Littlest Teapot Enterprises

Pop Quiz Time!

What is the half life of Carbon 14?

According to the Rutgers Newark Earth Science Lab Manual, it's 7,530 years. If you guessed right, you get...............................................

A failing grade, apparently.

I've been aware for a long time that the world of academia and the world outside are like two separate realities, with different rules and different laws by which they operate. However, I assumed there was some overlap in the sciences at least, because, well, there would have to be, right? The whole idea of a lab is to learn the practical experiences and applications of what is only talked about in theory in the classroom. I'm a fan of labs in general, most of the time--the most fun I've had being a horticulture lab at CCC. Giving a bunch of 20-something an excuse to play in the dirt and mud, are you kidding? Unfortunately, Rutgers has this thing where their reality is separate from even academic reality.

According to the final exam I just took, the half life of Carbon 14 is 7,000 years. The extra 530 are just too weird to for them to bother with. Being the observant student, I assumed it was a typo and called it to the teacher's attention. She insisted it wasn't. I recited all four major isotope half lives from memory. She said I was correct, but she was too.

Wait, what?

I put the scientifically correct answer because it's...well, correct and will most likely fail because of it. Which means not graduating. Which means a nice long, bloody fight with the dean.

Can nothing in my academic life go smoothly?

I'm graduating in May.

It doesn't feel real at all, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared of what will happen afterward. Rich and I are moving slowly on our plan to move in together, which helps--there's a few complexes close to campus that don't seem awful, as well a few in East Orange, which is right outside of Newark.

If the whole full time job thing falls through it might just be part time job and grad school here or somewhere in New York. There's also the off chance that if I impress the head costumer for Sweeney Todd enough I might be able to get work doing that.

Oh, that's another thing. I'll be assistant costumer for Sweeney Todd in March. Michelle Rittenhouse, my advisor's partner in crime is arranging a meeting next wenesday after my Latino American Lit. final with the head costumer as well as the director. To say I'm excited would be a might of an understatement.

Now, back to memorizing radioactive isotope decay rates.

In the last month or so, I've earned the moniker of 'Dorm Mommy' since I've taken to cooking at least three days a week, and feeding on average two people that don't actually live here. It's nothing to complain about, I enjoy cooking and we've started a money pooling system where any and all grocery money goes straight to me for easy dispersal.

Of course, this also means that I'm the one everyone goes to where there's been a bad day/can'tsleep/is sick. Allison has been sick for close to a week now and Carol and I only just convinced her to go to health services. She has a respatory infection, which isn't pneumonia but also isn't too much shy of it.

And it begs the question, and more to the point of this entry...why are college students so willing to put aside self preservation for grades? Not to long ago I had to learn the hard way that that wasn't ever the way to go...and you'd think...for how much we all talk about things like that, it would be common sense. Apparently not.

When, if I ever have kids, when teaching them priorities the manta will not be 'school first' but 'health first.'

Health------School/Domestic Responsibility-----Play

It is both utterly strange and rewarding to look at the theater costumes now that they're finished.

Also, the cafe is having a 1920's themed costume party for Halloween. I knew there was a reason I've been feeling particularly noir-ish lately.

I'm slowing being forced to come to terms with the fact that the stamina I'm used to having just...doesn't exist anymore. I'm pretty sure this has as much to do with the changing of the seasons as one of the many belated symptoms of the seizures. I still have problems now and again, if I can accurately say that my blood pressure is a bit more of an issue than it used to be.

The largest thing this is effecting is my style and habits as a student. I can't pull all nighters and I can't push myself through working on something. I have to pace myself, which is something I've never been good at, as long as I can remember. The only thing I've actually ever paced myself with is my costumes, but the creative processes there are rather different, at least as I see them. I certainly get a hell of a lot more acomplished feeling from a costume than a paper. It's also considered a pretty douchebag thing to talk about a paper extensively to those outside the academic circle, whereas there's a whole level of respect that goes with costuming/making your own clothes.

So I guess what this boils down to is that if I treat one like the other I'd come off as a really huge dick.  I need another way of framing this so I don't have to pull my grades up by the ass with my mid terms. And it's not that the work is hard, at all, but at the same time because it isn't that just adds to the idea that I can put things off and not worry too much, even though I know that's not true from a strictly biological point of view. If my school work were as challenging as some of the things I'm doing for theater, I know I wouldn't have this problem.

