I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime -
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face -
But I've come through
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end -
We are the champions -
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world -
I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls -
You brought me fame and fortuen
Quite honestly, there were two spot-on sitcoms of the 90s which turned the excesses and pretentiousness of the 80s on their ears. One was Seinfeld, the other was Absolutely Fabulous. And I love them both.
Admittedly, I love AbFab, and will continue to watch it on BBC America or Comedy Central whenever it's on. There are various stand-out episodes which seems to rise above the other exemplary episodes of the series. But the one which seems to come on right before my family gets together i
New month! New start! Newly deposited cash in bank account! (This last one being probably the most important.)
These last 6-8 months have been disastrous on me financially. A lack of work combined with clients who pulled out at the last minute meant that I was scrambling for extra cash. Now I think I'm finally in the clear--oh, my proverbial boat didn't exactly come in, but I'm back to full paychecks, and debts have been paid off.
Of course, I need to replace my glasses, my car need
I decided that, due to my relative endpoint in my dissertation process, I could afford time to work a part-time job in the department stores around here during the Holiday Rush...meaning I'd make meager wages, but quite a few hours, and would get the nice employee discount.
Now, just as a background: I'm the daughter of a very successful salesman, and I can schmooze with the best. I know how to work a crowd, juggle stuff, and take care of business. I've done 'hotel front desk' types of job
Well, I guess I should explain my absence and lack of participation. To say the least, I've been a very busy doc.
It breaks down like this: I've been doing more, although I haven't exactly been paid any more, but with the added responsability comes recognition and, hopefully, something more permanent. There were late classes thrown at me, various curriculum and planning duties. I do love it...I'm back to teaching an intro to linguistics class, which I haven't taught in over 10 years, alon
Here in the States, we have a tradition. It's not the holidays until the Charlie Brown cartoons start.
It starts with "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" for Halloween, but one of my favorite one is "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". Besides, it sets up a day of football (not footie, mind you...that's a different sport), and this year my Niners are playing in the Har-bowl...the head coaches of both the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens are brothers Jim and John Harbaugh, respectively, and bo
I think most are aware of Habitat for Humanity, and if not then you probably know of a program like it. Essentially, those deserving folk who are down on their luck and need a place to live apply to have a dwelling built for them...with the catch that they must have certain qualifications, and they must put a certain number of hours in to the building of their home. It's a great program, one that's received a lot of warranted attention. So you probably can understand the outcry when you read
(**Warning...venting allert. No advice necessary, just need to pout and mope. All is well, I promise!**)
My dad picked the wrong week to go on vacation. Dammit.
Usually when I have questions on certain subjects, I go to him. One is physiology. Not because he's a doctor or has any medical training whatsoever. Instead, he's someone who has done a ton of reading, has felt pain of pretty much every position on the spectrum, and is a logical person. He's the person who taught me that n
I know, I know...two consecutive blog entries...what has gotten into me? Well, a little of this, a little of that. Mostly, it's shame.
I found it interesting that, because of the political in-fighting and stalemate in DC, the national news agencies and some of the local ones have been asking we, the people, to pipe up. They have wanted us to send a message to our Congressional Representatives and Senators, literally, and tell them how their political dueling has affected our lives. I gues
Dammit, Mumford & Sons didn't win at the Grammies. Meh, no accounting for taste, really.
I know, I've been gone a while. Work has been atrocious lately, and the private life has been run topsy-turvy. More details to come at a later point in time.
But I will say this: It's never easy to let someone down, but when you have a floater, well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Why it is that people can't, or perhaps refuse to, understand, I don't know. But if after one or t
The horoscope roundtable yielded some interesting results. While the first 3 that I read this morning hardly elicited a chuckle from me, this one from Minerva (of all the names! really!) for the week to come by far was the best:
Well, Minerva, and I doubt that's your real name...how is that different than any other week? I often have 'monetary issues'...it's called being broke. The last time I wasn't was....well, um, a long time ago. And for the record, I'm always feeling passionat
Yes, GhostOfClayton, your entry talking about Human League has put me in a right 80s mood. Actually, to be fair, I was listening to a fair bit of Madness, Clash, and others this afternoon before reading the blog, but still.
So, finals are over! Well, for me they are. I had everything graded by last night, 10pm...record time, I might add. Then again, it was pretty clear that many of my students just didn't do so well on the final paper. I mean, sure, it's an in-class essay, but when
After the intros for all the other Giants, you hear the sound of
In the bullpen, warming up...number 55...TIM!!!!! LINCECUM!!!!!!
