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September 30, 2005
Things that are important
José Ayerve is one of the loveliest people I know, and Dave and I were so saddened by the recent tragedy in his life. He has the details of an important benefit on the main page of his website. I have a lot going on that weekend, but I hope to find time for this. We love you, José, and are thinking of you.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
If this is how I'm going to spend my Friday nights now, I might as well just cancel the Netflix subscription, right?
Do you know how long it's been since I've written a paper? I bet you can guess, what with all my complaining here! Four years. I had to start writing one today (well, honestly, I could have started sooner) and it's tough to get back into it. Where do you start? How do you start? Eventually I just started and I'm feeling okay about it so far. I know I did well on everything I wrote at Smith. In college, I was a confident paper writer. I had my style and I knew how to go about doing what I had to do. Now, I read what I've written and I recognize myself; I know my own writing style and it's nice to see it hasn't gone anywhere during this hiatus. But there's this thing at the back of my mind always, asking "what if this isn't good enough anymore? what if it's different now?" I don't know. I guess I'll find out on Monday.
I should get back to it, I suppose. I've just returned from doing this early writing at Woodstar and now I will have to contend with the cats. Rosa has already started chewing on my hair, so it's going to be a long night. She has this new endearing thing where, if I'm not leaning against the back of the couch, where she can easily jump up and bite me from a reclining position, she will hop up on her hind legs, dig her claws into my shoulders, and have a go at it from there. Sweet, no? My other distraction is that Dave is on the loose in town watching the baseball game: a Yankees fan in Red Sox Nation. It always makes me a little nervous.
Random: I hope this fellow keeps posting (and keeps out of trouble).
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 29, 2005
On Miguel Cervantes and the ways in which he would like to control my life.
I'm now in the totally disgusting phase of the end of my cold. You know, the phase when you feel like you need to apologize to everyone around you? Yeah.
I'm coming to terms with my feelings of guilt about missing an important lecture at Mount Holyoke tonight; a prelude to a big symposium on Miguel Cervantes that will be at UMass on Columbus Day Weekend. The guilt is because I'm going to miss it so I can watch the O.C. with Dave and Eliza. I feel okay about it because it's like the only break I give myself during the week and the only time I have guaranteed with these important people in my life. Also because I will be spending that entire weekend here at UMass listening to (what I'm sure will be very interesting) talks about Cervantes, instead of going to my mom's Oktoberfest or celebrating my anniversary in some lovely long-weekend way with Dave. (It's actually that Tuesday, the 11th, but still.)
A colleague has just confirmed for me that I will never read for pleasure again, so I feel okay about watching TV for one hour.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 27, 2005
This one goes out to Jason Nargis, who has been shit on at least twice.
A bird shit on me today as I was walking home from the bus. Has this ever happened to you? It was a first for me. It makes you feel special. And by "special" I mean not good. Plus I was wearing my favorite sweater from Anthropologie. You know, the one I hardly ever get to wear and that I am super careful with. Yep. That one. I was just a minute or so from home when it happened, so I was able to do a little spot treatment with laundry detergent in the bathroom sink. I am sure everything will be fine. But it's just one of those things. I had to come post this because I'm writing a report on a class observation for my teaching methodology class. It's on a class I observed today. If I didn't tell this story here, it would have been too tempting to end my report with, "and then I got shit on by a bird."
As I write this, Clem just tried to curl up inside my messenger bag. Never a dull moment with the little animals of the world.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2005
A few questions about graduate school?
When does one time find for things like doing laundry, buying groceries, cleaning the house? I've already realized that I am once again letting my Netflix subsription go unwatched for months, but these other things? I mean, really. Granted this cold made my weekend almost nonexistent. Because, otherwise, the weekend is the prime opportunity for all the daily chores that one must take care of in order to be a normal person. But, even if I hadn't spent the weekend lying in bed feeling miserable, would I have had time to go out and run errands or to vaccuum the apartment? Even with my cold, I didn't once take a break from reading literary theory or teaching methodology or Don Quijote. Is that what it's like now, for the next howevermany years?
Tonight Dave and I resorted to a measure we hadn't taken in quite a few months: dropping laundry off at the laundromat, to be picked up tomorrow: clean, folded, and neatly stacked. It's a nice luxury that we can't indulge in often, but it will help us feel a little more normal as we step over boxes and bags and shoes on our unswept floors.
On a more fun note, I finally gave in to the charms of this shirt. I hope it will be here in time to stave off the next laundry day.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:32 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
At least we're not going anywhere this weekend.