And I know what you're thinking: "Make it challenging." And I've tried, but even that's not hard enough, as the assignments are things like, "a three page expository essay about The Canterbury Tales." My topic, for those interested is how by using a magical/legendary time frame for tales like The Wife of Bath and The Pardoner, he can talk about magic and sexuality and not get in trouble with it with his readers, particularly sexuality. It's a pretty common trope in the tales to frame them like that, but at least in the serious sexual stories, or moral stories, there seems to be the tendency to throw them into a special frame. I'm only working with Wife of Bath and Pardoner, but if we were reading the whole thing, it could be a proper thesis.

A really, really boring thesis.

I almost wrote boning there.

Hehehehe.

In retrospect:

I spent too much money this weekend
got next to nothing done
.....

and couldn't be happier.

Thankfully my ability to push myself mentally and not have it transfer physically seems to be coming back. It's the other way around I have to work on...either that or accept that until I can find a hospital willing to let me sign a waiver for a real stress test, I'll be dancing over the thin line of burnout until I have a real boundry.

I'm also dreaming again, and off the bloody sleeping pills.  I'm assuming that with that my writing ability will return somewhat soon.

Nothing says do or die like tromping around the dorm in burlesque for two hours and then posing for photos for another hour or so. I'm two days into the 31 Days costume challenge and off to a great start. Tomorrow will be more costume shopping, and it's going to be hard keeping my mind on only theater stuff. Most of the people who read this regularly know the dangers of putting me in a thrift shop with lots of money--but I'll be good, I promise.

I actually have most of the month planned, which I suppose is a foot up from Ian, but I wasn't going into this without a plan, and he really did excellent when he did this last year.

Also, might be hosting a 20's/30's themed Halloween party, because apparently I look bitchin' in pinstripes and suspenders. Also, also: burlesque is as embarrassing as it is fun, but after a while you really do forget to be embarrassed. I haven't felt that pretty in ages. It's easy to forget fishnets do that to me.

October starts tomorrow, which means I will be neck deep in make-up and costumes, both recreationally and professionally.

It's a bit like Christmas, really, only for my imagination.

Also, I'm pretty sure I want Medea to be wearing chain mail somehow, somewhere on her person for the finale number, and possibly Isis Wings, since I think it would make an interesting alternative to having her go out in a literal ball of fire.

Gods I love my job.

I don't paraphrase Beowulf often, but it seems I am possessed of a rare and splendid host of friends--not that I ever really doubt that, but last night and this morning pretty well confirmed it. Even if there are days when they're the only reason I both falling out of bed in the morning, I couldn't readily think of a better reason.

And this applies to everyone, even the people I haven't spoken to in fuck-all of forever.

I'm glad I have as much as I do to throw my energy into this semester. Otherwise it would be bad. I'd elaborate, but after ranting for about an hour and half, I've lost my steam.

Back to formatting my computer.

Labor Day was interesting, if not exactly productive.

I do a lot of wandering when I'm up at school, mostly because it's relaxing and I pick times when the city is mostly dead--there's something fascinating to me about seeing how empty a place so teeming with people can get--when there's a time of very calm, lazy desolation. I guess what I'm saying is that Newark comes closest to reminding me of home then. I'm not sure what that says about me, considering home has become synonymous with boredom and unemployment, but I suppose there's also something to be said for the familiar.

Another thing I do while I wander is window-shop...which would seem a little silly considering what passes for fashion these days (it's return of the 80's part two for all I can tell--and I thought I was ahead of the curve for once with the whole plaid/grunge thing.) It almost makes me glad I haven't done a serious over-haul of my wardrobe in at least ten years--apparently nothing really goes out of style these days.

It's a side product of the window shopping I do, however, to be equally subject to the music that is played inside the stores and yesterday was almost worth the ear bleeding to hear one thing that had me simultaniously giggling and scratching my head on the way out--in one lyric masterpiece of hip hop, the rapper proclaims his desire to "get his Bill Clinton on"--but not with Monica or Paula...instead Hillary is mentioned. So he wants to be monogamous? Or in a completely ulteriorly motivated relationship? It was certainly something to ponder as I wandered away from pants Blondie and Pat Benatar wouldn't be caught dead in.

Book memes amuse my because some of them actually make me consider things I don't really give a second thought most of the time...


1. What author do you own the most books by?
Hideyuki Kikuchi-- I have volumes 1-13 of The Vampire Hunter D series, and apart from him, all of The Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane, all of Harry Potter by JK Rowling and lastly a number of Robin McKinley books.

