Recapping the best quotes of Parks and Recreation's third season starts NOW.
Episode One, "Go Big or Go Home".
"Ron. We're back!!!" - Leslie. "...Bully." - Ron.
"The bankrupt government of Pawnee has been shut down all summer, for the past three months it's been no work, no meetings, no late nights, no memos, nothing. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy." - Leslie.
"Apparently in Indiana, you have to provide a basketball league, 'cause if you don't people get very upset....and, quite frankly, throw things at you and call you names. Like 'Turd-Boy'. But, whatever - Point is, I reinstated youth basketball." - Ben. "This says here that there's only enough money for two teams?" - Leslie. "Yeah. They're gonna develop a great rivalry."
"Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys into men, from men into gladiators. And from gladiators into Swansons. Behold: The Swanson Pyramid of Greatness." (Which consists of the following categories, in order from bottom, left to right: Frankness, Capitalism, Facial Hair, Living In the Woods, Rage, Security, Poise, Handshakes, Body Grooming on bottom row, Friends, Property Rights, Masonry, Cabins, Perspiration, You, Crying, Physical Fitness on the next-to-bottom row, Intensity, Torso, Old Wooden Sailing Ships, B.O., Stillness, Skim Milk, Cursing on next row, Cow Protein, Pig Protein, Chicken Protein, Romantic Love, Deer Protein, Fish on next row, Discipline, Attire, Self-Reliance, Suspicion, Skim Milk on next-highest row, Teamwork, Selfishness, Haircuts and Greatness Itself on the row above that, with Weapons, Woodworking and Welfare Avoidance next highest, America and Buffets are next to the top, with Honor as the peak.)
"Crying: Acceptable only at funerals and the Grand Canyon." - Ron explaining one of the categories of the Swanson Pyramid of Success.
"I'd say my coaching style is...centered around fundamentals. With an emphasis on 'FUN'!" - Andy. "And a second emphasis on 'mental'....Yeah, it can be hard, but every time one of these kids looks me in the eye and he calls me 'Coach,' that's how I know: I agreed to be a coach."
"I love dates. I love connecting with someone; I love engaging them, I love being surprised by them...I have never had a bad date. They've all been either great or phenomenally great!" - Chris
"So you asked him about the budget yet?" - Leslie, on phone. "Well, no; it's a little hard to bring up the Parks Department budget when you're talking about your favorite movies..." - Ann. "Jurassic Park; parks are so great; parks budget. There, I just did it for you in three moves." "Well....why don't you ask himself yourself, then?" (Leslie slams into Ann from nowhere.) "Okay, then! I will!" "Holy crap...."
(Wendy kisses Ron; Tom sees and blows his referee's whistle.) "That's a foul!" "What? On whom?" Coach Ron asks, irate. "On your team. On Number 50 over there. For double dribbling." "He's on defense!" "Exactly. That's a technical difficulty, so Andy's team gets to throw the ball from the stripey thing. Let's go!" (Ron, to himself.) "...'The stripey thing'?"
"That's a foul, for roughing the passer! That's a foul, for, uh....for touchin' the basketball!" -Tom
"I dedicate this win to April Ludgate, and it feels good! ...And it also feels sticky...you know, from the Gatorade." - Andy, after the 22-10 win for the Blue team over the Red.
"Leslie asked me to do her a favor, and I love her, so I did it. I'm sorry, and I'm here to eat crow. ...I like you a lot, so...let's go out again." - Ann to Chris.
Episode Two, "Flu Season".
"There is a crazy flu going around, so everyone is dehydrated and miserable, with a high fever and diarrhea. And one of those dehydrated, high-fevered, miserable people is April....who hates me." - Ann.
"I want a new nurse." - April. "...Well, there are none. We're stretched pretty thin right now." - Ann. "Then I want a janitor. They can do what you can, right?" "Yep....janitors and nurses are totally interchangeable..." "Except that nobody dresses up like a janitor on Halloween when they want to be slutty." "I get the sense that maybe you're mad at me for kissing Andy..." "No, I'm not! What are you talking about? That's crazy." "...and that you think it might be fun to take it out on me. Please don't do that." "'Do'? I can't do anything. I'm sick." (Ann turns to leave; immediately gets buzzed again.) "My blankets are on the floor," April scowls.
"....Sure. Anything for my favorite customer." - J.J. "Aw. I bet you say that to all the girls." - Leslie. "No, actually you are my favorite. You spent over a thousand dollars last year on waffles alone."
"Here." (Ron plunks grocery sack onto April's bed.) "I didn't know what to get you, so I just got some magazines and lipstick. Woman stuff." "Thanks. All my parents got me was that," she nods at enormous teddy bear. "Okayyyy. Well. I am not very good at visiting people in hospitals, so I'm going to go."
"The less I know about other people's affairs, the happier I am. I'm not interested in caring about people. I once worked with a guy for three years and never learned his name. Best friend I ever had! We still never talk sometimes." - Ron.
"My body is like a microchip, and the flu is like a grain of sand. It could literally take down the entire system." - Chris.
"We've been on a couple dates. I really like him. The problem is....he's like the perfect...human...man. I can't find one flaw! ...There was one time I thought he farted....but it was me..." - Ann, about Chris.
"Now, I know I'm not gonna find someone who's both aggressively mean and apathetic. April really is the whole package. But I think I know someone who will be just as uneffective...." - Ron.
"Leslie, I typed your symptoms into the thing up here, and it says you could have....'network connectivity problems.'" - Andy.
"104.1? Leslie, you're dehydrated. I'm admitting you." - Ann. "If I was sick, could I do this?" (She just sits there, eyes glassy. Ann and Ben stare.) "What are you doing?" - Ann. "Cartwheels. Am I not doing them?"
"It's not that I don't trust Ben...it's that I don't have faith in Ben...And also I'm starting to forget who 'Ben' is." - Leslie.
"I know what she's trying to do. She's tryin' to get me to break, and ya know what? I'm not gonna do it!" Ann smiles during an interview. "I'm gonna be professional, and I'm gonna put on a happy face, and then I'm gonna go into a supply closet and snap a bunch of tongue depressors!"
"I'll just go to Big Head Joe's. They have the most insane burritos." - Andy. "I don't go much for ethnic food." - Ron. "Trust me. They have something called the 'Meat Tornado', literally killed a guy last year." "You had me at 'Meat Tornado'." (Andy gallops off clumsily.)
"I bring a certain...panache and style to the spa experience for these guys. Before I joined, they were just three old white dudes quietly boiling alive in hot water." - Tom.
"I like Andy. I'm surrounded by a lot of women in this department. And that includes the men." - Ron.
"Hey April! I saw that you called for me. What can I do for you?" Ann asks mock-brightly. "I need more flu medicine." "...Oh. An actual request. ...Well, you can't have any. That stuff is powerful; so no extra doses." "I didn't take any...Leslie came in here and stole it and left." (Ann begins frantic search throughout hospital.)
"Okay, it's showtime," (Leslie, delirious, addresses wall.) "Good evening, all of you. I'm Leslie Monster, and this is Nightline." "Okayyy....I wouldn't open with that..." - Ben.
"Nothing like a complete physical breakdown to make a guy seem less intimidating. I love the flu!" - Ann, about Chris.
"Three....two....one....and my shift's over! WHAT THE F--- IS YOUR PROBLEM?!!!" - Ann. "Whoa...I thought you weren't gonna lose it?" April grins. "WHILE I WAS ON DUTY I DIDN'T! Now it's just me. I get that you're mad that I kissed Andy, okay? But it was a moment of confusion, and it was a mistake, and I'm very sorry. You wanna hate me forever?" "Okay." "Fine! You know what, I don't care! But you shouldn't take it out on Andy because he really likes you and he did nothing wrong! And just for the record, I'm starting to hate you, too!" (She storms out of room.) "That's the most I've ever liked Ann."
"That was amazing. That was...a flu-ridden Michael Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals. That was....Kirk Gibson, hobbling up to the plate and hitting a home run off Dennis Eckersley. That was...." (Ben shakes his head in wonder.) "That was Leslie Knope."
(Andy kisses the sleeping April's forehead gently.) "Gross...your forehead's all sweaty. But I still like you anyway. Ew, that's disgusting...." (He walks out of her room, April opens her eyes and smiles in weary triumph.)
Episode Three, "Time Capsule".
(Leslie is reading every town slogan Pawnee has ever had.) "'Pawnee: The Paris of America.' 'Pawnee: The Akron of Southwest Indiana.' 'Pawnee: Welcome, German soldiers!' After the Nazis took France, our mayor kinda panicked. 'Pawnee: The Factory Fire Capital of America.' 'Pawnee: Welcome, Vietnamese soldiers!' 'Pawnee: Engage with Zorp!' For a brief time in the 70's, our town was taken over by a cult. 'Pawnee: Zorp is dead. Long live Zorp.' 'Pawnee: It's safe to be here now.' 'Pawnee: Birthplace of Julia Roberts.' That was a lie; she sued, and so we had to change it. 'Pawnee: Home of the World Famous Julia Roberts lawsuit.' "Pawnee: Welcome, Taliban soldiers!' and finally, our current slogan: 'Pawnee: First in Friendship, Fourth in Obesity.'"
"...and you can quote me on that." - Leslie. "Oh, I'm actually gonna quote you on all of this, because it's a newspaper article." - Shauna.
"Ah, you are the person who's been emailing me about Twilight!" Leslie says to a man named Kelly Larsen. "I thought you would be younger....and a girl."
"He brought handcuffs with him! This whole thing was planned!" - Leslie complains to Ron and April. "I think it's kinda cool." - April. "It's not cool. It's trespassing, and that is breaking the rules. Cool people make the rules, not break the rules. And if those kids want you to break the rules, then they're not really your friends!" Leslie slips into Mom Mode. "Whoa...who are you even talking about?" April looks unsure whether to be amused or offended. "I don't know. But while we're on the subject, your friend Orin, with the long black nails and the cloak, he concerns me."
(Ron pulls out a hacksaw, Leslie dials security, Ben enters room and immediately looks alarmed. "Guys, can we push the meeting back an hour.....What is going on?" "Some guy handcuffed himself to a chair in my office because we won't put a copy of Twilight in the time capsule." - Leslie. "Damn it....again?"
"I didn't know what to do with these....I think they're gloves?" - Andy. "No, no, no! Those are sport sandals, and they're used for adventure racing. They perfectly contour to the human foot, and the human foot is the ultimate technology." - Chris. "Dude...that is the coolest sentence I've ever heard somebody talk."
"Hey, how about this headline: 'Parks Department Foiled by Pipe Dreams'!" - Shauna. "...That's an amazing headline, but please don't write that story..." - Leslie.
"You know, it's weird...I've been to a lot of towns...usually people don't care about anything. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're weirdos, but they're....weirdos that care." - Ben, about Pawnee.
Episode Four, "Ron and Tammy, Part 2".
"APRIL!" Chris hollers. She pokes her head in the doorway tentatively. "....Did you call me?" "I did! You have very good ears."
"Hey, I don't suppose you'd want to....move to Canada?" Wendy asks Ron, who thinks that's the most hilarious thing ever.
"Wendy's moving back to Canada. And I'd just taught her to whittle. She made me this tiny sharpened stick." - Ron. "I'm gonna tell you what I tell all my girlfriends when they get dumped: Men are dogs." "Thank you, Leslie. That does not apply to this situation. But thank you."
"I know Tammy seems scary, but really she's just a manipulative psychotic library-book-peddling sex-crazed she-demon." - Leslie.
(Interview segment with five police officers after Tammy Two slaps Ron.) "Basically what we have here is a dispute of a domestic nature-" "-White male, about 40, 45-" "Caucasian male, stocky build-" "approximately 5'10"-" "-verbal altercation transpired at approximately 8:55 p.m. with female unsub, appears to be slightly intoxicated, and claims to be an ex-spouse. Real piece of work." "Real piece of work." "Real piece of work." "Real piece of work."
"Ron. I love you like a brother, but right now, I hate you. Like, my actual brother, Levondrius. Who I hate." - Donna.
