Anchors Aweigh

Still no time for words.  But here are some pictures!  Navy lost, but the sun was out, and we had fun.  And I got to take a bit of a break from all this craziness.

I took this next photo thinking, "I can just flip it around and the M will be right side up!"  It didn't occur to me that the whole world would then be upside down.  I think I'm brainfried.

So I tried again.  The marching band on the big screen above the Mids' seating section.  (How do they pack them into such a tight space at the stadium in Annapolis?

Other news in brief:
-We lost our second softball game via slaughter rule.  For some reason unknown to myself, I tried to dive for a ground ball that went between me and the shortstop.  I did not get an out.  I did not even stop the ball to keep it in the infield.  I just ripped open my knee and am now developing the only scab I can remember having in recent memory.
-We went to our friends' new house for a housewarming party on Saturday.  Billy can now add beanbags to the list of tossing games he excels at.
-I finished the syllabus for the class I'm teaching.
-I had the distinct pleasure of wading my through the single worst/most difficult text I've been assigned in grad school in between all of the above.  I managed to say something about it in class tonight that I don't believe was completely idiotic.  So I will count that as a success.
-I have had very little time to follow the US Open.  This depresses me.  I'm trying to carve out enough time to watch a match in the case that Nadal and Federer both make it to the final.  I like Rafa's chances this year.

(Anchors Aweigh is apparently a very popular book title.  I don't know what any of these books are about, but I must go to bed if I am going to accomplish a full week's worth of reading tomorrow.)

The Deep End of the Ocean

Classes started this week.  In my first one, my professor said "Cold water, meet deep end."  No kidding.  I'm actually a fan of jumping unabashedly into the deep end, but this is all a bit much for me.  I'm treading furiously until I can get my bearings and adjust to my new schedule of teaching and studenting, but until then, I'm feeling completely overwhelmed.

So I've got pictures for you, instead of word vomit.

They were supposed to give us a sample syllabus for the course I teach, and I was fully planning to follow it.  Don't try to reinvent the wheel, I'm always trying to tell myself.  However, they still haven't done it, and I can't keep waiting forever.  So I found myself planning it like this:

I believe this to be bordering on certifiably insane.  But I have something even crazier to share.  This is a photo of my assignment book, for the assignments that were due this past week, which means they all had to be accomplished before classes had even begun:

And here's the list for next week.  Please note how few cross outs I have yet managed to accomplish.  Yet, I've been reading and planning almost non-stop since Tuesday morning.

Other news in brief: 

I dove for a ball in our softball game last night and tore open my knee.  A nasty scab is forming.  And I didn't even stop the ball.  And we played such a bad single inning that the game ended early on account of the slaughter rule.

Andy Roddick did me a favor by bowing out of the US Open in the second round, so I am no longer tempted to set aside my work for tennis watching.  Though yelling at a lineswoman for mixing up her right and left can hardly be considered "bowing."  I have a lot more to say about this but no time in which to say it.

Must get back to work. 

(The Deep End of the Ocean is a book by Jacquelyn Mitchard that I can remember reading back in the 90s when Oprah put it on her booklist.  I believe it fed nicely into my John Grisham crime novel obsession.)

Open

Today I decided that my mid-semester slump is supplemented by tennis fan depression. This is the worst time of year to be a tennis fan. No grand slams. Everyone is injured. And Andre Agassi used meth?

Oscar has been taking a break from literary studies. He's currently helping Billy with a paper about the costs of incorporating security into a corporate network versus the costs of recovering from information breach due to a lack of adequate network security. Once Billy finishes this paper, all he will have left to do before his graduate education is complete is take a final exam.

Seeing Oscar at work on his PC reminds me that we have twice as many computers in this house as we have humans. Welcome to the 21st century.

Tonight we are off to our final softball game in what has become a never ending season. We have lost 3 games in a row, so hopefully we can end on a high note. Happy weekend, everybody!

(Open is Andre Agassi's forthcoming autobiography, in which he evidently admits to hating tennis, wearing fake hair, and taking crystal meth. Maybe not what a tennis fan wants to read in the off season, but I probably will anyway.)

Shelter from the Storm

My reading load this week has been comparatively light, which has allowed me to enjoy a bit of relaxation and re-prioritization that has served me well. It has been a pleasant week.

Tuesday, I set aside all the stuff I was "supposed" to be working on, and focused instead on what I wanted to be working on: my PhD writing sample. I finished the book I had assigned myself and completed the 1 page abstract of my argument that my professor requested. He and I were both happy with the result, so after a bit more research, I will be ready to begin writing it! For dinner, we met up with Billy's family to celebrate Chuck's birthday.

Wednesday, I had a productive meeting with my aesthetic theory professor. I have a paper due for her tomorrow, and when I left her class Monday night, I had no idea what to write about. My meeting helped me talk through some things that had been confusing me, and the paper is almost finished. She also confirmed that I don't need to retake the GRE for my application, so that was a relief.

Thursday, I survived another Readings in Early Modern Literature class meeting, enjoyed spending some time reading Inada (more on that in a minute), and watched The Office with Billy. Last week's episode was a bit of a dud, so I was happy that this one made me laugh again.

