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It's little moments like this that make the "staying at home thing" all worth it.
(We were making this recipe by the way - it's so worth it. And the song? U2's "When Love Comes to Town" - particularly infectious when sung by an air-guitaring 3 year-old.)
..at least in the eastern Seattle suburbs:
My class was cancelled. They could only get about 7 people to sign up for 3 sections, total. *Sigh*.
I was able to cancel one of the books (the expensive one, thankfully), but the other two are on their way. I'm bummed that I don't get to discuss the essays with other people. Maybe I'll try and push one of the collections on my book group.
And, sadly for this site, I won't be getting a lot of practice in writing better for now. (And considering how clunky that sentence was, lack of practice is a bad thing...)
But, in the way that life so often works, things have come about in the meantime to make this canceled class into a good thing. Crazy, huh? That's one of the big reasons I can't shake my faith in God. Believing "the Universe" conspired together in my favor just doesn't jive for me....Anyway, as I was saying, meanwhile, things have happened. Specifically, I am now the surprised and thrilled owner of a brand new refurbished computer. Actually, not just a new computer, but the computer of my dreams!
My current computer is from 2000 or 2001 and it's a bit curmudgeonly. It laughs at "YouTube", thinking it's some new-fangled thing those kids are doing these days. It refused point-blank to run Photoshop. Its speakers are from long before the iTunes era. I was quite willing to limp along because, well, I just didn't think we could justify purchasing a new one. But Dave has been obsessively checking the "Refurbished" portion of the Dell website and one day - there it was. Dave called me from work and rattled off the specs (killer processor - check.....high-speed video card - check....flamingo pink cover - check, check check!). We deliberated a long time finally putting it in the online shopping cart and hitting "charge". Dave just got a bonus, and although we still have some large, looming medical bills, we decided to just do it.
So what does this have to do with my class being cancelled? Well, now that I have a new computer, I can actually run Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. Since one of things I think I may want to do when I grow up is Web Design and content managment (I've done a teeny bit already, but only with the crazy kluged-together tools I have...), I was really wanting to take some classes in the design tools I need to learn. So now I've enrolled in an Illustrator class at the local technical college. Of course, I still have to figure out how to buy the pen tablet and software I need want.... but that's a challenge for another day.
So the writing around here may not improve, but the graphics may!
I just got to buy books of essays that I WILL BE REQUIRED TO READ! I am positively giddy with excitement! I will be REQUIRED to read good writing and to be prepared to discuss, critique, and write some myself.
Yes, I'm ditching Chinese (zài jiàn!) and taking a different class next quarter. It's called "Writing Creative Non-Fiction" and I am positively thrilled! Here's the class description: "Focuses on the craft of short essay (memoir, travel essay, autobiography). Covers narration, characterization, dialogue, scene, voice and tone. Students write and critique short essays and read the work of established non-fiction writers. Suitable for beginning or experienced writers." Sounds blissful, no?
Also, since it's not offered on line, I just HAVE to go to CLASS twice a week. Yay, me! (Dave accuses me of keeping my teaching certificate up just to justify attending 3 college classes every 5 years).
Yes, I'm a dork. But a very, very excited dork! And maybe this class will be good for you all, too - hopefully it will lead to some better writing here at my pink toes.
You could get paid every two weeks just like clockwork - always on a Friday (not like us which is that we get paid Friday if payday falls on a Saturday, and Monday if it falls on a Sunday - whatever). Think of all the things that would fall into line with a calendar of such accuracy, predictability and precision.
It's so crazy it just might work, except not. Because like the metric system, it's logical. and simple. and easy to use. Which means it doesn't have a chance of catching on here in America. Ok, and maybe it takes a day tweak here or there.
Apparently, the ideas for a 13-month calendar go back to 1849, with each subsequent group to propose it using the idea to promote their own name for the 13th month (or all of them in some cases). The first version got bogged down in all it's political/sociological "Positivist" renaming of months and holidays. Then the next guy decided to leave everything the same except add a new month called "Sol". "Vern" is what the original proposers of this idea to the US House (in 1922!) decided to name the 13th month, to "include the Vernal Equinox and begin Spring." Heh. I'll bet the original brain behind this bill was a guy named "Vern" who came up with a reason to name the month after him.
There is currently another promoting a 13 month calendar, but under the auspices of world peace and moon celebration. They would rename all the months to such inspirational titles as "Magnetic", "Self-Existing", and "Cosmic" (scroll down). They would also add a non-existent day each year to balance the calendar and celebrate peace. I think I prefer "Vern".
