King Proust the Eighth (WOL)

Oh, I'm working on a new idea for posting that might be really fun! Or really lame. It's a fine line. But be excited! And prepared. So you're good either way.

Question #8: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Really, what? Um. Chastity, I guess. Charity and moderation seem like they are more important. Not that purity of mind and goal and such is bad, just not as influential. I think. This is one strange question.

What about you?

Proust VII (WOL)

Oh Mondays, how I hate thee. Not to be cliche or anything, but there is a distinct lack of breathing space on Mondays. And sleep. Oh sleep, how I miss you.

Question #7: What is your greatest extravagence?

Finally, an easy one! Books. No contest. Textbooks, fiction books, library books - my bookcase overfloweth. Literally, I'm afraid.

What about you?

And on the Sixth Day There was Proust (WOL)

My favorite day of the week! Now why doesn't the questionnaire ask questions about that? I have an answer for that. Maybe that's why.

Question #6: What is the trait you most deplore in others?

What is with all the hate? Why couldn't we be asking about the traits we enjoy in others? I don't like insincerity, I have to waste time trying to figure out whether I should believe someone or not which is not the most enjoyable way to spend a conversation. Or crudeness. I don't think humor that markets to the lowest common denominator is funny on TV and I still don't think it's funny when someone tries it in person. Especially when someone in person says something from TV that they thought was hilarious. Shudder.

What about you?

5 x 1 = Proust (WOL)

Did you know that some banks are not open on Saturday? Today was a learning experience.

Question #5: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Well, that's a downer. I would guess that I dislike how much I procrastinate and actively avoid doing things I dislike. I would get so much more done if I would do it now, but there is so much that I would rather be doing!

What about you?

Proust 4.0 (WOL)

Finally, finally Friday. Sweet, sweet Friday. Wait, I'm pretty sure I was supposed to go to class today. Um, oops?

Question #4: What living person do you most admire?

Argh, what is it with people questions?! Sigh. Well, I guess I would have to say that I admire those people who people who see injustice and try to help. The people who head out to third-world countries to do whatever they can to make people's lives a little better. Those who stay in their own country to help those who are so often ignored. I suppose that isn't really one living person - but I think I'm glad that there is more that one of this sort of person. It gives me hope.

What about you?

Proust the Third (WOL)

Opened library. Brain. So tired.

Question #3: What historical figure do you most identify with?

Um, what? Well, I've always liked the poetry of the early American naturalists. Granted, I can't identify with being a wealthy male who likes to camp out in the woods for months on end - but the beauty of nature is an especial province of mine. Right, so Emerson it is. I'm going to bed now.

What about you?

Proust Part Two (WOL)

Yay, I like having this questionnaire! It's cuts out all the time I spend staring at the blank page (or screen, if my internet ever worked) thinking, "Um, what did I do today? I'm pretty sure I woke up - right?"

Question #2: What is your greatest fear?

So this one is hard to answer, simply because I'm afraid of so much! People, dogs, failure, slipping on stairs and careening to an untimely death. The dogs-one is probably going to be a problem if I decide to become a mailman. Which I'm considering. Except for the whole 5-part test, it sounds like a pretty great job! I think this question got derailed, but it's still answered: Dogs! Because they might lead to failure - or my slipping on stairs.

What about you?

Proust: the Beginning (WOL)

I am so thankful that next week, I only have to open the library on Thursday. 7:30am opening time is insane - as are, I believe, the people who are always waiting for it to open. 7:30? What do you possibly need from a library at 7:30 in the morning?

On a non-complainy note, I found an old Proust Questionnaire that my poetry professor gave out a few years back. I thought answering that here would be entertaining - and would prevent me from having to rack my brains for ideas for awhile!

Question 1: What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I'm always fairly happy curled up at home with a book and a hot drink. I'd probably be happier had I a certain future, so let's say curling up as aforesaid after a productive day doing something that, if not happiness-inducing, is at least not ripping my soul to shreds. Ooo, with a cat on my lap. And a blanket. Yes, very satisfying.

What about you?

Dude

Conversation overheard on my lunch break:

Busboy (after distributing several sandwiches and collecting the numbers for them from the tables): Dude! (Holds up two of the laminated cards, which read '13' and '42.') The two best numbers at one time - this is so my day!

Sandwich-making-person: Yeah, dude, it's the little things, right?

I couldn't decide whether I should take heart that they were enjoying life or laugh at the copious use of the word 'dude' while doing so. I just ate my sandwich and smiled. After all, I was number '13,' maybe it is my day, too. Dude.

My Favorite Day (WOL)

I think Sundays are my new official Favorite Day. I don't have to go to class or work or meetings, I can just curl up with my books, take naps, and run silly errands simply to enjoy the weather. My kettle is bubbling, the dishes are sparking, and I wish I could find a job that let me curl up at home and forget the world outside my window even exists for hours on end.

Imbolc

As it is Imbolc, a holiday which I believe celebrates creativity and poetry as well, I would like to celebrate as well and share a poem - but I am far too nervous! Ah well, maybe next year I will lose my fear. In the meantime, I am going to go light my candles and write out my celebrations. Hopefully you all enjoyed this day of creativity and rebirth in whatever you turned your thoughts towards.

Snow and Stuff (WOL)

Career Planning is becoming my least favorite class of all time. It's not hard or anything, it's just that I sit there for an hour three times a week and try not to visibly panic about my future. Everyday job hunting seems to grow into a bigger and bigger monster - pretty soon he's going to invade my nightmares!

But I will try to Not Panic. Try, being the operative word here.

