"I was in this prematurely air-conditioned supermarket and there were all these aisles..."

...and there were these bathing caps that you could buy that had these kind of Fourth-of-July plumes on them that were red and yellow and blue, and I wasn't tempted to buy one, but I was reminded of the fact that I had been avoiding the beach.
~dj BC GlassBreaks

Really, the first song on Glassbreaks is the best; I mean, who doesn't love mashing up Philip Glass with the Beastie Boys. I know I love it!

But this isn't at all what I've really been listening to; the lyric just got stuck in my head. I've been listening to Karajan's deutsch grammophon recordings. I don't know, for some reason I seem to like his stuff for the modern composers, though he's nothing compared to Jordi Savall for the Medieval or Renaissance pieces I like to listen to as I write.

You Can Do It Kippy!

Perhaps one of my favorite SNL skits of all time...

fucking Deconstruction...

Man, dumb French literary theory drives me insane. I mean, seriously, I'd like to think that we've moved beyond purely linguistic literary criticism at this point, yet we'll still be wading through the morass created by second-rate nitwits with Ivy League educations for the next two decades simply because scholars in the 80s and 90s got caught up in the Derridean and Lacanian agendas of publishing useless crap. Ugh!

I can forget working on the car...I've got to finish critiquing Endlesse Worke...at least Goldberg got his title correct!

Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, I Need, I Need...

Man, I've been jonesing for an IPhone for a long time now, and my sister brought hers with her last weekend...and it's hot...

Add to this that I just saw at&t selling refurbed IPhones for $250 with a contract extension and I think I may finally get my undeserving mitts on one. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad guy at all. I've devoted my life to teaching, literature, and being a good husband (reverse that order...) but I'm not good at all about delaying pleasure. When I've got an itch, I scratch it. But this can't be said about things that require either a) any significant amount of cash, or b) any significant amount of time. Because of point a) I'll probably never be able to swing an IPhone before I finish my dissertation or get a serious job outside of Fort Wayne. Because of point b) I had to leave off my torrid, year-long love affair with World of Warcraft (which was a great thing, mind you, since it turned my brain to mush and bugged my eyes out of their sockets).

So what will become of my obsession? I have no idea; I suppose I'll just keep drooling and dreaming, even past the stimulus checks we're supposed to get--I've got a kid on the way, remember?--but someday...maybe...I'll scratch that itch.

The Check Engine Light...

The Check Engine Light makes me feel as though I am a true Renaissance man instead of being just a Renaissance scholar...and you know what? That little light is right. I took my car (a silver, 4dr, v6, Honda Accord LX) to AutoZone and they patched into the computer outlet behind the ashtray. Yeah, I knew it was there. Anyway, they said that cylinder 3 isn't firing, though you just have to rev the engine to hear that it is. So I'm going to replace the plugs, distributor cap, and cables. I did this twice before, once on a bitchin' 94 Aspire and once on a 93 Accord; I figure I can do it again. The big question is when will I get around to it. I don't know. If I get eight pages written tomorrow morning, I'll take the early afternoon and do it. Otherwise I'll put it off until it cuts into my Easter weekend.

I'd like to retract the last post where I wrote that I freaked out over the warning signal from my car, but it wouldn't be honest. And in a way, I like the Check Engine Light; it represents the conscience. It warns you that things may soon break down or get out of hand if preventive measures aren't taken...now, if I could only listen to my inner Jiminy Cricket as well as I responded to the light on my dashboard I'd be just ducky.

I Knew I Was Old When...

I awoke this morning at 4:00am. Yup. 4am. That's too damn early for anyone, even if you're a morning person like me. I didn't really know what to do with myself when this began happening a year or so ago, but I've figured it out now. I just get up and go to work, since work means writing the dissertation, I've found it actually helps having Allison at home (asleep) so that I have a bit of pressure to stay on track and not get distracted doing things I shouldn't...whatever that means...

Anyway, my check engine light came on last night while driving home from the small business college where I teach Monday evenings, and I almost immediately freaked out. You see, I don't really know anything about cars. I mean, I know the basics, and I'm really a very good all-conditions driver, but the Check Engine light is something altogether different. I'm going to have to take it to an AutoZone to check out what the car's computer says is wrong. Let's hope it's not expensive! (More to follow once I figure out what the problem is...)

Two Years Later...

Yeah, it's that time again...two years later...:) But that's not why I'm writing. I'm really just writing now because I need to set the record straight. After everything that has happened over the last two years, the comments I left online are no longer true.

• I wrote and defended my prospectus last September. Well, I wrote the thirteenth and final draft of the prospectus, and my advisor liked it! Then, I revised it again...finally, I filled out a ton of paperwork, had to reapply to the department, etc. and defended that bitch.



• Since then, I've written Chapter One and am part way through Chapter Two...I'm not posting any of it here, but I will someday.



• Also, I've successfully spent eight months without a cig. I went absolutely bonkers in the beginning, but have recovered control and returned to my previous, slightly-less-insane self.



• And finally, most importantly, I'm going to be a father...in like, one month. The process has been more fun for me than for Allison, but I still think it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. We're excited as all get-out and the baby's going to be damn cute if she takes after her mother.

So what I said before, that's not really how things stand. I thought I'd be stuck in Prospectus-Limbo for the rest of my life, but now I know it was only for about a decade. I'm going to need to come back here more often, but I make no promises...especially since that kid's on the way!

If I'm allowed, and I know I am, since I'm writing this for myself, I'd like to shout-out to Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, two cooks that have helped me pack on 18 pounds of sympathy weight during Allison's pregnancy and have taught me a few great new recipes.