those random bullets of crap...
I was so overjoyed at the end of the semester AND the spectacular ending to CSI (it's about damn time they got it on, don't you think? jeebus) that I never did manage to get back to the blogging. Here we go. It's really random stuff.
- Why does my Starbucks put java jackets on cold drinks? They're
cold, not burn-your-fingers hot. It's wasteful! The only reason I could think of was to keep the condensation from dripping on you, but the java jackets don't absorb the condensation. weird.
- I just finished reading James Houston's
Snow Mountain Passage. Good stuff. He was the author-in-residence in our MFA program this year and seemed like a swell enough guy, and I heard the book was good (although apparently critics were perturbed that it didn't get into details about the cannibalism. whatever. it's not freaking
Alive for chrissakes. gah.)
- I wrote about a pirate in the essay that was due yesterday (in Byron's
The Bride of Abydos), so when I went to the class party/talk about your paper/turn in your paper extravaganza, I wore my pirate t-shirt. Arrrrrrr.
- I'm presenting at a
conference tomorrow. In the grand tradition of scholars everywhere, I bought new pants (and a shirt).
- I haven't seen my geese today, at least not during the daylight. They were around this morning. The gosling is still going strong, but boy do those suckers take awhile to grow up. Watching the family interaction is fascinating. The gosling is in its teenage gangly stage—legs as tall as an adult but with this wee puffy yellow body. Soon it should lose its puffiness and grow some actual feathers. It's quite a sight to see the little puff try to mimic his parents, especially with the stand-up-and-stretch-your-wings motion...because it has no wings! Little thing looks like a puffy T-Rex with its wee arms waving around.
- Some jackass in the condo complex lets his dog run off leash...and usually right toward the waterfowl. The geese fend him off, but it's still uncool. I yell at the kids who throw things at the birds, but I'm not going to yell at adults because if they're "off" enough to find enjoyment in watching their animals go after the wildlife, I don't want to pick a fight with them.
- I don't do calendar applications or personal organizers or mind-mapping software or any of that stuff. But I keep stuff on a sticky note, at least I did until I recently found my new best friend,
ReminderFox.
- My friends' boy reached a sports-related milestone in his soccer-playing career, and I couldn't be more proud of him. I love sports of all kinds (
SJSU represents!) and like to keep track of all the sports-related events in the lives of the kids of people on my blogroll. I was going to link to all of you, but there are just too damn many. So, if you're on my blogroll and your kid plays soccer or baseball or lacrosse or wrestles or swims and so on and so forth, and you write about it on your blog, rest assured that I care. I also care when your kids reach academic milestones like being class valedictorian or spotting the letter O on a map (just to be clear, those are two different kids).
- So, the plaintive quack-wailing. Very sad. Let it be known that humans with hearts understand the sound perfectly well...it's not just for ducks. We had three sets of ducklings this season: 5 3-week-olds who are just now getting their voices and wandering further away from mom, 4 2-week-olds who are just beginning to get real feathers, and just a few days ago (not even a week) 7 more ducklings popped up. There are now just 6 of those ducklings. When I was listening to the ducks yesterday, I heard a sound I'd never heard before—much squawking concern and fear. I got up to see what was going on (because it was a new sound) and at that moment one of the neighborhood cats trotted across my patio with one of the 5-day-old duckings in its mouth. The plaintive quack-wailing of a mother duck unable to keep all 7 of her babies safe, it was just heartwrenching. Stupid circle of life. :(
- Must end on a high note, because that bullet above is just depressing. Um. Aha! I changed the birdfood to more of a songbird mix (because more of it drops to the patio for the squirrels to get) and lovely yellow songbirds now come to visit. Nothing against the plain brown or black and white sparrow-type birds, but yellow is purty. Also, the other day I swear to god I saw a great blue heron swoop around the pond and fly away. Seriously.
Labels: gradschool, life
