Not much new to report here. The baby sister is apparently commenced with the making of the wedding plans, which whatever. I'm kinda of over it and it hasn't even started. Mom's not too happy cause apparently birthin' a child means that you should be all up in their grill when it comes to major life events. I say just tell me when, where, and how long the bar is open for.

The newest editions to my menagerie, Harriet and Sinead, seem to be doing well. They crack me up every morning cause the minute I turn on the lights, they look like they've been caught doing something naughty... Harriet's usually on the top shelf, mid-stride, and little nekked Sinead clinging to the side of the cage with her four little pink paws. I'll have to put pictures up if I can get them... they're really too cute in all they're ratty glory.

The Noodle monster--aka my mother's psycho tortie--is trying to kill me. In the morning, when I'm at my logiest and half asleep, she waits until I'm about a foot away and then attacks my Achilles. This attack either consists of a mad dash past my legs while simultaneously swiping at me with a paw (claws extended--I have the scratches to prove it) OR latching on with both claw and tooth, thus being dragged on her belly across the floow as I dance and howl in shock and pain. I swear she enjoys the ride.

Still working on the resolutions. The editing is going ok. I'm toying with starting something new, but I'm unsure if that's a cop out yet cause, truth be told, I'm scared shitless of sending something out and getting rejected. I know, I know... just get over it and do it. Easier said than done, bub.

I'm reading like a fiend these days. Ok... edit: I'm reading comic books like a fiend. Some good work buddies have been feeding me items such as Sandman and the DMZ (which is AWESOME, BTW... great story, great art, great concept. Read it. Love it.). I'm just getting into Ex Machina (for more info click here). Again, great story, great art, great concept. When I've got more time (and less papers to grade) I'll post some serious reviews. I think I'd like to start writing reviews more... which means I should probably start writing them again for the website I wrote them for before. But I digress. Back to the status of my resolutions. Been paying attention to the blog. Could be better. Still trying to figure out a possible new layout. Maybe switching to the new version of blogger? Still looking for advice on that one (hint hint). Sending out resumes... sent out the first one today in fact. Its for a job in NY (state, not the city) that I'm not too psyched about having as I don't want to stay here but hey, its a job. I've got a list of other places that I'm looking into (CA, NC, HI, GA, and New Orleans) but haven't done a damn thing about it yet. Perhaps I should work on that, hmmm? As for the surfing... planning a trip out to Cali in March/April so... here's hoping.

And that folks, is all I've got for now. I've got a stack of reading responses that need some tending to so I guess I best get crackin'... toodles.

So, in the spirit of keeping New Years Goals (I hate the word "resolution," it sounds so final), I've been working on revising some peices for submission. Here's the problem--they're non-fiction essays and I have no clue where to submit them. There's a HUGE market for fiction, but non-fiction not so much. I think it has something to do with everyone thinks non-fiction is memoir, and that's just not the case. My peices, for example, are travel narratives. One even has elements of the fantastical (is that even a word?) in it.

SO... if you know of any good journals or even fair to middling journals that accept submissions of the non-fiction persuasion, feel free to share.

Labels: publishing, writing

Ok... so I hold no love for the college that I work for. It breed mediocrity. I mean, who has the right to tell an instructor that they can not give more than 2 A's per class? And, if a third A is given, will deny a student that A EVEN IF THEY'VE EARNED IT? What kind of writing class focuses on reading vs. writing? What kind of place doesn't let the instructors have ANY AUTONOMY WHAT SO EVER concerning the decisions made for their class? What kind of place encourages instructors to break laws and nark on their students to deans of the college? Oh yeah, the place I work for.

My latest rant about this place concerns the fact that I can not sign students into my class. My class is not full, I *technically* have two spots open in one class, and could make another student fit into the other if need be. I, like most college instructors, do not relish the full class. In fact, I am the scariest b*tch possible the first week so as to get the little darlings pissing down their legs and, hopefully, fleeing in fear of their lives. That said, I have three students from last semester who want back into my class.

