An Exercise in Compulsion

For no particular reason, in no particular order, and following a very narrow but undefined set of parameters:

4 non blondes: what's up
the cranberries: ode to my family and zombie and linger
hootie and the blowfish: only want to be with you (but also everything they've ever done)
everlast: that one song that was really lame
chumbawumba: tubthumping
rednex: cotton eyed joe
limp bizkit: categorically everything
snow: informer and two princes
smash mouth: rockstar
barenaked ladies: one week (and also everything they've ever done, jesus christ)

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1578

*ps. I can NEVER get over the random log cabin and car the dinosaur is always about to step on in the third panel.

Τὸν γὰρ τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπον οὐδεὶς τῶν περιοικούντων οὐπώποτ’ εἶδεν ... ὄνομα δ’ ἦν αὐτῷ Ἄλβος Διμπλόδωρος.

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Philosophers-Stone-Ancient/dp/158234826X

undergrad 1: what are you going to be for halloween?
undergrad 2: che guevara.
undergrad 1: huh?
undergrad 2: che guevara.
undergrad 1: what's that?
undergrad 2: a revolutionary. in cuba. and also the ENTIRE WORLD.
undergrad 1: oh wow!!!! that sure beats dressing up as a pizza!

I don't even know where to start.

PBS's Masterpiece Classics is showing the complete Jane Austen every Sunday at 9 for the forseeable future. Tonight is Northanger Abbey, which I've never seen rendered onto TV or film. It's the crudest, most overtly farcical, and lightest out of the entire featherlight bunch, but I am equipped with a bottle of French white and a fire in our woodburning stovey thingie, so I am superpleased.

today is not pretty. there is a lot of lying very still in the dark in my immediate future.

the pain.

4:00 am: stumble to the bathroom and swallow 800 mg of ibuprofen
5:30 am: stumble to the bathroom and swallow 600 mg of ibuprofen
6:45 am: contemplate "calling in sick," but your students tend to show up every day and therefore so should you. stumble to the bathroom and swallow 600 mg of ibuprofen. in a moment of epiphany, bring the bottle back with you and snuggle it in bed
7:15: despite enough ibuprofen to kill a pony, headache is not lifting, so take more drastic measures. give yourself an injection of potent migraine medicine.
7:16: bleed all over the bed
7:17: lie very still and feel the meds coursing through your veins.
7:18-8:00 am: tell yourself that YOU NEED TO GET UP RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHTNOW.
8:05 am: dress like a hobo in both a dress AND pants, shoes and no socks. inspect your appearance in the mirror and decide that you look kinda hot when you're hungover because your lips are so swollen and red. double fist instant coffee and diet dr. pepper
8:25-8:57 am: freak the fuck out because the bus is taking forever and you're usually on campus by 8:10 and aarrgh
9:05: enter your class and try to control the dizziness and nausea that take over whenever you look down to your book.
9:10-9:30: stall by going over homework. students seem to respond well.
9:30: in a moment of glorious pedagogical brilliance, decide to split them up into groups so that they can TEACH EACH OTHER THE MATERIAL. sit in a chair and stare into space. maybe drool a little. fear that someone will see through your ruse.
9:57: ask the class in faux-concerned tone if they "found this interactive pedagogical experiment" useful, and almost die of shock when they respond with enthusiasm and joy.

rest of your life: u r brilliant and awesome and can now drink ALL THE WINE in the world.

A few days ago we received a letter from our landlord explaining that they were forced under law to inform us of the following:

"This is to notify you that your building is on the City of Berkeley's Inventory of Soft Story Potentially Hazardous Buildings and may constitute a severe threat to life and safety in the event of an earthquake of moderate to high magnitude."

So it looks like I will be saying goodbye to my hideous wood-panelled and apparently extraordinarily fragile home. Just when I had found a clever way to circumvent the wood-panelling by the use of gracefully draped sheer curtains!

( The Crazy, and The Sad )

But in any case: come July, we're out of there.

today I simultaneously battled a London Broil and a Hangover. or rather. today I delighted in the aromas of an experimental london broil while wishing I were dead a little because of my hangover. both were successfully conquered--I'd say the london broil was vanquished a little more emphatically than the other, which indicates that my culinary abilities are stronger than my liver. apples and oranges, whatever.