Daily Archives: April 22, 2009

At Home in CO

A little update for Mariko

I have some time left to kill in the library, so I thought I’d give you an update, whether or not you’re actually that interested.THE SNOW LEOPARD – MATTHIESSEN

About a guy trekking the Himalayas on a physical and spiritual quest.  He gives a lot of information about Buddhism and contemplates the world in a fairly serious want-to-be zen way.  I didn’t enjoy it, but i’m not big on spiritual quests or eastern poetry turned prose.

EARLY SPRING:WAKING TO WARMING WORLD – SIEDL

Haven’t finished it and don’t really want to.  She combines science writing with occasional parenting scenes.  It’s short and does have some fairly interesting scientific discussions and cutesy Vermont-nostalgia anecdotes though.

INTO THE WILD – KRAKAUER:  i hated the main character and forgave him at the same time, which sounds difficult but it’s true.  It was a great read if you can stand Chris.

HEAVEN’S COAST – DOTY:  Really sad but incredibly beautiful memoir of the time surrounding his partner’s death to AIDS.  I cried like ten times reading it but his language was beautiful and his take on love and life and grief gave me a lot to think about.

TRUCK:LOVE STORY – PERRY: Fixes a truck, meets, dates and falls in love with a nice lady, cooks and eats a lot and is completely lovable if you forgive him for being a charming chauvinist (on accident).

HOW TO READ NEITZSCHE – PEARSON
HOW TO READ LACAN – ZIZEK

I really enjoyed these.  They were idiots guides for not idiots, but not theorists either.  And, Nietzsche is less annoying as you get to know him.

AMERICAN COOL -STEARNS:  This was a dry read, but really interesting, it actually charts our American relationship to “being cool” and why we do or don’t do it and what it means.  A good read for history of an emotion or culture/social status.

I’m ignoring all the others from my first list because I either don’t have anything interesting to say, or haven’t gotten to them yet.
That’s all I have for now, just wanted to let you know that you should definitely pick up Truck, Heaven’s Coast and Into the Wild if you haven’t already.
And, by the way, I never heard how Things Fall Apart went!  How did it go!?!?
At Home in CO

Spring has sprung?

1 Comment

Well, it’s been 65 plus and sunny all week, but I’m not holding my breath that it will last, with our luck there will be more snow before summer begins.  In the interim, it is getting really hot here, Matt says it’ll get close to 80 today and based on my walk to campus this morning I believe him.  The snow and rain storms of last week have helped a lot here, the grass is finally turning green and the trees are just starting to flower.  Being here in spring makes me appreciate how pretty flowers really are in Oregon in the Spring – as we have NONE here.  I miss daffodils soooo much!  I’ve seen tulips and hyacinth in beds tended by the school but no daffodils.  Oh well, hopefully the flowers Matt and I planted will start to come up once we can let them outside in May.

Speaking of our little gardening endeavor, everything is still alive for the most part but I think further growth is stunted until they can be outside.  Mostly things are short and only a little leafy, except for the peas and beans which are a couple feet tall and twisting themselves around everything they can reach.  I can’t wait to see what everything does when it all gets outside!  We found a free bbq on the street yesterday and are looking for an outdoor table so we can really hang out out there when the weather is nice.  I am really excited for spring and summer and being in the backyard, even if the dogs do bark far too much for anyones comfort out there.

3-4 weeks left in the term, I’ve got a few papers and a couple presentations and am a bit scared of how much work this will be in not much time, but I’m excited the write about The Robber Bride and Buffy, so I’m hoping that will make the papers go a little faster than normal.  I really hope that both turn out well because I feel like I should submit them to something for publication or conference if I can, everyone is so big on pushing that here.  I’d love to present the Buffy paper at conference, that would be incredibly fun and not nearly as intimidating.

My new job is fantastic!  I’m really liking the people and enjoying being busy doing something non-academic but productive for a few hours a week.  My boss and everyone else I’ve met have been really nice and it’s a very low-key office which is great in comparison to some other places I’ve worked.  Matt has walked across the courtyard to  come by and visit a few times which is a lot of fun.  I’m really grateful to finally have found something and to be enjoying it so much.  I might not be a very important part of the weather research and science, but I deliver mail and errands like nobodies business.  🙂

Matt and I will be back in Oregon in July.  Starting from about the 6th and I’ll be there until the 21st.  I hope to see many of you then!

okay, until next time,

yours,

alaina