Grad School Life - A Seussian Reading

I write by the tree,

drinking coffee (and tea).

I write with the lights,

under their glowy, lowly brights.

I write before dawn.

Sometimes long before dawn.

I turn the coffee pot on

and my computer on,

before my brain is on.

Before the sun turns on!

I write in my chair,

I write with my hare.

I write at the spa,

while mimosa-impaired.

 

I write while talking,

and though I'm often balking,

I write on the treadmill.

Write! Right as I'm walking!

But, now. 

Yes, now. 

Now I'm done!

And boy, am I about to have fun.

But not alongside this

surly bun bun.

No, not alongside this

surly bun bun. 

Tradition, Interrupted

For date night this week, we decided to explore the German Christmas Market downtown. I've mentioned before that it is super small but really festive and authentic, so we make sure to fit it in. For just a moment it's possible to pretend we're in Heidelberg or Stuttgart or Garmisch before we get a sniff of weed or a tourist says something very American ("Joey! Quit screaming and pick out one of these wooden toy thingeys!") or Coloradan ("So, this local and organic honey...is it packaged and transported in a sustainable way? Like, could you tell me more about that, and incorporate statistics?").

We wanted to go during the week because the weekends are insanely busy. We figured that on a Thursday night the square would be hoppin' but not unreasonable for a couple of introverts. And I think we would have been right, except we failed to factor in the temperature. It was - and I'm not exaggerating here - 2 degrees outside, with a wind chill of -14.

You can see some of the closed booths behind us.

Some of the shops had already closed by the time we got there. About half the market was open, though, so we flew to the food section only to be met by a German flipping the last potato pancake off the grill. He looked at us, so deadpan, with no sympathy or compassion in his eyes, and said, "We closing now."

So we buzzed through the shops that were open. Luckily, the Russian/Ukrainian booth that sells our favorite Father Christmases was open. We bought one and also a matryoshka tree before high-tailing it into a local steak house for a real meal. Currywurst may not have been available but red wine and a center-cut filet are not a bad Plan B, I'm just sayin'.

Here's a peek at our growing Father Christmas collection:

That Christmas tree opens and there's a Santa doll, which opens and there's a teeny tiny snowman. I just love the artistry and detail. This year's doll (below) is mostly silver and blue, with a country scene painted on him (which reminds us of Germany even though I'm sure it's supposed to be rural Russia).

Not bad for a freezing and rushed tradition!

Am I an Easy Intellectual?

So, as I teacher, I realize that I may be playing it fast and loose with the concept of extra credit. I tend to be pretty serious during class, but I may or may not spontaneously say things like, "Extra credit for anyone who's not sleeping right now," or "Extra credit because you guys braved 10 feet of snow to get to class on time this morning."

Like, over the semesters I've had multiple students approach me after class, eyes wide and expressions hopeful, asking if I was serious about all this extra credit talk. I was like, no, of course not.

But.

As a break from our intensive research and writing this semester, we're concluding class (last week and this week) with student presentations and Q&A sessions. They are both lively and laid back - a nice, calming way to end the chaos that has been Fall 2016 and also gear up for finals week. So, one of my students was talking about getting a brand new kitten and I may or may not have said that she wouldn't even have to give a presentation if she would just bring the cat to class.*

We all laughed and yet everyone totally knew I was serious.

Well, well, well, take a look who showed up for our very last class today:

I was like, omg stop you get an A we're done here. I may or may not have held the little sweetie while wrapping up the entire semester.

It occurs to me that, try as I may to be strict, I might actually be transparent and frighteningly easy to manipulate. And I sort of don't care if it involves fuzzy animal preciousness. Yet, the way students snicker sometimes, combined with my increasing deafness as a result of old age and my general un-hip/un-cool demeanor...it has me a bit self-conscious.

Speaking of animal preciousness, or the lack thereof, this festivity:

quickly degenerated into this bah humbugness:

C'est la vie in dawrighthouse. Three introverts live here and most of us are surly this week. Two. More. Days.

*She did, of course, have to give a presentation. But, who am I kidding, she aced it and bringing in a 10-week-old kitten can only improve your communication skills, amiright?

Trilogy Recommendation

Everybody hang on. Things are getting pret-ty festive over here.