"Hi.Chris, uh...Ron Swanson has sent me over to deliver this document..." - Andy. Chris takes piece of paper and reads, "'To Whom It May Concern: Dear Chris, There is an emergency regarding the Parks Department and April may just be the only person that can help. I can't get into details because it's super-classified. Please release April back to us permanently. God Bless America. Love, Burt Macklin, FBI.'"
"Say no more. Leslie Knope gets all the favors she needs." - Chief Trumple. "Can I ask why?" - Ben. "Because she's the kind of person who uses favors to help other people."
Episode Five, "Media Blitz".
"I'm gonna type every word I know! Rectangle! America! Megaphone! Monday! Butthole!" - Ron, joyfully.
"You can't go to Indianapolis! There's gotta be something that I can do to convince you how much I care about you. Tell me your least favorite things to do everyday and I'll do them for a month." - Andy. "Fine. If you do everything I hate, for a month, then I might begin to think about the possibility of thinking about maybe staying." - April.
"No, I don't care about their relationship. I just don't want to lose April. I would never be able to find a worse assistant." - Ron.
"Okay, this next task is a school photography assignment....can you figure that out?" - Andy. "Hmm. 'Encapsulate the spirit of melancholy.' Easy." (Ron snatches up camera.) "Boom. Sad desk. Boom. A sad wall." (Andy stares at him.) "It's art. Anything is anything." "Boom. Sad floor." (Ron leaves his office, Andy inspects carpet.) "It does look kinda sad..."
(Everyone is berating Ben for falling apart on Perd Hapley's talk show once the "Mayor of Icetown" thing was brought up. Ben just looks miserable. So of course Ron snaps his picture.) "Sadness."
"Do you fish, April?" - Ron. "No. Fish are gross." "Let me give you a piece of fishing advice:" "I said I don't-"When you have a fish on the line, you don't just drag it behind the boat. You either reel it in, or you cut him loose. Specially if he's a nice fish, with a a big lovable fish heart." "You don't know what you're talking about." "Maybe not. Maybe you do really hate Andy. Maybe moving to Indianapolis just to get revenge on him is a really good idea. What do I know?"
"So....you're leaving soon." - Ann. "Yes, back to Indianapolis briefly, and then on to a little town called Snurling, Indiana, for several months." - Chris. "Never heard of it." "It's quite small. The cows outnumber the people forty to one. Sounds amazing." "...I like you a lot. I....I love spending time with you." "And I thoroughly enjoy you, Ann Perkins."
"Yeah, I just looked you up on Alta Vista, and the last seven towns you visited went bankrupt." - Caller on Pawnee Today to Ben. "Okay, first off, why does everyone in this town use Alta Vista? Is it....1997? And second, I am a budget specialist. I went to those towns because they were bankrupt, and now they aren't. And about Icetown; I was eighteen. Who doesn't do dumb stuff when they're eighteen?! Joan?" "I...stole my gym teacher's husband." (Ben blinks.) "So....there you go." "WELL! What else you got, callers?" - Leslie guides the conversation back on track.
Episode Six, "Indianapolis".
"I don't know! I guess we're dating? It's - whatever. I don't like labels. Go away!" April walks away from the interview instead, grinning.
"Okay, yeahh, that....might actually work." - Ben, on hearing one of Tom's terrible ideas.
"Is everything okay?" - April to Andy. "Um...it kinda sucks that I'm super broke. And I wanna buy you stuff and it's embarrassing that I can't." "I'm broke, too. And I don't want anything; I just wanna hang out with you. Plus I can get free drinks anytime I want." "You can? How?" "Uh....I'm a girl, in a sleazy club."
(Ron to Leslie, after she's been interrogating Chris about a pink razor in his bathroom.) "Did you forget how to have a conversation?"
"No, I'm not cheating on you. But I'm also not dating you....we broke up last week." -Chris to Ann.
"Yeah, so, here's what happened. Sweet and beautiful Ann has never been dumped before, and Chris is just such a positive person, when he broke up with her she just didn't realize it." - Leslie.
"Just..give me all the bacon and eggs that you have. Wait, wait. I worry what you just heard was 'Give me a lot of bacon and eggs'. What I said was, 'Give me all the bacon and eggs that you have.' Do you understand?" - Ron.
Episode Seven, "Harvest Festival".
"Ladies and gentlemen: The world-famous Li'l Sebastian!" - Leslie. "WHAT?" -Tom, everyone else goes berserk. "No way!" "That's awesome!", etc. "It's really him!" - Andy. "That's really Li'l Sebastian!" - Tom. "Oh my gosh!" "Take my picture with him!" - Andy. "Well done, Leslie. WELL DONE!" - Ron. "I'm sitting next to Li'l Sebastian right now. I'm here, and he's right there." - Tom. More marveling by everyone at the amazingness of this huge event. "Sooo.....what am I missing? What's so amazing about this pony?" Ben wonders. "He's not a pony, man! He's a mini horse. There's a big difference!" Tom snaps, offended. "Well, then, why is he so famous? ...Does he...does he do something? What does he do?" "YEAH. He does 'being a mini horse.' And he does it better than anyone," April says emphatically. "Son, this horse has an honorary degree from Notre Dame," Ron explains. More marveling; Leslie and Jerry remind everyone that he's 25 now, and suffering from a variety of ailments, including diabetes and cataracts. "Isn't it amazing?!" Leslie says for the millionth time. "Yeah....it's just - I don't get what the big deal is." - Ben. (He instantly gets death glares from everyone else.) "GET OUT." - Leslie.
"Li'l Sebastian made his debut at the last Harvest Festival in 1987. He was an instant phenomenon. That week, he was the eight-most photographed object in America." - Leslie.
A Pawnee citizen is trying to put her salad stand on Deep-Fried Buelevard, since there's so little chance to be healthy when it comes to Pawnee fast food. Leslie quickly nixes that idea. "Yeah, well, we're trying to make money, not make people hate themselves."
Ben is admiring Leslie's ability to get things done. In this case, meetings with citizens hoping to sell things at the Harvest Festival. With a huge goofy smile on his face - "Man, you are just knocking these off like a ninja....crossed with a Jedi or somethin'..." Tom, unmpressed - "You're like a nerd...mixed with a dork or somethin'..."
"There are two things that I know about white people: They love Rachael Ray, and they are terrified of curses." - Ken Hotate, chief of the Wamapoke Indian tribe.
"...Joan is always looking for a scandal. She's like an eagle-eyed tiger." - Leslie. "Eagle-Eyed Tiger! New band name! I call it!" - Andy.
"Hey....whatever happened with you and the Bionic Man?" - Donna. "Chris? He broke with me, but he did it so nicely that I didn't even realize he did it." - Ann.
Ben and Leslie are showing an unimpressed Joan Callamezzo around the Harvest Festival. "And over there we've got Li'l Sebastian," Leslie grins. "ARE YOU F------- KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!"All traces of Joan's personality are gone as she rushes with glee to get a better view.
"I swear, it's almost like they don't want you to win!" - Andy playing a ring-toss game. "Well....you better practice. You gotta win me a teddy bear." - April grins. "I'm gonna win you a million teddy bears." "Well, I want a billion teddy bears." "Well, that's a little unrealistic. This is a hard game. Two million." "Deal." They kiss. "Hey. I love you," she says.
"Um....this is bad, right?" - Ben. (Tom has just let Li'l Sebastian escape.) "Yes, this is bad. This is like - a poop tornado!" - Leslie. "Okay, gross, but we can work with this."
"Pawnee is an incredibly superstitious town. A traveling magician came through one time and he pulled a rabbit out of a hat, and the mob burned him at the stake for being a witch." - Leslie during interview segment. (Cut to mural of said witch-burning in mall parking lot.) "The year was 1973."
"You know where I would hide if I were a horse? The merry-go-round! Think about it. You could just stand still next to all the other horses and nobody would ever know!" - Andy.
"Okay, I'd like to start by addressing some of the FALSE rumors about the festival," Leslie talks with the media. "First of all we have plenty of food, there has been no food shortage. There are not, as one reporter suggested, dozens of escaped convicts roaming about the carnival. And at NO TIME was any Parks Department worker, quote, FEASTING ON PETTING-ZOO ANIMALS. Yes, Perd?" "Yes, uh, the statement that this reporter has is a question..."
Subtitles appear in as Ken does a tribal dance in front of the media while spouting Wamapoke gibberish: "I am not saying anything. Just making up words! No one can understand me anyway."
"It took us four hours to solve that corn maze, and it took the horse fifteen minutes. Jerry's still out there." - Ron. "I should probably go look for him....after I finish a bratwurst."
A hunky guy says he doesn't have Ann's phone number. "Um...yeah....that's because I didn't give it to you."
Episode Eight, "Camping".
"What portion of this camping trip will take place outside?" - April. "All of it!" - Leslie. "Pass." "Can't pass, it's a mandatory work retreat."
April walks up to Andy's shoeshine stand. "Hey, you gotta hear this hilarious story he was tellin' me! Go ahead, tell her what happened." "My identity was stolen." - Kyle.
"Well, we should catch up sometime." - Chris. "Yeah, we should ketchup and mustard." - Ann. "I relish your wit." (He leaves, to his retreating back) "Yeah, I....salsa...your face." She frowns at whatever that attempt at language was supposed to be.
"Fishing relaxes me. It's like yoga, except I still get to kill something." - Ron, looking genuinely happy.
"I'll just take this spot on the floor here." - Ben, dropping his sleeping bag on some leaves. "It's called the ground when it's outside." - Ron.
"What did Jay-Z, Lil Wayne and Drake all have in common?" - Tom. "Oh, I know this one! They are all rappists." - Jerry.
"I don't even wanna be here. The air is too fresh, it's disgusting, I can't breathe! There's a brook somewhere that won't stop babbling. SHUT UP!" - April.
"Andy. You have to save me. I'm camping with people I work with." - April.
Jerry is worrying loudly about his daughter possibly being sexually active, distracting Ron from trying to fish. "You know what I ought to do? I ought to lead a teen abstinence workshop!" - Jerry. "That might be incredibly effective." - Ron.
"You know, I've never moved this slowly before. It's kind of like being stranded in quicksand." - Chris, walking through the woods at night with Ann.
The gang is now staying at a creepy old inn after the whole "camping" thing didn't work out. "Hey." - Ron. "Hey, can't sleep?" -Leslie. "No. My room is filled with cat hairs. And cat smell. And actual cats. Roughly twelve cats." "Mm. Sounds delightful." (Ron then locks Leslie in a closet to get her to stop thinking about work for a minute, since all episode she's been out of ideas. She wakes up with tons of ideas in the morning. Ron's an awesome boss.)
Sunday, December 6, 2015
Twitter Personality Test
The folks behind the "You Are What You Like" website have done it again and created a website algorithm thing that analyzes your personality based on your Tweets. (AnalyzeWords.com)
Based on the last six weeks' worth of updates(I don't post often, except when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on), under "Emotional Styles" I got the following results: Average amounts of Anger(55) and Depression(55), High marks for being both Upbeat(78) and Worried(67). Under "Social Styles" I got an Average rating for being Socially Engaged56), Very High marks for being Personable(87), and High grades as I am apparently both Arrogant or Distant(75) and a Spacey/Valley Girl type(71). In "Thinking Styles" I scored Very High as an Analytic(91) and Sensory(86) type, with a High level of being In the Moment(63).
Now, what did they mean by these categories?
Upbeat was defined as "Lots of positive words and 'we' talk. You've got energy, kid, if you're ranked as 'upbeat'!" So basically a team-centered approach, I think. Comm classes would label it other-orientation.
Worried was labeled "Anxious language dominates your tweets, as do nervous questions." That's about right.
Anger had the following comment: "Short of constantly writing in all caps, someone high in the 'angry' category uses hostile words and talks a lot at YOU."
Depressed was labeled "Sad, melancholy, inward-looking. Lots of self-references and frequent depressive words." What is meant by "depressive words", I wonder?
Also, I've got four of Riley's five emotions interacting there....(Joy, Fear, Anger and Sadness) Disgust was too polite to show up.
Plugged In meant "Socially engaged. An area reserved for prolific tweeters; you scored high if you used a word like 'PARTY!' or sent a lot of shoutouts to friends." Most of my tweets are replies to something somebody else said, so that makes sense.
