GONNA BE A BEAR

In this life I'm a woman.
In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear.

When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that!

Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too!

When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and then wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that!

If you're mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that!

If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. Your mate EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup. Gonna be a bear!

[thanks to the nice ladies at The Willow Basket!

End of an era

Last Saturday night was the last Finkleman's 45s . . . what am I supposed to do on Saturday nights without Danny Finkleman? I have to admit, ending his show with "Then You Can Tell Him Good-bye" (by the Casinos) darn near brought tears to my sentimental eyes!

I've had a lazy week off, and have spent a lot of time playing couch potato and reading. Let's see, I've finished reading:

1. Angels & Demons (Dan Brown)
   
2. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
   
3. Deception Point (Dan Brown)
   
4. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
   
5. Velocity (Dean Koontz)
   
6. Bluestocking Bride (Elizabeth Thornton)
   
7. City of Bones (Michael Connolly)
   

And now I'm reading The Romanov Prophecy (Steve Berry). Can you tell I've had too much free time??? (Someone gave me a HUGE tapestry canvas sans tapestry wool mais avec brand new stretcher frame to keep me occupied, but its one of those 5-year long projects, not a 2-weeks between classes projects!)

So, I'm off for more of the above. Hope your week is relaxed too!

Finished reading AURIEL RISING ...

My last exam was on Saturday afternoon (egads! what a ghastly exam schedule!) so I had the rest of the weekend to relax and read. I haven't decided for sure how I feel about this particular book. It was good in that it kept up a fairly quick pace and kept you guessing about certain characters and their motives. It was interesting in that it dealt with alchemy and British politics / royal history. A couple of the characters had brief romantic moments, but the romance wasn't overdone. There was quite a bit of violence, but not out of keeping with the setting. However, the book lacked something I can't quite put my fingers on. Has anyone else read AURIEL RISING? Your opinion?

On to a new book ... ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown (author of the DaVinci Code, which I have yet to read). So far, I can hardly stand to put it down! It seems particularly fascinating since we were recently subjected to a Papal Conclave and change of Popes. I can hardly wait to finish it and move on to the Davinci Code!

Here's a little snippet from ANGELS & DEMONS that really gave me pause for thought:

"Mr. Langdon, I did not ask you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories . . . legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in God. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staring up at the work of God's hand?"

I love these kinds of conversations / debates, even if engaging in such makes me a little unpopular within certain religious groups!

Besides reading, I managed to get out and about walking in the sunshine. I discovered the Chinese Store with absolutely tons of wicker baskets on sale, (One can never own too many wicker baskets, right?) and also treated myself to a DQ treat. I've got two weeks now until classes resume, so may do more of the same, assuming this nice weather holds!

It's Friday!

What a week! I've been up to me oxters in a big final project (in lieu of a final exam - yay!) for my computer apps class, and putting in 14 hour days. I've even been sleeping sound right until my alarm clock rings in the morning, and I'm normally NEVER still asleep when its time for my alarm clock to ring! In fact, I only ever set my alarm when I know I'm pushing myself and getting overtired. Oh well, by this time next week, I can relax until the end of the next term.

One thing that amazes me about end-of-the-term stress: I don't eat, yet I never lose weight. What the ... ? I do coffee and toast in the morning, occasionally an egg or two, then keep going until I get home at night (starving), and usually way too tired for a substantial meal. Shouldn't I be getting skinnier???

I've been up to me oxters at work too (as a tutor) 'cuz everyone else has term papers and projects due at the same time as me. I've read a huge variety of writing this past week, from a University 101 essay to a graduate thesis -- life is sure never dull!

I'm taking this evening off to go see a movie -- more for the sanity break than the movie! Back to the books over the weekend in preparation for next weeks final exams. If you're doing anything exciting this weekend, think about me sitting at home conjugating and memorizing Spanish verbs (yo estudio, yo estudiando ...), okay? Adios!

This was fun ...

... and a little good for my ego!

You Are 24 Years Old

24 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

On a different note, I had two interesting food experiences yesterday. First, I had sushi for lunch. I didn't think it was possible to have BAD sushi! My advice: if you ever decide to eat this normally tasty treat on campus here in PG, DON'T! The rice was so dry and so overcooked, I couldn't choke it down with generous swigs of water. Second, I stopped at McDs for supper (since it was after 8 and I was starving and I had to walk right past a McDs on the way home). While sitting and eating my french fries, I observed two young fellas come in and place food orders. They were told it would be 4 to 6 minutes until their whatever was ready. Apparently 4 to 6 minutes was a HUGE PROBLEM! When did 4 to 6 minutes wait become such a big deal?

On yet another note, I had an epiphany over the weekend. The definition of an epiphany is:

a sudden revelation of truth inspired by a seemingly trivial incident.

Yes, as usual, it brought tears to my ears. (I always cry at epiphanies, births, and other significant events -- I think its genetic.) I was listening to Andrea Bocelli's CD SENTIMENTO. His first song is ARANJUEZ, a very achingly Spanish love song. It suddenly occurred to me that I understood every single word of the lyrics! I guess the latest Spanish course has helped increase my vocabulary a lot.

I remember two other tearful epiphanies in recent years. One was the first time I played the theme from SWAN LAKE on the piano all on my own -- it was so incredible to have all my hands (it felt like I had 17 or 18 of them to control!) doing what they were supposed to be doing and have what they were doing come out like recognizable and beautiful music! Another was in the biology lab looking at live fern leaves under a high-powered microscope, and seeing chloroplasts -- little green structures inside individual plant cells -- all swimming around the perimeter of the cells in perfect unison. We're talking about stuff inside INDIVIDUAL CELLS here -- how amazing is that?! I'm grateful for the limited eyesight I enjoy, never mind seeing something INSIDE individual plant cells. How could I not weep in amazement?

I figure we are here on this earth to fully experience the condition of being humans. I also figure in the course of that experience, there are going to be some amazing epiphanies. I am delighted to be SO amazed at some of these unfolding experiences that tears of wonder come to my eyes, and I hope I never lose the ability to be amazed at the complexity and beauty of this creation.

Wow! From ego-stroking foolishness to philosophical epiphanies in one posting! And how's YOUR week starting out???

I got tagged

Thank you, Uta Here's my answers:

Total volume of music files on my computer: zero! I still do music the old-fashioned stereo way. (I even own cassettes ... and play them regularly!)

The last CD I bought was: Blu Hopkins "Canyon Wind"

Song playing right now: Nada! Nothing! (I'm in a noisy open computer lab on campus at the moment.) But if I were at home, I'd probably play my Ron Hynes "Get Back Change" CD to hear the song "Dark River". I've been humming that today.

Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me:
1. Wayfaring Stranger (bluegrass or Johnny Cash version)
2. He Stopped Loving Her Today (George Jones)
3. You Were Always On My Mind
4. Yesterday (Beatles)
5. Panus Angelicus
(Actually, the list of songs that mean a lot to me is a LOT longer than these five!)

Five people to whom I'm passing this baton: For sure BananaRants for one, and Necy too.