Bruno Schulz

This summer in Ukraine was the 5th annual Bruno Schulz festival.  I'm terribly embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of this writer before. A friend of mine gave me a incredulous look when I asked her if she knew who he was. Of course. He was Jewish, wrote in Polish, and lived in a Polish town that is now part of Ukraine, Drohobych.  He is claimed by all three groups: things were a bit complicated back then. He was shot by a German SS officer in 1942.

Since this summer, I've read bits and pieces of his short stories. A passage always jumps out at me and I think to myself that this is an author I'd really love.  There is a website with many of his short stories translated into English. One day ... But glancing through this evening I discovered a new word:

Peripeteia: a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation especially in a literary work

I need to find some way to work this into my dissertation that I may or may not ever get around to writing.

Proof of Life

I'm around, just haven't been posting, but here are some of the things I have been up to (not in chronological order):

• Saw Obama speak, well sort of, I guess I heard him over speakers with about a block in between us. So I didn't get to see his sparkly charismatic eyes (sorry the latter being a random inside joke).

• Finished a presentation that I was conned into giving.  I think it will be good, or at least sort of entertaining, since a large part of it is me forcing people to listen to Ukrainian folk music.  And also it will be good if I can get all the tech stuff right.  I am honestly hopeless. 

• Gave up Facebook.  Sort of.  I broke my ban to post about my crazy neighbors who may have actually been ghosts that live in the terrifying closet inside of my closet (long story).

• Mustered up the energy to at least look at my grant proposal.  How the hell does one go from a 6 page bibliography to a 2 pg one?  For one second being deadly serious - if anyone has advice on this point I am all ears.

• Checked out ten gazillion books from the library, and started them all.  This is actually linked to the above point.  I have serious school avoidance issues right now probably linked to anxiety.

• Watched Paranormal Activity.  I wasn't impressed.  Well, I was sort of, but lets be honest, I am a sucker for hauntings.  All such movies even bad ones scare me.  I recognize this, still watch them, and yet I think am still aware enough of the ridiculousness of my reaction to be able to say that P.A wasn't a particularly good movie.  (Does that last sentence even make sense?)

• learned a new word, which I really want to find a way to use in random conversation: contumely: insolent or insulting language or treatment; rudeness or contempt arising from arrogance

That is my life recently in a nutshell.  There is a longer list of things I haven't managed to accomplish, but  hey I am trying optimism (sort of) today.  So, what have all the rest of you been up to?

Cyanide and Michael Jackson

I was poisoned!! I swear this is a true story. I was talked into going to a 80s vs 90s dance party Michael Jackson Birthday Extravaganza.  Before that we met for some beers.  And my friend had this "beef jerky" but it was Chinese.  Well, he had eaten a lot and said it was good, so I thought I would be adventurous and try some.  It tasted like dog food - and I'm not even trying to make some sort of horribly wrong racist joke, it really tasted like dog food mixed with Sweet n Low or some sort of fake sugar.  After I had eaten a small piece, friends decide to look at the ingredients.  One of them was cyanide.  I do not jest.  

Apparently, I have not died yet.  Unless the 80s vs 90s dance party was some sort of contrapasso made especially for me, and I am in fact dead, and that was my hell.  Maybe, since I did end up singing Happy Birthday to Michael Jackson along w/about 100 other people.  And watched several poor souls attempt and FAIL miserably at the moonwalk.  Sad, so sad they were.  However, I have concluded my feet do not hurt enough for that to have been hell.  And I didn't get any beer or other liquid spilled on me. 

Although, isn't cyanide a slow killer?...

In other randomness, words I learned recently:

numismatics: the study of currency

eidolon: a living person's astral double

Words I Learned Today

1) susurrate: to issue soft noises

2)benthic: of, relating to, or occurring in the bottom of the ocean (or other body of water)