I'm getting a cold and I don't have time for it. As a lazy college student, I would just take as much time as I needed to get over a cold. I'd sleep all weekend, and see if I had time to get to my reading. I would miss a class if I wasn't feeling well. I can't really do that anymore. I just tried to sleep for two hours, but only ended up thinking of all the crap I have to do and getting back to work after only a half hour. How long does it take to get over a cold if you don't take a break?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 05:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 21, 2005
New clothes have greatly improved a crappy Wednesday.
I got new Mama shirts today! They're very cute and you should be jealous. Also, did I mention the sale is 50% off? I'm definitely looking forward to checking out the new line when it comes out.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 20, 2005
Of course, I had mouse catching dreams all night.
I knew there was going to be trouble when I walked up the driveway last Tuesday only to find it littered with the bodies of five little dead mice. That same evening, Clem and Rosa began staring intently at one corner of the TV room, occasionally poking their paws in the little crack between the floorboards and the wall.
When I saw this scene, I knew it was true:
We had a mouse. I tried to ignore all the shuffling and jumping and pounding I heard from the kitchen cabinet while I read La numancia in our bedroom. But then I heard: "eek... eek." I went out into the kitchen and found Clem and Rosa looking excited and confused, with a mouse cowering between them.
Here's the thing about my cats: they'll chase a bug all over the house without so much as successfully swatting it once. I always figured they'd have an easier time catching a mouse, what with the no flying thing. But they didn't catch this guy. They stopped him a few times as he was trying to run away: a little tap with the paw to stun him into not moving. But they never actually got him and he escaped under the refrigerator.
I am pretty sure the mouse is still in the house and still alive. Clem keeps checking under the kitchen sink, but there's been no more excitement so far. I just don't want them to kill the mouse on the new couch. Is that too much to ask?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:36 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
September 19, 2005
Eliza and I branched out at Moshi saturday; I highly recommend the Rocky roll.
The Winterpills CD release show on Saturday was really great. A ton of people showed up at the horse, including my parents and a bunch of people from school and the old job. It was really nice to have everyone there, even if I didn't get to spend as much time with people as I might have liked. It's just as well: I'm really antisocial at concerts, as many can probably confirm. I just tend to want to listen to the show and not talk to anyone.
A fun Saturday of Moshi and music with my family meant a Sunday spent in the Smith library reading literary theory. Eh, what can you do?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 06:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2005
Mama goodies
Mama's having a sale. Their website isn't working for me right now; there's another graphic covering all the links for the store, but I'm definitely going to check back in and see what's up. You should, too. Oh, wait: try this.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I no longer make enough money for this.
Well, you'll be glad to know that grad school hasn't distracted me from the important things in life. Like shoes.
I present the latest shoes that I would like to have, but probably shouldn't:
I already have rain boots (it's ok to laugh), but I wish I could justify these. You know, for when you don't want a boot, but you do want rubber shoes? No? You don't have those days?
I'm not into that much of what Anthropologie has right now, but I like these (of course, they're stupid expensive).
I really like these Cynthia Rowley mary janes. I love my two pairs of Cynthia Rowley shoes. But did you know I'm never allowed to buy red shoes again? I have have lots of red shoes.
Lucky for me, these ones aren't available in my size. I really like them in dark brown, but the tan is nice, too.
Ok, time to stop now.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 04:11 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 15, 2005
Of course, I am perfectly capable of making time to watch the O.C. tonight.
Did I mention I didn't make it to the Of Montreal show last night? The day was just too long and I ended up getting back from Umass just as the show was supposed to start. It's kind of disappointing, since I really enjoyed them last time around. I was hoping to at least get to spend some time with Dave, but with the CD release on Saturday, Winterpills have had a busy week of practices and photo shoots. It worked out for the best, since I got to finish reading La numancia for my class today.
The Decemberists will be here on the same weekend that an important symposium is happening. Hopefully the two events won't really conflict and I can at least get away for the concert. I'm definitely looking forward to both things that are happening that weekend, so I'd like to have it all work out.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:38 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 14, 2005
One week down, only about 150 to go.
I guess this school stuff might be getting easier. I got through this extremely long day with almost no crying (although it was close a couple of times, for no particular reason, and yesterday was a whole different story), despite the fact that I ended up being at UMass either teaching, in class, or in meetings from 8:00 AM until 7:30 PM. Never in my life have I had a job that is so demanding, so intense, so consuming, and with such little guidance or instruction about what I am supposed to do. I have spent the past week, since classes began, discovering that (of course) I don't know how to teach Spanish.
