Lately

It's been a good week.

Last Tuesday I had my second chance at quals, and it went much, much better. It was what I wanted to get out of quals. It was motivating. It was the capstone to a very busy summer.

Prof. M -- is amazing. And his "The Bourgeois" is a huge class. The reading list is a dream. This week we read Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism. Next week: re-reading Robinson Crusoe.

I'm also taking Prof. G --'s course on the 18th century and the essay. Very interested in what she was saying about these periodicals growing into the serialized novel of the 19th century...

So I'm actually taking courses with the same two profs. as last spring... But this time I'll definitely be writing individual papers!

I've done lots of shopping, outfitting the apartment and my pantry. God knows I need to have enough food to survive a zombie attack. Last week after my quals, I bought A REAL LAMP. This is a huge development. For the first week I was using my little crappy Ikea desk light in conjuction with my accent lamp. This involved putting said lamp on a chair, and scooting it next to the couch, and crouching under the desk light, which was set up on one of my breakfast bar stools. It was ridiculous. Anyway, so this lamp was the most expensive thing Target had. It was still only around $60. It has a real lamp shade. And I "splurged" and bought the $2.75 light bulb (full spectrum and actually white light). And it was very good.

The weekend was eventful... with Thursday night's cheesecake event, and Saturday's welcome party for the first year English students (let's just say, I got back at 3:30 am, even though I refused to accompany Steve to the English dept. on the back of his bike with a backpack full of alcohol). Sunday I slept till, I kid you not, 1:33 pm. And the only reason I got up then, was because someone set off the damn fire alarm. In the evening, I had Jessika & Saquib over for Desperate Housewives and dessert. I think this season is quite promising.

Today I had an eye appointment. They dilated my eyes. It was not good. I tried to ride my bike home, and was squinting uncontrollably. Luckily it was a very quiet time of the day as far as traffic goes. It was hours before I could see normally.

Anyway, what prompted this post was the fact that I just finished writing up my course description proposal for PWR (that's the composition & rhetoric course for all first year students, which I'll be instructing in the winter & spring quarters). And it was surprisingly enjoyable and empowering. Here's my tentative course title:

The Sky is Falling: The Rhetoric of Fear in the News and at the Movies

And now, time for bed!!