I thought I would post one of the most beautiful pieces of music. Ever. Dido's lament by Henry Purcell (with a perfect baroque-style singer as well).

For my birthday I got a journal with all kinds of crazy questions in it. I think I will just randomly pick questions from it and post them every once in a while.

What I wish to drop and never pick up again: socks. They are always on the floor where I toss them when I go to bed and always have to be picked up in the morning.

I thought this was funny. I do love Christopher Walken.


 
I was reminded of this reading when I stumbled upon something similar in this glorious treasure of remixes of U2's music. The apple fruitleg version of "I Still Haven't Found I'm Looking For" is hilarious. It takes a bit to get into it, but then it is similar and pretty funny.

Well, BYU-I has asked me to teach basic writing instead of freshman writing. This most likely means one thing-I will actually be teaching two sections next semester. But whether this means they like me, are indifferent, or think I am doing a bad job where I currently am, I am not sure. It is great for me because this is the class I want to teach most, and it will make me more marketable for community colleges.

Here is a trailer for a movie I definitely want to see. And here's to hoping the rating will be appropriate-those Irish and their love of colorful language.



I've read the book that it is based on and really enjoyed it.

One of my favorite English mistakes:

I was watching Murder on the Orient Express the other day and some funny lines reminded me of me. I generally presume to know more than I do, much to my detriment when I am found out as this British gaurd is. A habit worth breaking I would say.

British guard: The church of Santa Sofia is absolutely magnificent.
Poirot: You have seen it?
British guard: No.

British guard: The... The crossing [of the sea on the ferry] should be pleasant. The Bosporus is always calm.
Poirot: You have crossed by the ferry?
British guard: No.

This has probably already made the rounds, but I found it hilarious. Once again, why did I choose my field?

I am busy procrastinating doing my job. On that note however... I love the fact that students know I will read the midterm evaluations and so they are uber nice to me in an effort to boost their grades. Bring on the flattery.

I thought this was really cute. Talk about helping one another out! Hopefully we can all become like little children.

Eric Whitacre, one of my favorite composers, has come out with his own album: he hand-selected the singers, he conducted them, and was in on the production. You can listen to a live stream of the album here.

Btw, the radio station that carries the live streaming of his new album is really cool. I was listening to the music station and it had a lot of music I had never heard before and really liked. It only has a brief ad for the station every four songs. Cool. I will have to try out the other stations.

As an online teacher, I no longer have to worry that I will react like this when a kid's cell phone goes off (I can't believe he answers it!!!!)

I listened to Joyce's Dubliners on CD. The various short stories were read by famous Irish actors and authors. The reading of "The Dead," my favorite story of the lot, by Stephen Rea was so incredibly sensitive to every nuance and poignant. The emotion carried in Joyce's writing is amazing. The absolute miscommunication between the two that have been married for so long... The desparate longing for someone else to understand and speak the same "language" as we do... The arrogant assumption on all our parts that others are thinking our selfish desires when we are. It is an amazing story and is read so beautifully. Check it out.

After meeting with an owner for 2 hours to discuss the budget, she still insisted the home owners association did not need to raise the fees. Preposterous. We are not getting enough in to pay the bills. I walked away feeling like the accountant for Walter Matthau's character on A New Leaf. A must see if you have never.

The very hilarious part I am refering to starts at 5 minutes, 30 seconds in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udUyUQvu5w4&feature=related

It is once again time for the excrutiatingly painful lead up to the Pines condos HOA meetings that I am in charge of as secretary for the HOA. Owners calling and complaining when they have done squat. Owners calling and saying that we can't raise our fees, yet wanting repairs done (which eat up the fees we don't have) so that people will want to rent their condos. Owners making long lists of things that need to be done and they have no desire to do any of it. Agony.

My friend let me know about this and I had to post it. I am a huge fan of all the noise of Irish dancing-I even took an Irish dance class at BYU, but I could never stand Michael Flatley, aka Lord of the Dance. In honor of him... (so well deserved):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LsQ5gcf_fo#t=0m25s

(I can't embed it.)

Work has continued going alright. I have mostly just answered student emails so far. Grading begins next week.
I am going to Cedar City again tomorrow. Lisa and I are going to see Pericles. It is my favorite Shakespeare and no one ever does it. It actually has a lot of plan of salvation/temple imagry in it. I might have to a good quote or two and pass them on when we get back.

Well it was a rough first week trying to get in the groove of doing the class, but things are looking much better today.

In honor of the fact that I am now teaching an English class (unfortunately not a literature one), I decided to post this in case anyone hasn't seen it yet: Jane Austen Fight Club (with yet another appropriate blog background change).

I chose this new background because it reminded me of this.

I was able to set up the "classroom" for one of my sections and they are still figuring out the other one.

I saw the eye doctor yesterday and for the first time-since I was born probably-my eyesight had not become worse. Wahoo.

I saw this on awkward family photos (see link on side of blog) and maybe because of all the weddings I've been to lately, this struck me as extraordinarily funny. Why are they in a tub? Who would do this?

After a few days of much needed alone time, I spent another fun weekend with my family.
I tried to set up my online "classroom," but they didn't have me set up right. I am nervous to start and hadn't heard anything from my mentor teacher, so I was getting a little panicked. He finally sent an email last night-the first one and it was to all of us-and said our classes needed to be set up yesterday. Nice. Well I still don't have access for one of the sections, but I guess I will work on the other one-if I can. Welcome to the world of work.