useful contributions.

to my YA lit class:


7:28 PM
Me: i kept imagining annie potts' character in pretty in pink

7:32 PM
Me: i don't know if it was originally printed this way, but the fact that my edition was so physically small (in height), made me forgive some its craziness. does that make sense?

25. ice ice monday.

soundtrack to sleet. 

 tonight i am grateful for:

-online classes that do not require going outside

-the lemon bar i had for lunch

-and purple sharpies.

24. quiet.

my non-academic weekend reading

(but to be fair, my "academic" reading is a stack of comic collections)

 

funny, smart, fresh

23. lines.

...and so ends a january weekend.
jj came up and we saw seven samurai at the art theatre on saturday. my first kurosawa, with a running time of about 200 minutes.
also, one of the inspirations for a bug's life (a reference that should not have been mentioned to me before the start of the film, unless they wanted me to have images of little blue ants in my head. which i did until about the intermission.)

this was complimented by an eating tour of c-u, including merry ann's, siam terrace, and bombay grill.
i didn't even have to wear my winter coatttttttttttttttt

22. friday on my mind.

today was everything a day off from class and work should be:

-i slept until 9:00, made breakfast, and then trained a very nice new volunteer at the library. we helped a dozen or so library patrons with computer issues.
-i met a new friend for tea and we talked for 2.5 hours with ease.
-i cooked kale and tofurkey sausage and rice and red pepper for dinner, with a clementine for dessert.


now a clean apartment + the kinks. i feel refreshed and warm.

21. unshakable desires.

 

i like writing.

this is not a revelation, like saying i secretly like whiskey. because i don't, secretly or openly.

perhaps more than the act of creation, i like having created something.

having something to show for my time, for hours and minutes of disorder brought to clarity.

but the process is not always pleasant.

often it makes me cranky and isolated and incapable of focusing on anything else.

it can make me doubt my capabilities with language or even my own mind.

but when it works, when 600 words become 1,300 and those words have shape and weight, when maybe a single sentence feels like a miniature triumph- a sentence that perhaps no one will ever read but you- then for a moment it's like birthday cake and the fourth of july and a hug from the one you love.

even if in the morning, it all looks like the work of a toddler.

&.

_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_

////\\\\||||

. . .

20. true.

i met with my writing adviser this afternoon and we talked about urine for 25 minutes.
you know, among other intellectual, authorly topics.

19. i don't even know anymore.

 just a typical day in children's lit:

18. a few more.

 one.

attachment, 1829

edwin landeer

painted about the death of charles gough, whose body was found three months after he disappeared and fell to his death, with his dog still by his side, guarding his body.
this event inspired several paintings, as well as the poem helvellyn by sir walter scott.
it also brings to mind the saddest moment in animated television.

 two.

art: suggestive.

17. "panini...i've eaten some of his sandwiches."

sunday:

having a car also meant going to the art museum!

sledders in forest park.
that's the museum to the left.

kayaks really don't get enough use in the midwest.

the st. louis art museum is housed within a building made for the world's fair in 1904.

it has also always been free!

(gerhard richter)

 (chuck close. or paul dano, via 1970)

(lichtenstein)

(jj + ellsworth kelly)

16. good eats.

saturday:

snowpeople at soulard market.

not for sale.

lunch: vegan pulled pork sandwich at shangri-la, an all-vegetarian diner.

not pictured: barbies in rollerskates attached to the walls.
we took german chocolate cake home for dessert.

don't mess with missouri.

15. on the bro'd.

i took a road trip to stl this weekend.

having a car allowed me to listen to the clueless soundtrack at full volume.

so much nicer and faster than the autobus.

ethiopian food at meskerem for dinner.
vegetarian combo.
we ate the same thing at a restaurant with the same name in DC.

i'm hoping to get my laptop fixed tomorrow, so posting should be more consistent at that time.

a few more tonight to get through the weekend.