Yes, it's the post season for Major League Baseball, and my Giants are in, and looking strong. While I don't have tickets to any of the games, at least I can watch at home. Also, I won't be freezing at AT&T Park, whic his very and entirely possible to do during night games.
Oh, I had some gripes on what manager Bruce Bochy concocted for the 25-ma
I love it once mid-November rolls around. People actually start caring about each other and acting upon it. Ok, it should happen all year long, of course, but some is better than none, I guess.
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The other day a local news channel did a story about how food and money donations at the local food banks was horrifically low, so low that Thanksgiving turkeys were either in short supply or non-existent; at one major food bank in Oak
Lubs, by the way, are what many 'round here jokingly refer to as pounds...since we wish to somehow pronounce 'lbs'. Anyway...at yesterday's weigh-in, it was 50 lost since 1 June 2006! Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! :punk:
I have no idea why, but
is my absolute favorite song by Otis Redding.
I mean, it's not really about San Francisco; it's really about him. Yes, I know, he was sitting on a pier that ran into the San Francisco Bay when he wrote the key line, but the rest of the song was written by Steve Cropper--and he purposely wrote it about Otis. Evidently, Otis hated writing about his life, but Steve found it full of inspiration.
I guess the rhythm of the song does remind me of sitting at some of
I decided last night to go see "No Country For Old Men," seeing as how it was about to be in a double feature with "There Will Be Blood" (which I don't care to see right now). So, 9:35pm showing...and it was so worth it.
Admittedly, I'm a big Coen Bros. fan. I love their work--"The Big Lebowski" is in permanent residence in my DVD collection, and "Fargo" is about to join it. I love how they can work the dark side of humanity into a central question of society: what is justice? At least,
Don't you love it when you hear a song that you love, and it happens to fit your life in some way or another?
I was driving to work this afternoon when that lovely Smiths song came on. The funny thing about the Smiths (and Morrissey) is that I never am totally sure what the title of the song is, but I always end up singing the damned thing. Very good songs, very catchy...and very silly.
"Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life
There once was a point in my life that I really didn't care about going out. Well, that's what I thought...in reality I was lonely, but also in denial about said lonliness, so as far as I was concerned, hitting the town with friends was no big deal. Sure, it's fun, but I wasn't concerned that I was missing out on the grandest of times.
At the time, I was living in Austin, working on my degree and, frankly, not very happy. Oh, I loved the city, loved the university...just hated the state (
May Day...not a holiday here so much in the United States, but perhaps now that will change.
My day started out a jubilant one just on general principle. I knew that I didn't have anything to do, and therefore I planned on going to the beach for a much needed respite. It was a gloriously sunny day here, and while it was still springlike and cool in the air temperature, the ocean salt air and the sun at my back made for a wonderful and tranquil day. I came back home a bit early to take in
It's been a while, I know. I was doing well with the weekly blog, but then comes the end of the semester...and the end of year festivities. But, the exams have been corrected, the grades have been awarded (can you really award someone a failing grade?), and I'm in recovery.
Oh, don't worry, this is normal. I usually am cranking and churning out work at such a high rate of speed during finals week, and it takes about a week of moving slowly to 'recuperate'. Nothing gets done quickly, exce
Originally I was set to teach a course in the summer, one which was meant to include local high school students. It was a great program--the thought is to include them on certain popular courses so that their transition to college (be it community college or a 4-year college) would be better. 6 weeks, and a collegiate course. It was going to be tough, but hell, I was up for the challenge!
News just came down the pipe...the high school district just now realized that the high school studen
...if you wait long enough, the latest installment of your favorite Brit show will be on BBC America. But it might take a while.
That's right, folks, series 11 starts showing here in the States on Monday...except that I'll be teaching, getting home just in time to watch the very very last episode of "Boston Legal," my absolute favorite show on TV right now. 2 hour finale, starts as I get out of class, so I'll be missing the first half hour or so.
Only a couple more weeks, and then I'
I love it when my friends say that California doesn't have winter weather. Of course it does...it's just not as extreme as it is in most places in the world. What they don't understand are the geography, the climate and the population spread in this great Golden State o'mine.
California is long...very long...with at least 3 mountain ranges running along it. In fact, it's so big and long that, according to Wikipedia, if it were a country it'd be the 59th largest country in the world (for what