Personable was labeled "Engaged in other people's well-being and at peace with expressing your own uncertainty with the world. High scorers in personability use positive emotion words, ask questions, express their own ambivalence and reference others frequently." Yep.
Arrogant/Distant had this description: "Well-read and smart with an arms-length approach to socializing. You scored high in this category if you discuss actions instead of emotions, use big words and don't reference yourself much." YES.
Spacey/Valley Girl was funny in a worrying sort of way, but the description made more sense once I'd read it: "Excitable! If you rank high as a Valley Girl, you love recounting your latest story with a lot of 'LOL!!!!!!'" Not really.....but I do get really emotional while watching Agents, so that's probably where that came from. But I do say pop-culturally I was totally born in the wrong decade. Like, totally.
Analytic was tagged "If law school exams were a person, they would rank really high in this category. Ample large words and phrases that include complex thinking styles. (E.g. "If'...'but not')" That was the best description they could come up with?
Sensory was described with "A tendency to reference your feelings and surrounding environment." That sounds about right. It then says it's a "Northern California" approach to tweeting, whatever that means.
In-the-Moment is "Grounded in what's hot now, with tweets that breezily reference today's topics."
Seems fairly accurate for my I(N/S)FJ self. Follow me if you want:@CoburnWesley
Based on the last six weeks' worth of updates(I don't post often, except when Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on), under "Emotional Styles" I got the following results: Average amounts of Anger(55) and Depression(55), High marks for being both Upbeat(78) and Worried(67). Under "Social Styles" I got an Average rating for being Socially Engaged56), Very High marks for being Personable(87), and High grades as I am apparently both Arrogant or Distant(75) and a Spacey/Valley Girl type(71). In "Thinking Styles" I scored Very High as an Analytic(91) and Sensory(86) type, with a High level of being In the Moment(63).
Now, what did they mean by these categories?
Upbeat was defined as "Lots of positive words and 'we' talk. You've got energy, kid, if you're ranked as 'upbeat'!" So basically a team-centered approach, I think. Comm classes would label it other-orientation.
Worried was labeled "Anxious language dominates your tweets, as do nervous questions." That's about right.
Anger had the following comment: "Short of constantly writing in all caps, someone high in the 'angry' category uses hostile words and talks a lot at YOU."
Depressed was labeled "Sad, melancholy, inward-looking. Lots of self-references and frequent depressive words." What is meant by "depressive words", I wonder?
Also, I've got four of Riley's five emotions interacting there....(Joy, Fear, Anger and Sadness) Disgust was too polite to show up.
Plugged In meant "Socially engaged. An area reserved for prolific tweeters; you scored high if you used a word like 'PARTY!' or sent a lot of shoutouts to friends." Most of my tweets are replies to something somebody else said, so that makes sense.
Personable was labeled "Engaged in other people's well-being and at peace with expressing your own uncertainty with the world. High scorers in personability use positive emotion words, ask questions, express their own ambivalence and reference others frequently." Yep.
Arrogant/Distant had this description: "Well-read and smart with an arms-length approach to socializing. You scored high in this category if you discuss actions instead of emotions, use big words and don't reference yourself much." YES.
Spacey/Valley Girl was funny in a worrying sort of way, but the description made more sense once I'd read it: "Excitable! If you rank high as a Valley Girl, you love recounting your latest story with a lot of 'LOL!!!!!!'" Not really.....but I do get really emotional while watching Agents, so that's probably where that came from. But I do say pop-culturally I was totally born in the wrong decade. Like, totally.
Analytic was tagged "If law school exams were a person, they would rank really high in this category. Ample large words and phrases that include complex thinking styles. (E.g. "If'...'but not')" That was the best description they could come up with?
Sensory was described with "A tendency to reference your feelings and surrounding environment." That sounds about right. It then says it's a "Northern California" approach to tweeting, whatever that means.
In-the-Moment is "Grounded in what's hot now, with tweets that breezily reference today's topics."
Seems fairly accurate for my I(N/S)FJ self. Follow me if you want:
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Overheard in the Classroom
Classrooms are in theory where learning happens. In practice, usually it's more exploring rabbit trails on unusual, bizarre or arcane topics. Which usually lead to interesting soundbites, most of which aren't worth printing. But these were humorous quips from Rogers State University's Baird Hall in 2015. (Seriously, every single class was in the same building.)
2-18 Media Law
Dr. Blakely - "So, flag-burning is considered symbolic speech. But let's say you were burning something else, to intimidate someone. Like what could that be?"
Random Person, completely serious - "People?"
"Uh....yeah. Yeah, that would be very intimidating. But that wasn't what I was thinking of."
2-18 Media Law
Dr. Blakely - "Let's pretend that Margo works for me, and I am going to fire you. Because you're black. Would that be allowed? And I'm not just firing her because she's black; she's also pregnant! And a woman!" (He does double-take.) "...Well, if she's pregnant she's obviously a woman, but..."
8-18 Poetry Writing
Jalexa - "Sorry I'm late, I was waiting on the damn trains..." This became a class punchline, because the trains in downtown Claremore cause so many traffic jams.
8-20 American Lit
We start the school year off with a very quiet girl named Amanda giving the class a step-by-step explication on hangings, explaining exactly how someone dies from the process. It was very informative, and set the tone for a lot of discussions to follow.
8-20 Poetry Writing
I can't remember if this was something somebody mentioned as really happened or not, but it would make for a great scene: Soldiers being shot at during a battle sing Taylor Swift tunes to calm their nerves. Most of discussion was about complaining about politics and debating tattoos.
Dr. Mackie - "Anyone going through a 'what the hell am I doing?' phase in their life needs to be an English major. It's a requirement."
8-21 Literary Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "'Oh'? Very useful little syllable, that 'oh' is."
8-21 Lit Traditions
Taylor Nicole - "I'm allergic to chocolate."
Dr. Dial-Driver, not hearing correctly - "Your mother did what?!!"
She never said anything in class except for this and one other time, so no one actually knew what her name was. It might have been Taylor, might have been Nicole, might have been something else.
8-25 Poetry Writing
(While we're talking about what poets we're familiar with that we might want to consider using as mentors in guiding our own work) Brandon - "I find myself reading a lot of Eliot, Plath and Ginsburg."
Dr. Mackie (scowling during response) - "We need some lighter poets, honey."
8-26 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford - "You can't surf a lake." (I don't remember what the context was for why he said that, but it was funny.)
9-4 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "Don't fall in a silo, people. You'll drown in grain." (I have no idea what the context was that this was said in, but it was weird enough to make the margins of my notebook. Also, when she married her husband, their first address was a tiny apartment in Maryland somewhere on Spotted Pony Road. I wrote that down to use in a story at some point because I loved the street name.)
9-4 Lit Traditions
Zach - "I'm fascinated by people."
Dr. Dial-Driver - "I'm appalled by people."
9-8 Poetry Writing
Catee, while talking about one of her first poems - "It was hard to get started...I was just staring at the blank page going 'SHIT'..." Chorus of loud agreement immediately followed, because there's a lot of that when it comes to writing.
9-9 Shakespeare
Madison to Kenzie - "Sorry. I meant to sound friendly, but on the inside I'm murderous."
Jaisey, in response to Dr. Ford's roll-call question of the day - "I ate good food." "Like what?" "Um...." (she thinks a minute, we wait in suspense) "Potatoes."
9-10 American Lit
We're all complaining about how the classroom is an icebox. Somebody blames Madison for cranking the A/C so low, since she's not in the room to defend herself. Jeff - "She ate a furnace as a child." When I reported this to her several hours later, she nods in agreement after thinking it over. "That's probably true."
9-10 Poetry Writing
While workshopping Madison's pantoum about collecting postcards, Jalexa offers her take on the poem: "I though it was about a narrator who intercepts people's mail and never gives it back." This was decided to be a much more entertaining interpretation.
9-15 American Lit
(Kenzie has been sent across the room to adjust the thermostat.) Dr. Mackie - "It doesn't have to be Madison cold-"
Kenzie - "I can't do Madison cold!"
Dr. Mackie - "Nobody can."
9-15 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "For the record, Criminal Minds is NOT one to binge watch...."
9-17 Poetry Writing
Jeff, to Dr. Mackie - "Did you just say that my thoughts 'piss all over the place'?" (Wouldn't put it past her...)
Catee, explaining about her pantoum - "I just wanted to write a note that was kind of experimenting; it was written while babysitting a two-year-old with the patience of a goldfish, so that's what it's about."
9-18 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "...the mouse ran across the floor in the living room, and I teleported onto the couch."
9-18 Lit Traditions
We're all horrified by the actions of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat", all shouting loudly and passionately. Dr. Dial-Driver breaks in with "But he also murdered his wife! Doesn't that count as evil, too?" Several of Us at Once - "WE DON'T CARE he murdered his wife! HE MURDERED CATS!!!!" "....I don't know whether to be worried or laugh that you guys are saying that....this is probably why 8:30 classes are a bad idea."
9-22 Poetry Writing
Erin starts on one of her "What planet is she from?" rants, praising Emily Bronte, when Dr. Mackie interrupts and is literally SHOUTING in order to describe the awfulness of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and the terribleness of that odious book in general. It was awesome.
9-23 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford to Jeff - "Why do you say 'sopapilla' like you're Italian?"
9-24 Poetry Writing
Random Person - "Do you want us to hand in our journals?" Dr. Mackie - "Oh, sh...- I gave y'all journals?!" "That's what we said while writing them." "But I'm not done grading all those massive ones from American Lit yet!"
9-25 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "My husband is allergic to bare surfaces." (What a terrific description!)
Madison - "...and he was married in an unmarked grave, though....!" (She does double take.) "Uh....'buried' in an unmarked grave, I meant..."
9-25 American Lit
Dr. Mackie to herself - "...Teach a class at 8:30, they said...it'll be fun, they said..."
9-28 Shakespeare
Meaning to use the word "volume" in her sentence, Aubrey uses the word "temperature" instead. It made a very funny sentence, whatever it was.
10-1 Poetry Writing
Brandon, trying to defend his (correct) interpretation of a passage in Jeff's poem - "I don't know....maybe because I naturally always go to suicide..." (Nervous laughter in agreement from class here.) Also, we all agreed that Jeff needs to read audiobooks.
10-7 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford, on a complicated bit of Romeo and Juliet nobody can understand, even with the footnotes in the textbook: "Okay, we know by know that Shakespeare was a pretty dirty writer. yeah?" Chuckles of agreement heard throughout the room. "Well, no one knows exactly what this part's supposed to mean, but we think it's pretty bad. But nobody knows, so we just assume that he's talking about sex here."
Aubrey - "How does Father Laurence know the potion works for 42 hours?" Madison replies that he must have practiced on other subjects before; we all wonder why Shakespeare picked out such a weird time for it to work.
10-8 Poetry Writing
Someone once heard of these black twins named La-Dash-A and La-Space-A. We also thoroughly discussed spelunking and traveled back to Elizabethan England. It was a really strange day.
10-9 Lit Traditions
Apparently concrete heats up as it dries. Weird fact of the day.
10-13 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie, frustrated - "I'm trying to help you guys understand meter, but I've just always gotten it. It's just clicked. And it either does or it doesn't....I don't know how to help you all."
Random Person - "Seriously? You understand iambics?"
Jalexa - "Yeah, she's the Pentameter Goddess."
10-16 Lit Traditions
While we're marveling at high school pregnancies and trying to think of solutions, Zach remembers a girl he knew who used a water bottle to fake her water breaking in order to get out of geometry class. We also talked for some length about dogs, the evilness of snakes and spiders, smoking cigarettes and Muggsey Bogues.
10-19 Shakespeare
Today's roll-call question was what we did over the weekend. Bryce - "Well....I helped my girlfriend with a garage sale, but nobody came." "Why not?" "Because the county mowed down all the signs we'd made."
10-21 Shakespeare
Jeff, as the Ghost, reveals that Claudio killed him in order to seize the throne. Hayden, as Hamlet, reads his lines in a bored monotone with zero emotion. After they were done, Dr. Ford to Hayden - "Your father is telling you he was murdered. Might wanna react to that."
