In Memoriam Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. To be honest, I'm not up enough on current world events to be really sad for Pakistan, or to know the implications - but she came to Mary Baldwin last spring and gave a speech, and I got to meet her. She was a very nice woman and I liked talking with her.

*sigh*

Why do we have guns?

Season of Yule

The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of year - and not only because of the month-long break from my horrifyingly busy schoolyear (thought that is a definite plus). No, I love the glow that comes with it and I don't even mind the commercial-corruption of the holiday so much. (Except for the continuous marring of Christmas songs by new artists, I hate those.)

So, yesterday was fun. We all woke up at a late-ish time (which was cool and new, it's the first time in years I haven't had to get up at 6am to stuff the turkey and put it in the oven), ate cinnamon bread for breakfast with some of Sierra's new "Dead-Man's Reach" coffee (SOO good), and checked out our Christmas stockings. Then we tackled the tree, which was - as usual - very hectic and covered the living room in paper and wrapping for a good hour or so.

Then Momma and I started in on the turkey, so we would have it ready for supper - Aunt Anne and all the rest were coming for supper, plus an exchange student from India they offered to entertain for the day, plus Sierra and Justin (who had already had Christmas at the Hughes', and we were feeling the slight pressure of having thirteen people over for dinner.

Did some last finishing touches on the house - and let me tell you, I went through some interesting convulsions trying to get thirteen chairs at the dining room table. That room is simply not big enough for thirteen people. But the meal went well, especially considering that we experienced a close-shave with Aunt Anne's cooking - she invited us over and we had to be very creative with our excuses. Aunt Anne is not the BEST of cooks, and there have been times in the past where they have not cooked their turkey thoroughly - resulting in food poisoning. We really didn't feel quite in the mood to carry a whole plastic-wrapped Christmas dinner over to Lewisburg, so we invited them over instead.

Anyway, we had a very full - noisy, too - house last night until far too late, then we had a peaceful rest of the evening to ourselves. Christmas was indeed satisfactory.

Jubilation!!!

I, through my impressive powers of persuasion, have managed to get not one - oh no, not just one! - but both of my brothers in the church choir for the Christmas season! This takes us up to five men (all baritones, true, but they can hop around a little), three altos, and FOUR sopranos!!! This is the biggest the choir has been in three years!!!

In other news, I discovered tonight that my solo - "O Holy Night" - has been bumped up from offertory to anthem. I have been promoted - which is good, because I've got a killer ending (the man who restored our stained glass windows will be cringing in the fear that I'll crack them with my voice) and I just worked it out tonight. (I, in fact, sight-read it due to both choir practice and church being cancelled for inclement weather last week.) In any case, I'm sort of glad to be moved to anthem - it was a little too long for an offertory.

My Uterus is IMPLODING

Women go through a rather painful and messy process once a month - it's a part of the monthly cycle that some say is in sync with the cycles of the moon. (I really don't think it is.) I am going through it right now and it's the WORST yet. For serious, it feels as though my uterus is attempting to claw its way out of my lower abdomen.

In other news, break is going excessively well. My family is getting along (probably because Sierra lives in Williamsport now and Stefan and Sawyer no longer share a room), my job is fun (and cinnamony), and I may keep this cunning little wedding ring - it serves a very, very useful purpose. It could really come in handy at Cracker Barrel, for the more irritating tables of single men I get.

My cat loves me again, but that may change if I become an RA at Mary Baldwin for this coming semester. I should know by this coming week if that is the case - if it is, Emmeline will stay here with Mom and Dad (they're not too unhappy about that, because they think she's cute), and I'll go to live in a dorm. Again. Ah well. If I can save enough money this semester, I'll be able to afford rent this summer assuming I go to work at Williamsburg.

And now I'm going to curl up in a ball of outraged hormones so I can watch Tin Man and eat something hot and nourishing.

"Someone's Gotta Keep Your Wide-Eyed Optimism in Check"

So, I discovered this fantastic mini-series on the SciFi channel due to my darling mother and brother. It's called "Tin Man" and it is (surprise, surprise) a slightly sci-fi-ish spin-off of the original story of "The Wizard of Oz". I'm generally picky with my canon, but this kind of made me forget it. The writing wasn't quite "Firefly" calibre, and some of the actors were occasionally off, and yeah - the FX kind of sucked. BUT I have not been so riveted by a movie in a while. Besides which, some of the shout-outs to the original movie were just HILARIOUS.

First off, their Dorothy character - DG, which stands for (you guessed it) Dorothy Gale. Raised in Kansas by Aunty Em and Uncle Henry (who she thinks are her parents, but are robot-equivalents programmed to treat her as their own and gently introduce her to life in the O.Z.), and working in a diner (wearing gingham); she unexpectedly lands in the O.Z., which is kind of a battle-zone when she arrives due to:

Azkadellia, the evil sorceress who has imprisoned the rightful Queen (Glinda, yo) and has flying monkeys that bursts from her chestal region. (I had wondered about the cool prison tats on her expansive cleavage. The logistics baffle me - where, for example, would the monkeys sleep in her breasts? I don't imagine that would be too comfortable.)

