| I'm curious |
[Jul. 2nd, 2008|05:14 pm] |
According to The Big Read, the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books on their list.
The instructions:
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ.
1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (i haven't read the sonnets)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (in french)
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams (this summer)
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
I will say that most of those are books Devin mocks me for not having read, and as a result, there are probably about 10 of them that I've read at his prompting.
Also, I find it irritating that we are including drama on the list, but only Shakespeare. What's up with that? |
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| Happy Happy |
[Apr. 22nd, 2008|11:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  ecstatic | ] |
My dad (Dom Costa) won the primary race for a seat in the PA House of Representatives today.
Since it's Pittsburgh, and he's now the Democratic candidate, he has essentially won the seat - I'm pretty sure there isn't even a Republican candidate for the seat.
I'm proud of him, and deeply happy for him. He and I don't necessarily agree on most things political, but his deep and passionate commitment to serving the people will make him an excellent representative.
I wish I could express the absolute joy and wild gratitude he displayed tonight when the (very, very close) race was finally decided...there's nothing in the world like seeing someone you love experience happiness like that.
I love you, Daddy. You're going to be great! |
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| Meme from Orklad, via Junima |
[Feb. 8th, 2008|02:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
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| The plague(s) continue(s) |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|06:00 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sore | ] |
Liam has strep throat. His party was Saturday, he started getting sick Sunday night. He still looks like a ghost child with VERY BIG eyes. He has now missed the equivalent of about three weeks of school this year, and the first semester hasn't ended yet...
Quinn has been running a low fever since Tuesday night and now sounds like he is hacking up a lung. He was up from about midnight until 3am coughing and freaking out about how he couldn't breathe. I think he's in about the same boat as Liam, attendance-wise.
I woke up this morning (2 hours after falling asleep) hurting ALL OVER in a way I can't really describe adequately. Suffice it to say that the pain made me panicky and very sad while it lasted. It didn't ease or alter for about three hours, and I ended up staying home until 10, at which point I drove in to teach Intro to Performance. The pain started to diminish at about 9, and I am now left with a very sore neck and a killer headache. But at least things like my shins and my fingertips are no longer agonizingly painful.
I don't know what that was about, but I really hope it never happens again.
I miss sleeping. It's not like I've ever been much of a sleeper, but...I miss the sleep I used to get. Aside from a few days spent in bed because I was sick and dosing myself with nyquil all day, I haven't had a decent amount of sleep in...a very long time.
Someday I'll give an update on my life. When something can happen, that is... When every member of my family is healthy for at least a full week, I'll start considering forward motion. |
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| Death Plague - January Style |
[Jan. 17th, 2008|08:27 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
Yep. I'm sick. Sick sick sick sick sicksicksicksicksick.
Usually I don't get VERY sick when I'm feeling good about the world. The whole mind/body connection thing. But I am VERY sick, in spite of the fact that I've been feeling pretty good about the world lately. This makes me extra annoyed at my crappy immune system.
My rheumatologist diagnosed an upper respiratory infection on Monday, before I had anything more than a stuffy nose, and put me on Zithromax. It seems not to be working. It seems like I should not get LOTS WORSE while taking an antibiotic. Call me crazy.
Also, I am craving grapefruit like MAD, and Devin refuses to go out to the store and get me some. And I'm definitely in no condition to be leaving the house. I got out of bed to make myself TEA and had to hold onto the walls to get to the kitchen without falling down.
And if you don't know me, the mere fact that I wanted TEA is an indicator of how sick I truly am. I hate tea, unless I'm sick. I'm pretty sure I can even self-diagnose based on the fact that I wanted raspberry zinger - I probably have bronchitis. That's what I've had every other time I've ever wanted raspberry zinger, anyway.
The dizziness is a super-fun symptom, though. The boys thought it was funny until I dropped a spoon and nearly wept with frustration because I couldn't pick it up without losing my balance and falling to the floor. Then they turned into Super Helpful Children and raced to pick it up for me. Liam got there first, so Quinn stood beside me and gently rubbed my back while I was coughing. Liam stood up with the spoon, put it in the sink, then carefully wiped away the tear that was running down my cheek from the coughing fit.
These two are priceless. |
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| I can't believe I forgot to post this! |
[Jan. 10th, 2008|10:40 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | ecstatic | ] |
Although it won't mean a whole lot to most of you.
But it makes me happy happy happy!
Not only did the faculty vote to accept my petition to be done with coursework, but when I spoke with Lynne about changing my theory area and playwright, she said the best thing I've heard in a long time...