10-28 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford - "...You guys know about circumcision, right?" (Everyone looks extremely alarmed and uncomfortable. Thankfully the subject is changed very quickly.)
10-29 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "Jeff. Start speaking." "Well, I really like dirty poems-" "Jeff. Stop speaking."
Dr. Mackie - "For the record, old people can be lustful, too!" (Several of us immediately call that TMI and go as quickly as we can to any other subject.)
Jeff - "I don't get much of a scent - what am I saying? A 'sense' of madness in this!" (This was just a very weird day. We spent a long time arguing over which would better survive a nuclear bomb: cockroaches or Twinkies.)
11-4 Shakespeare
While answering the roll-call question of worst haircuts we ever had, some girl mentions that lemon juice on hair in the sunlight works as a natural highlight/bleach mixture in order to go blonde.
Dr. Ford - "So, they say absolute power corrupts....what did they do wrong?" (Talking of Macbeth and his wife.) Nobody knows quite how to answer that, until Aubrey speaks up: "....Murder?"
11-5 Poetry Writing
We learned that Dr. Mackie has four degrees and she has never once read Moby Dick. That is amazing. And really cool. (And eventually I'm gonna get past the first page...)
Jalexa - "Are murders happening? 'Cause they should. ...I mean, in the poem, they should." (This is possibly my favorite quote overheard this year.)
11-10 Poetry Writing
Somebody says about my villanelle, "It was comfortable, like a pair of old pajamas." Most of the critiques I got were like that; I couldn't decide whether they were supposed to be compliments or insults.
11-12 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie to Jeff - "I'm not saying you're pond scum."
Jeff, talking about Jalexa's free-verse poem - "It helps if you read it like Dracula."
11-13 Lit Traditions
While we're debating the best foods to eat on Thanksgiving, Taylor Nicole(who never says anything ever) asks completely seriously, "What is pumpkin pie? I've never heard of it." Also, apparently Wal-Mart price-matching can be combined with coupons in order to get even more savings.
11-20 Lit Tradtions
Dr. Dial-Driver, to Ray - "Write faster." "Okay, but I need to think faster." "I don't care if you think, I just want you to turn in something written!"
11-19 Poetry Writing
Catee - "I say fat is evidence that you found good food." Deena - "Well, I've found a lot more satisfaction in pizza than I have in men."
Dr. Mackie - "Does anyone else have that little shoulder angel whispering in your ear, 'You're a dumbass...'?"
Deena, joyfully, after finally mastering some writing technique - "I learned something in this class!" Kenzie in extremely bright and cheerful little-girl voice - "It's cool to know shit!"
11-20 Lit Traditions
Catee - "My dog loves to swim, but he hates baths. It's like trying to bathe a hurricane."
11-24 American Lit
Interrupting her own lecture, Dr. Mackie to Jeff - "What are you doing?" "I have Pop-Tart stuck in my wisdom tooth." (Impressive pause) "Well, that sucks."
11-24 Poetry Writing
In today's miscellanous arguments/discussion/rants: Arguing on Facebook, yoga pants, body image, how awful DW was on Arthur, how wonderful Audrey Hepburn was
12-1 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "My second son wanted to hunt down E.B. White and kill him."
Loud chorus of incredulous "Why???!!!"
"Because Charlotte died." (Stunned silence.)
Jalexa, after a minute - "That's....beautiful..."
12-1 Poetry Writing
Snorts of derision at seeing a PowerPoint presentation about Robert Frost headlined "Bob Frost". Dr. Mackie to Donna - "You're on a first-name basis with him?" It was one of the worst presentations I've ever seen.
12-2 Shakespeare
The last day of class, so Dr. Ford hands out the evaluations, leaves, and doesn't come back for a full half hour. That was weird. So people insulted each other to pass the time.
Bryce - "Kenzie's just a big ball of sass." Jeff - "I thought you said 'ass", and I was gonna be like-" Catee pounces on this - "Nope, that's you!"
After Dr. Ford returns, Jeff literally breaks the wall-partition. He is given a hard time by everyone.
Jeff - "I liked Jacques [from As You Like It] as a character because he's a melancholic jerk. I can kind of relate to that."
I apparently cannot pronounce "apocalyptic"....
12-5 Poetry Writing
Cody - "I'm distracted because Wesley isn't drinking a Diet Coke today."
Madison, snarkily - "You've memorized what he drinks?"
"Well, yeah. He drinks one every day. But today it's a Coke Zero."
2-18 Media Law
Dr. Blakely - "So, flag-burning is considered symbolic speech. But let's say you were burning something else, to intimidate someone. Like what could that be?"
Random Person, completely serious - "People?"
"Uh....yeah. Yeah, that would be very intimidating. But that wasn't what I was thinking of."
2-18 Media Law
Dr. Blakely - "Let's pretend that Margo works for me, and I am going to fire you. Because you're black. Would that be allowed? And I'm not just firing her because she's black; she's also pregnant! And a woman!" (He does double-take.) "...Well, if she's pregnant she's obviously a woman, but..."
8-18 Poetry Writing
Jalexa - "Sorry I'm late, I was waiting on the damn trains..." This became a class punchline, because the trains in downtown Claremore cause so many traffic jams.
8-20 American Lit
We start the school year off with a very quiet girl named Amanda giving the class a step-by-step explication on hangings, explaining exactly how someone dies from the process. It was very informative, and set the tone for a lot of discussions to follow.
8-20 Poetry Writing
I can't remember if this was something somebody mentioned as really happened or not, but it would make for a great scene: Soldiers being shot at during a battle sing Taylor Swift tunes to calm their nerves. Most of discussion was about complaining about politics and debating tattoos.
Dr. Mackie - "Anyone going through a 'what the hell am I doing?' phase in their life needs to be an English major. It's a requirement."
8-21 Literary Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "'Oh'? Very useful little syllable, that 'oh' is."
8-21 Lit Traditions
Taylor Nicole - "I'm allergic to chocolate."
Dr. Dial-Driver, not hearing correctly - "Your mother did what?!!"
She never said anything in class except for this and one other time, so no one actually knew what her name was. It might have been Taylor, might have been Nicole, might have been something else.
8-25 Poetry Writing
(While we're talking about what poets we're familiar with that we might want to consider using as mentors in guiding our own work) Brandon - "I find myself reading a lot of Eliot, Plath and Ginsburg."
Dr. Mackie (scowling during response) - "We need some lighter poets, honey."
8-26 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford - "You can't surf a lake." (I don't remember what the context was for why he said that, but it was funny.)
9-4 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "Don't fall in a silo, people. You'll drown in grain." (I have no idea what the context was that this was said in, but it was weird enough to make the margins of my notebook. Also, when she married her husband, their first address was a tiny apartment in Maryland somewhere on Spotted Pony Road. I wrote that down to use in a story at some point because I loved the street name.)
9-4 Lit Traditions
Zach - "I'm fascinated by people."
Dr. Dial-Driver - "I'm appalled by people."
9-8 Poetry Writing
Catee, while talking about one of her first poems - "It was hard to get started...I was just staring at the blank page going 'SHIT'..." Chorus of loud agreement immediately followed, because there's a lot of that when it comes to writing.
9-9 Shakespeare
Madison to Kenzie - "Sorry. I meant to sound friendly, but on the inside I'm murderous."
Jaisey, in response to Dr. Ford's roll-call question of the day - "I ate good food." "Like what?" "Um...." (she thinks a minute, we wait in suspense) "Potatoes."
9-10 American Lit
We're all complaining about how the classroom is an icebox. Somebody blames Madison for cranking the A/C so low, since she's not in the room to defend herself. Jeff - "She ate a furnace as a child." When I reported this to her several hours later, she nods in agreement after thinking it over. "That's probably true."
9-10 Poetry Writing
While workshopping Madison's pantoum about collecting postcards, Jalexa offers her take on the poem: "I though it was about a narrator who intercepts people's mail and never gives it back." This was decided to be a much more entertaining interpretation.
9-15 American Lit
(Kenzie has been sent across the room to adjust the thermostat.) Dr. Mackie - "It doesn't have to be Madison cold-"
Kenzie - "I can't do Madison cold!"
Dr. Mackie - "Nobody can."
9-15 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "For the record, Criminal Minds is NOT one to binge watch...."
9-17 Poetry Writing
Jeff, to Dr. Mackie - "Did you just say that my thoughts 'piss all over the place'?" (Wouldn't put it past her...)
Catee, explaining about her pantoum - "I just wanted to write a note that was kind of experimenting; it was written while babysitting a two-year-old with the patience of a goldfish, so that's what it's about."
9-18 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "...the mouse ran across the floor in the living room, and I teleported onto the couch."
9-18 Lit Traditions
We're all horrified by the actions of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Black Cat", all shouting loudly and passionately. Dr. Dial-Driver breaks in with "But he also murdered his wife! Doesn't that count as evil, too?" Several of Us at Once - "WE DON'T CARE he murdered his wife! HE MURDERED CATS!!!!" "....I don't know whether to be worried or laugh that you guys are saying that....this is probably why 8:30 classes are a bad idea."
9-22 Poetry Writing
Erin starts on one of her "What planet is she from?" rants, praising Emily Bronte, when Dr. Mackie interrupts and is literally SHOUTING in order to describe the awfulness of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and the terribleness of that odious book in general. It was awesome.
9-23 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford to Jeff - "Why do you say 'sopapilla' like you're Italian?"
9-24 Poetry Writing
Random Person - "Do you want us to hand in our journals?" Dr. Mackie - "Oh, sh...- I gave y'all journals?!" "That's what we said while writing them." "But I'm not done grading all those massive ones from American Lit yet!"
9-25 Lit Traditions
Dr. Dial-Driver - "My husband is allergic to bare surfaces." (What a terrific description!)
Madison - "...and he was married in an unmarked grave, though....!" (She does double take.) "Uh....'buried' in an unmarked grave, I meant..."
9-25 American Lit
Dr. Mackie to herself - "...Teach a class at 8:30, they said...it'll be fun, they said..."
9-28 Shakespeare
Meaning to use the word "volume" in her sentence, Aubrey uses the word "temperature" instead. It made a very funny sentence, whatever it was.
10-1 Poetry Writing
Brandon, trying to defend his (correct) interpretation of a passage in Jeff's poem - "I don't know....maybe because I naturally always go to suicide..." (Nervous laughter in agreement from class here.) Also, we all agreed that Jeff needs to read audiobooks.
10-7 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford, on a complicated bit of Romeo and Juliet nobody can understand, even with the footnotes in the textbook: "Okay, we know by know that Shakespeare was a pretty dirty writer. yeah?" Chuckles of agreement heard throughout the room. "Well, no one knows exactly what this part's supposed to mean, but we think it's pretty bad. But nobody knows, so we just assume that he's talking about sex here."
Aubrey - "How does Father Laurence know the potion works for 42 hours?" Madison replies that he must have practiced on other subjects before; we all wonder why Shakespeare picked out such a weird time for it to work.
10-8 Poetry Writing
Someone once heard of these black twins named La-Dash-A and La-Space-A. We also thoroughly discussed spelunking and traveled back to Elizabethan England. It was a really strange day.
10-9 Lit Traditions
Apparently concrete heats up as it dries. Weird fact of the day.
10-13 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie, frustrated - "I'm trying to help you guys understand meter, but I've just always gotten it. It's just clicked. And it either does or it doesn't....I don't know how to help you all."
Random Person - "Seriously? You understand iambics?"
Jalexa - "Yeah, she's the Pentameter Goddess."
10-16 Lit Traditions
While we're marveling at high school pregnancies and trying to think of solutions, Zach remembers a girl he knew who used a water bottle to fake her water breaking in order to get out of geometry class. We also talked for some length about dogs, the evilness of snakes and spiders, smoking cigarettes and Muggsey Bogues.
10-19 Shakespeare
Today's roll-call question was what we did over the weekend. Bryce - "Well....I helped my girlfriend with a garage sale, but nobody came." "Why not?" "Because the county mowed down all the signs we'd made."