14. welcome to library school.

the professor for my online class tonight (AV materials) used to work on mayonnaise commercials and also wanted to know if this one karaoke place is open so he can go there during our on-campus weekend.

"am i gonna sing? oh yeah, with a capital S!"

13. lucky thursday.

awesome ways to start the semester, jc style

1. contract a death virus on your laptop. try to remove it until said laptop refuses to turn on.

2. accidentally hit a stranger in the crotch while stepping off the bus. look so flustered that he apologizes to you.

3. wander off to get tea during your online class. feel better about everything.

12. can't blame him.

this day in names, continued

i cataloged a book by a children's author named bill peet. his authority record has the following note:

(Bill Peet; illustrator, screenwriter, and children's book author; b. William Bartlett Peed on Jan.  29, 1915 in Grandview, Ind.; changed last name to Peet; d. May 11, 2002 in Studio City, Calif.)

wise, perhaps.

in other news, i started watching the show pretty little liars at the behest of my sister. thankfully there haven't been too many episodes yet, because i will now be getting nothing done until i've watched them all.

to those unfamiliar, it is essentially gossip girl meets twin peaks meets i know what you did last summer, but with a little less murder and a lot more hair extensions.
or, tween peaks.

11. inappropriate tuesday!

 

happy spring semester!

love, 

dick roughsey 

author of the rainbow serpent

10. the space between our chairs.

i've spent most of the weekend indoors reading parts of several books, but here are some cosmonauts:

i'm turning them into a painting, slowly.

i wrote a story once about a boy named yuri, named after the first human in space:

(yuri gagarin)

in the story, he was grateful that his parents didn't go with muttnik.

i'm rather fascinated with astronauts and the desire for space travel in general. people train and work for many years for the incredibly small chance that they'll get to leave the atmosphere or use a working space toilet, only to spend the rest of their lives afterward wishing they were back up there.

the real yuri's short life is remembered for what amounts to 1 hour and 48 minutes of it- the ultimate representation of the value of fleeting, intense experience.
but also the inevitability of longing.
how could one trip be enough?

9. seriously.

jc's rules to live by

1. thank your bus driver.
2. tip your server.
3. drink lots of water.
4. don't eat hash browns and then take a nap because your dreams will be weird and full of carbs.

8. seeds.

feeling better with increments, i suppose.
i registered for an independent study in creative writing for the semester.
i'll be writing narrative non-fiction in the form of personal, linked essays, receiving guidance and graduate credit along the way.
this will make me stressed in a different way than my normal library classes, where if i'm overwhelmed with work, 90% of my unease comes from annoyance at having to do busy work.
but being bogged down by work that is of value, even if it is just personal value- that i can handle.

7. main reference still wants your opinions.

 what would you like to see to improve this room?

no problem.

i haven't been feeling fantastic the past few days, a mixture of random exhaustion and headaches and general winter stuffiness.

i'm hoping it will pass soon with the aid of extra sleep, hot tea, and the new decemberists album.

and what good is a holiday weekend if i don't enjoy it or use it productively?

6. only for two months?

sounds normal.

5. that name again is mr. plow.

without the students out on the quad, it felt like a real snow day, or the apocalypse, or the weekend.

you wanted to eat outside, right?

my ride.

4. lead vests.

radiation: waves and particles / benefits and risks

by laurence pringle

c1983

or, reviewers are sensitive people:

who at least care about accurate captions:

i've been combing through picture folders as i try to organize my ideas for a conference presentation this spring, and am finding many odd little things from my job that i never posted.

i also start back at work tomorrow after a long vacation.

i suppose i'm ready, since i had a dream about MARC records last night.

they weren't being violent or anything, so i still slept okay.

3. party cat will eat your face.

marlowe.

let me just tell you about this cake:

it was 3 layers of spongy lemony vegan awesomeness, covered in gold sprinkles and fruit, drizzled in chocolate pudding/icing, and lit on fire to fulfill one birthday wish.

friend robyn is the official queen of dessert, and party throwing, and generally being a super person.

we killed the whole thing.