I'm talking about some serious muppet action here, people.

There are a couple things in life that give me a pure, uncluttered joy. Please forgive me for sharing them with you below:

One is reading. There is nothing quite like being wrapped up for a number of hours in a good book. Now lately I've grown a penchant for historical fiction, however my literary (or non-literary--whatever) roots are set firmly into the escapist bedrock of fantasy and science fiction. Some of the books I've been reading lately are American Gods, and The Ten Thousand. If you are interested in escapist fantasy that is nonetheless intelligently written I have to recommend American Gods. If you want some romping good attic greek killing action in ancient persia then read The Ten Thousand.

Another joy is drawing, and I just set up my computer so that I am now able to sketch to my hearts content. I have a wacom tablet (nerd gadget that lets me use a pen and draw naturally on the computer) and drawing software, and now there is no stopping me! I fear, however that there is nothing more lame than a person who insists on drawing and showing his friends what he drew, even though he couldn't draw a straight line to save his life.

A third joy--and one of my favorites--is listening to music while feeding my inner child with some good ol' imagination time. I'm talking about some serious sesame street time here, people. Using that time to meditate, cogitate, pray (whatever moves you) is absolutely wonderful--and essential to my sanity sometimes. Now don't get the wring idea, growing up is wonderful (except for that whole puberty thing) and necessary, but the inner child is the part of a person that remains open minded, so there is wisdom there to be found--if only you are willing to listen to it. So take my advice, go put on a fun/sad/tearful/exciting song and lie back.... enjoy a deep breath or two or twenty. Step two is even easier... just meditate, cogitate, or pray (whatever moves you). Step three: Repeat daily, and call me in the morning.

p.s. I've got a lot of music I've run into lately and I want to share what I've found with you, however it will be a longer post with links and such so I will need time to set it up. Expect it sometime this week.

p.p.s. By the way. As you can see it's almost 4am. I have no idea what I would do if I still had to get up at 8am. This whole "can't sleep" thing is starting to get to me. *frown*

Feeling a Little Sentimental

So, today was the big day! My brother is now a college graduate and has moved back home until he gets a job. I feel a bit sad, actually, because he was living with us, and it was really nice to have my little brother around this past year. I haven't lived at my parents house in over 7 years, so I really haven't lived with family in over 7 years, and I must admit--even though my brother and I have our differences, and we used to have some REALLY bad fights when we were younger (he'll tell you I pushed him, but I'd say he tripped)--it was really nice to live with family again and get to hang out a bit. Some of my favorite things to do with my brother include watching anime and playing FFXI where he was known as Pevie, and was this little cute taru. :) He's only been gone for a couple of hours now, but the spot next to my computer seems so bare and empty, and he's not there for me to annoy. ; ;

Come back and visit soon!

Graduation

Sooo....even though I technically am not graduating until August, I have been granted permission to walk in the april graduation ceremony, which is on Saturday. I'm mostly doing it for my parents, who want to see me in a ceremony (even though I am awfully proud of getting my MFA), but I also feel a little silly. I get to wear special master's gown stuff, which has a stole and the gown has extra material hanging off in weird places. :) I feel a little anticlimatic, though, also because after this I will still have to take ONE more class, and finish my MFA Project--you know, no biggie. I mean, if I've already walked, why should I have to do that crap still? :)

Anyway, kudos to my brother also, who is graduating for real on Saturday with his B.S. (as in a degree in bs :), and also my sister who will be graduating from high school in a couple of weeks. (In my family, we like to do everything all at the same time and have big parties.)

Toodles

UFO's and that lady on earth who talks to them.

I'd like to take a little bit to talk about some thing I've been reading about lately.

Aliens.

Or rather, aliens that talk to people and tell them about earths impending doom.
Before you get scared you should know that our impending doom had a date, and that date was may 2003, so we should be fine.
Some people may remember the talk about a "Planet X" hurtling towards us and that it would pass so close to us it would either hit us or stop our rotation entirely (causing gravitational mayhem and a pole shift).

One of the main proponents to this belief was one Nancy Lieder. She, among other things, claims to be channeling information from aliens. These particular aliens are called "Zetans" (short for Zeta Reticulans, aliens from the star Zeta Reticuli). The data about the dark planet coming towards us comes directly from the Zetans. I sure am glad they are on our side!
(I serisously can't think of anything to say about this, the story is too strange to be fiction)

Now if you are interested in learning more about her, she runs a website where you can learn other more interesting information called, Zeta Talk. Of particular interest to me were the pages I found on that site that were particularly enlightening. For example:

1) It turns out science is wrong about gravity....
2) How Newton was wrong....
3) The magical properties of crystals.

It is important to note that all of this hyper science came from the information channeled from the aliens.

Now Ms. Lieder had a large cult following at the time before may 2003. When the time came and passed (with no planet x) she changed the date of the up-and-coming apocalypse. Then when it still didn't occur she said (I'm sorry for the paraphrase here, a quote would have better effect) that at this point it would be irrelevant to set a date because it is so close to happening.

