Once in a Blue Moon...

Heavenly Pursuits
Friday, May 04, 2007

Well. Next week is exam week, which makes today reading (no classes so students can study and catch up) day. Not a lot going on, work is slowing down, and I'm checking and double checking to make sure everything is covered, though I am sure I forgot something. My poor student workers are going to houseclean next week, as I get ready for summer.

But summer is almost here. There is a holiday feel to the air, like one is just on the point of partying. Not yet, though. I'd play music, but all day I've had graduating seniors taking tests at the main table a few feet away, and I don't want to disturb them more than being in an office already does.

What my main preoccupation of late has been is updating the film article. Each paragraph is its own movie, and so I go to the paragraph, check the links. Then, like, for example, for Stardust I Google:

Gaiman + stardust

And I read everything to see if I can pick up any news. Sometimes I find something neat, and if I can collaborate it, then I chose a the best link or two. Sometimes I find something that I need to ask Neil. There are so many rumors, you have to be careful.

Then I type in:

Stardust + Cox
Stardust + Phieffer
Stardust +....

I only do this with people who may have been interviewed, or have a good fan base.

Then I re-write the paragraph to include the new information, revoice it a bit if it needs, code the links, highlight what I'd like Neil to take an extra look at, bold the title and start all over again with the next movie.

You'd think I'd be done by now, but not so. I want this to be right...thorough and as close to perfect as you can get when you're writing about something that may completely change in two days.

I actually enjoy it, though. I am still a librarian at heart.

I am now reading Phillipa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl. It's such an easy read. A warm bathwater read...I've been laying in front of my open window and reading it, drinking tea and feeling quite happy and at peace. Then I'll go back to Mister Potter....I finished book one a bit ago, and have been trying to start Book 2.

Labels: harry potter, maundering over happy thoughts of summer, Neil Gaiman, still a librarian at heart, The Other Boleyn Girl, writing

Permalink Cindy scribed this at 1:54 PM 2 comments

2 Comments:

Gosh, leaving comments here is difficult.

Cindy:

You can string all your google alerts into one thread. I'm running:
stardust (cox | miller | deniro | "de niro" | pfeiffer | vaughn | danes | gervais)
as a comprehensive alert and it seems to mostly be on target.

My links are here:
http://del.icio.us/thedreaming/film+Stardust

If you haven't seen the Time article on movie villains or the AP article on niche films, you might want to take a look at them -- the rest seem to be the same quotes over and over again.

Not that FOEM isn't picking up/reprinting what's out there as well.

Be well and good luck on the updates!

-randi

By Randi Mason, at 12:24 AM

Wow...that's very very clever! So that should work as an ordinary search string, as well?

And I'm sorry it's hard to leave a comment...I know it's hard to read them, and I'm trying to fix that. Is it just not showing up so you can see it easily? I'll fix that, too.

Thank you so much! Have a lovely weekend.

Cindy

By Cindy, at 10:23 AM

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I wonder what Snape Drinks his tea in?
Friday, April 20, 2007

First: Hello Donna, Sara and Cindy. :)

I don't know if any of you have noticed, but tea mugs make a huge difference. I have two mugs I use the most: A mug with all the presidents of the United States on it (a present from one of my faculty) and a glazed clay mug I bought at the pottery sale last year. The US mug is your common, white on the inside glazed porcelain, very nice. The clay doesn't really. It really changes the flavor, adding an earthiness or it or even softening the edges of the flavor. Sometimes I drink my Earl Grey from it and the tang is a lot gentler. There are some teas I prefer drinking from it...it makes Bigelow's Plantation Mint, always a huge favorite, and brings out the flavor of the mint even more, softening the black tea slightly. On the other hand, I don't like the Numi Jasmin from it as much, because the flavor is so delicate you don't want it to be softened or made earthy.

I do have a small collection of tea cups. I pick them up at yard sales on occasion, but I only rarely use them for tea. I use them for juice, mostly, or put them on the sink to use in the bathroom instead of disposable Dixie cups. I think they are really beautiful, I love the patterns, the shape.

Next Monday marks three weeks left of the semester. I only have a few things left on my list to do. The Honors Dinner Monday, the field trip...whatever odds and ends need to be done for the beginning of the summer semester. I am sad in some ways, because some people will be leaving, some faces i won't see for months on end. but i am also excited. There is something about this time of year that feels like the beginning of something nice, just like Fall does. It won't be, mostly, as teeth grittingly stressful as the last few weeks have been, and everyone is in a better mood. I want to see if i can't plan my summer so there is a balance between me doing all my work quickly and perfectly (which includes making sure everything is organized for Fall.) and finding ways to make it as fun as possible. I also want to walk more. Last summer i tended to just eat at my desk and write during lunch.

I started Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone awhile back, and I didn't like it. I thought her writing was terrible, and all sorts of things. I started reading it again, and now I'm hooked. It really is good, isn't it? And now I've allowed myself not to think about it, and to remember that this is for kids, not adults, I've given myself permission to just plunge right into the wonder of it. Really good stuff. I bought Chamber of secrets, and if I keep reading, I might be able to be caught up by book 7.

Labels: books, maundering over happy thoughts of summer, tea, work

Permalink Cindy scribed this at 2:41 PM 1 comments

1 Comments:

talking about mug and teas..make me miss www.teacuppa.com green tea.
I am travelling, can't wait to be home for my cuppa.

By Anonymous, at 1:43 AM