For Aaron

I go above and beyond the call of duty,

NOOOOOOO

David Tennant quits as Doctor Who

Pardon the geeky angst...but dammit.

SNOW? NOW?

Panic! At the Bibliotheque

I got my first real assignment for Warren Wilson and my book's ordered. This is all becoming shudderingly real.

~*~

I've been trying to write and backlog some poems for the upcoming semester just to stay ahead of things in case I get bogged down. (Right now Ricardo Montalban is an Indian Brave on Bonanza. He is suitably righteous and angry...very Khan-like.) Back in the day I had no problem writing on demand, I synched into it and produced with little procrastination (though some courses were tended to far more gladly). It'll be curious to see how this low-residency system works in terms of process for me.

~*~

Aaron said this to tease me, but he's got a serious point, and I know he's righter than right, so I have it taped up in view as I work at the home computer: "Some people finish poems, RJ."

So Bad, But So Good

We celebrated Ashley's birthday Saturday. Because she loves pumpkiny stuff, I made her a Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow-Sour Cream Topping and Gingersnap Crust from a recipe at Epicurious. It was faaaantastic.

I'm not a big cheesecake fan and had never tried to make one before, but this recipe seems almost fool-proof.

The only quibbles I have: if you follow the recipe exactly use a larger springform pan (the recipe calls for a 9", but makes enough filling for at least a 10"); because I followed the recipe and had an enormous amount of filling in the 9" pan, it increased the cooking time by about 45 minutes; if you decide to make this without the topping (and really why would you? sour cream? and marshmallow? come on!) cut the spices unless you really really loooove spicy pumpkin.

Punky

I was supposed to be up at quarter of 6 this morning so I could do my thing and be at work at 7. Nothing major, just a usual Sunday. Until I went into the kitchen to get my coffee and realized it was actually 7 already. The clock had reset itself prematurely for next week's time change. I called work, then rushed around getting ready. I ended up being about 30 minutes late. So far it's been a normal Sunday, a few straggling check outs, nothing major. About five minutes ago I look down and realize I'm wearing mismatched shoes.

And It's Time, Time, Time

I kept meaning to hop on and blog a bit here and there for the last month but then I'd just find something else to do...it's not been particularly frantic or anything--I've just not felt like being online much. I've been trying to read a lot (more essays about poetry than poetry itself) and get myself geared up for classes by setting up what'll be my work blocks.

Things of note since late September:

My mom now yells at the television whenever she sees John McCain. She either calls him "nitwit" or "that old asshole." The latter is particularly impressive--it has been reserved solely for my father for the last 15 years. She admits that she understands how I felt during 2004 and the last several years.

I was training a new person last week. She said there was no need to worry about her taking too many breaks or her room service beer count being off since she didn't smoke or drink. I said "Well, that's good, but you have to have some sort of vice." "Oh, I do. Jesus Christ."