Me: I want to change my theory from Post-Colonialism to Feminist Theory.
Lynne: Why?
Me: Well, post-colonialism is too broad, and only a small corner of it helps me with the work I'm doing on my dissertation.
Lynne: I can see that. But why Feminist Theory?
Me: (rambling about Chicana playwrights and feminism)
Lynne: But wouldn't it make more sense for you to do Border Theory?
Me: (pause) Well, sure, but... (pause) Wait. I can do Border Theory for my comps?
Lynne: I don't see why not. I think we need to start looking at new theoretical areas instead of trying to fit scholars like you into theoretical boxes that were useful 25 years ago but have really outgrown their usefulness for an exam like this.
First of all, she called me a scholar, not a student.
Second of all...I GET TO WORK WITH BORDER THEORY FOR MY COMPS!!!!!
I know this is one of those occasions when what I put in my blog means little or nothing to most of the people who read it, but it's a really really great thing.
And if anyone wants to know what Border Theory is, I will happily explain it to you, but I'm not going to bore everyone with an explanation in this post, or no one will read it. :-)
The downside to all of this is that I now have to complete in 3 months the work it took Devin nearly 2 years to complete. Comprehensive exams have three areas: History, Theory, and Text. I have to gain a comprehensive knowledge of Theatre in the Spanish Golden Age (history), Border Theory (theory), and Bertolt Brecht's plays and writing about theatre, as well as all of the criticism written about him and his works (text). I will spend the next 100 days or so buried in stacks of books. :-) |
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| Christmas Crafty |
[Dec. 25th, 2007|12:36 am] |
Everything is under the tree. I am cuddled on the sofa with a quilt, because that's the only remaining place for sleeping in the house. I have a rotten head cold and a sore throat, but I how I feel doesn't officially qualify for "misery" yet.
Is it crazy that I keep thinking Santa's going to appear in my living room?
I painted t-shirts this year. Other things, too, but the t-shirts are what I'm most excited about. I meant to just make generic holiday t-shirts. I have stencils from last year. Snowmen and trees and Santas in green and red and white would've been easy.
I never do the easy thing, even when I plan to.
I made a Noah's Ark t-shirt for my mother-in-law. Then I made "Peace on Earth" t-shirts for the boys and my mom (the globe, with a peace sign over it). Then I made a "Gamer Dad" t-shirt for Devin, with a Playstation controller on it. Then I painted a couple swing dancing on a shirt for my father-in-law. And an ice dancing scene for my stepmother. And a 1963 Corvette convertible for my father. And a glittery ballerina scene for my niece. And princess shirts for my cousin's twins.
Every time I finish a shirt, I look at it and marvel a little at the fact that it doesn't look like shit. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. I keep thinking, "I'm really not an artist, but it's the thought that counts, so I'm just going to do the best I can." And I paint away, and in the end I have a shirt that I'd frankly be willing to wear out of the house. Which is something for a hand-painted t-shirt made by an amateur.
I showed Devin the shirt I painted for his dad and he said, "Wow, that's almost 'set up a kiosk at the mall to sell shirts' good."
:-)
I think it might be Julie Ray's fault that I am suddenly able to paint/draw/sketch pictures that actually resemble something. |
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| Life and everything |
[Dec. 13th, 2007|11:41 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  stressed | ] |
Now it's Quinn's turn to be sick. He's been out of school most of this week. Last night his cough got so bad I came very close to taking him to the ER.
And I have a huge paper due tomorrow at noon. I have about 1/2 of it outlined, and about 1/4 of it written. And I'm going on a field trip with Liam's class tomorrow, so I have to finish the damn paper tonight. I fear I may end up pulling the, "My kid is sick so I can't get anything done" card on Buck. I REALLY don't want to, but the fact is, my kid is sick and I can't get anything done... |
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| Update on Liam |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|04:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | worried | ] |
His illness, it turns out, is a staph infection. His fever broke late Wednesday night, so I sent him to school yesterday even though I hadn't gotten results for all of the tests the doctor ordered. Last night I got the call from the doc, informing me that it was staph and that they'd call in an antibiotic sometime today - they needed to let the culture cultivate a bit longer so they could prescribe an appropriate antibiotic.
Staph infections are scary - and I'm feeling pretty guilty about sending him to school yesterday. I'm trying not to be panicky mama, but in the back of my mind there's a nagging voice that keeps telling me he's going to end up with osteomyelitis, endocarditis, or something similarly terrifying. Doesn't help that he was up all night last night with horrible cramps in his knees and hips.