The rain yesterday turned into sleet and then snow. The world looks like some silly fairy tripped along and threw a layer of soft whiteness over everything by accident. I'm willing to be so generous with my description now that I'm safely back in the warmth of my house. Yesterday, after I deiced my car to get groceries there were several other descriptors used that revolved more about demonic forces than fairies. It's already melting, though, and I think by this afternoon it will all be vanished and leave us wondering if we made up the wintry morning out of our under-caffeinated heads.

My parents, lovable as they always are, mailed me a package that contained a jor of my Uncle JD's popcorn and a contraption called a 'whirly-pop.' No, I am not making that up. You put the pan on the stove, add oil and corn, then attach this strange-looking torture device to the top. Once it starts popping, you turn this handle until the popping stops and - like magic! - delicious popcorn. Yum, popcorn. With salt, lots and lots of salt. It made for a very good dinner.

Yay February! Let's hope it's a good month - we even get an extra day of it!

Go Look Up Babel... Now

So cold! The weather has morphed from the loving calm that sailed through the beginning of the week to this she-demon force that rails wind and rain upon us. I'm watching the weather from my desk through the side doors and I do not want to leave here to go to class. The rain is falling in a sheet at a 45 degree angle. A 45 degree sheet, I stress! I have no umbrella. Is class all that essential in the long run, I ask you? I think not. But, we're discussing Babel today in Russian. He is quite the trip - funny and morbidly depressing all at the same time. Isaac Babel, go look him up. Right now. (I can see you not moving. Shoo!) For him, I will head out into this - it's not as though I don't like rain. It's nice to wander in when it's warm and lovely to listen to at all seasons indoors - but it's cold. I don't want to walk in it, just listen to it - especially since I'm going to get dripping wet and then have to squelch through class. Sorry, this is becoming perilously close to a whine. I will close before I descend into a sulk or - horrors! - a whinge.

Chocolate... Yum (WOL)

So-late. Must-keep-eyes-open... (snoozing sounds) Work and school have taken a dislike to me lately - I might need to sacrifice a chocolate cake to them this weekend to get back in their good graces. Yum, with lemon icing. No, strawberry! Well, maybe lemon... I'll get back to you on that decision. I just struggled home after my late class on Japanese literature. It went pretty well, I loved the book for this week. It's called The Broken Commandment and it's absolutely beautiful prose. He was heavily influenced by the French naturalists while he was writing it, so not only is the story captivating, you get an incredibly detailed and lovely image of the world that Segawa is moving through. For those of us without the luck to have ever been to Hokkaido, it makes you feel almost as though you have seen those mountains and valleys - and that you desperately want to return. I also learned quite a bit about the class system in Japan during the Meiji, which was fascinating all on it's own. There's my recommendation for your week: chocolate cake and The Broken Commandment - go forth and indulge!

Catsday (WOL)

Today was a great day - despite even having to get up at six in the morning. After work and classes, I went out to lunch with the Best Roommate Ever (BRE) at this new Asian restaurant in town and then we went out to the Second Chance Animal Shelter and played with the kitties for a couple of hours! They're so cute and nearly all of them were lovable. There were a couple who were very, "Right, well you can talk to me, but there will be no petting - I'm not sure you're worthy." Very dignified cats, they were. Then there were several kittens who went mad when they discovered that there were new playmates and the cats who really just wanted to take over our laps and be snuggled to death. Very relaxing. I was all over fur when we left, but I definitely want to make time to go back. There are kits in need of cuddling - how can I resist?

Doors and Doors

Yipes! Sorry about so many Written Off-Line posts at once, but it was quite the busy week. Well except Sunday - but I wasn't driving to campus to post blogs on my day off! I love you, but not that much.

On a completely unrealted note, I decided today that I like side doors. Front doors make you feel majestic, of course, expecially if they're ornate in some fashion. Side doors, however, seem as though they are letting you in on a secret, giving part of themseves to you as a gift. You 'enter' a front door, but you can 'slip in' through the side. Much friendlier, don't you think?

Dozy Days (WOL)

Today has been a very homebody day. I didn't have to work (Hallelujah!), so I just curled up in bed with all the books I needed to read - and maybe a few I didn't, heehee - and luxuriated the day away. I still didn't get all the reading I needed to done, it piles up so fast, but I feel so much happier and relaxed. Truly books are mana for my soul. Yay Sundays!

At Dusk (WOL)

The sky was perfect tonight at the very first touch of dusk. The clear blue sky with smokes of white almost-clouds gleaming proudly, as the darker fingertips of dusky-gray began to steal around the curling edges of the sky. I love the word 'dusk.' It's a very different thing than 'twilight' or 'sunset.'

Coming Up Roses (WOL)

My headphones gave up the ghost a few weeks ago and fell all to pieces. They had a good, long life - for headphones - and I mourned them appropriately. I went looking for a new pair today at Walgreens and finally managed to find the perfect pair. I'm picky with headphones. I don't want normal ones that smash your hair down and I don't want earbuds (OW!), I like the ones with the ear pieces all by themselves. Surprizingly scarce, they are. But I found them! Anyway, Walgreens already had all of their Valentines stuff up (big surprize) so I went to cuddle a few of the bears. What should I find instead? Candles. I'm always susceptible to candles, but these went one step further. Rose-scented candles. Real ones, that actually smell as close to a rose as you can get without being creeped out, rather then the main lot of supposedly rose-scented candles clearly made by someone who had never smelled a rose in his life. Or did so only with a very strong head-cold. I gave in to them almost immediately and they are now decorating my bookcase. I know that when I feel low, all I will have to do is go by and inhale to feel straight-away transported to a rose garden. And who can feel unhappy surrounded by roses?

Yoga Daze (WOL)

Yoga was excruciating today. I'm afraid that I'm never going to have much else to say on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I'm dealing with the aftermath of my reckless Mondays and Wednesdays - it's so very much in the forefront of my mind. Not to mention my arms, my legs, my neck, my abs...