When DG arrives in the O.Z., she encounters Munchkins who look like kindergartners who are far too enthusiastic about Thanksgiving. While in possession of the Munchkins, she is tied up in a net in a tree with a man named Glitch. Glitch has a (fully operational) zipper in his head - he had half his brain removed by Azkadellia because he knew too much. He is our Scarecrow-equivalent and played by an always charming Alan Cumming. I adore that man.

Next up, we meet the Tin Man. Named Wyatt Cain, he was a Tin Man (law enforcement) who worked with people who defied Azkadellia. Naturally, Azkadellia's men went after Cain and his family - they recorded the torture of his family and himself, locked him in a tin box and made him watch it over and over for about fifteen years until DG freed him from the box. I have only to say that Cain cleans up nice and DG really ought to tap that. Like, now.

Shortly following Cain joining DG and Glitch on their journey to a Road to Central City to speak to the Mystic Man (two guesses who that is), they encounter our lion, Raw, in a Papay Orchard (Papays are man-eating beasts) where he is about to become lunch. They rescue him by DG's insistence and, in the process, fall over a cliff. They escape relatively unscathed, however.

I won't go into too much detail on the rest - wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. I have only to add that Cain/DG fic will make me a very happy woman, and Glitch is my one true love.

In any event, during my time selling German Roasted Nuts at my soon-to-be-brother-in-law's family's stand, the boring slow-time hours shall be whiled away by my jotting down an outline for a sequel to this story about the O.Z. I'm a sucker for the original books by L. Frank Baum and I want to get some mad research done by the time winter break is over so I can write one adequately. My biggest sticking point at the moment is wondering 1.) Were the silver slippers lost forever in the Deadly Desert and if not, where did they go? and 2.) How the hell did they cross the Deadly Desert in Ozma of Oz? Did they used the jeweled belt from the Gnomb King?

GAH. It's been far too long since I've read the books. Perhaps that's why minor lapses from canon didn't really bother me?

Wonderful quotes:
Azkadellia:The little bitch has gone to see the Wizard.

Cain: Much obliged for the help.
DG: You're welcome, Mr. Cain. Um, I'm DG, by the way, and this is...
Cain: I know. A headcase.
Glitch: I have a proper name, you know. And whe-when I remember it, I'll tell you.
DG: What's a headcase?
Cain: It's what the state does to re-educate criminals. They rip out their brains. Make them prisoners of their own minds. Ain't that right, convict?
Glitch: Hey. Whoa. I ain't no convict. And just in case I am, it-it-it was a bogus charge, a-a-a frame job. I'm sure of it.

DG: Um.. your ah... zipper is undone.
Glitch: Oh... didn't mean to offend. (zips his head up) Gotta be careful not to lose your marbles.

Glitch: I mean they don't call me Twinkletoes for nothing, but I cut quite a rug.
Cain: (after seeing Glitch fight the LongCoats) You're a deep well, Glitch.
Glitch: It's all about rhythm.

Glitch: You know you oughta do something about that sinister brain.
Cain: Why? Someone's gotta keep your wide-eyed optimism in check.

DG's Dad: Had that crazy nightmare last night, huh?
DG: In Technicolor.

Cain: I know what you're doing, kid... I've led men through battle myself.
DG: And, um... How am I doing?
Cain: Well, there's less hugging when I do it. But not so bad.

Troilus and Criseyde

I really do love Chaucer. I'm trying to convince myself of this while I'm writing a paper about why Criseyde is a victim of circumstances, and not a whore. However, this is not as easy as it may seem - the Middle English, of course, will give me headaches and there has always been my huge mental block against poetry of any kind. That is neither here nor there - I want the damn thing to be ten pages long (at least), I want to relate it to the Wife of Bath's Tale, and I want the English department to wish that I was one of them.

But I'm not greedy.

I'm home now - Pennsylvania is nice. I ended up driving home through inclement weather conditions. It was snowing when I left Staunton and it just got worse as the day went on. I've taken today to sort of regroup and feel better before I get down to the difficult stuff. However, this paper needs to be finished by tomorrow at the very latest, so I am working slowly at it. I have reached the over six-pages mark and I still have material to work with... it's just feeling inclined to work with the material available to me.

Before too much longer, I'm going to shower and put on some decent clothes, then throw in a load of laundry before heading on to work again. But for now, I'm happy lounging in my living room with Troilus and Criseyde, listening to Callanish in the background and cuddling with my kitty.

Dad has taken quite a liking to Emmeline since she came here last week to stay during my exams - and since she may need to live here next semester due to an environment change, that's perhaps a good thing. He refuses to call her "Emmeline" however, because that is his mother's name and it just feels wrong to him. He calls her "Emmy", which is endearing and she seems to like it - I think Dad has supplanted me in Emmy's affections. He's tickled pink, since no cat in existence has ever liked my dad and he has a certain affinity for them.

I'm extremely sorry not to be traveling to Vienna for May Term now more than ever - we had a guest masterclass a few weeks ago, led by an opera singer who is especially prominent in Vienna. Her name is Donna Ellen and she came as a favor to Dr. A. Well, for some reason, she took a liking to me and asked if I would be traveling to Vienna with the rest of the music students, since she knew that she would be in Vienna at that time. I had to say how sorry I was, but I couldn't due to lack of time and funds. I WANT TO GO TO VIENNA.

There. That's done. I shan't complain now. But still...

Right then. On to Criseyde and the negative male influence on her life.