Yesterday was Mara's birthday. How can she be 8 already? And how can she be only 8? Both of these questions mystify me. I will post pics tomorrow or later this week with her superbestpresentofalltime. It was from me. I am the greatest mom ever. But you knew that, right?
I don't have time to blog right now. And here's why:
1. Essays I haven't graded -- not my fault, my lovely students turned them in late. Which means (by my reckoning anyway) I don't really have to grade the blasted things until I feel like it -- except that I have to write progress reports and that info probably ought to be in them. Which brings us to
2. Progress reports -- not actually due tomorrow, but they are out there, waiting to be written. Soon. Sigh.
3. Quiz for tomorrow -- on lesson 5 of our VPP (Vocabulary Power Plus) book. It is not written by native speakers of English. Thus the following sentence that students were supposed to complete in exercise 2: "The exuberant furnishings in the castle included..." A couple of kids put things like "loud sofas" or "excitable curtains," but they were just being cute. Everyone else was mystified.
4. Planning for this week -- but not Wednesday night, because we are not giving homework on Halloween, so I have no idea, really just byez klucha (Deb will get that if no-one else does) about what I'm doing. It would be silly to have them do free-reading every day, wouldn't it? Oh, we can talk about our independent reading books -- see, there's one day resolved. This teaching stuff is so easy!
5. Did you get the reference to Halloween above? Because I have only finished about half of one "Acooga" costume and I need to have two of them, for both of my Acoogas. I will explain Acoogas later. Matthew invented (or possibly discovered) them. And I have to figure out what *I* am going to wear. That's a big problem really. I've always (well, except when I couldn't) made the kids' costumes, but I haven't really had to worry about something for me...
There is probably something else. I just don't know what it is yet.
Thanks for all the replies. JW, the email address was superb! Where can I get one like that? Oh, I think I know...
Allrighty, this is official. If you are reading the blog and do not weigh in on the Alan Rickman - Hugh Laurie debate, which has apparently now become a weird three-way thing with Clive Owen -- hell's bells, where did that sentence start? Oh yeah, if you are reading this and do not post your thoughts on this debate, you are officially a lurker and a big time loser, and while I am delighted that you are reading, it's time for you to give us your thoughts. Why should I do all the thinking around here?
The little name box will accept your initials (or even someone else's initials) so you don't have to put your name in. You can make up a clever sobriquet that suggests but never quite reveals your identity. Pretend to be my dad if you like -- Dad, you can pretend to be Mom. But seriously, we need to hear from everyone. If you are not partial to either gentleman, tell us who you do like. [Fans of Emma Thompson will be particularly welcome, and I should say here that I did consider including her with the original duo but that felt like too-revealing a glimpse into my troubled psyche.] And if you think this debate is silly [Popster] and would like to suggest a more intellectual topic for next week, we'll take that too.
Look, consider this the Love & a Steady Hand pledge drive. You don't even have to send any money, just tell us you're out there and tuning in. Or you can send money. Money is good too.
This whole thing started out as a reply to some replies, so I'll do that here:
Dr. Amy: No, they don't realize you aren't that kind of a doctor. And does that mean they are reading the blog. ARE you reading the blog in-laws?
KWK: If we examine this through a lens of appropriate age, they are both too old for me, not (sigh) that's never been an impediment for me. (sigh again).
Deb: Clive Owen is lovely, but I'm fairly certain that I will never be able to forgive him for the travesty that was Closer. It was just so dreadful. Beyond dreadful really. I wasted two hours of my life and night movie prices on that mess! Clive Owen owes me $28 bucks -- we took Meg & Dan to that one. He's been good in other things though and is not at all hard on the eyes.
Amy: There's just no point in debating Red Sox versus Yankees. Look at it this way, it could be the WHITE Sox... I do have some taste!
My perspective on the Alan Rickman // Hugh Laurie issue is essentially Hugh Laurie for Friday nights, because Friday nights should be light-hearted and silly. Alan Rickman for Saturday afternoons and evenings, because then things are starting to get serious. I mean have you watched Truly, Madly, Deeply? It's completely Saturday afternoon material.This YOUTUBE clip (a duet with Juliet Stevenson) proves my point completely. This one, from An Awfully Big Adventure is pure Saturday late night.
KWK (and Sarah if you're out there), I know you will protest the absence of Snapeisms, but I am working on the theory that most folks already know those well enough.
But you also have to weigh that against this Hugh Laurie moment from last year's Emmy awards.
And I forgot this one from A Bit of Fry and Laurie .
Damn, I can't decide. Maybe I better stick with Emma?
Hmm. Well, I went back to YouTube and found these two clips from 1992's Peter's Friends -- the movie that made me fall in love with Hugh Laurie. These are two scenes with Imelda Stauton, who should probably play me in the movie of my life -- there you go Kym, you keep asking me and now I've figured it out. Here's the first clip. And this is the second clip. This one is also lovely and one of my favorite moments from Peter's Friends. If you don't know this movie, you should. I think long love has to triumph over new love -- despite the most delicious voice in the world, which means it's Hugh Laurie.
