I got one! Finally! Thank you, thank you, thank you, all my billions of six-pointed sisters!!! Weeeeeeee! I was so jealous of everyone in California today--like, *angry* jealous of your 80 degree weather that used to be *my* 80 degree weather--but now I feel better! Snow Day!

In honor of the day, maybe I'll revisit my favorite snowy ladies:

Joan D. Vinge's The Snow Queen?
The White Witch?
The Woman of the Snow segment in Kwaidan?

And then there's the story of Ymir, the giant from Norse mythology who gave birth to a bunch of people from his stinky armpits. Maybe I'll skip that one.



Hooray! I'm having a snow day!

Skunked!! Our cat got skunked!!! Yuck!!! Our whole place smells like a cross between sulfuric farts and burnt tire. Dang that Goblin!!

Poll #1278156
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

What do we do?

happy b-day thera_flu!!

veg_bot is a Mom!  I am an auntie!  Hooray!  

This thing is FREAKING ME OUT!!  First it spins right, then it spins left.  The world is NOT AS IT APPEARS.  What else do we see 100% backwards, I wonder?

Paula Deen knows her business.
Best. Cake. Ever.
~<:-D

This rules: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qEWhrjYg_o&feature=email

My friend Thinga sent this to me several years ago.  It has haunted me to this day:

It's Graduate School Barbie (TM)!
Graduate School Barbie comes in two forms: Delusional Master's Barbie and Ph.D. Masochist Barbie.

Every grad school Barbie comes with these fun filled features guaranteed to delight and entertain for hours: Grad School Barbie comes out of the box with a big grin on her face that turns into a frown after 2 weeks or her first advisor meeting (whichever comes first). Adorable black circles quickly form under her delightfully bloodshot eyes. Comes with two outfits: a grubby pair of blue jeans and a 5-year old GAP T-shirt and a floppy pair of gray sweatpants with a matching "Go Screw Yourself" T-shirt.

Grad School Barbie talks! Just press the button on her left hand and hear her say such upbeat grad school phrases like, "Yes, Professor, It'll be done by tomorrow," "I'd love to write it all over again" and "Why didn't I just get a job, I could have been making $40,000 a year by now if I had just started working with a Bachelor's. But Noooooo, Mom and Dad wanted a masters degree, I wish somebody would drop a bomb on the school so that I'd have an excuse to stop working on my degree that's sucking every last drop of life force out of my withered and degraded excuse for a soul..." (9 volt lithium batteries sold separately)

Grad school Barbie is anatomically correct to teach kids about the exciting changes that come with pursuing a higher education. Removable panels on Barbie's head and torso allow you to watch as her cerebellum fries to a crispy brown, her heart races 150 beats per minute, and her stomach lining gradually dissolve into nothing. Also included is the extra 15 pounds plate. Deluxe Barbie comes with specially designed eye ducts. Just add a little water, and watch Grad School Barbie burst into tears at random intervals.

Fun for the entire family!!!!

Other accessories include:
Grad School Barbie's Fun Fridge(tm). Well stocked with microwave popcorn, Coca-Cola, Healthy Choice Bologna (99% fat free) and small bottle of Mattel Brand Bourbon(tm).
Grad School Barbie's Medicine Cabinet. Comes in Fabulous pink and contains Barbie sized bottles of Advil, St. Johns Wort, Zantac, and your choice of three fun anti-anxiety drugs! (Barbie Medicine Cabinet not available without a prescription)
Grad School Barbie's Computer Workstation. Comes with miniature obsolete PC (pink of course), rickety desk, and over a dozen miniature Mountain Dew cans to decorate your workstation with (Mountain Dew deposit not included in price, tech support sold separately)

And Grad School Barbie is not alone!!!! Order now and you'll get two of Barbie's greatest friends.