2. What book do you own the most copies of?
The Chronicles of Narnia. I have an collected edition I was given as a Christmas gift and a really old collection I've had since I was little.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Yes.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
None, but I do have the habit of attaching myself to certain characters in books-- most recently it was Count Balaz in volumes 12-13 of the Vampire Hunter D series. Kikuchi has such awesome side characters.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)?
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
Resident Evil: Zero Hour by SD Perry (I usually shy away from novelizations of anything, but I adore these books.)
The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (more for research than fun, I've been compiling a thesis on it for ages.)
Women Poets of China edited by Kenneth Rexroth (Probably my favorite ever compliation of poetry.)

6. What was your favourite book when you were ten years old?
The Hero and the Crown, hands down--that book set the standard for badass heroines in books for me.

7. What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
 The Accidental Tourist. I try not to let a professor kill a book for me, but looking back, he didn't really have to. 

8. What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Pale Fallen Angel: Volume 1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi. Whenever an author can make me laugh, cry and cheer almost in the same chapter, he gets my vote.

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
"The Wasted Vigil" by Nadeem Aslam.

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Do remakes count? I'd love to see a book-accurate version of The NeverEnding Story.  Barring that, "Afterdark" by Haruki Murakami, because it's so cinematic to begin with.

11. What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Not that it would happen anyway, but "The Hero and the Crown" -- Hollywood has a habit of watering down female heroines with romantic subplot and while the book has a lot of that, Aerin is strengthed by her relationships, not held back by them.

12. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
A few come to mind, the most recent being Lord of the Rings meet the Revolutionary War. Yeah, I don't know, it made sense at the time.

13. What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Does that imply read and finished? There was one I picked up ages ago called The Fire Sword that was pretty bad, but I couldn't bring myself to get past the first twenty pages or so.

14. What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Difficult in what sense? The first thing that comes to mind is The House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski.

15. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I could say Symbiline, but I never actually went on that feild trip...so, it'll have to be 12th Days Night

16. Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
Russians

17. Roth or Updike?
Neither

18. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Again, neither

19. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Anyone but Milton, for the love of god!

20. Austen or Eliot?
Eliot. Austen is just....gah.

21. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
There's a lot of "classics" of literary cannon that I've never read-- as per question 17, I've read little to no Updike, I'm not overly fond of Hemmingway, aside from "A Farewell to Arms" and as far as I'm concerned, the less Victorian Lit. I have to read the better. I'm not a very good Lit. Major, am I?

22. What is your favourite novel?
I make a habit of never picking favorites. I enjoy a number of different books for different reasons and it's nearly impossible to compare them that way.

23. Play?
Again, don't pick favorites. Last one I read and enjoyed was The Girl in the Chinese Raincoat.

24. Poem?
What is all this about favorites? Most recent poems enjoyed were The Exultation of Eduanna, Akkadian Preistess to Innana.

25. Essay?
Last read and enjoyed were several about Emily Dickinson for a research paper...can't remember any titles

26. Work of nonfiction?
Last read was The Buddha and His Life-- actually counts as a re-read, but  it's a very interesting one.

27. Who is your favorite writer?
No one? Why must I compare them all in some sort of ranking order? So, in *no* order: PD James, Michael Chrichton, Robin McKinley, Hideyuki Kikuchi, Haruki Murakami, Mark Danielewski, Diane Duane so on and so forth

28. Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, and that guy who wrote the Left Behind series

29. What is your desert island book?
I'd end up writing my own on palm leaves and bark, most likely.

30. And... what are you reading right now?
For school, "Beowulf" and "Enuma Enlish."  For fun: "Pale Fallen Angel: Volume 2" and "A Wizard Alone" 

According to Winamp it's Just like Heaven by The Cure?  

In terms of what's been *getting the most play* it's between the title theme to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Pigeons and a Boy by Joe Hiashi. Gotta love the Ghibli music.

The gym is offering yoga classes this semester, as well as belly dance, but I feel I shouldn't sign up for anything until I have my work-study schedule figured out. Guess I'm getting that taken care of today. Having a regular paycheck again will be really nice.

How many times in my college career will I be forced to read The Iliad before something deep-rooted and important to my general functioning just gives up and kills itself just to relieve the monotony?  At least it isn't The Odessey. Uylesses was an ass-hat. Him and his family abandoning, god-angering crew of miscreants.   When do I get to read something cool...like the Aneid? Or anything by Aescheylus? He was awesome. But no, I'm stuck reading The Iliad until December.

WTF?

Like most of the female population, I find myself in pitched battle with that mysterious five pounds that I'd like to loose in order to feel/look a little nicer, and in general just get a little more toned. Helping this is the fact that I fixed up my bike and have been eating a lot better than I usually do in the summer, and hindering it is the fact that I wasted 90% of the summer to start doing these things now, two weeks before I head back to school.