But I can't sign them in. My BOSS has to. Furthermore, my boss claims that they can't do it until Monday... which puts them a week BEHIND all the other students. IF they're able to sign-in at all. So then I'll have to play catch up with them, which sucks balls big time.

I know my limits. I had 39 students last semester. 37 this semester is not going to break me.

Let my people go....

Labels: rant, work

The kid in this story, if found guilty, should be subjected to the same torture he put this man and his animal through: Missing Dog Case

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a HUGE inability to make decisions in any manner that resembles rational or sane. Red wine or white? Fish or steak? Salad? Flats or heels? Skirt or jeans? Yellow light--stop or go?

So, imagine me with $80 to spend in Borders Bookstore. Imagine me running through the stacks, grabbing willy nilly until I've got approximately 30 books and 20 DVDs in my hand. Imagine the two hour whittling down process that ensued. Imagine the horror and dismay on the clerks faces as they came to the slow realization that they were going to have to put back a large quantity of books as I, truthfully, had no inclination to spend another hour trying to put back the books I decided not to purchase. In the end, I decided on these little gems:

• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Phillip K. Dick)
• The Simulcara (Phillip K. Dick)
• Middlesex (Jeffrey Eugenides)
• The Castle in the Forest (Norman Mailer)

I'm grokking over the reading delightfulness that is about to ensue. I'm saddened by the books that I wanted, but couldn't have as I reasoned in my brain that four at a time was enough to get me through at least the next two months (at which point, the brain voice assured me, I can go on another spending spree):

Books I Have Already Read:

• Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
• One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
• Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)

Books I Have NOT Read:

• The Memory Keeper's Daughter
• No Country For Old Men
• The Road
• Snow Crash

And those are the ones I can remember!

Whew!

Labels: books

So... this blog is in serious need of a face lift. I'm unsure where to begin. I kinda want to switch over to the "new" version of Blogger, but don't want to lose anything. Am desperately wishing I had a better computer and better Internets so that I could tool around with HTML a bit more. So...

I'm begging and pleading with the blogosphere out there to give me some pointers. To switch or not to switch? Stay with Blogger or jump ship to something like WordPress? Change the picture on my background? Change the font? I want something spiffier and more functional... thoughts?

Thanks in advance, dudes.

Labels: blog

So it's two days into 2008 and I finally have come up with my resolutions list. I wanted to take this year real serious like so I came up with the following list:

1. Read more. I kinda of fell off the reading wagon post MFA/during new teaching job and I have suffered for it. So, with the help of the bazillion Border's cards I received for Christmas (that most joyous of materialistic holidays) I vow to read "for fun" at least one book a month. Starting yesterday.
2. Accumulate at least three rejection letters. Now, some of you may be going "Wha...???" but hear me out. I was going to put "write more of my own creative pieces" on this list but figured why stop there? Why not push myself to not only write, but send something out? Even if it means getting rejected. I've been scared of rejection (who isn't?) and have decided this is the year that I stop being a big baby, get over it, and get out there!
3. Pay more attention to my blog. This includes: writing at least every other day, EVEN IF I feel I don't have anything important to say and updating the look as it is severely outdated.
4. Get a new job. Thing is, I love teaching. Love it, love it, love it! However, I hate the institution I'm at and I refuse to be unhappy. So I'm looking in the following areas: California (near the North Shore/surfing), New Orleans (I think the challenges of living in a post-apocalyptic city could be, and god forgive me the frivolous sound of this phrase, life changing), Savannah (I've loved this city since I read Midnight in the garden of Good and Evil), or some place along Cape Hatteras in North Carolina (again, good surfing). I've already told myself that I've got three years of teaching Freshman Comp (I'm two years in) and then I need to decide if I want to get a PhD. so that I can continue at the college level or look into getting certification to teach at the high school level.
5. And last but not least, become better at surfing. I will learn how to pop up on the board and I will catch at least 5 waves. As God as my witness...

So there you have it. My New Years Resolution list.