I received this lovely journal yesterday, from Sara as part of the Create A Connection journal swap:
Thank you, Sara!
This is the journal I shared, but I have no idea if my partner received it!
I decided to get a little paper-crafty. 😉 Louise, I hope you’re still out there somewhere!!
This week has felt unbearably long and tiring for some reason. So long, in fact, that I gave myself today off. I wanted to try and find some relief for my back/shoulder pain. I wasn’t able to get an appointment today, but I’ve got one for Monday, so yay…I’m very happy it’s the end of the week, even though I’m looking a relatively busy weekend.
Congratulations to Rand’s brother and sister-in-law, who had a baby this week! We’re probably going to be seeing them tomorrow. 🙂
I ventured out briefly today and got myself a yoga mat at Marshalls. (there were “higher-end” mats there for not much more $, but the one I got has its own little mesh bag w/strap for carrying.) I was also lured in by the book outlet next to Marshalls and ended up buying three books. (they were so cheap! I couldn’t resist.)
OH! and my contributor’s copy of Buffalo Spree came today. The very first thing in the issue’s Money section (which was the focus of the May/June issue)? The profile I did of Adam English! Yay! I also profiled Thomas and the principal of Tapestry Charter High School.
There was one sad little snafu…my name is spelled wrong in the issue. Ah well.
Also profiled, though not by me, Buffalo’s sexiest bagpiper. 😉 (He plays a mean accordion as well. And don’t forget the penny whistle!
I also got a cute pair of Tevas, which I found online for a very reasonable price. Yay! Photos to come.
The semester is rapidly coming to an end, and so I’ve been busybusy with class-type things. And after today, I have a big ol’ pile of papers to grade, so I’ll be even more busy. Phew!
I am teaching a class again this summer, and I’ll be needing to figure out how to make enough $ to sustain me in the in-between times. (from when school ends in June until the summer session starts, and from when the summer session ends until I start getting paychecks in the fall.)
I had my second yoga class last night, and I am loving it. I’m looking into getting myself a yoga mat of my very own.
I just began reading The Sparrow, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about. The downside is that it’s a 405-page book, and I’m finding myself wanting to do nothing but readreadread. I’ve finished several YA selections in the past couple of weeks, which you can see over at Required Reading. (or not. I can’t seem to get the link to work. you can get there from my About page, if you care. Or try this.)
I loved Heroes this week, and I’m eagerly anticipating next week’s episode! I haven’t watched last night’s Lost yet, but I’m also looking forward to that.
And with that, I’m off to read. Or grade. But probably read…
I took advantage of my recent craftiness and got a bunch of stuff posted at my Etsy shop (calligraphybyerin.etsy.com):
Among other things, I’ve got some Mother’s Day gifts in various colors:
Enjoy!
Today is the anniversary of the death of, and what is accepted to be the birthday of William Shakespeare.
In honor of the bard, I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite quotes.
Sin from my lips, O trespass sweetly urg’d:
Give me my sin again. ~Romeo and JulietThere is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
~Hamlet
I’d invite you to share your favorite quotes, too!
And here are some Shakespeare links for your enjoyment:
My project 365 has turned into more of a project 3-4 photos a week…but I posted a few new ones today.
Toasted Cheese has once again been named one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers. Whoo!
😀
Yep, sucked in.
I missed the beginning of the show, so I didn’t see Creepy Phil’s (TM Eden) performance. I didn’t see all of Jordin’s performance either, but I did check it out on YouTube yesterday.
Wow. That girl can sing. “A Broken Wing” just might be my very favorite Martina McBride song. I always cringe when people try to sing it, because they nearly always screw it up. Jordin most certainly did not.
I thought Melinda was fantastic as well, singing “Trouble is a Woman.” I’m pretty out of touch with the country scene these days, so I didn’t know the song, but she did great. She also looked good. (I hear there have been some issues with her looking too old.)
My thoughts on most everyone else=meh.
I didn’t think Sanjaya was awful, but he was pretty boring. Chris, I thought, was awful. I don’t think you should be allowed to do a song by last year’s contestants/winner. I dunno…it just seems wrong.
I think all the boys should go. They’re just, eh. I think the final two should be Jordin and Melinda.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I’ve been avoiding directly addressing the Virginia Tech massacre, because really, what is there to say? I’ve been kind of walking around in a vaguely horrified stupor for the past couple of days.
And then I read this. And whatever the reason, that was the thing that broke me. The image of this professor, wounded, blocking the door so his students could escape. Reading that he was a Holocaust survivor.
My heart goes out to everyone on that campus and to everyone who knows someone on that campus and all the friends and families of the victims. I don’t know what else to say.
Yeah, I’ve been doing a lot of watching. Reading will pick up a bit once the semester winds down!
I’m not sure I’m going to hit everything I’ve watched recently. I’ll encourage Rand to refresh my memory if necessary!
On DVD
Stranger than Fiction…it got tepid reviews, but I have to say that I rather enjoyed it. The story was clever, it was told well, it had a satisfying ending, and Maggie Gyllenhall was adorable.
The Passion of the Christ…I told Rand I’d watch it if he’d skip the Jesus beatings for me. He’d seen it when it came out, I hadn’t. It was very, very Catholic. Many images were exact replicas of the Stations of the Cross that you see hanging on the walls of Catholic churches, except the movie images were bloodier. There were moments worth seeing, but I still thought it was mostly gratuitous and not really necessary. Give me Jesus Christ Superstar any day.
Shaun of the Dead…I loved this movie! I loved the way it played with your expectations. I loved that it was both genuinely funny and genuinely scary. I loved the way Shaun went from being a hapless loser to being a hero. Yeah, there were a couple of moments when I had to turn my head, but overall, I just adored it.
Let’s Go to Prison…I wouldn’t have seen this if hadn’t been made by Bob Odenkirk, who I know is funny. I enjoyed it. It was subversive and subtle and indeed very funny. Will Arnett was pretty much Will Arnett, but he does it well.
At the movies
Grindhouse…Actually went to the theater! I really enjoyed the first feature, Planet Terror, which was directed by Robert Rodriguez. It was great fun. It starred Freddy Rodriguez and Naveen Andrews (yum!) for one, and Robert Rodriguez really kept his sense of humor about him. I’d watch this movie again. The fake trailers were hilarious.
And then there was Death Proof. Sigh. I’m not a Quentin Tarentino fan to begin with, but I think he’s become more insufferable, if that’s possible. His movie was deadly serious, and not really all that good. I was bored. I was bored during a dramatic car chase that had a girl clinging to the hood of one of the cars. Tarentino’s dialogue wasn’t even very good. It was tedious and pointless. It wasn’t clever. It wasn’t funny. He’s obviously in love with the sound of his words. I’m not.
On TV
Ooh, these last few episodes of Lost have been fantastic. I’m completely riveted! I’m back into waiting on the edge of my seat to see what happens next.
Rand and I have watched all 6 episodes of Andy Barker, PI and found it quite fun. I knew, though, not to get attached. It’s already gone buh-bye.
Looking forward
New Heroes next week. Yay!
Saw a trailer for 1408. Stephen King + John Cusack = GOLD! 🙂 Well, that is if they don’t screw it up. And given that neither William Goldman (Misery) nor Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) is involved, well, the odds are pretty good that it’ll be screwed up. But I’m in anyway.
Hot Fuzz, from the same guys who brought us Shaun, also looks promising.