If you are a rational person then you might have some problems with all of this. In fact I am a person who thinks this information is so laughable that I just had to share it with you. I mean I can't believe the sheer and absolute mis-information contained in the above links. I wonder if she actually believes the things that spew forth onto her web page or if she is doing it to sell her cd and make some money.

Now, wonder of wonders, it seems I'm not the only person to believe the way I do. The Bad Astronomer (an actual astronomer, Dr. Phil Plait, deals with astronomical misconceptions) has actually had the chance to debate her on national radio (the transcripts can be found here. a funny read). On his site he even has a set of pages devoted to the planet x debacle. And low and behold he has a page set just for our favorite Zetan channeler. He does a much better job at pointing out problems with the whole idea of Planet X than I ever could. Not to mention his site is just plain fun to read.

I love conspiracy theories.... or rather maybe I love it when a crack pot conspiracy theorist has their claims utterly destroyed by rational thought. Yea, that's it. That's what I like.

--- Save a rational thought.... eat a conspiracy theorist. ---

Awake

Another sleepless night.

p.s. T.V. is bad for you.

A new link

So I added another personal photoblog you might be interested in. Take a look at the links on the right, I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

Insomniac me

Please forgive the fact that this post has no structure whatsoever. Expect it to jump around a bit, because I'm a moron at 5 am.

I'm feeling some incredible insomnia right now. It's 5:56 am right now and I can't seem to calm down enough to get some sleep. I'm not even being productive. I'm afraid I've wasted most of my ill spent morning surfing the web. My dog is getting more sleep than I am... he's currently dreaming of something because I can see his eyes move under his eyelids from where I'm sitting. I feel like he's taunting me.
I really need a hobby, something that I can do in the wee hours of the morning when the world outside is starting to awaken. I should probably exercise, but in my personal and humble opinion exercise is bad for my health, so that's out. There is also a cat snoozing in near my feet. And I know for a fact that that cat really is taunting me.
Do you ever get the feeling like you are wasting your time if you sleep? As if you should be doing something important with your time, and sleeping would be very irresponsible of you? I guess that's how I feel right now. I just wish there was someone awake right now with me, then we could complain about insomnia together and entertain each other.

OH! I forgot that I was going to share something that happened on my birthday. My sister gave me one of the best gifts I have ever received. She got permission from her art teacher to allow me 1-2 hours at a potters wheel. Now this was a special treat because I've been complaining about not having as much of an artistic outlet as I need, so this was a soothing balm to me. There is something akin to religion when you pull out the red clay and get your hands dirty. Oh I didn't make anything.... I tried... but I didn't make anything. But is was so fulfilling to loose myself in shape and form and to purely create. In the end all I received for my birthday was the creation process and dirty jeans. It was one of the best gifts ever.

By the way, it's now 6:13am. grr

Busy... and then some...

The last couple of days have been hectic, but there were some things that I felt I needed to share with you.

First, cleaning a back yard after a year of neglect is most definitely hard on a body. For those of you types who enjoy a good afternoon in the garden I salute you. I most definitely got a sense of accomplishment while I enjoyed my back yard under the stars (pictures of this will follow in a later post -- I still need to take the pictures). I'd still like to do more, maybe put some stone down instead of the concrete that's currently there, however I think I will wait until my aging back recovers.

Second, a long lost friend sent a message to me, and maybe because I've been in a sentimental mood, or maybe because I'm completely insane I dreamt that I visited her. Now I've met her father before (nice fellow, you'd like him), and I'm almost positive that he isn't Asian. I'm also fairly positive that my friend is not a spy or a ninja away on a secret mission. However in my dream I must admit that these things were all, in fact, the case. Now I wouldn't even mention it -- normally a dream like this would be filed under "Completely moronic"-- however I felt this was too funny to not share. I am also certain that your lives are now more enriched just for having heard about it.
To my friend whose father lives on an island.... I had a wonderful time. Your Asian father and mother were very accommodating. They fed me some wonderful cuisine and were perfect hosts. I'm sorry I missed you, but for some reason my flight back home was booked 2 hours after I arrived so I couldn't stay and chit-chat. BTW... your dog was really little. I mean kittenish little... you might want to get him checked out at a vet.

Third, never blog after 4am. Nothing you have to write at this time of day is in any way interesting to people. (FYI, just a tad bit of advice)

Do you like Hemingway?

So, I recently had to read Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway, and I liked both (although I really like Stein). But then I was looking through some bio information, and some criticism, and I found a quote that Hemingway said of Stein. I must warn you--if you are at all a "feminist" or "modern woman" or anybody who just hates chauvinists, then be prepared to be offended by what the wonderful, Nobel Prize winner said:

She [Gertrude Stein] lost all sense of taste when she had the menopause. Was really an extraordinary business. Suddenly she couldn’t tell a good picture from a bad one, a good writer from a bad one, it all went phtt.

the American workplace

perhaps a better title might be "the American workplace...and other ramblings," because what follows is a little...convoluted

So I have started job hunting because I will be finished with my degree this summer, and I will need a job, because I am poor. I have even interviewed for a couple of jobs already. Let me elaborate on one particular interview. Picture it: you walk into a mid-size office. It is cubicle-less, and instead desks are haphazardly grouped in the room. There are several middle-aged men talking, and when you enter the room, they look at you--even make eye contact--but don't smile, and lower their voices. You (and by you here, I mean me) immediately feel concerned about the lack of women in this office, and the old boys club that, so far, is uninspiring in warmth. Finally you see a woman....she's the secretary. Finally you see another woman....she's the HR rep.

