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Apparently, I Am The Lizard King |
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bored? never.
It looks like Allie Adventureson is our big winner! (Except for the Vanagon part, that is.) She gets to go to San Francisco and get her MFA. As it turns out, she was right about a lot of things. She’s a smart girl, that Allie. We’ll find out before the week is over if Allie also wins the trip to Europe. (Oh pleasepleaseplease.) It all depends on the whim of the judges, who have not yet decided on that. Now that the decision is made, Thelma is freaking out about things like a job and a place to live, and a place for Matt to live, but Allie is optimistic that things will work themselves out somehow. It’s nice to have someone so sanguine around when your world is about to turn upside down. I have been e-mailing the program director, who gave me some more good news. Apparently it is within the realm of possibility to take more than 12 units a semester. I may be able to finish my MFA in less than five semesters, and save myself a little bit of money. The program director said it would be very difficult to do, but I replied, “I work really well under that kind of stress. During my last year as an undergrad, I took 18 units, worked full time, and still got a 4.0. I know it won’t be easy, but I think I could do it.” And I do. I got a lot of great letters from you guys, with a lot of good advice. The advice was sometimes contradictory, but it all helped, I guarantee it. With help from several people I was able to delve a little deeper into the whole MA vs. MFA thing. I discovered that in order to teach on the university level, I need an MFA. I guess that’s why the degree takes longer and is a terminal degree. The MFA plus a decent list of publication credits will qualify me to teach. (If I can find a job, but I’ll burn that bridge when I’m in the middle of it.) The MA, on the other hand, might be sufficient, if you have a lot of publication credits or if you get lucky. But some schools would require you to get an additional teaching credential, and you may only be able to teach at the community college level. If you’re interested in more specifics about this, write me and we’ll chat. I don’t want to go on and on and bore those of you who just come here for cheap laughs.
Or movie reviews. Yesterday, I finally got my copy of the miniseries Pride and Prejudice. I’ve only gotten through a tape and a half (the fam made me stop and play Cranium with them) but I can already tell it’s going to live up to the hype. It has people from some of my absolute favorite shows/films: Julia Sawahla from Absolutely Fabulous and “Henrietta” and “that other guy” from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Sense and Sensibility is one of my favorite movies of all time, and Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books… it all dovetails quite nicely. My only problem with it so far is that Jane is just not pretty enough. In the book she is supposed to be empirically very beautiful, but the actor who portrays her is not particularly so. On the other hand, Jennifer Ehrle and Colin Firth are perfect as Lizzy and Darcy.
Today, some wonderful journal person offered to read my tarot cards for me. It was an auspicious offer, since the day before yesterday I was saying, “You know, I should really read my cards about this, but it’s so much easier when someone else reads them for you. I wish I knew someone who would read my cards.” Thanks, universe, for answering my call. I keep remembering that I want to do a tarot reading for myself, and as soon as I get home, I forget about it. I’ve been reading tarot cards for ten years now, and I used to do an extensive one every year on January first. I have no idea why I didn’t do it this year, but there’s no time like the present. I have two main decks: the Osho Zen deck and the Arthurian deck. The Arthurian deck is more traditional, and I use it for all my layouts (including my own 72 card “Tides of Time” reading, which delves into eight of your past lives). The Zen deck, on the other hand, is a gorgeous, meditative deck. I will usually just draw one card from the Zen deck and see what it says. Let me tell you, this deck is eerily accurate, 100% of the time. Example. When I first got the deck, my boss had just been fired and I had been put in charge of the company. I was worried about not living up to his legacy, because he was an excellent manager and I was just a college kid with no experience. This is the card I drew:
The message of this card is, in a nutshell, “You cannot compare a bamboo to an oak tree.” You better believe I stared at that card, jaw agape, for quite some time.
I had a great conversation with Tim last night. I had intended to call and lay all my troubles on him, just like he did a couple weeks ago with his work situation issues. He actually called me first, to tell me that Renfield was playing last night. (At 11:00. I was ready to go, but he wanted to skip it in favor of the next show in a couple weeks.) At that point, the fog had already cleared from my head, but it was nice to talk everything out anyway. He also showed a surprising burst of emotion, considering that he doesn’t seem to possess any. I had e-mailed him a while back about my probable gallstones and he made a somewhat flip, joking response. Last night he brought it up, saying, “I realized that after the fact that my answer may have been a little rude” and asked me about the specifics. I guess he really didn’t “get” that surgery was involved before, but he sounded concerned last night. When I told him they were going to take it out, he said, “They’re just going to take it out? Don’t you need it?” After ten minutes of explanation, I finally discovered that he thought the gallbladder and the bladder were the same thing. Yikes! No wonder he was surprised when I said the gallbladder is “not that important.” (Great quote from dinner last night. I told my cousin Lucy that they were probably going to take out my gallbladder and she said, “Oh, really? Will it grow back?” Ha! And Matt’s response to that was, “Geez Lucy, she’s not a LIZARD.”) Anyway, so Tim and I talked about that for a while, and then got back on the topic of San Francisco. Of course, he started asking things like “Where will you live?” and “How will you get money?” and “Won’t that put you in debt?” and all that crap. Allie fielded the questions like a trouper, let me tell you. Then he said, “Well, I’ll be sad.” I giggled and waited for the inevitable punch line. But there wasn’t
one.
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What
I'm Reading:
I forgot my book today.  Happy happy happy!Journal Quote of the Day: “I've often thought that if someone saw our relationship in a movie they'd scream at the screen for the players to go their separate ways.Random Tidbit: Check out this creative links page. She saved the best description for her own journal, but I like mine, too. |
