Materialism

I am now the proud owner of a shiny silver 120GB iPod classic.



And it feels good.

Wanted: a nice man

"A woman should have the same chances in the professions as a man. But a woman's work about the house is never ending; the care of a child is the sweetest of professions; and that woman is neglectful of her best interests who goes out into the world to work when she can get a nice man to do the work for her."

--Sarah Grand (1854-1943), feminist activist

Oh, the gems you find when you're writing a paper titled "Women's Heads Weren't Made for Thinking"!

Good talk

"Remember Lot's Wife" by Elder Holland re-aired today on Channel 11. You can read, watch, or listen here.

1 down, 1 to go

I finished one of my 8-10 page research papers today. Yay. I was up until nearly 3am last night working on it and then up again at 6am. At 8am, I went to teach my class (making little sense and asking the students after nearly every sentence, "Does that make sense?"). I then worked on the paper again for an hour before going to sub for another class, and then had one more hour before it was due.

The scanty eight pages I turned in seemed pretty sad in comparison to the hours and hours and hours of research I put into it.

Maybe it's because I'm an English major, but the arithmetic isn't working for me here.

Did you know it's National Poetry Month?

As I was walking through the BYU bookstore today, I spotted a book called B is for Bad Poetry. Of course, I had to stop and take a look. I read the first few poems in the book and was impressed by the badness of this bad poetry. I wanted to buy it, but the $10 price tag was too spendy for me. Unfortunately, my searches in the BYU library catalog, the Provo City Library catalog, and the Orem City Library catalog proved that this book is not locally available for free or for loan. Alas, apparently you have you pay for your bad poetry these days.

In honor of National Poetry Month, I've included below one of the bad poems from B is for Bad Poetry that I had time to read in the bookstore. If you like it so much that you decide you need to rush out and buy the book, you know who to lend it to first.

Tea for Two (A Tragedy)
by Pamela August Russell

It wasn't until after
I poured the second cup
that I realized
I was alone.

Fairy tales

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a really great talk in the Young Women's session of General Conference about once-upon-a-times and happily-ever-afters. I recommend watching it.

A particularly good insight from President Uchtdorf (or, as my niece would say, Presnent Uchdort)--

"It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life story will develop."

Wise words

It isn't necessary to be rich and famous to be happy; it's only necessary to be rich.
--Alan Alda

Midnight, or, Avoiding homework

One (1) year until graduation means approximately four (4) eight to ten page seminar papers and one (1) roughly thirty page thesis left to write. This makes a grand total of about seventy (70) pages of polished academic writing to be produced over the next year.

Seventy pages of polished academic writing translates (according to my calculations) into the need for about twenty-five (25) cartons of ice cream. Assuming I was able to purchase said ice cream on sale for about $3.00 per carton, I would spend $75.00 on ice cream in the next year.

Oh, the hidden costs of graduate school.

I need to go to bed. Or get to work. Or get some ice cream . . .

Swimmer

a poem by Vernice Wineera

My clumsy life, lived
in the space
between accidents,
flounders before me,
I swim like a crab walks,
from one craft to another
but always they are filled
with careful people.
I will spend my days and all
my wide black nights
in deep ocean,
arms reaching for dreams,
feet seeking solid ground,
constantly treading water.