Friday, my boss was out of the office, so I was able to get some of my reading done at work. (It's not that I'm a bad employee; when she's not there to give me work, I have little to do besides answer peoples' questions.) By Friday night, Billy's injured leg had healed sufficiently to allow him to participate in our softball game, which did not get rained out for the first time in weeks. Although we suffered our first loss, I was called out by the umpire when I was clearly safe, and we had so many girls that I had to sit out the second half, I had a good time.

Saturday, I spent several hours communing with Katherine Anne Porter, and by that I mean reading through the marginal comments she wrote in the books she left to the University of Maryland. I am trying to figure out the connection between her and Willa Cather, so my success of the day was finding a note in which she acknowledges the similarity between a scene she wrote and one Cather wrote. I believe I finally found the perfect pale pink nail polish (OPI's Isn't it Romantic?)-- feel free to laugh, but this search has been going on for months. To finish up the week, Danielle and I met for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, where I got to enjoy my Renee's Special, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle cheesecake, and Danielle's company. : )

As I said before, I've really been enjoying the Inada poetry collection I was assigned this week. Tucked inside the "Oregon" section are a few poems about his wife, including the one I leave you with below, which I wish I had discovered in time to have it read at my wedding. So simple, but just right.

X. Pledge

Repeat after me:

I

Do

You

We

Be

(Repeat as necessary.)

Marriage Takes Patience

... especially when you're married to me. Just this week, I have:

1) refused to eat $1 hot dogs because they were disgusting. Give me Nathan's or give me nothing. (Sunday)

2) left my wallet in Billy's car overnight, prompting a 7am "Do I need to come back home to bring you your stuff?" phone call from my husband. (Monday)

3) forgotten my track jacket at softball practice, forcing my husband to backtrack 10 minutes to retrieve it. (Wednesday)

4) locked myself out of the house on my morning run, after Billy had left for work, prompting a 7am "I need you to come back home to bring me a key" phone call to my husband (after knocking on the neighbor's door to borrow her phone). Thankfully, my mother-in-law came to our rescue, saving Billy the trip and helping me get into the house. (Thursday)

What is in store for Billy tomorrow? No one knows.

Treading Water

I'm trying to enjoy a lazy Saturday, the second to last one before the beginning of the new semester, but already my head is swimming. That old familiar feeling is back-- I've jumped into the deep end again. I'm excited for the new semester to start, but also nervous about the pressures it will bring.

I'm taking an AmLit Seminar called "Incommensure Beauty, or Aesthetic Inquiry and Minority Discourse in U.S. American Literary Studies." The title alone is difficult to digest, but I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not quite as excited about my readings class in Renaissance Lit, but it's a requirement, so I need to get it out of the way. Both of these are "regular" 3 credit courses. I'm also taking a 0.5 credit class called "Introduction to the Discipline" in which I'll learn more about the various paths within collegiate literary studies. I'm re-enrolled in my 1 credit Theory Colloquium class, and hoping I can gather the confidence to speak out loud and interact with my classmates during this go-round (no promises, however, as learning to think theoretically is still a work-in-progress for me). I've also been accepted into the 1 credit Publications Workshop, in which I think I'll be the only MA student working with a group of PhD students to refine one of my papers for publication. Deep end, indeed!!

In the midst of all this, I have to transform a paper I wrote last semester about Willa Cather into a PhD application writing sample. In my brain, I know the direction in which I want to take the paper, but finding the time for that will be a challenge. And somehow, I hope to continue my research on Katherine Anne Porter and her collection of books and papers at UMD. I met with the curator of the collection, who was very helpful, and I am excited about the prospects of this research project. Sometimes I wish my little brain was a little less curious, and could focus in on one thing to be really curious about at a time, in which case I might actually have the time to focus on it properly. I do have a knack, however, for figuring out how things ultimately fit together, so none of it ever ends up being a waste of time. I guess this is life in academia... and I'm thankful for the opportunity to devote my time to these various curiosities.

In other news, Billy and I made our debut last night as co-ed slowpitch softball players. Prior to the game, Billy's friend Rich told him I'd been assigned to play catcher. I interpreted this as an insult, so I was pleased to be promoted to 3rd base after Rich saw me throw the ball. Late in the game, I finally got a grounder hit toward me, and I kept my eye on the ball as it passed right through my legs, probably forcing Rich to reconsider his decision. : ) In my defense, I did cover the base, and Rich fielded the ball behind me, so it was an out at 3rd all the same. Billy made several good catches in the outfield and got on base 3 out of 4 at-bats, so all in all, I will deem the debut a success. We could use some practice, but I guess that is to be expected considering I haven't played in 15 years and he hasn't played in about 10. It was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to getting to know my teammates better-- they seem like a good group... even if they did decide to call the team the "Master Batters."

Top 4 into the semis in Cincinnati- I am looking forward to the Federer/Murray matchup. The "other Andy," as I like to call him, has really grown on me in the past year. Since losing to Federer in last year's US Open final, Murray has beat Fed 4 times in a row, and a 5th win heading into the Open would be pretty epic. I don't even mind that my Andy is out of the mix for the weekend and still feel good about his chances in NYC.

Now it's off to clean up the house... if I don't get this place spotless before the semester begins, I'll be annoyed with the mess for months!