tuned for that (esp. SMJ and PMP who I know LOVE Star Trek).
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Grading stresses me out
I am wading deeper into the pile of screenplays to read and grade. I am fairly tedious about my reading and notes, so it takes a good long time to get through each one. I am having a hard time focusing these days, so my job is harder than it normally is/has been. I did this to myself, giving myself less than a week to finish them. I didn't want it hanging over my head, and I know that come Thursday I will be well-pleased. At this point, I am sniffly and tired and I just want to sleep. The slate sky doesn't help recharge my batteries, either. This would go faster if I could sit on my patio in the sunshine (patio still torn up from the painters that arrived on Friday and I have no idea if they've finished or what the deal is).
This is frightening
Fake peer-reviewed medical journal.
Pharmaceutical giant Merck paid science publishing juggernaut Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed scientific journal, Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. (From http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/03/merck-and-elsevier-p.html)
Pharmaceutical giant Merck paid science publishing juggernaut Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed scientific journal, Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine. (From http://www.boingboing.net/2009/05/03/merck-and-elsevier-p.html)
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009
Closing a chapter
May is about closing a chapter, or rather a couple of chapters. It's the end of the semester, as you know, and I am now in charge of reading and grading 28 feature length script portfolios. I am sad and relieved at the same time to be getting ready to say goodbye to my students this semester, even more than usual. There were times over the last four months that teaching and seeing them and watching them work was the only thing that kept me going. I am grateful to them for that gift. But of course as always, it's time for them and me to move on. I am relieved because in other ways it was harder than ever to focus on my work and push through the times I just didn't want to move.
Another chapter feels like it's coming to a close at the end of this month, when we will bury Mom's cremains. My brother and I talked about this just a couple days ago, and how as that date comes nearer, we have both felt the reality of her loss more keenly. We've both been depressed and have both withdrawn from the world and from each other, but we agree that at this point it would be better for us to talk more regularly and share what we are each feeling. He said it perfectly the other night on the phone: I've lost my center.
This summer will be about getting back some of that centeredness. I am really looking forward to my time in Massachusetts in June for that very purpose.
Another chapter feels like it's coming to a close at the end of this month, when we will bury Mom's cremains. My brother and I talked about this just a couple days ago, and how as that date comes nearer, we have both felt the reality of her loss more keenly. We've both been depressed and have both withdrawn from the world and from each other, but we agree that at this point it would be better for us to talk more regularly and share what we are each feeling. He said it perfectly the other night on the phone: I've lost my center.
This summer will be about getting back some of that centeredness. I am really looking forward to my time in Massachusetts in June for that very purpose.
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