What would Megan read: The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald
What would Megan listen to: ¿Quién?, on Segundo from Juana Molina
Friday, January 23, 2009
Amused
What would Megan read: The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald
What would Megan listen to: ¿Quién?, on Segundo from Juana Molina
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Barack me, Amadeus!
The attendance to Obama's inauguration broke the former record by 600,000 people, previously held by Lyndon Johnson's inauguration in 1965. 1.8 million people watched the first black president of the United States, more than three times the amount that watched Bush in 2001.
Holy crap. Awesome.
P.S. I know it's supposed to be "Barack me, Obamadeus" but I think it doesn't have the same ring to it with the "ob" in the front.
Holy crap. Awesome.
P.S. I know it's supposed to be "Barack me, Obamadeus" but I think it doesn't have the same ring to it with the "ob" in the front.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Ri-frickin-diculous
I cannot believe people who plagiarize. I hope my words are worth something, and if I use them in a way that moves people, they will credit my abilities by not claiming my writing to be their own. It frustrates me to no end when people--especially in an academic setting--subject their fellow classmates to such low standards as to copy and paste directly from a website. It's just as frustrating when they use incorrect grammar, punctuation, spelling, or conventions, but at least then it's only their own integrity they are destroying, not the integrity of another individual who has every right to be credited to their talent and hard work!
I am so disenchanted with the academe right now, and it is even more frustrating that I can't punish students who break such a serious rule. I know I shouldn't want to punish people, but I want them to fail. It's not as though they haven't had warnings (I have personally warned them!), and it's not as though they have no idea. This is college. Be responsible, or get the fuck out.
RTFM, motherfuckers.
I am so disenchanted with the academe right now, and it is even more frustrating that I can't punish students who break such a serious rule. I know I shouldn't want to punish people, but I want them to fail. It's not as though they haven't had warnings (I have personally warned them!), and it's not as though they have no idea. This is college. Be responsible, or get the fuck out.
RTFM, motherfuckers.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
. . . _ _ _ . . .
I finished Passage by Connie Willis today. She is one of my favorite authors. Passage is about dying, and I cried during the last part of the book, but I couldn't put it down. Even when I was falling asleep, I could barely put it down, I was so engrossed in the story. I had to know what had happened, and I had to finish it, like it was some sort of mission I had. It was a long book to have read in only three days. Someday I will reread it, I am sure.
What is my message? What do I need the world to know? What is my SOS? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. What was Dylan's SOS? I don't know that either. Did he have a near-death experience before he died? Was he on the Titanic, or was he in Arizona? Was he in India? Taiwan? Did he see his high school English professor? Did he use Morse code?
Good research asks more questions than it answers.
What is my message? What do I need the world to know? What is my SOS? I don't know the answer to any of these questions. What was Dylan's SOS? I don't know that either. Did he have a near-death experience before he died? Was he on the Titanic, or was he in Arizona? Was he in India? Taiwan? Did he see his high school English professor? Did he use Morse code?
Good research asks more questions than it answers.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio
My great-grandpa had a stroke on Thursday, and has lost a lot of strength in one side of his body. He's having a hard time swallowing, and may need to live in a nursing home.
Hearing this news has reminded me of the fragility of life, how lucky each one of us truly are to be alive. The way the earth has developed has fallen inside the tiny margin of criteria in which organisms can survive and evolve. Billions of years ago, the earth was formed of cosmic dust and materials similar to meteorites, conglomerating into a large mass. The layering of earth's materials into crust, mantle and core began when radioactive material in the earth's mass began decaying, releasing energy that became heat. As the earth heated, rocks melted and softened, allowing them to shift positions freely, the densest rocks moving towards the core and the lightest rocks moving outward, forming a thin crust. Still, the heat of the core and solar power from the sun kept earth's surface at a temperature that allowed for liquid water to accumulate, probably originating from water vapor in volcanic gasses and comets (solid balls of ice) that collided with the earth.
The ocean is likely the most important step of life's origins and evolution in the earth's history. Because the atmosphere of earth at that time was formed mostly from volcanic gas, it was toxic to life as we know it today, high in sulfur, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. In addition, the atmosphere was too thin to protect earth's surface from solar radiation. The oceans supported life by providing oxygen, and filtering radiation from the sun more efficiently than the atmosphere at that time. Life began in the primordial soup, what we today call oceans. We are indebted to water for our lives and lifestyles.
About 1.8 billion years ago, an extremely primitive alga developed a special technique for nourishment. Using solar energy, these organisms converted absorbed carbon dioxide into sugars, and expelled oxygen. Today, we call this process photosynthesis. Because plants need carbon dioxide to survive, the atmospheric content was suitable for their development. Eventually, the spread of plantlife began to replace the excess of carbon dioxide with oxygen, which paved the way for land animals by developing a thicker atmosphere richer in life-supporting elements.
These events and my own life are dependent on: the explosion of a star, creating a nebula where a solar system could form; the conglomeration of cosmic dust in an orbit at a specific distance from the sun; that the materials massed included radioactive elemtns that would eventually decay; that the energy released would heat the planet enough to cause volcanic activity; that enough water vapor and ice would amass to form oceans; and that environment, mutation and other circumstances would cause algae to evolve to use photosynthesis as a method of nourishment. All of these things are simply a few of the prehistoric events that were necessary to my life existing today. Millions more exist, in addition to the millions of historic and recent events that caused my life to be possible.