10-21 Shakespeare
Jeff, as the Ghost, reveals that Claudio killed him in order to seize the throne. Hayden, as Hamlet, reads his lines in a bored monotone with zero emotion. After they were done, Dr. Ford to Hayden - "Your father is telling you he was murdered. Might wanna react to that."
10-28 Shakespeare
Dr. Ford - "...You guys know about circumcision, right?" (Everyone looks extremely alarmed and uncomfortable. Thankfully the subject is changed very quickly.)
10-29 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "Jeff. Start speaking." "Well, I really like dirty poems-" "Jeff. Stop speaking."
Dr. Mackie - "For the record, old people can be lustful, too!" (Several of us immediately call that TMI and go as quickly as we can to any other subject.)
Jeff - "I don't get much of a scent - what am I saying? A 'sense' of madness in this!" (This was just a very weird day. We spent a long time arguing over which would better survive a nuclear bomb: cockroaches or Twinkies.)
11-4 Shakespeare
While answering the roll-call question of worst haircuts we ever had, some girl mentions that lemon juice on hair in the sunlight works as a natural highlight/bleach mixture in order to go blonde.
Dr. Ford - "So, they say absolute power corrupts....what did they do wrong?" (Talking of Macbeth and his wife.) Nobody knows quite how to answer that, until Aubrey speaks up: "....Murder?"
11-5 Poetry Writing
We learned that Dr. Mackie has four degrees and she has never once read Moby Dick. That is amazing. And really cool. (And eventually I'm gonna get past the first page...)
Jalexa - "Are murders happening? 'Cause they should. ...I mean, in the poem, they should." (This is possibly my favorite quote overheard this year.)
11-10 Poetry Writing
Somebody says about my villanelle, "It was comfortable, like a pair of old pajamas." Most of the critiques I got were like that; I couldn't decide whether they were supposed to be compliments or insults.
11-12 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie to Jeff - "I'm not saying you're pond scum."
Jeff, talking about Jalexa's free-verse poem - "It helps if you read it like Dracula."
11-13 Lit Traditions
While we're debating the best foods to eat on Thanksgiving, Taylor Nicole(who never says anything ever) asks completely seriously, "What is pumpkin pie? I've never heard of it." Also, apparently Wal-Mart price-matching can be combined with coupons in order to get even more savings.
11-20 Lit Tradtions
Dr. Dial-Driver, to Ray - "Write faster." "Okay, but I need to think faster." "I don't care if you think, I just want you to turn in something written!"
11-19 Poetry Writing
Catee - "I say fat is evidence that you found good food." Deena - "Well, I've found a lot more satisfaction in pizza than I have in men."
Dr. Mackie - "Does anyone else have that little shoulder angel whispering in your ear, 'You're a dumbass...'?"
Deena, joyfully, after finally mastering some writing technique - "I learned something in this class!" Kenzie in extremely bright and cheerful little-girl voice - "It's cool to know shit!"
11-20 Lit Traditions
Catee - "My dog loves to swim, but he hates baths. It's like trying to bathe a hurricane."
11-24 American Lit
Interrupting her own lecture, Dr. Mackie to Jeff - "What are you doing?" "I have Pop-Tart stuck in my wisdom tooth." (Impressive pause) "Well, that sucks."
11-24 Poetry Writing
In today's miscellanous arguments/discussion/rants: Arguing on Facebook, yoga pants, body image, how awful DW was on Arthur, how wonderful Audrey Hepburn was
12-1 Poetry Writing
Dr. Mackie - "My second son wanted to hunt down E.B. White and kill him."
Loud chorus of incredulous "Why???!!!"
"Because Charlotte died." (Stunned silence.)
Jalexa, after a minute - "That's....beautiful..."
12-1 Poetry Writing
Snorts of derision at seeing a PowerPoint presentation about Robert Frost headlined "Bob Frost". Dr. Mackie to Donna - "You're on a first-name basis with him?" It was one of the worst presentations I've ever seen.
12-2 Shakespeare
The last day of class, so Dr. Ford hands out the evaluations, leaves, and doesn't come back for a full half hour. That was weird. So people insulted each other to pass the time.
Bryce - "Kenzie's just a big ball of sass." Jeff - "I thought you said 'ass", and I was gonna be like-" Catee pounces on this - "Nope, that's you!"
After Dr. Ford returns, Jeff literally breaks the wall-partition. He is given a hard time by everyone.
Jeff - "I liked Jacques [from As You Like It] as a character because he's a melancholic jerk. I can kind of relate to that."
I apparently cannot pronounce "apocalyptic"....
12-5 Poetry Writing
Cody - "I'm distracted because Wesley isn't drinking a Diet Coke today."
Madison, snarkily - "You've memorized what he drinks?"
"Well, yeah. He drinks one every day. But today it's a Coke Zero."
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Early December
Thanksgiving was pretty quiet. About half the family was sick, so we just stayed at home instead of heading to Tahlequah(can't have Grandpa get sick, that wouldn't be good at all). So we bet on the Cowboys game, since that's about the only Thanksgiving tradition we really have, Dad won, off by four points. My phone was lighting up all morning with "Happy Thanksgiving!" texts to and from Daniel, Ashland, Jon, Dylan and Elizabeth. Courtney is about ready to take her driver's test, so she's kind of excited about that.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is almost at the third season's winter break, and so tonight's episode was adrenaline packed. It was insane. Next week's will be even crazier. The start of Agent Carter was pushed back because of the State of the Union address, which can be summed up by the opinion of all the old men at the Danville high school basketball games, according to one of Philip Gulley's essay collections: "It's bad, and it's only going to get worse." Maybe HYDRA isn't so fictional as we'd like to believe....
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is almost at the third season's winter break, and so tonight's episode was adrenaline packed. It was insane. Next week's will be even crazier. The start of Agent Carter was pushed back because of the State of the Union address, which can be summed up by the opinion of all the old men at the Danville high school basketball games, according to one of Philip Gulley's essay collections: "It's bad, and it's only going to get worse." Maybe HYDRA isn't so fictional as we'd like to believe....
Monday, November 23, 2015
Thanksgiving Unbreak Two
It's time for another Thanksgiving unbreak. Which means that the semester is almost over with. And that's good news. It also means that the semester is almost over with....so things are extra-busy with the final projects before finals. That's the other side of the coin.
I spent all morning at my laptop furiously typing away on the keyboard; where I realized something: It IS possible to write two essays in less than five hours. Not recommended, but it is possible. And so then I rush off to the campus library to print them off before today's Shakespeare class....and there's a note on the door saying "Shakespeare is canceled today."
....Seriously?
So I trooped back to my apartment and played Need For Speed for a while before getting started on some more homework and watching back-to-back episodes of Studio C. (Useful thing about having cable...it's also useful for Wednesday night hockey. And Thunder games.)
I've had a bunch of SWAT quotes running through my head the last couple days, which has been kind of nice. And also a little sad, now that we've split up all stretched out across the state. I really miss the BCM at NSU. The Parks-like office hierarchy and antics, Bob and Deb's leadership, SWAT practices in the basement or worship practices upstairs before Impact meetings, the anything-can-happen vibe during the Velocity bible studies on Thursday nights, Thunder watch parties in the living room where we all suffocate pillows, the softest couches on campus, Friday Lunch Bunch meetings....it feels like a lot longer than three semesters ago that I left Tahlequah. Or maybe they've just been really long semesters. Anyway, Elizabeth and I got to chatting on Twitter tonight about the disastrous Sallisaw road trip, which happened two years ago on Saturday. I'm still a little mad about that, honestly. (Though it does make a wonderful story. Probably because it was such a complete failure.)
The first "Thanksgiving Unbreak" post was written two years ago, but I liked the title and thought I'd reuse it. I have to read John Steinbeck, of all people, over the break for American Lit. (I loath John Steinbeck slightly less than my hatred for Charles Dickens.) Maybe Of Mice and Men will be tolerable, though? I can hope....
Done a lot of reading not-for-school this week, which is the best kind. Wilson Rawls's classic Where the Red Fern Grows was devoured on Sunday night, it was a good chance to study great writing. And besides, it was a pretty crappy day and I needed to cry. And it's a lock that oceans of tears will fall all through, especially the last thirty pages. Anyway, there was also a quite disappointing history of Sesame Street, which spent fully half the book detailing the preproduction arguments between government officials and education professors. And it gave way too much attention to the earliest examples of children's television programming. But when it actually focused on making the show, it was a good book. It's just that took about fifty pages out of about 350 total. Also read a history of America told through major foods that have been important through the years, Amy Poehler's well-written and very strange memoir, and an introductory textbook about the business of voice acting.
Hoping to get some not-for-school fiction in soon, because while The Tempest is interesting(and I think played a big part in influencing The Little Mermaid, of all things), Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams are incredibly depressing. especially back-to-back. And that's not even counting the bizarre Alice in Wonderland-like novel written by some Japanese guy or some extremely frightening short stories set in a dystopia where megacorporations of GMO manufacturing rule everything. (I hate dystopian stories maybe more than Dickens. Also, I realized yesterday morning that I'm VERY JUDGMENTAL when it comes to literature. This is probably good for life, but not so great for classes.)
Where was I? Complaining about how tired I am, maybe? But that's what happens when you must pull at least one all-nighter a week in order to keep up with coursework for several months in a row. Heard from Ashland the other day; encouraging each other through this last couple weeks of school. That was good.
I caught one of those 24-hour viruses on Friday night, so that pretty much wrecked most of the weekend in terms of productivity, which led to the frantic cram session this morning. But I'm feeling better now. Went Christmas shopping yesterday morning, then watched Jeff Gordon's final race, where Kyle Busch won his first title. I've never been much of a Gordon fan, but it'll be even weirder watching a race without him racing than it is to see a football game without Brett Favre....but Bill Elliott's son Chase is the guy replacing him, so I'll have a new driver to root for next season.
Now to finish the last peer critiques of the semester for tomorrow's Poetry Writing, email them to myself for printing in the morning, and I think I can get some sleep.
I spent all morning at my laptop furiously typing away on the keyboard; where I realized something: It IS possible to write two essays in less than five hours. Not recommended, but it is possible. And so then I rush off to the campus library to print them off before today's Shakespeare class....and there's a note on the door saying "Shakespeare is canceled today."
....Seriously?
So I trooped back to my apartment and played Need For Speed for a while before getting started on some more homework and watching back-to-back episodes of Studio C. (Useful thing about having cable...it's also useful for Wednesday night hockey. And Thunder games.)
I've had a bunch of SWAT quotes running through my head the last couple days, which has been kind of nice. And also a little sad, now that we've split up all stretched out across the state. I really miss the BCM at NSU. The Parks-like office hierarchy and antics, Bob and Deb's leadership, SWAT practices in the basement or worship practices upstairs before Impact meetings, the anything-can-happen vibe during the Velocity bible studies on Thursday nights, Thunder watch parties in the living room where we all suffocate pillows, the softest couches on campus, Friday Lunch Bunch meetings....it feels like a lot longer than three semesters ago that I left Tahlequah. Or maybe they've just been really long semesters. Anyway, Elizabeth and I got to chatting on Twitter tonight about the disastrous Sallisaw road trip, which happened two years ago on Saturday. I'm still a little mad about that, honestly. (Though it does make a wonderful story. Probably because it was such a complete failure.)
The first "Thanksgiving Unbreak" post was written two years ago, but I liked the title and thought I'd reuse it. I have to read John Steinbeck, of all people, over the break for American Lit. (I loath John Steinbeck slightly less than my hatred for Charles Dickens.) Maybe Of Mice and Men will be tolerable, though? I can hope....
Done a lot of reading not-for-school this week, which is the best kind. Wilson Rawls's classic Where the Red Fern Grows was devoured on Sunday night, it was a good chance to study great writing. And besides, it was a pretty crappy day and I needed to cry. And it's a lock that oceans of tears will fall all through, especially the last thirty pages. Anyway, there was also a quite disappointing history of Sesame Street, which spent fully half the book detailing the preproduction arguments between government officials and education professors. And it gave way too much attention to the earliest examples of children's television programming. But when it actually focused on making the show, it was a good book. It's just that took about fifty pages out of about 350 total. Also read a history of America told through major foods that have been important through the years, Amy Poehler's well-written and very strange memoir, and an introductory textbook about the business of voice acting.