But we have an antibiotic for him at last, so I'm sure he'll be fine in a matter of days. Meanwhile, think good thoughts. |
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| Cursed |
[Nov. 21st, 2007|02:28 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
I have someone coming in tomorrow morning to clean the carpets. In anticipation of this, my mom and I were forced to spend the entire evening cleaning the living room and dining room. In order to make room for the things from the living room and dining room, I had to clean the pantry.
Oh, yeah. Devin "slipped" at work today and pulled his groin. So he tool a muscle relaxer at 5:30 pm and went to bed. The only thing I heard from him after that was a bout of yelling when I turned on the light in the hall outside our bedroom so I could carry some stuff into the laundry room.
My mother and I both commented that it's terribly convenient that he's injured just in time for the huge pre-Thanksgiving house cleaning. He was conveniently injured at this time last year, too. And he had a convenient migraine on Thanksgiving itself last year - a migraine so convenient it didn't interfere with his ability to play video games -- just with his ability to help out and socialize during dinner.
So we commented about all of that in a heavily skeptical way.
I said something like, "I should be so lucky! To hurt myself and need bed rest for the next few days! But then who would do all of the cleaning?"
And we laughed bitterly.
You can see where this is going.
Fifteen minutes later, I was in the pantry. I picked up the non-functioning CPU that was on the counter so I could put it on the floor in the back corner. Somehow, this caused a non-functioning dinosaur of a monitor to topple from the counter, as well. I reached out reflexively to catch it, and did...the corner of it slammed heavily against my sternum - right near the center.
This is a new and exotic pain experience, for those of you who have not had the chance to try it out. There is a big, swollen, colorful circle in the middle of my chest which shrieks at me every time I inhale. It's been a few hours and the pain has not decreased in any noticeable way, so I am beginning to consider a trip to the ER to make sure it's not broken. But then, what would they do if it were?
So I'm awake. Breathing without pain is kind of essential when you want to sleep. |
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| Charity, eBay, Kids, etc... |
[Nov. 19th, 2007|09:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
I got a ton of eBay done over the past week. Which is great, because that means I will soon have about 30 more cubic feet of space in my living room. Also because we really really really really need the money for Christmas shopping.
This morning, I decided I wanted to use the GivingWorks side of eBay to share a percentage of my sales with charity. I pointed out to the boys that since there are kids in the world whose parents can't afford to buy ANY presents, it seems fair that we should use a portion of our Christmas gift money for charity. Liam decided he wants to give half of his allowance for the next month to a charity that gives presents to other kids. Quinn has saved up a good deal and wants to give all of it to the local food bank.
But I couldn't decide what charity to give to. There are tons and tons of great ones out there, but none of them were quite...right. I can't explain it better than that.
Then Ben posted about Child's Play. A charity run by gamers, giving to kids who need some joy.
So 10% of my November and December eBay sales are going to Child's Play. And I'm spreading the word. |
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| Look at Me Being Quotable! |
[Nov. 7th, 2007|10:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
Desdemona in the Pitt News
The article was written by one of my Dramatic Arts students. :-) He got one of the alternate cast dates wrong, but aside from that...rock on!
Also, after some ickiness, props- and costumes-wise, in the first dress rehearsal, last night's final dress was - to borrow a word from Steegness - "awesomesauce."
Preview tonight, opening tomorrow. *glee* |
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| Update |
[Nov. 4th, 2007|07:46 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
I hate that I can't sleep when something important is coming up. I got about 3 hours of sleep last night, despite the fact that I could have gotten 8, especially since we got an extra hour thanks to Daylight Savings.
Wet tech today. Dry tech was wonderful, aside from my general dissatisfaction with some of the show props and my inability to make time to get replacements for them. Not that it's my job to get the right props...just that my prop master dropped the ball on a couple of very important things, and as a result I am left with things like an itty bitty hoof pick which is supposed to look phallic and instead looks dumb...
I need to let go of worrying about it, since I genuinely can't do anything about it at this point. Sad, but a fact nonetheless.
Devin is considering training to be a manager at Banana Republic. After the fight we had last week, he suddenly became resolved (or maybe resigned) to find a steady source of income. Serendipitously, his store manager has recently become the district manager, and she approached him the morning after the fight to ask him if he'd be willing to consider management. He said he would, and they're going to talk again after the holiday season is over (since they wisely don't train new management during the holiday shopping season). It isn't stellar, salary-wise, but it is *steady* and it includes benefits, which he sorely needs.