The upshot to that is school means I have to walk everywhere, and will probably be re-starting aikido as a sort of mild stress test to see exactly what my body can handle. The real issue is that the doctors were incredibly vague about me limiting my physical activity (due to the fact that it's a possible seizure trigger) so I don't really know my limits any more...what I can safely do on a regular basis. That, and I've never been a big fan of gyms unless it's for learning a particular activity. The monotony of running on a treadmill or weight-lifting for several hours a week would drive me mad. But I need to do something, because for the first time in a while I'm genuinely unhappy with myself in terms of fitness.  It isn't a consuming unhappiness, I'm not that self absorbed, but it is noticable and I'd like it not to be.

There's something very cathartic about taking a day and dedicating it to the menial--chores, laundry, things like that. It's amazing how little the big things bother you after you've spent seven hours mending a pile of shirts and pants or skirts. Or even embellishing them, adding a little flair here or there. I have a brown wool skirt that's something of an ongoing project. I just added a black stretchy lace to the top band and now all that's left is the hem, which may or may not get the same treatment. I'm thinking something satiny to give it a little more class. 

Not having a costume to make this summer has allowed me to actually think about what I want to do with all of my fabric and I'm getting some pretty awesome ideas--namely my own futon, since I'm pretty sure I have enough of that heavy weight black and white striped cotton, and perhaps a few other major home-y projects, because why the hell not? Begs the question of what I'm going to do with the mounds of pleather and vinyl.  Chair cushions? Sorta kinky mats for the laundry room?

Finished Pale Fallen Angel Volume 1 and....wow. Just, wow.

I sincerely wish I could articulate how much I loved it. I'm pretty sure I laughed, cheered and even cried or at least choked up a few times. Of course the good guys win, but that doesn't mean they walk away unscathed. The detail the author goes into solidifies it as a re-read just because it's so complex I'm sure I missed things with all of the laughing and cheering and crying.

Also, Kikuchi didn't kill my favorite character, which resulted in lots of laughing and crying by the end.  The next book he's open game, because it's the end of the mini-series, and however much the odds are stacked against D, he can't die, sooo.

*crosses fingers*

God why hasn't there been a Borders built at the mall yet?

Oh, Hideyuki Kikuchi, why must you create such awesome characters and simultaneously threaten to off them at every turn?

So I'm up to volume twelve in the Vampire Hunter D series, "Pale Fallen Angel" Parts 1 & 2, and it's swiftly rising to replace "The Tale of Dead Town" as my favorite in the series for a number of reasons.  The first of which is that D actually develops as a character, and for the first time it's difficult to predict how he'll come out of this particular adventure--his typical shtick being that if something is a vampire he kills it in the end no matter what.  And always wins. Neither of these are secure at all in this story and aside from merely offering a refreshing change of pace it really has made me feel for all the characters involved. It takes a lot of balls for an author to effectively make the antagonist a person that for once, after so long, the reader just cannot side with this time. It seems antithetical as an author to even consider doing that but at the same time there's no denying that if done right, it works, and very little is done wrong in these books.

As someone who's been with the series from the beginning it's awesome to see the creator finally breaking the self-imposed constraints he's had on his main character--not only that, but taking said character in a really interesting direction. D has never really been an anti-hero in a true sense but I can't say it's a stretch to watch him become one.

And the latest victim?

Star Trek: The Next Generation

I'm not sure if it's going to be a complete re-watch of all seven seasons yet, but it wouldn't be the first time I set about watching/reading something ridiculously long because I have that much time on my hands.

Trust me I wish I didn't.

I've started working out again though, with the hope to work myself up to going for a run every day like I used to. According to the doctors (that I haven't seen in several months, but hold to their advice anyway) I can't over-exert myself too badly or it'll mean more seizures. And with my luck with doctors and the paying of associated bills that's a senario I'd like to avoid as best as possible. That aside, it feels good to be doing something for my health again outside to a proper diet and the like. Thanks to the lack of available breakfast foods I've perfected an omlet that could probably make up in nutritional content for a V8. It's less and omlet and more a flat quiche. Damn good though if I do say so myself.

I hate to think that this is what the summer will be like outside of my writing, but unfortunately that seems to be the case. Re-read some of the few scholarly articles that exist on House of Leaves and poked around for more but the hardest thing to do seems to be reconstructing my own notes. There's a page in the book with a passage highlighted and circled and all it says is BINGO! right next to it. Needless to say I'm learning some key lessons in how to annotate myself. Who needs to do that, honestly?

You'd think as a nearly graduated Lit. major I'd know these things.