Hoping to get some not-for-school fiction in soon, because while The Tempest is interesting(and I think played a big part in influencing The Little Mermaid, of all things), Eugene O'Neill and Tennessee Williams are incredibly depressing. especially back-to-back. And that's not even counting the bizarre Alice in Wonderland-like novel written by some Japanese guy or some extremely frightening short stories set in a dystopia where megacorporations of GMO manufacturing rule everything. (I hate dystopian stories maybe more than Dickens. Also, I realized yesterday morning that I'm VERY JUDGMENTAL when it comes to literature. This is probably good for life, but not so great for classes.)
Where was I? Complaining about how tired I am, maybe? But that's what happens when you must pull at least one all-nighter a week in order to keep up with coursework for several months in a row. Heard from Ashland the other day; encouraging each other through this last couple weeks of school. That was good.
I caught one of those 24-hour viruses on Friday night, so that pretty much wrecked most of the weekend in terms of productivity, which led to the frantic cram session this morning. But I'm feeling better now. Went Christmas shopping yesterday morning, then watched Jeff Gordon's final race, where Kyle Busch won his first title. I've never been much of a Gordon fan, but it'll be even weirder watching a race without him racing than it is to see a football game without Brett Favre....but Bill Elliott's son Chase is the guy replacing him, so I'll have a new driver to root for next season.
Now to finish the last peer critiques of the semester for tomorrow's Poetry Writing, email them to myself for printing in the morning, and I think I can get some sleep.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Down in Flames
"Down in Flames" is the title of a Relient K song, but it really describes the world right now really, really well....and that....I don't know. It's discouraging, terrifying.
This guy's tone drives me up the wall most of the time, though I agree with his main points, generally. (Kind of like those radio talk show guys that way.) Anyway, here's Matt Walsh's recap of the recent mayhem at the University of Missouri.
Everyone is all in uproar about Starbucks changing the design of their Christmastime cups....plain red is probably slightly cheaper than putting snowmen and trees and all on there, too. It's ridiculous.
And Friday Paris was attacked by terrorists for the second time this year.
And that's basically what's been dominating the world news for the last couple weeks.
This guy's tone drives me up the wall most of the time, though I agree with his main points, generally. (Kind of like those radio talk show guys that way.) Anyway, here's Matt Walsh's recap of the recent mayhem at the University of Missouri.
Everyone is all in uproar about Starbucks changing the design of their Christmastime cups....plain red is probably slightly cheaper than putting snowmen and trees and all on there, too. It's ridiculous.
And Friday Paris was attacked by terrorists for the second time this year.
And that's basically what's been dominating the world news for the last couple weeks.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
2015 CMA Awards
A recapping of thoughts during the 2015 CMA Awards. Sort of like I did for Parks and Rec.
The opening Star Wars credit sequence was pretty funny.
The joke about Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert breaking up in Brad and Carrie's opening monologue was cruel. Even if it was supposed to be about Kermit and Miss Piggy. (That new Muppet show is extremely depressing, btw.) Anyway, when they cut to Blake he looked like he wanted to cry, if he wasn't on national television in front of millions of people.
John Mellencamp has a really awesome guitar. I want it. Not a huge fan of that Keith song, but it was a cool duet.
Zac Brown was sighted NOT wearing a stocking cap. He actually has a head! (And it's bald.)
Maddie & Tae are the only New Artist of the Year nominees I've heard of, and I don't recognize any of their songs. #DeclineofCountryMusic....
See previous hashtag....that Little Big Town song "Girl Crush"(which won both Song of the Year and Single of the Year) is extremely creepy. Eric Church's "Talladega" should've won Single of the Year.
Didn't know that Carrie could play guitar. That was cool. Also, I grabbed mine to pick along, which is a little difficult when you aren't super-familiar with the song being played. (I do like "Smoke Break", I think. Still too new to know for sure.) And Keith Urban was playing lead electric in the background, which was awesome. (I'd love to see Keith, Brad, Carrie and Miranda start a superband....maybe inviting Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne and Jon Bon Jovi for a couple songs, too.)
Please explain how the musical atrocity that is Florida Georgia Line won Duo of the Year?
Pretty sure I saw the guys from Rascal Flatts in the background playing for Eric Church.
That Thomas Rhett guy is annoying, but he's the son of Rhett Akins(the three-hit wonder known for "That Ain't My Truck", he's written a bunch for other people). Those ponytails on the dancers were really high...that was odd.
That dress-thing the blonde chick was wearing was strange-looking. Why would you want to dress up as a grafitti-ed brick wall? And then have a fluffy peacock-tail thing on the back?
I wonder what Miranda was thinking during Blake's song....
Brad Paisley wins Wesley's Best Performance of the Night for "Country Nation". Which is like the sixth year in a row (or something like that) he's won that unofficial award.
Hmm. I think I like this "Girl in a Country Song" by Maddie & Tae. SOMEBODY needs to stand up for the girls of radio stories. Also, one of them is a left-handed guitarist, and the other plays mandolin. That gets extra points.
Miranda's hanging in there. That was a pretty good performance for it being a show.
WHAT ON EARTH is Kacey Musgraves wearing? She looks ridiculous. But she still has a really cool voice. (Note to self: Rewatch Skylar Laine American Idol clips on YouTube.)
Little Big Town is good, but nowhere near Rascal Flatts or the Band Perry. (Better than the Zac Brown Band, though.)
Yay! Miranda wins Female Vocalist of the Year! (I would've been happy if Carrie won, too.)
Seeing Brooks & Dunn reunite for a bit, and then teaming up again with Reba McEntire, that was cool.
This Chris Stapleton guy sure is winning a lot of awards. Who is he?
Luke Bryan is okay, but winning Entertainer of the Year over GARTH BROOKS, or Kenny Chesney? Nope...
Most of these awards I would say were given to the wrong people, but there's so many people involved behind the scenes working like crazy every day, so it's good to share the spotlight some, I guess.
The opening Star Wars credit sequence was pretty funny.
The joke about Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert breaking up in Brad and Carrie's opening monologue was cruel. Even if it was supposed to be about Kermit and Miss Piggy. (That new Muppet show is extremely depressing, btw.) Anyway, when they cut to Blake he looked like he wanted to cry, if he wasn't on national television in front of millions of people.
John Mellencamp has a really awesome guitar. I want it. Not a huge fan of that Keith song, but it was a cool duet.
Zac Brown was sighted NOT wearing a stocking cap. He actually has a head! (And it's bald.)
Maddie & Tae are the only New Artist of the Year nominees I've heard of, and I don't recognize any of their songs. #DeclineofCountryMusic....
See previous hashtag....that Little Big Town song "Girl Crush"(which won both Song of the Year and Single of the Year) is extremely creepy. Eric Church's "Talladega" should've won Single of the Year.
Didn't know that Carrie could play guitar. That was cool. Also, I grabbed mine to pick along, which is a little difficult when you aren't super-familiar with the song being played. (I do like "Smoke Break", I think. Still too new to know for sure.) And Keith Urban was playing lead electric in the background, which was awesome. (I'd love to see Keith, Brad, Carrie and Miranda start a superband....maybe inviting Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne and Jon Bon Jovi for a couple songs, too.)
Please explain how the musical atrocity that is Florida Georgia Line won Duo of the Year?
Pretty sure I saw the guys from Rascal Flatts in the background playing for Eric Church.
That Thomas Rhett guy is annoying, but he's the son of Rhett Akins(the three-hit wonder known for "That Ain't My Truck", he's written a bunch for other people). Those ponytails on the dancers were really high...that was odd.
That dress-thing the blonde chick was wearing was strange-looking. Why would you want to dress up as a grafitti-ed brick wall? And then have a fluffy peacock-tail thing on the back?
I wonder what Miranda was thinking during Blake's song....
Brad Paisley wins Wesley's Best Performance of the Night for "Country Nation". Which is like the sixth year in a row (or something like that) he's won that unofficial award.
Hmm. I think I like this "Girl in a Country Song" by Maddie & Tae. SOMEBODY needs to stand up for the girls of radio stories. Also, one of them is a left-handed guitarist, and the other plays mandolin. That gets extra points.
Miranda's hanging in there. That was a pretty good performance for it being a show.
WHAT ON EARTH is Kacey Musgraves wearing? She looks ridiculous. But she still has a really cool voice. (Note to self: Rewatch Skylar Laine American Idol clips on YouTube.)
Little Big Town is good, but nowhere near Rascal Flatts or the Band Perry. (Better than the Zac Brown Band, though.)
Yay! Miranda wins Female Vocalist of the Year! (I would've been happy if Carrie won, too.)
Seeing Brooks & Dunn reunite for a bit, and then teaming up again with Reba McEntire, that was cool.
This Chris Stapleton guy sure is winning a lot of awards. Who is he?
Luke Bryan is okay, but winning Entertainer of the Year over GARTH BROOKS, or Kenny Chesney? Nope...
Most of these awards I would say were given to the wrong people, but there's so many people involved behind the scenes working like crazy every day, so it's good to share the spotlight some, I guess.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Glad This Week Is Over
Last Saturday in Stillwater, a lady crashed into the the Oklahoma State Homecoming parade. She killed four people and injured about fifty others, most of them pretty seriously. Nobody I know over there was hurt, but that's made for a really weird week. Things like that shouldn't happen. But they do. You just feel so helpless. Tuesday Mom texted me that Grandpa's cancer was back, and it's bad. He has maybe six months. While not anywhere near the level of awfulness as those events, Monday I found out that graduation got pushed back another six months, and classes all this week did not go too well. I taught Lit Traditions this week; about a bizarre graphic novel called Daytripper, which is basically all about death. I didn't like it much, got basically zero help from the guy I was working with, and there was almost no discussion in class. I've gotten very little sleep at all this week.
Finished watching Friday Night Lights yesterday; that was a good example of how to end a show; wrapping up most of the characters' stories in Dillon while leaving some vaguely unresolved, allowing viewers to figure out for themselves what happened. Watched Million Dollar Baby a couple weeks ago cause it has Clint Eastwood in it; he was great, but it was hard to watch sometimes.
Reread Macbeth for next week's Shakespeare last night; which seemed appropriate, I guess, being Halloween. That's probably my favorite of his tragedies.
Simmons pretty much broke the hearts of the entire audience on Tuesday's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Mom, Courtney and Caleb went to Jasper, Arkansas, for the annual GBC hike, which sounds like it would have been fun. Hopefully they had a good time. I think the BCM state volleyball tournament was this weekend. Didn't know any RiverHawks playing, and if RSU sent a team, they wouldn't take it seriously. And volleyball must be played very seriously.
It was NSU Homecoming; which was highlighted by a JOSH TURNER CONCERT AT THE NEW ARENA. Seriously, why didn't that happen while I was there?
I've just been trying to pound out essay after essay and deal with a mountain of stuff to do in my cold apartment with zero energy or motivation to do anything productive.
Songs of the Day to begin November were Tim McGraw's "Don't Take the Girl" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "I Really Like You", which is a bizarre juxtaposition. But Songs of the Day usually are strange that way...They were followed soon after by Taylor Swift's "Forever and Always".
So now we can start counting down to Thanksgiving and Christmas, right?
Finished watching Friday Night Lights yesterday; that was a good example of how to end a show; wrapping up most of the characters' stories in Dillon while leaving some vaguely unresolved, allowing viewers to figure out for themselves what happened. Watched Million Dollar Baby a couple weeks ago cause it has Clint Eastwood in it; he was great, but it was hard to watch sometimes.
Reread Macbeth for next week's Shakespeare last night; which seemed appropriate, I guess, being Halloween. That's probably my favorite of his tragedies.
Simmons pretty much broke the hearts of the entire audience on Tuesday's episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Mom, Courtney and Caleb went to Jasper, Arkansas, for the annual GBC hike, which sounds like it would have been fun. Hopefully they had a good time. I think the BCM state volleyball tournament was this weekend. Didn't know any RiverHawks playing, and if RSU sent a team, they wouldn't take it seriously. And volleyball must be played very seriously.