I am thankful for geology, for evolution, for mutation and changes. I am thankful for water, for air, for volcanoes and earthquakes. I am thankful for creation and destruction, for evolution and stagnation, for animals and plants. I am thankful for my ancestors, for my grandparents, for my parents and other family. I am thankful for each individual that ever crossed the path of one of my blood, for it is every decision ever made that has influenced what is today. I am thankful for scientists and inventors, for new dogmas and resistance to change. I am thankful for life, and while today I cannot be thankful for death, I can say I know it is inevitable, I accept it must happen, and I vow to look for what I am thankful for rather than pitying myself or others. Sympathy is acceptable; pity, moping and self-doubt are not.
I miss my uncle.
Hearing this news has reminded me of the fragility of life, how lucky each one of us truly are to be alive. The way the earth has developed has fallen inside the tiny margin of criteria in which organisms can survive and evolve. Billions of years ago, the earth was formed of cosmic dust and materials similar to meteorites, conglomerating into a large mass. The layering of earth's materials into crust, mantle and core began when radioactive material in the earth's mass began decaying, releasing energy that became heat. As the earth heated, rocks melted and softened, allowing them to shift positions freely, the densest rocks moving towards the core and the lightest rocks moving outward, forming a thin crust. Still, the heat of the core and solar power from the sun kept earth's surface at a temperature that allowed for liquid water to accumulate, probably originating from water vapor in volcanic gasses and comets (solid balls of ice) that collided with the earth.
The ocean is likely the most important step of life's origins and evolution in the earth's history. Because the atmosphere of earth at that time was formed mostly from volcanic gas, it was toxic to life as we know it today, high in sulfur, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. In addition, the atmosphere was too thin to protect earth's surface from solar radiation. The oceans supported life by providing oxygen, and filtering radiation from the sun more efficiently than the atmosphere at that time. Life began in the primordial soup, what we today call oceans. We are indebted to water for our lives and lifestyles.
About 1.8 billion years ago, an extremely primitive alga developed a special technique for nourishment. Using solar energy, these organisms converted absorbed carbon dioxide into sugars, and expelled oxygen. Today, we call this process photosynthesis. Because plants need carbon dioxide to survive, the atmospheric content was suitable for their development. Eventually, the spread of plantlife began to replace the excess of carbon dioxide with oxygen, which paved the way for land animals by developing a thicker atmosphere richer in life-supporting elements.
These events and my own life are dependent on: the explosion of a star, creating a nebula where a solar system could form; the conglomeration of cosmic dust in an orbit at a specific distance from the sun; that the materials massed included radioactive elemtns that would eventually decay; that the energy released would heat the planet enough to cause volcanic activity; that enough water vapor and ice would amass to form oceans; and that environment, mutation and other circumstances would cause algae to evolve to use photosynthesis as a method of nourishment. All of these things are simply a few of the prehistoric events that were necessary to my life existing today. Millions more exist, in addition to the millions of historic and recent events that caused my life to be possible.
I am thankful for geology, for evolution, for mutation and changes. I am thankful for water, for air, for volcanoes and earthquakes. I am thankful for creation and destruction, for evolution and stagnation, for animals and plants. I am thankful for my ancestors, for my grandparents, for my parents and other family. I am thankful for each individual that ever crossed the path of one of my blood, for it is every decision ever made that has influenced what is today. I am thankful for scientists and inventors, for new dogmas and resistance to change. I am thankful for life, and while today I cannot be thankful for death, I can say I know it is inevitable, I accept it must happen, and I vow to look for what I am thankful for rather than pitying myself or others. Sympathy is acceptable; pity, moping and self-doubt are not.
I miss my uncle.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Knitting and cats
- Classes are going well
- I'm promising myself I'll read a real book after I'm done with this last romance novel (or I guess 2 since it's a 2-in-1 book)
- Still aching, neck and mind
- Finished the GLB for Sharon, picture below! :)
- Got some circs for making socks, 2 on 1 needle!
- Need to take a shower for family pictures today
Here's the finished GLB, bigger photo on my Flickr. It's really nice, I wish it were mine! (but it's probably too big for my head...
This is Milkshakes sleeping on Ha-hoon. Ha-hoon is the raccoon stuffy Shane had when he was a kid, and he used it as a pillow. Milkshakes loves to sleep and/or knead on Ha-hoon, and it's very very cute :)I also did a little experiment (didn't snag a picture of it), where I made cookie dough and then used it as crust for a little tart. I used a stoneware muffin cup for the cookware, and lined the inside of the cup with dough. Then I put two or three spoonfuls of applesauce and a cube of apple inside. I topped that off with a little maple syrup, and then put a weave sort of top of dough, like an old-fashioned pie. Sort of like this, but tighter (not as many holes):
Then I topped the top crust with a little more maple syrup, and stuck it in the oven on 375. It only took about 10 to 12 minutes to cook, and it was still doughy, and since I left it out on the oven for a while (and had previously greased the cups with margarine) they came out easily and were delicious. I love experimenting with cooking :)What would Megan read: Love by Design, by Nora Roberts
What would Megan listen to: Teardrop, on Mezzanine from Massive Attack
What would Megan watch: Napoleon Dynamite
Monday, January 5, 2009
Overwhelmed!
Boy... It's not going to feel so overwhelming soon, but for now I'm practically swimming in anxiety. School is just as crazy as I remember, and because I haven't been there for so long, it feels new and scary. I don't like being around people so much, and I don't like not knowing what's expected of me. Hopefully as the week goes on I will slip into routine and start feeling easier...
Ativan to the rescue!
Ativan to the rescue!
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