Wednesday, October 20, 2004

 
Oh, what to write? I should write something. I'm tired, it's grey outside and I want to be home curled up on the couch reading. After three days of no headaches, I have a headache starting. This is so annoying! The whole row of us at work (three of us) have all had headaches for the last 10 days. It could be the weather and it just turning cold or it could be other things. I wouldn't be surprised if the air in the building has something to do with it. I didn't want to take any Excedrin today but looks like I might have to.

So the election is almost over! Yeah! I usually enjoy the election season, but this year it's really getting to me. I can't stand hearing about the polls and they say it's so close, which makes me very nervous. My mom has said if this Bush Administration has been bad, what will they do when they don't have to worry about running for re-election. Our country could be in shambles financially, environmentally and whatever else they can mess up. Today on NPR they mentioned dealing with Cuba and I said to Bryan, "Are we invading Cuba next?" What is the Administration going to do, invade every country that disagrees with our policies? How about negotiating, it's worked for hundreds of years and war is NOT the answer!

I'm reading a really interesting book right now, The Secret History by Donna Tartt. At first, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. It's about a college student and he becomes part of an exclusive group of students who all study Greek and the Greek classics with just one instructor. It's really interesting to get to know the characters, but I've just been along for the ride thinking it's a book without a lot of action and more about the narrator's development as a person. I could tell there was something boiling below the surface but wasn't sure what. The book kept me interested to the point that it kept pulling me back, "like you know something is going to happen, you just don't know when, so you should read more." Then in the 70 pages that I read yesterday, I realized that there is a lot going on under the surface. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but now it's getting really good. At first, it seemed like it was taking me a long time to read a few pages because the pages are long (lengthwise) and the type is small but in the last several days as I've really gotten into it, it seems to be taking less time to read a page. This is Donna Tartt's first book, it came out in 1992, I think. I found it in a BookBrowse interview with Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife, one of my absolutely favorite books! By far my favorite book that I've read in the last year! So when The Secret History was one of her top ten books, I figured I had to read it. :) I'm tracking my reading of The Secret History on my Recent Reads page. It's a new page that I created to record what I've read and am reading. I figured, I have my current listening page, why not a current reading page. :)

I'm starting to work on my application for Library Science grad school. I sent out my requests for transcripts yesterday and will be sending the forms to the people writing my letters of reference tomorrow. Next week, I'll be interviewing a library director for one of my essays. We're supposed to interview a library professional to talk about issues related to the library and information services. It should be very interesting. So things are really gearing up. I hope to have my application sent in before the end of December! Then it's just a matter of waiting for three months to find out if I get in.
posted by erica Wednesday, October 20, 2004 []

  Thursday, October 14, 2004

 
I taught a private papermaking lesson last night. I wasn't very clear when I gave my instructions for materials for the papermaking class, so my student had a pour papermaking mould instead of a mould and deckle for the dip method. The mould and deckle for the dip method are like two frames held together. One of the frames has a screen on it to trap the fibers to make the sheet of paper. I learned the dip method in my Japanese papermaking class when I was in college nine years ago. So last night, I had to figure out how to use the pour method really quickly. In the materials my student had made it sound like the poru method is so much easier but I think it's actually harder than using the dip method because there is a large mould that you have to unstrap each time you make a sheet, as opposed to just taking the top frame off.

After class, I went home and watched the rest of the debate with Bryan. Bush sounds like such a broken record. He doesn't even answer the questions. While we were watching the debate, I worked on sewing a couple of the seams to a sweater that I finished knitting almost a year ago.

I'm ready for the weekend! Meredith and her friend, Dan, are coming over for Meredith's belated birthday dinner. Bryan and I are making dinner and we'll be dining on our new fine china and using our new wine glasses! It should be fun. We just have to do some serious picking up and cleaning tonight. Our house is still a bit messy since we haven't taken the time to really clean since we got back from our honeymoon. At least all of the gifts have been unpacked. :)
posted by erica Thursday, October 14, 2004 []

  Wednesday, October 13, 2004

 
I've been thinking lately that I might want to combine my upto and knitting blogs. I can't decide, sometimes there are things that I post here that aren't at all related to knitting. It's hard to keep up with two blogs, especially when I've been really into knitting lately. I started teaching again at a local park district. It's going well. I've decided that I shouldn't make up a class syllabus because I never follow it. It's almost like putting everything in an order causes me not to follow it.

I'll be applying to library school soon! I need to do an interview with a librarian and then get the information to my references. I'm nervous but I'm really excited. My application is due in mid-January but I want to get it off to U of Illinois before Christmas so that I don't have to worry about it. For a while, I was afraid that I would have to wait until next summer to find out if I get in, but then I checked the website and they let everyone know in mid-March!

I am teaching a papermaking class tonight. It's a private lesson because my class at the high school that the woman signed up for was cancelled. It will be interesting. I haven't taught papermaking as a class before, so I hope it goes well. I'm a bit relieved that the papermaking classes were cancelled because I wasn't sure how I was going to teach the class. It's not something that you can just say get these supplies and show up. It's a bit more complicated than that.

Being married has been great. It feels different but since we lived together for over a year in a way it doesn't feel different. It's really hard to explain, it's different and at the same time it's not. I'm sure it doesn't make any sense, except to those people who have done the same thing. Bryan posted a few wedding photos on his website and a few honeymoon photos too. I hope to get several of the photos on a webpage at some point. Finding the time to do it is part of the problem. :)

Enjoy the fall colors, they change way too fast!

Currently reading: Secret History by Donna Tartt
posted by erica Wednesday, October 13, 2004 []