It was NSU Homecoming; which was highlighted by a JOSH TURNER CONCERT AT THE NEW ARENA. Seriously, why didn't that happen while I was there?
I've just been trying to pound out essay after essay and deal with a mountain of stuff to do in my cold apartment with zero energy or motivation to do anything productive.
Songs of the Day to begin November were Tim McGraw's "Don't Take the Girl" and Carly Rae Jepsen's "I Really Like You", which is a bizarre juxtaposition. But Songs of the Day usually are strange that way...They were followed soon after by Taylor Swift's "Forever and Always".
So now we can start counting down to Thanksgiving and Christmas, right?
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
This Is Heavy
No, that title isn't a Spider-Man reference to an awesomely dorky quip in the middle of Spidey's climatic dockside battle with Doc Ock in the second of the Sam Rami/Tobey Maguire/Kirsten Dunst trilogy. (Skip ahead to 3:04 of that clip for the quote.)
It's October 21, 2015. Also known as the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to in order to keep Marty's son from going to jail. And it's Courtney's birthday. So as Brad Paisley, Emmett Brown and Marty McFly told us, "Welcome To The Future". (I shared that on my Facebook this morning for what's got to be the eleventh time. But it's such a good song! And it applies especially well to today. As does Relient K's Hello McFly.) So that's pretty awesome. I've spent most of it working on homework. Today's Shakespeare class featured a lot of table reading of Hamlet scenes, which was pretty awesome. Probably going to be up all night working on three essays due between tomorrow morning and Wednesday. One of the fun perks of being an English major. Maybe someday it'll pay off, though... Back to work.
It's October 21, 2015. Also known as the day Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled to in order to keep Marty's son from going to jail. And it's Courtney's birthday. So as Brad Paisley, Emmett Brown and Marty McFly told us, "Welcome To The Future". (I shared that on my Facebook this morning for what's got to be the eleventh time. But it's such a good song! And it applies especially well to today. As does Relient K's Hello McFly.) So that's pretty awesome. I've spent most of it working on homework. Today's Shakespeare class featured a lot of table reading of Hamlet scenes, which was pretty awesome. Probably going to be up all night working on three essays due between tomorrow morning and Wednesday. One of the fun perks of being an English major. Maybe someday it'll pay off, though... Back to work.
Monday, October 19, 2015
Fall Break
It's a Monday morning, and I should probably be rereading Hamlet right now, but I need to get started on this week somehow....
Fall break was last week, and so I went home and read a lot. Finished Chicken Soup for the College Student's Soul and Concerning Cats, raced through a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Jan Karon's newest Mitford novel, and started a book on how puzzles improve our brains and a Star Wars book on the rise of Darth Vader.
Petted all the dogs and most of the cats, got some homework finished, and caught strep throat. Mom, Courtney and I went to an estate sale in Jemks Saturday afternoon, where we found a bunch of old books, several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings(one about ancient college football stories, mixed in with equally ancient recaps of southern Missouri high school games; the other of tragedies of people dying unexpectedly, mostly in car wrecks). They're both pretty great.
But even better are the old magazines we found: a 1974 Saturday Evening Post with articles about the blue jean revolution and a review for a new TV show called Kojak; a 1927 copy of the National Farm Journal; and a 1931 copy of Cosmopolitan, featuring an astonishingly large amount of text, including stories by Somerset Maughan and P.G. Wodehouse.
In the tragedy scrapbook, there were two copies of the Joplin News Herald, dated Tuesday, December 2, 1941 and Monday, December 8, 1941. So that was five days before, and then the day after - Pearl Harbor. It was amazing to get to read them.
We also went to a flea market right after that estate sale, and got a few more things - I found a couple Garth Brooks CDs, and it's just really fun to be places like that.
Realized that I'd outgrown Blimey Cow's kind of humor.We talked about and debated what's been happening on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., rewatched Age of Ultron and about half the first season of Agent Carter. It was nice to have a bit of a rest.
Fall break was last week, and so I went home and read a lot. Finished Chicken Soup for the College Student's Soul and Concerning Cats, raced through a biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Jan Karon's newest Mitford novel, and started a book on how puzzles improve our brains and a Star Wars book on the rise of Darth Vader.
Petted all the dogs and most of the cats, got some homework finished, and caught strep throat. Mom, Courtney and I went to an estate sale in Jemks Saturday afternoon, where we found a bunch of old books, several scrapbooks of newspaper clippings(one about ancient college football stories, mixed in with equally ancient recaps of southern Missouri high school games; the other of tragedies of people dying unexpectedly, mostly in car wrecks). They're both pretty great.
But even better are the old magazines we found: a 1974 Saturday Evening Post with articles about the blue jean revolution and a review for a new TV show called Kojak; a 1927 copy of the National Farm Journal; and a 1931 copy of Cosmopolitan, featuring an astonishingly large amount of text, including stories by Somerset Maughan and P.G. Wodehouse.
In the tragedy scrapbook, there were two copies of the Joplin News Herald, dated Tuesday, December 2, 1941 and Monday, December 8, 1941. So that was five days before, and then the day after - Pearl Harbor. It was amazing to get to read them.
We also went to a flea market right after that estate sale, and got a few more things - I found a couple Garth Brooks CDs, and it's just really fun to be places like that.
Realized that I'd outgrown Blimey Cow's kind of humor.We talked about and debated what's been happening on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., rewatched Age of Ultron and about half the first season of Agent Carter. It was nice to have a bit of a rest.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Keeping Folks Off-Balance
Samara would say(with a huge mischievous grin, of course), "Smile! It confuses people!" That doesn't exactly relate to anything following in this post, but it's one of those lines that plays itself at random moments. Like today.
Poetry Writing is going okay; and I'm definitely keeping my classmates off-balance when it comes to the stuff we share for workshopping. That's kinda fun. And a little frustrating when I don't make something clear enough for them to understand. But the critiquing process can be useful and entertaining. So I can switch from describing a square dance(which is apparently a surprisingly foreign concept to most people?), to a first-person musing of family history and politics narrated by a former wild-child single mother with a colorful vocabulary, to a love poem written four hundred years ago by Shakespeare characters. A middle-aged lady said that my stuff seems like things her dad would enjoy reading; I took that as a huge compliment.
Lit Traditions is scary and intense; American Lit has been going okay, and Shakespeare is always interesting in one way or another.
Parks and Rec and Friday Night Lights are what's been Netflixed recently; and just finished the Back to the Future trilogy on Amazon Prime. Romeo and Juliet is hard to slog through....and so is Octavia Butler's dystopian sci-fi YA novel Parable of the Sower.
Practiced volleyball for a bit earlier this afternoon; it's been a slow weekend, for whatever reason....which is even more frustrating in that I've been trying to be productive. Just kind of spinning the wheels without any real traction. So I've gotten through about a third of another school novel and the first act of Hamlet. Feels like a lot longer ago than two years that we were setting up SWAT's adventures.
Poetry Writing is going okay; and I'm definitely keeping my classmates off-balance when it comes to the stuff we share for workshopping. That's kinda fun. And a little frustrating when I don't make something clear enough for them to understand. But the critiquing process can be useful and entertaining. So I can switch from describing a square dance(which is apparently a surprisingly foreign concept to most people?), to a first-person musing of family history and politics narrated by a former wild-child single mother with a colorful vocabulary, to a love poem written four hundred years ago by Shakespeare characters. A middle-aged lady said that my stuff seems like things her dad would enjoy reading; I took that as a huge compliment.
Lit Traditions is scary and intense; American Lit has been going okay, and Shakespeare is always interesting in one way or another.
Parks and Rec and Friday Night Lights are what's been Netflixed recently; and just finished the Back to the Future trilogy on Amazon Prime. Romeo and Juliet is hard to slog through....and so is Octavia Butler's dystopian sci-fi YA novel Parable of the Sower.
Practiced volleyball for a bit earlier this afternoon; it's been a slow weekend, for whatever reason....which is even more frustrating in that I've been trying to be productive. Just kind of spinning the wheels without any real traction. So I've gotten through about a third of another school novel and the first act of Hamlet. Feels like a lot longer ago than two years that we were setting up SWAT's adventures.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Future's Creeping Closer...
Between the panic of midterms and stuff, the accumulated stress from panic making it hard to stay focused, and the nagging feeling that most of these assignments aren't worth anything in the long run, it's not been the greatest school week ever. And my work hasn't been to Wes-acceptable levels. But...I'm trying.
Picked back up with the Pawnee, Indiana, Parks Department's adventures; which delivers much-needed laughter when needed. Further blown away by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Iain De Caestecker(Fitz) and Elizabeth Henstridge(Simmons) from tonight's episode. Texted Courtney throughout during commercial breaks, commenting on this or that. Over the weekend we read through Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing for fun; because that's the kind of thing siblings do, right?
Talked to Dylan some on Sunday morning; Ashland's birthday was Monday.
The 2015 Marty McFly and Doc Brown future is almost here.... And also, the 2015-16 hockey season starts tomorrow night. Pretty excited about that. Baseball playoffs are starting; and the Thunder will be playing any day now.
Picked back up with the Pawnee, Indiana, Parks Department's adventures; which delivers much-needed laughter when needed. Further blown away by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Iain De Caestecker(Fitz) and Elizabeth Henstridge(Simmons) from tonight's episode. Texted Courtney throughout during commercial breaks, commenting on this or that. Over the weekend we read through Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing for fun; because that's the kind of thing siblings do, right?
Talked to Dylan some on Sunday morning; Ashland's birthday was Monday.
The 2015 Marty McFly and Doc Brown future is almost here.... And also, the 2015-16 hockey season starts tomorrow night. Pretty excited about that. Baseball playoffs are starting; and the Thunder will be playing any day now.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season Three Premiere Review
This title needs work...immediately thought of this Skye quote from the season one episode "Repairs": "Why can't we call it something cooler? Like....I don't know, the Welcome Wagon?" Because they basically are going around and talking to people to see if they have Inhuman powers...
In other words, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are back to protect the world from the...much, much weirder world. And when they can't do that, they'll keep them safe. So here's my review of the first episode of season three, "Laws of Nature".
Anyway, Fitz has gone all Indiana Jones in searching for Simmons; which involved tracking down an ancient scroll(seriously) and taking out an Arab mobster. (Yes, we're talking about Leo Fitz.) So while he's off adventuring, Bobbi's been working the lab while rehabbing, which was odd. Apparently she has a biology degree, too? Still, that was weird.
Coulson has ditched the suits for jackets and jeans; maybe because it's tough having only one physical hand? And his figurative right hand has disappeared, too; May hasn't exactly gone AWOL, but she hasn't come back from her vacation with Andrew yet, either...
President Ellis has created a team called the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, or ATCU, in order to deal with all these new Inhumans that have been taking their fish oil since Skye launched the Terrigen Crystals into the ocean a couple months ago....There's gotta be a better name for them that somebody hasn't came up with yet. ("ICER" sounds much cooler than "Night-Night Gun", and "Welcome Wagon" is catchier than "Index Asset Evaluation Report" ....) Anyhow, the ATCU is led by a woman named Rosalind Price, who gets into a witty debate with Coulson on a subway.
Bobbi and Hunter's on-again, off-again thing is on again, I think...
Daisy and Mack have been tasked with forming a new team; in order to keep the Inhumans safe from...well, all the people who want to track them, and the world safe from the new Inhumans. One of these new Inhumans is a gay construction worker named Joey, who now suddenly can liquify a lot of metals when he gets within ten feet. (Which is a strange gift....) Anyway, Daisy, Mack and Hunter get to Joey before the scary men in the black flak jackets do, whisking him off to the New Bus of Zephyr One.
Lincoln wants to try to live a normal life now(which since he's a doctor, doesn't actually sound all that normal...), but he's on the run with Daisy after they have a run-in with a terrifying wall-obliterating porcupine-maned Inhuman dude named Lash. It was kind of a draw, but they got the worse end of things.
Ward's off doing who knows what with HYDRA; so he wasn't seen this episode.
Most importantly....
SIMMONS IS ALIVE. (But I knew that already. You can't kill her, any more than she was placed on the team because of her ability to lie.) She is stranded on some forlorn night landscape, and terrified of something we can't see because of mist and mountains.