OK, I'm wandering here, but surely you see what I'm getting at here. I was interviewing for--actually, at that point I didn't know what position I was interviewing for. I had been invited for a general interview. It turned out I was being interviewed for an entry-level geologist for the Environmental division.

So, then you talk to the HR rep, who is very nice and tells you about all the benefits at this company. And she says that this company cares about your well-being, and your family's well-being, so they offer two weeks vacation.

At this point you (or at least, I did and still do) want to laugh. Two weeks vacation? That's pretty much standard nowadays. They care about the health and well-being of me and my family? Why not offer three weeks vacation? Why not offer a job that only requires 35 hours a week in the office? Why not offer a health plan that benefits the women equally to the men?

Two weeks vacation? Who-hoo! Where can I sign up? I just can't wait to get on board with these old men who don't know how to smile.

THEN I interview. The person who was supposed to interview me was the president of the company. However, something came up and he was not able to interview me. Instead I am interviewed by a division manager--an old man who slouches, doesn't make eye contact, doesn't smile, and doesn't have any questions to ask me. Based on him, I pretty much knew I wasn't going to get hired. How could I? I did the best I could, but if you smile and try to make eye contact with someone who slouches and doesn't make eye contact, you pretty much feel like you're having a bad interview. Based on his interviewing skills, he should have been fired.

Blargh. Anyway, mostly I just wanted to complain about this crappy interview. But I think it's stupid how Americans are such workaholics--I mean, we are expected to be workaholics. I have a friend who is an accountant and working towards being a Partner in her firm. She told me that you can generally make Partner in about ten years. However, if you are a woman and get pregnant during that time--and have to take time off, because for god's sake, you've got to at least be at the hospital for the labor!--then you add approximately two years onto that ten. Two years for at most 3 months of time taken off?

And beyond that, are people really supposed to be expected to sacrifice their lives for their jobs? It's just a job, after all. Even if it's a job you like or love to do, it's still only a job--there are other things in your life too. Friends, family, hobbies, trips, and even the simple things like watching movies. I have too many other interests to only give my life to one of those interests. I mean, I'm a writer, and that means that I should be giving the majority of my attention to my writing, as that is my "career," and I still can't manage to devote 40 hours a week to it because I have too many other things I want to do with my time.

Great News!

Today I received the best rejection letter ever! OK, so it's a rejection letter, how great can it be? But just listen:

From: The Greensboro Review (on very important looking letter head)
To: Me ^^

Dear Christy,

Thanks for sending your story, "The Water Myth," to The Greensboro Review. We regret that we are unable to use it in our next issue, but you should be pleased to know that it finished in our top fifty of about five hundred submissions.

We are glad to have had the opportunity to read and spend time with your piece, and we hope that you will send us more of your work. The submission deadline for our Spring 2005 issue is September 15.

Thank you for considering The Greensboro Review, and best wishes.

Sincerely,

(not one, but two signatures!)
Fiction Editor and Assistant Fiction Editor


Woot! I'm framing this letter!

Gertrude Stein

So, for my linguistics class I had to give a presentation last Wednesday, so was busy preparing for it...and now I'd like to share a few words about Gertrude Stein, who I had to read for class and present on. I really like Gertrude Stein (so far, from the little I have read of her). Her prose style is very repetitive (cyclical might be a better word here) and seems almost convoluted. But it really isn't. Instead, the lines have a really nice rhythm from the repetition, and the style of her writing (by which, I mostly mean that the specific words she chooses help the rhythm). For instance, this excerpt from The Superstitions of Fre Anneday, Annday, Anday:

A novel is what you dream in your night sleep. A novel is not waking thoughts although it is written and thought with waking thoughts. But really a novel goes as dreams go in sleeping at night and some dreams are like anything and soem dreams are like something and some dreams change and some dreams are quiet and some dreams are not. And some dreams are just what any one would do only a different always just a little different and that is what a novel is.

Anyway, I highly recommending reading some Gertrude Stein. Her prose (nonfiction) and poetry are both very lyrical (to me), although they also kind of give me the impresson of something vague, but at the same time, I understand what Stein is saying.

Hmmmm........specificity in vagueness.....

.......universality.......

What the...?

Did you hear about this??? Aliens took over Mark's body! There are little green antennas sticking out of his head...and he's staring at me...as I write this...

I'm scared guys...

If someone is reading this right now, could you come to my house and help me? At any moment an extraterrestrial may expel itself from his stomach.

'(O.O)'