My Eyes Hurt

I may or may not have played video games for 14 hours yesterday (okay, I did). This is why I do not touch video games while school is in session; I know my limits people! If I played video games all year, no papers would every get graded. Ever.

So far, the holiday break has been excellent, and I have gotten a VERY small start on my list of "Things I Would Like To Do Over Break." I feel like it's been pretty productive so far since I only started break on Friday, and had the holiday all weekend. See it below:

1. Finish my second novel, "Damned Before Breakfast," and FINALLY get it to the publisher. (This should have been done last January. I'm sure they're extra pleased with my expedience.)
2. Play through 2 of my very patient video games. (I am more than halfway through my first game.)
3. Read 4 of the books that have been collecting dust in my office.
4. Sleep.(Got some good shut eye in the day after Christmas)
5. Sing Karaoke.(Went out last Thursday for a little bit, will probably do the same this week.)
6. Sleep more.
7. Write the syllabi for my Spring courses.(Set up both online classrooms, wrote out the curricula for both ground classes. Just have to type up the actual syllabi and I'm done!)
8. Relax.
9. Go see the Dr. Seuss exhibit.

Other things I've managed to do:

1. Got two nerdy tattoos (Matches the Dragon from Scooby Doo and The Ghoul School and The Deathly Hallows Symbol)
2. Played board games for hours (Pirate Flux, Zombie Flux, Mr. Bacon's Big Adventure, Tetris Link and Would You Rather)

Another Great (Probably Unfinishable) Writing Idea

There is this poetry writing exercise where you take an already exisiting poem, and write it backwards. You start from the bottom and work your way to the top, keeping the line lengths the same. So, if you were to take the first verse of  "Meeting at Night" by Elizabeth Browning :

Meeting at Night

     I.

       The grey sea and the long black land;

       And the yellow half-moon large and low;

       And the startled little waves that leap

       In fiery ringlets from their sleep,

       As I gain the cover with pushing prow,

       And quench its speed i'the slushy sand.

And then you were to apply this method, you would have:

       Sand slushy i'the speed its quench and

       Prow pushing with cover the gain I as

       Sleep their from ringlets fiery in,

       Leap that waves little startled the and

       Low and large half-moon yellow the and

       land black long the and sea grey the.

Then you're supposed to tinker with it until it makes sense and sounds nice again. It's meant to be a framework from which you can create new verse.... Now, the reason I am boring you with silly poetry exercises is this: I came across a list of the 100 Worst 80's Songs. It's someone's personal list, and I disagree with much of it, but I digress. I thought it might be fun to try this type of exercise with the top 100 worst 80's songs to see if I could come up with anything interesting or of some type of quality. I may not follow the specifications above, maybe I'll just use the titles... we shall see.

Does anyone think this could be a good idea? Or a worthwhile undertaking?

    

Robert Smith, Are You My Daddy?

I was once told that I looked like the bastard child of Robert Smith and Kelly Osbourne. Now, the logistics of that particular affair send shivers down my spine and make me a nauseous sausage.  However, I do not actually oppose to the reference. Who doesn't love some Robert Smith? (Well, I'm sure you people are out there, but come on... The Cure is classic!) I don't think it's a particularly accurate comparison, but then again, back in those days I looked a bit more like this....

So, I guess I sort of get it. Anyway, the reason I am randomly blogging about my appearance is because I just watched a decent cover of "Just Like Heaven." I actually really love cover songs, provided they don't completely bastardize the original. I like that today's musicians are bringing the music from decades past to a whole new audience. 

The cover in question is done by AFI, and there's actually a live video where Robert Smith is in the audience at the show, even cooler. 

Another cover that I found to be particularly well-done is the cover of  Gerard McMann's "Cry Little Sister" done by Seasons After. Though I do prefer the original, this is pretty damn good.

Things I'd Like To Do Over Break

It seems like the small winter break that I get (since I teach summers), is the only time during the year that I really get to do "me" things. I have a backlog of things that I really need to or want to do. I've been collecting books that I'd like to read for years now, and have not even made a small dent in the stack which is comprised of well over 50 unread books. I also have a pile of PS2 (yes, PS2) games and Wii games that have been lying neglected in my bedroom. So, here is the list of things that I'd like to accomplish over break. I've omitted all of the bill paying and other mundane stress-filled activities from said list.