(As if there was really ever a question... have you SEEN the guy I married?)
What do you think? The challenge still stands. We're waiting to hear from YOU!
Have I mentioned this before? Probably not, because I only just realized it.
Guess why I am not watching HOUSE and drooling over (ahem, admiring the thespian skills of) Hugh Laurie? Because of freakin' BASEBALL!!!!
At least it's the Red Sox. I swear, if they lose to Cleveland TONIGHT I may have to get a new hat!
baseball. Bah.
Okay, in lieu of actually watching Hugh Laurie, I will now open a debate for the comment box: Hugh Laurie or Alan Rickman? Choose your own criteria. Use multiple criteria. You can even say Hugh on Friday night, Alan on Satruday afternoon -- but you have to specify why.
If you met either delicious man while stopping off in London on your way to a wedding in Switzerland, we want to know about that too. You know who you are!
Booo! Spent hours after grading in the Vandy Emergency Room.
No, I was not debilitated by essay grading, though I did spend something like 18 hours in a row working on it. That part was weird too, because I can't grade essays at home (I get too easily distracted and find myself cleaning the bathroom instead of writing helpful comments on badly organized papers), so I tend to go out to Starbucks or Panera* to grade, but everywhere I went on Saturday (and I graded from 10:30 a.m. to 11:15 p.m.) I ran into people I knew and got distracted and felt vaguely paranoid. (On the up-side, at least one of my bosses knows for certain that I was grading papers diligently).
*have I mentioned that is it truly groovy to be able to go to Panera or Starbucks and grade? I don't have to commandeer a sticky green plastic booth at White Cottage or try to angle for a corner window table at Four Reasons (you won't get why those are semi-pathetic unless you know Lancaster). I can finally snuggle up with my on-loan laptop at a well-known national chain restaurant and let the chatter of Vanderbilt co-eds bounce around in the back of my brain. The only place better would be a train station -- I love writing or doing other language-related work in train stations, the anonymous buzz of conversation makes me feel purposeful, even when I'm not necessarily accomplishing much -- but the 'Ville is rather short of train stations. Aberdeen's train station was lovely.
Anyway -- and isn't reading my blog just like talking to me in person? -- I got home from grading at about 6:15 on Sunday evening, feeling triumphant and exhausted. My plan was to hang out with the fam. and maybe even start reading Scott Westerfeld's Extras (the fourth, and completely brand new, book in the Uglies trilogy, which I told myself I was not allowed to start until all the essays were done). Instead I walk in, take one look at Mari's feet, left hand and elbow and decide I have to turn right around and take her to the ER. She was swollen up like she had baseballs under her skin and covered in bright red blotches. She could barely walk and the only shoes that fit were her flip-flops, which are usually crazy-too-big and fall off when she walks.
I could give you the extended dance mix version of what happened at the ER, but it is late, five minutes to HOUSE (thank you for ignoring the little happy slurping noise that happens involuntarily whenever I think about Hugh Laurie -- sigh) and I promised to get VPP (vocab) quizzes back to kids tomorrow. So instead here is the abbreviated version:
When we finally got to the right ER, everyone at Vandy Children's was wonderful and Mara liked them very much. She said -- after the blood sample and the urine sample and the stool sample were collected and she was watching Ice Princess on DVD-- "The people here are really nice. They sure do make you feel better!" This is with the IV still in her arm. What a trooper!
The resident we saw, who introduced himself as Andrew, learned something new from us -- which made Mara feel very proud. [She also just wanted him to shut up, since she was watching Ice Princess and it wasn't over yet, but she tried hard to look like she was listening to him.] Mara has HSP -- which you'll have to google for yourself because I am too lazy to write it all out and I can't remember how to spell it. The last word in that is purpurea (which I also can't spell). He had to bring in a page printed out from the web because he'd never actually seen it either. His attending was more informed, but it's a teaching hospital (right Dr. Meg?) and he handled it pretty well -- even gave us a copy of the printout to take home.
After two days of hobbling and moaning, Mara is slowly getting better. The red blotches have turned into purple blotches and although she was swollen up in every joint and new parts were still swelling up last night, she is doing better on that front too. She's been out of school for two days because she couldn't walk. Tomorrow she'll be out again because her shoes won't go over her still-swollen feet. But it's not permanent and apparently won't be long-lasting. No after effects in other words, it's just gross looking right now.
I'll update later. House is on and for once I am home for the beginning!
Must grade essays?
Must grade essays!
But I don't WAAAAAANNNNNNNAAAAAA!
Many are so good as to be exceptional. Others are excrement.
My vocabulary has improved so much now that I also talk to grownups. Amazing.
I promise, I will "really" blog soon!
Hang in there.
seriously.
Things feel so messed up right now. If you are one of the people I haven't called back since we moved, I'm sorry I am not avoiding you.
Maybe you should all commiserate on not hearing from me. Roll call on people who have actually heard from me by phone? What? Nobody?
See, I'm not neglecting YOU, I'm neglecting everybody. Don't you feel better now?
I'm sorry. I need to fix our phone situation and then I will call everybody back.
I promise.