Quinn has been very very clingy for the past few days. I'm frankly surprised it didn't start sooner. I miss being with the boys as much as they miss being with me. In spite of the intense joy I have been experiencing in this rehearsal process as a result of the amazing things the actresses and the crew continue to accomplish, I find myself delighted at the prospect of being done with it.
I have a mountain of grading unlike any mountain I've ever had before. All 58 of my students have turned in two papers (2-4 pages each) since the last time I sat down and did any grading. And my 30 Dramatic Arts students have also turned in midterms which are, on average, 10 pages long.
Plus I have to put together a prospectus for my seminar paper by Tuesday, and I have *no* idea what I want to write on.
And we're moving into the color model for Scenic Design, which means I need to read M. Butterfly 3 times by Thursday, write a response to it, and create a collage of my research for the design.
But right now I can only think forward into today. I'm going to get to campus at 9am and rehearsal is scheduled to be over at 10pm. By the end of the day, the show should be nearly ready for audiences, as each cast then has one dress rehearsal before the Wednesday preview.
Think good thoughts. |
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| Officially a moron |
[Nov. 2nd, 2007|12:45 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | annoyed | ] |
I was hungry. "Lunch," I thought, "I'll go find something inexpensive for lunch."
So I walked down Forbes, contemplating.
I was struck with a craving for roasted peppers and garlic cream cheese. So I went into Breugger's and ordered a Leonardo da Veggi.
A bagel.
A bagel.
Five bites in, still starving, I noticed that my headache, which had dulled to a significant annoyance, had begun to intensify. And that my jaw was protesting.
"Oh right," I thought, "one of the first foods on the list of 'things not to eat when you have TMJ problems ' is 'bagels.'" It was, in fact, one of only two things my doctor bothered to list specifically when he told me that my ongoing headache was because of a problem in my TMJ. (The other was chewing gum.)
So I've spent my lunch money on something I can't eat.
Dumbass. |
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| Things you learn on the internet (but not from your doctor) |
[Oct. 28th, 2007|08:56 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | nauseated | ] |
"Acne and nail changes are commonly seen in psoriatic arthritis. Pitting and ridges are seen in finger and toe nails of 80% of patients with psoriatic arthritis. Interestingly, these characteristic nail changes are observed in only a minority of psoriasis patients who do not have arthritis. Acne has been noted to occur in higher frequency in patients with psoriatic arthritis"
--from MedicineNet.com
When I became acne-prone around my 30th birthday, I went to my rheumatologist and said, "I am wondering if one of my meds is causing this sudden onset of acne." His negative response wasn't exactly incorrect. It probably wasn't the meds. But it would have been nice of him to let me know that it could have been the disease. |
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| Meds and art don't mix |
[Oct. 28th, 2007|07:45 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | sick | ] |
I didn't take my weekly Methotrexate dose on Friday because I was too tired to think when I got home. So I completely forgot about it and pretty much went straight to bed.
My skin and my arthritis are both in pretty bad shape, though, so I couldn't skip the dose altogether. Which means I took it last night. Which means I feel like hammered horse-shit today. On top of the regular quantity of owie-ness, I am tired and nauseous and weak.
And I have 8 hours of rehearsals today, which I need to be alert and upbeat and *ready* for.
And all I want to do is crawl back into bed and turn out the lights and sleep until Monday. |
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| For tomorrow |
[Oct. 17th, 2007|11:35 am] |
Grade 30 responses to The Recruiting Officer
Write Intro to Dramatic Arts Midterm
Prepare presentation on A Doll's House
Create (from scratch) final ground plan for A Midsummer Night's Dream, including drafting the Heymann.
I have an hour and 24 minutes between now and leaving for my doctor's appointment, then I'll be picking up the boys, heading home, helping them with homework, making (and eating) dinner, then rehearsal from 6:30-10:30.
The real question is: why did I just use two minutes to post this?
Because I figure people expect me to post from time to time...and because I like letting people know why I'm nowhere to be found lately.
I don't so much love teaching Dramatic Arts, by the way. I hope I never have to teach it again. I do, however, LOVE directing with (and therefore teaching) Viewpoints.
If only I could've taken Scenic Design in a semester when I wasn't directing...and when my school/life balance wasn't so deeply challenging. |
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| Life in the extremes |
[Oct. 10th, 2007|10:51 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
We did four hours of Viewpoints work at last night's rehearsal.
The people working on my show are astonishing. Astonishing. There was much sweating and much running in circles, but very little complaining. The difference between the movement choices being made at the start of work and those being made at the end of work was enormous. It reconfirmed for me the value of this work. I can't wait for tonight's rehearsal. I smiled all night last night. I am smiling again this morning.
( And everything else... ) |
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