1. Finish my second novel, "Damned Before Breakfast," and FINALLY get it to the publisher. (This should have been done last January. I'm sure they're extra pleased with my expedience.)
2. Play through 2 of my very patient video games.
3. Read 4 of the books that have been collecting dust in my office.
4. Sleep.
5. Sing Karaoke.
6. Sleep more.
7. Write the syllabi for my Spring courses.
8. Relax.
9. Go see the Dr. Seuss exhibit.

School's Out For... Erm... Winter?

So, I just finished administering my final FINAL examination for the semester. Now I have three days of grading before my short (but hopefully relaxing) break from work. I wanted to take this time to reflect on just a few things.

Every semester I do a set of grammar lessons with my students, the last of which is a "look-alike/sound-alike" lecture. During the lecture we cover various problematic homophones and homonyms. I really hate to do exercises of this type in a college English setting, but sometimes it's necessary. So, I try to have fun with it so that the students are at least mildly entertained instead of just angry with me.

My favorite set of "problem" words is: Past/Passed. My problems tend to include things like:

                             Marty McFly went back to the ________________.

                             Bill and Ted kidnapped Socrates from the ________________________.

I like to think that I am being clever or at least funny, but it seems less and less the case these days. What's the world coming to when the youth of our nation has never seen Back To The Future? Sigh...

I also like to jazz up my mid-term and final exams with random funny answers just to see if students are paying attention. I'll occasionally hear a chuckle in the back of the room, but for the most part they stay silent. Perhaps it's because they're all serious students and hard workers... I'd like to think that. Though, it could be that they just either don't get or don't appreciate my attempts at humor.

For example:

1. When capitalizing a title in an APA style reference list, you must follow the APA capitalization rule.
    Which of the following titles has been properly formatted:

     A. Luke, I Am Your Father

     B. The lord of the rings

     C. THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BONZAI

     D. Little SHOP of HORRORS

                                 ..... and to no avail. At least I am entertaining myself, right? Right?

So, it's 5 A.M. and I can't sleep (again). Not that I've really made an attempt to sleep, but I'm just not tired. The insomnia has won yet another round. On the plus side, I do not have to work today. So, if I wind up sleeping all day, it won't be that bad. As I was headed towards HBO to check out this "Game of Thrones" show that I've been hearing so much about, I noticed that "What About Bob?" was on.... and I can never pass it up. I've seen it far more times than any regular person should, and it's still amazing every time.

Zombieland had it right.... Bill Murray is the best of the best. I wouldn't go as far as to say "He just get's me" because that sentiment is reserved only for Seth Green, but he's a close second. Death Therapy, for the win. "Your death therapy cured me, you genius!" If  you haven't seen the movie, go watch it now (I know, I'm bossy)!

While Murray's talents have graced us from the late 70's forward, he played a number of unforgettable roles during my favorite decade, the 80's.  We had Caddyshack, Stripes, Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Little Shop of Horrors, and Scrooged! The early 90's brought us gems like Groundhog's Day and What About Bob.... and well, he's been just as amazing since then. That's really all I had to say. I just wanted to share my love for the immortal Bill Murray.... and it's not like you have something more interesting to read at 5 A.M. Sunday Morning. 

Things I Learned From Popular 80's Music

I am just being silly here, hopefully that's obvious. I didn't have anything profound to say, but wanted to say something just the same... This is what happened. Sorry, in advance. Anyway, here is a list of 10 things I "learned" from popular 80's music:

1. Science is DANGEROUS. After all, it BLINDED Thomas Dolby. (1982)
2. If you're not looking, logic will tie you up and RAPE you! (1980)
3. Gingers must have souls because Rick Astley is NEVER gonna give me up.(1987)
4. You can reach into someone's chest and grab hold of their heart without doing damage, but only if your touch is INVISIBLE! (1986)
5. You can build an entire city on, wait for it.... ROCK N' ROLL. (1985)
6. Heaven isn't an idea, or a paradise for when we're dead. It is, in fact, a place on EARTH.. (1987)
7. You can always tell when someone is a "Foreign Type" if they have a hookah pipe and say "Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh," DUH. .. (1986)
8. When no one else is around, it's probably safe to assume that you're alone.(1987)
9. Sticking the 7-inch in the computer is apparently VERY funny.  (1989)
10. If you want to "rock" someone like a hurricane, you have to write a song that makes absolutely no sense...(1984)