Random Fact of the Day

Did you know that HP Lovecraft was neither claustrophobic nor agoraphobic but rather some strange mixture of the two?  He was terrified of large enclosed spaces*. This makes so much sense if you've read enough Lovecraft. Seriously horrible things happen to people all the time as soon as they find a yawning dark cavern that is seemingly infinitely vast. 

I learned this from reading The Roots of Horror in the Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft by Barton Levi St. Armand.  

*And not just caves because that's only ordinary speluncaphobia. 

Yeti Xing

Just a brief note, I had a long and exciting weekend, but I'm too tired to post about it right now, so I thought I would leave you with the most important picture of the past two days:

Yep, that is a Sasquatch crossing sign.

p.s. I do know that a Yeti and a Sasquatch are two different things, but I think Yeti Xing sounds much funnier than Sasquatch or Big Foot Xing. 

Prisencolinensinainciusol

Prisencolinensinainciusol (watch video)

In de col men seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait

...Uis de seim cius nau op de seim
Ol uait men in de colobos dai
Trrr - ciak is e maind beghin de col
Bebi stei ye push yo oh

Uis de seim cius nau op de seim
Ol uoit men in de colobos dai
Not s de seim laikiu de promisdin
Iu nau in trabol lovgiai ciu gen

In do camo not cius no bai for lov so
Op op giast cam lau ue cam lov ai
Oping tu stei laik cius go mo men
Iu bicos tue men cold dobrei goris
Oh sandei

Ai ai smai sesler
Eni els so co uil piso ai
In de col men seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait

Ai ai smai senflecs
Eni go for doing peso ai
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait

Uel ai sint no ai giv de sint
Laik de cius nobodi oh gud taim lev feis go
Uis de seim et seim cius go no ben
Let de cius end kai for not de gai giast stei

Ai ai smai senflecs
Eni go for doing peso ai
In de col mein seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait

Lu nei si not sicidor
Ah es la bebi la dai big iour

Ai aismai senflecs
Eni go for doing peso ai
In de col mein seivuan
Prisencolinensinainciusol ol rait

Lu nei si not sicodor
Ah es la bebi la dai big iour

Boring Update

I've been looking guiltily at this blog for weeks. I just don't have anything interesting to say. It is once again the end of semester drama. 15 weeks of work crammed into about 5 days.

I have however had beignets and Community Coffee the past two weekends, and will again this weekend. It gets me through the week :) I think the people at this restaurant know me by now - or at least should.

Oh, saw Slumdog Millionaire finally. I really enjoyed it, and I thought it was beautiful, and the kids were adorable, but the movie was just a bit sad for my tastes. I'm glad I wasn't totally disappointed though, b/c many times those over hyped movies just don't do it for me.

One last random note - I received a lovely volume of Faulkner's first 4 books in the mail yesterday. The pages are paper thin and the print is tiny, but I will read it; if not in La then in UA this summer.

Off to grading now, just didn't want anyone to think I had forgotten about posting (not that anyone reads this I'm sure, so its basically like talking to myself - which I actually have a tendency to do, but only when grocery shopping for some reason. I was humming to myself at the bus stop today and people were giving me weird looks, what is wrong with humming? At least I wasn't whistling, that is annoying).

Random

Things completed:
Plane ticket to SF
Voted

Things not completed:
Grading Exams
Grading Papers
Halloween Costume
Paper for 600
RIP Challenge
Plane ticket for NO

Do I detect a pattern here?

Well anyway - Happy Halloween!

Cloverfield and ANTM

Even though class has started and I have been super overwhelmed today thinking about how I will manage all of these insanely work-intensive courses, plus apply for grants, in addition to eating and sleeping every once in a while.... I spent the afternoon watching the movie Cloverfield, and the second half of the 2-hour premier of America's Next Top Model.

Cloverfield was ok. Not my favorite movie ever, but definitely not the worst. Wasn't super scary, and I guess it was lacking a certain "completeness." I'm sure people will justify it by saying, oh but the premise of the movie takes care of that b/c supposedly it was filmed by some guy and his friends as they were running for their lives. Well, maybe, but it needed something more to tie it all together. And the ending, I mean I guess I know what happened, and I harass my mom all the time b/c she wants every single tiny possible conceivable storyline/question answered, but again there could have been something more at the ending, than the way they did it. But really I give it like a B.

On the other hand ANTM. I don't know why I am so addicted to this show. I think it is Mr. Jay, definitely not Ms. Jay, he is annoying. Its definitely not Tyra she is annoying too. But its seriously addictive, in the way that facebook is addictive (conspiracy? are they working together?...). This season features a transgender model. My friend, when I tell her this "oh did you hear..." replies with "They have been talking about that for months" Ok, so I don't read "People" magazine or follow the gossip columns. I'm not that obsessed. Should be an interesting season, but honestly I think its always interesting - yes every single episode - even when nothing really happens.

Now, I really am going to go read some articles, for a class that I might potentially drop, but just in case....

Updated to add: serious rambling going on in the post, not sure if any of these are actual grammatical sentences...ah well, these things happen...

Non-Ukraine/School Related

I've decided the other blog will be things about Ukraine, and perhaps school. In an effort to attempt to post things more frequently, this area will be for other things. Such as the books I spend all day reading, when I should be studying Ukrainian, or for things that deter me from writing grants (almost anything in fact) - but the point is obvious. I'm not very good at writing for entertainment purposes, but my friend - whose blog is infinitely amusing - assures me that one can write about almost anything. Maybe I'll review that stack of books I dragged home from the library if I ever finish them.