The snowman was $4.99 at King Sooper's and I basically couldn't help myself. Loo Loo Bean looks so precious, laying there and scowling next to him.

OK, I have a really good book recommendation for you: The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu.

The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu

No spoiler alerts.

This is a Sci Fi book series that is light on pop-culture/tropes and heavy on Chinese philosophy, sociology, and, well, science (like physics, astrophysics, and the role of science in human society and development). A mysterious and extremely mystifying video game brings together elite leaders of society and they eventually realize the location of - and very real existence of - life on a planet outside our Solar System. Despite top secret plans to avoid confrontation with the aliens, let's just say that communication happens and all hell breaks loose at a universal (literally!) level.

The book starts off slow. It begins in the Chinese cultural revolution and introduces some characters that seem unrelated to the story. I was about 40 pages in and wondering to myself, where is the, um, science or fiction or aliens or excitement or, like, plot? BUT. Hang in there because when it takes off it's worth it. Liu's writing is complex and it is nice for this at-most-only-partially-interested sci fi reader to dive deep into theories and ideologies of society at large, not just society as it plays out multi-culturally on earth. I'm still reading the last book, but these have been very hard to put down during the last couple of weeks of "real" reading for school.

If you're looking for an epic story to lose yourself in over the holidays, this is a good one (but not necessarily uplifting, and not conducive to all those holiday interruptions). Enjoy!

Christmas, Officially

It has been so nice this semester to have the occasional Saturday during which I do absolutely nothing. There's always a bit of reading here and there, but otherwise, I was a total sloth yesterday. Except for this:

Isn't it great? We got a new tree this year because the old one had that fake snow spray on it that ended up getting everywhere for a good six months after the holiday, and also because you could see the support pole (or, trunk, as it were) through the branches. The past couple of years it has bugged me more and more that the tree was big but didn't look full. So this year we got a slightly smaller tree that is much more full and that doesn't have fake snow but still has some embellishments to make it look real (like pine cones).

We got some dazed and confused reindeer to go along with the WTF snowman. G is having a heyday of sarcasm over here.


Lucy can't take all the happiness and festivity, so she spends a lot of time hanging out in (and running back and forth in) her cat tunnel.

 I've said it before and I'll say it again: three introverts live in this house.

Please step back from my Tunnel of Solitude, Mom.

She's come a long way though, this one. We continue to have love fests on the hearth. It looks like I'm holding her down, but I'm not. I'm giving her a neck massage and basking in the bunny softness. She even lets us kiss her on the nose! Such a frowny girl, but I'll take what I can get.

Today is going to be busy (read: making up for yesterday's sloth mode) but that's OK because this is the last week of school! Hallelujah! One more week of chaos and student neediness followed by finals which is only slightly less ridiculous, and then. And then. Delicious, delicious freedom. Pj's, coffee, and books until January, people.

TGIF, people!

December!

Laaaaaaa! You guys, we made it to December!

We saw this lil guy in Home Depot a few weeks ago when we bought a new Christmas tree. Of course I snatched him right up. G calls him "The WTF Snowman" because he looks like he's throwing his arms up in frustration. Like, What do I know? Like, No one ever tells me anything around here! So of course I put him in a prominent place so I can chuckle all season.

It's finally cold in Denver (what was up with like the longest summer/fall of all time?) so it is beginning to look and feel like Christmas. We haven't put the tree up, mainly because that requires both of us to (1) be home, (2) have a modicum of energy, (3) be home at the same time, and (4) be awake while at home. So guess what we're doing tomorrow night!

I have managed to put up some decorations, though, in between homework and grading. This is a German lace runner that we bought 1,000 years ago on vacation. It's so beautiful that I don't even put it out every year because I'm scared I'll pour a bottle of wine on it accidentally or something. And so when I do put it out, no one is allowed to go within a 5 foot radius of it. Basically, entire parts of the house become off limits to G (who, you know, pays the mortgage) but whatever. Happy Holidays, indeed!

This one is officially over it. She registers her protest every time I put up decorative lights or something resembling holiday cheer. Therefore, she's exhausted.

Only one more month in 2016, so let's make a good one, people. Have you started decorating? Only 24 more days so chop chop.