I think she has powers of teleportation; which would be awesome, since she was so averse to powered people right after Tripp's death, plus she is already a friend of Daisy's and so is used to working with her; and also, except for Jiaying, all the major people involved with the Inhumans we've seen so far are men. (Raina doesn't count.) They need another female perspective on this team besides Daisy's; for great facial expression reactions to stuff if nothing else. (Mack and Joey fall flat in this area, which seems almost to be a general requirement of AoS cast members; part of why this show is so great.) Courtney and I have been debating exactly how this could work all day.
Clark Gregg thinks that Fitz built Coulson's new hand; which would be awesome.
And during the cast live-tweet during the show last night, Chloe Bennet hacked into Brett Dalton's Twitter and posted a bunch of stuff like "Chloe should be made Princess of the World!" The official Marvel page replied back, "Aw....Quakey breaky heart?" (Country music S.H.I.E.L.D. puns are the best type of puns in existence.) He then regained his phone and complained, while at the same time Nick Blood had snatched Chloe's phone and was typing stuff like "Nick is SO AWESOME! And he's British. So he should be named King. Like, seriously."
Anyway, the writing felt really...clunky, for being a season premiere. I know #ItsAllConnected, so things will make sense eventually, but still....you could almost hear the loose parts jangling around in there. There were a handful of good quotes, though: "I have trouble counting when I can't use my fingers, but I'm pretty sure there are more of them than us." - Hunter. / "...So you're a ghost." - Coulson to Rosalind. "Uh-hmm. And you're a corpse." / "I need a bigger gun, I guess....Or my axe. Or maybe a shotgun/axe combination of some sort...." - Mack.
Next week's episode is supposed to deal with Simmons' rescue, so that should be awesome. AND, it has Ward, and May, and that Asgardian professor they left in Portland after the incident with the Berserker Staff. So...yeah. Watch.
In other words, the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are back to protect the world from the...much, much weirder world. And when they can't do that, they'll keep them safe. So here's my review of the first episode of season three, "Laws of Nature".
Anyway, Fitz has gone all Indiana Jones in searching for Simmons; which involved tracking down an ancient scroll(seriously) and taking out an Arab mobster. (Yes, we're talking about Leo Fitz.) So while he's off adventuring, Bobbi's been working the lab while rehabbing, which was odd. Apparently she has a biology degree, too? Still, that was weird.
Coulson has ditched the suits for jackets and jeans; maybe because it's tough having only one physical hand? And his figurative right hand has disappeared, too; May hasn't exactly gone AWOL, but she hasn't come back from her vacation with Andrew yet, either...
President Ellis has created a team called the Advanced Threat Containment Unit, or ATCU, in order to deal with all these new Inhumans that have been taking their fish oil since Skye launched the Terrigen Crystals into the ocean a couple months ago....There's gotta be a better name for them that somebody hasn't came up with yet. ("ICER" sounds much cooler than "Night-Night Gun", and "Welcome Wagon" is catchier than "Index Asset Evaluation Report" ....) Anyhow, the ATCU is led by a woman named Rosalind Price, who gets into a witty debate with Coulson on a subway.
Bobbi and Hunter's on-again, off-again thing is on again, I think...
Daisy and Mack have been tasked with forming a new team; in order to keep the Inhumans safe from...well, all the people who want to track them, and the world safe from the new Inhumans. One of these new Inhumans is a gay construction worker named Joey, who now suddenly can liquify a lot of metals when he gets within ten feet. (Which is a strange gift....) Anyway, Daisy, Mack and Hunter get to Joey before the scary men in the black flak jackets do, whisking him off to the New Bus of Zephyr One.
Lincoln wants to try to live a normal life now(which since he's a doctor, doesn't actually sound all that normal...), but he's on the run with Daisy after they have a run-in with a terrifying wall-obliterating porcupine-maned Inhuman dude named Lash. It was kind of a draw, but they got the worse end of things.
Ward's off doing who knows what with HYDRA; so he wasn't seen this episode.
Most importantly....
SIMMONS IS ALIVE. (But I knew that already. You can't kill her, any more than she was placed on the team because of her ability to lie.) She is stranded on some forlorn night landscape, and terrified of something we can't see because of mist and mountains.
I think she has powers of teleportation; which would be awesome, since she was so averse to powered people right after Tripp's death, plus she is already a friend of Daisy's and so is used to working with her; and also, except for Jiaying, all the major people involved with the Inhumans we've seen so far are men. (Raina doesn't count.) They need another female perspective on this team besides Daisy's; for great facial expression reactions to stuff if nothing else. (Mack and Joey fall flat in this area, which seems almost to be a general requirement of AoS cast members; part of why this show is so great.) Courtney and I have been debating exactly how this could work all day.
Clark Gregg thinks that Fitz built Coulson's new hand; which would be awesome.
And during the cast live-tweet during the show last night, Chloe Bennet hacked into Brett Dalton's Twitter and posted a bunch of stuff like "Chloe should be made Princess of the World!" The official Marvel page replied back, "Aw....Quakey breaky heart?" (Country music S.H.I.E.L.D. puns are the best type of puns in existence.) He then regained his phone and complained, while at the same time Nick Blood had snatched Chloe's phone and was typing stuff like "Nick is SO AWESOME! And he's British. So he should be named King. Like, seriously."
Anyway, the writing felt really...clunky, for being a season premiere. I know #ItsAllConnected, so things will make sense eventually, but still....you could almost hear the loose parts jangling around in there. There were a handful of good quotes, though: "I have trouble counting when I can't use my fingers, but I'm pretty sure there are more of them than us." - Hunter. / "...So you're a ghost." - Coulson to Rosalind. "Uh-hmm. And you're a corpse." / "I need a bigger gun, I guess....Or my axe. Or maybe a shotgun/axe combination of some sort...." - Mack.
Next week's episode is supposed to deal with Simmons' rescue, so that should be awesome. AND, it has Ward, and May, and that Asgardian professor they left in Portland after the incident with the Berserker Staff. So...yeah. Watch.
Monday, September 21, 2015
Middle of September
Well, let's see....the Okmulgee Public Library's annual book sale was last weekend, and so we got about three hundred books. On Saturday read through The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and When God Doesn't Make Sense by James Dobson.
I think somehow I must act as an animal magnet. It's strange, but nice. Rags, Captain, Banjo, Darcy, Glory, Jellybean, Drysa....it's just "Wesley! Pounce!"
In school stuff, I found that I don't particularly care for Edgar Allan Poe all that much, and was somewhat ridiculed by the teacher for never having read him before. Much Ado About Nothing back-to-back weeks, first for Lit Traditions and then for Shakespeare. That was good. And so I watched the amazing Joss Whedon adaptation at least six times in two weeks, plus reading the actual Shakespeare script several times, as research for two papers. As You Like It doesn't have much of a plot at all, and so it's hard to follow what's happening, but there are a lot of good quotes throughout. Drive Me Crazy is a 90's romcom that follows Shakespeare's general rules for structure pretty well. Melissa Joan Hart is the lead, and her dad is Stephen Collins(Eric Camden of 7th Heaven).
Ordered the season two DVD of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Amazon; and bought Mom the first season DVD of Agent Carter as a birthday present. Season three of S.H.I.E.L.D. begins in eight days(not that we're counting the hours or anything...)
This weekend there was a (very small) arts and crafts show on campus, so I bought some art for my apartment, since it's a little sparse on decorations right now(I haven't even hung up Amanda's basketball hoop yet). And also, it would have been Mimi's birthday, and she loved arts-and-crafts shows, so that was kind of nice.
The RSU BCM was showing The Princess Bride last Monday night, so I sat way in the back and quoted all the lines of the script to myself; finding out that, yes, I can do it accurately the entire way through. That was good to know. Reading through the William Goldman novel again right now.
The Friday before that, they talked me into coming with them to a conference called Momentum in Moore, which all the schools go to, kind of like the Falls Creek retreat in spring. That was okay. It was fantastic to spend time hanging out with Annie, Bucky, Daniel P., James and Ja Li Si again. They were just as glad to see me as I was to see them. But I guess it's like 2018 now in our Pawnee Parks Department....which is sad. No amount of waffles and steak can fix that. Nor coffee runs. And it was very good to see Bob and Deb again. They taught a breakout session on trusting God through the difficult times, which was wonderful. Just the way their faith has carried them through everything over the past year...amazing to see. I mean, I knew it before, but they're the kind of people you want to emulate.
Talked with Amanda for a while the other night, which was good. And Jon is using a picture I took of Abby Lee years ago as the cover for the new Heroes At Large single. The continued evaporation of the GBC congregation is worrying and disappointing.
I think somehow I must act as an animal magnet. It's strange, but nice. Rags, Captain, Banjo, Darcy, Glory, Jellybean, Drysa....it's just "Wesley! Pounce!"
In school stuff, I found that I don't particularly care for Edgar Allan Poe all that much, and was somewhat ridiculed by the teacher for never having read him before. Much Ado About Nothing back-to-back weeks, first for Lit Traditions and then for Shakespeare. That was good. And so I watched the amazing Joss Whedon adaptation at least six times in two weeks, plus reading the actual Shakespeare script several times, as research for two papers. As You Like It doesn't have much of a plot at all, and so it's hard to follow what's happening, but there are a lot of good quotes throughout. Drive Me Crazy is a 90's romcom that follows Shakespeare's general rules for structure pretty well. Melissa Joan Hart is the lead, and her dad is Stephen Collins(Eric Camden of 7th Heaven).
Ordered the season two DVD of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. from Amazon; and bought Mom the first season DVD of Agent Carter as a birthday present. Season three of S.H.I.E.L.D. begins in eight days(not that we're counting the hours or anything...)
This weekend there was a (very small) arts and crafts show on campus, so I bought some art for my apartment, since it's a little sparse on decorations right now(I haven't even hung up Amanda's basketball hoop yet). And also, it would have been Mimi's birthday, and she loved arts-and-crafts shows, so that was kind of nice.
The RSU BCM was showing The Princess Bride last Monday night, so I sat way in the back and quoted all the lines of the script to myself; finding out that, yes, I can do it accurately the entire way through. That was good to know. Reading through the William Goldman novel again right now.
The Friday before that, they talked me into coming with them to a conference called Momentum in Moore, which all the schools go to, kind of like the Falls Creek retreat in spring. That was okay. It was fantastic to spend time hanging out with Annie, Bucky, Daniel P., James and Ja Li Si again. They were just as glad to see me as I was to see them. But I guess it's like 2018 now in our Pawnee Parks Department....which is sad. No amount of waffles and steak can fix that. Nor coffee runs. And it was very good to see Bob and Deb again. They taught a breakout session on trusting God through the difficult times, which was wonderful. Just the way their faith has carried them through everything over the past year...amazing to see. I mean, I knew it before, but they're the kind of people you want to emulate.
Talked with Amanda for a while the other night, which was good. And Jon is using a picture I took of Abby Lee years ago as the cover for the new Heroes At Large single. The continued evaporation of the GBC congregation is worrying and disappointing.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Homework Swamp
As You Like It is NOT one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. It does have good quotes throughout, though.
Much Ado About Nothing is funnier. And the Joss Whedon movie - Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond are having the time of their lives. (They later played Phil Coulson and Daniel Whitehall on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Also, it has Sean Maher(Simon from Firefly) as the villian, Nathan Fillion(Mal from Firefly) as the constable and Ashley Johnson(voice of Gretchen Grundler on Recess, waitress in The Avengers) as one of the maids. Plus a lot of other familiar people I can't quite place.
Poetry is really hard and very unnatural to write.
I'm probably not getting enough sleep.
Much Ado About Nothing is funnier. And the Joss Whedon movie - Clark Gregg and Reed Diamond are having the time of their lives. (They later played Phil Coulson and Daniel Whitehall on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) Also, it has Sean Maher(Simon from Firefly) as the villian, Nathan Fillion(Mal from Firefly) as the constable and Ashley Johnson(voice of Gretchen Grundler on Recess, waitress in The Avengers) as one of the maids. Plus a lot of other familiar people I can't quite place.
Poetry is really hard and very unnatural to write.
I'm probably not getting enough sleep.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)