Graduate Advisor Ken: Barbie's mentor and advisor in her quest for increased education and decreased self-esteem. Grad Advisor Ken(tm) comes with a supply of red pens and a permanent frown. Press the button to hear Grad Advisor Ken deliver such wisdom to Barbie as "I need an update on your progress" "I don't think you'll be ready to graduate yet," and "This is no where near ready for publication."

Buy three or more dolls and have Barbie's Thesis Committee! (Palm Pilot and tenure sold separately)

Real Job Skipper: When Barbie needs to talk, she knows that she can always count on her good friend Real Job Skipper(tm), who got a job after getting her bachelor degree. Press the button to hear Real Job Skipper say, "Sometimes I wish I went for my Master's degree" and "Work is so hard! I had to work a half an hour overtime!" Real Job Skipper's Work Wardrobe and Savings Account sold separately.

WARNING: Do NOT place Grad Student Barbie and Real Job Skipper too close to each other, as there have been several mysterious cases of children leaving the room and coming back to find Barbie's hands mysteriously fused to Skipper's throat.

Dissertation? What dissertation?



( More pix here! )

Happy birthday, innocentwater! I hope you have a great day!

happy b-day, hal-i-bob!!! May your halifax-slashing go well today (and always)!

Today I made myself a veggie wrap for lunch--I loaded it with hummus, avocado, sprouts, cucumber, cheese, spinach, lettuce, and arugula. It was so stuffed with veggies that I couldn't actually complete the "wrap" part of the operation, such that it was more like a soft-shelled taco than a "proper" veggie wrap. At any rate, by the time I sat down to eat it (after teaching, going over papers with students, and driving back to Port Why-not-me), I was so savagely and ravenously hungry that I totally had a Bunnicula moment of vegetable vampirism with my veggie wrap. I sort of hulked over it and then, like, descended upon it. The ferocity of my attack startled me. I guess what I'm saying here is that while I feel really good about moving towards vegetarianism, it was still somewhat satisfying to lock a target in the sights of my tracking vision and then violently attack a bunch of helpless vegetables. Ich habe gefressen...Und es war gut.

Sunday was my seventh year wedding anniversary with the Frog. To celebrate, we went to the Santa Barbara zoo! I fed a giraffe! ( Here is proof! )

The awesome sa_am tagged me for the quirk meme, in which the tag-ee lists seven personality quirks and then tags seven more people to list their own. ( here are mine: )

happy birthday, osl!!!!!

Well, despite my swearing by grayskull that i would have a chapter drafted by today, it just hasn't come together. i am, however, making progress (i'm about half way there, i'd say), so that's something. yay me, i guess.

*sigh*

back to leibniz.

What is the point of eating a low-fat macaroni "smart ones" dinner if one then proceeds to eat ten deviled eggs and an entire box of (stale) Belgian sea-shell chocolates from Trader Joes? O, yes, and a half a bottle of wine?

This weekend I found out that someone in Comp Lit who got a quarter of fellowship support last year wrote TWO WHOLE CHAPTERS of his dissertation in ten weeks. I got a quarter of fellowship support this year from Comp Lit, and what have I accomplished? Not much. Apart from growing some sunflowers and soybean plants (like the dirty hippie I secretly wish I could be) and learning to cook a couple of delicious veg*n entrees (carob-peanut butter pie and gingered tofu cubes), I haven't much to show for myself. I do feel a little more relaxed than I did ten weeks ago, but in terms of ye ole diss, I am still sitting on the 20 pages of random and incomprehensible notes that I produced when the quarter started. Since then? Not so much. This is not to say that I haven't been thinking about it from time to time doing research, but in terms of honest-to-Frank pages that I wouldn't be embarrassed to show to my committee, I am at a loss. What the fuck have I been doing for the past two and a half months? Learning that this person (who has since finished his diss and FOUND A JOB for next year even though he came in A FULL YEAR AFTER I DID) was able to write half of his dissertation in one quarter has given me a giant kick in the ass. I hereby declare the following:

I SWEAR BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL THAT I WILL HAVE A CHAPTER DRAFTED BY THE END OF THIS MONTH.

That is all.