Maybe my impression is wrong, but I seem to be surrounded by people who feel quite confident about teaching beginning Spanish to people. Maybe it's because they've taught before, or because they have recent experience learning a language. I don't know. All I know is I took beginning Spanish fourteen years ago and it was taught in a completely different way from what is being done now. It's hard to visualize classroom activities if I don't even know where to begin.
I know that, for one thing, I need to look back at the materials I still have from my intro Portuguese class I took my senior year at Smith. This was five years ago, so I don't remember specifics about what we did. But I still have the book and workbook, so at least I might be able to adapt some lessons.
It has been a while since I was in an academic environment. I didn't realize just how long five years was until I started last week. I feel like I will never read another novel for fun again. Is this true?
Posted by kelseyfrost at 08:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
See, now that I'm awake, the cats are sleeping on piles of textbooks. When I'm asleep, they scale the bedroom walls.
Clem just started licking my copy of Beginning Theory. I hope I like it anywhere near that much. Well, there is a cute picture of a cat on it, so maybe he just got confused.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 12, 2005
I'm sleepy, but I apparently wanted to blog.
Books for school are so effing expensive. I've now spent about $325 on books for three classes. Isn't that exciting? What's more exciting is that I took out a little bit extra in loan money so that, after my fees were paid, I'd have some money to buy books. The university hasn't given me that money yet, luckily, so I just got to pile everything onto my credit cards. I'm a little cranky about this. Can you tell?
I also just had a scare with this site. I couldn't access it for a while, or my homepage, or the MediaTemple (hosting company) page. I was remaining calm and hoping everything would come back, which it did.
Nothing much of note today, as you can see. I'm anxiously awaiting Eliza so we can hang out and watch Arrested Development before I delve back into Cervantes' Libro de la Galatea.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 09, 2005
My iPod loves Flora.
A couple of weeks ago, I put Flora Reed's record, Settle Down, on my iPod. Dave played drums on the album, so I listened to it a lot when it came out a couple of years ago, but now our copy of the CD is all scratched (thank you, cats, for your continued hard work in the war against all my possessions). When Philip and Flora borrowed our computer a little while ago, they left all their music on it (heh heh), so I am getting re-acquainted with the solo Flora sound. She's so great in Winterpills, but it's nice to sometimes hear her in a different way (digo yo). Anyway, the iPod loves Flora, so I got to hear like three or four of her songs today. Unlike when the iPod got obsessed with Prince or Coldplay (both of whom have been banished), I'm enjoying this trend.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 01:39 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I've also had a headache every day this week, which I hope will not last the entire semester.
It's been a seriously long week. Today should be better, as I only have to teach two classes this morning and then can come home for lunch and to study. The rest of the semester should be better, I think, once I settle into my schedule and the amount of work I need to do (which is quite a lot). It also helps that I got the keys to my office yesterday, so I don't have to carry a giant bag around with me everywhere and have someplace to go in those random hours between classes.
This weekend Dave and I are heading to Newport to see his parents and help them pack; they're moving across town at the end of the month. There will be a lot of reading, I think (hope). And maybe we can get away with a little laundry...
I seriously have not been to visit the internet since school started. Today I have to google the word "theory" for a discussion being held in my literary theory class, though, so maybe I'll pass by a couple of blogs if I need a break.
If you're not going away this weekend, you should go to the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert at the Elevens on Saturday night. Here, Henning will tell you all about it.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 07, 2005
Yes, I am complaining.
Okay, how long has it been since I didn't have (or make) time to post here during the week? I'm serioulsy exhausted after my first day of classes today. I taught two this morning and took two this afternoon. Yep, that's 9 AM to 6:30 PM at UMass. Someone please make it stop.
I don't even have anything else to say right now, except that I am not enjoying using my UMass webmail at the moment. Maybe I'll actually have some time for myself tomorrow and can *gasp* visit the internet!
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:28 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 06, 2005
I need another coffee and some food.
I'm dreading having to figure out what items I will need for school. Is grad school like college? Will I just need a couple of notebooks or whatever? I assume so. One item I think I will need to purchase asap is some kind of cushiony sleeve for my laptop, which made a slightly treacherous journey with me today in my crafty tote bag. I had thought that Target might have something for me, but a quick perusal of their website leads me to believe otherwise. Better for me; I was there yesterday and it's really unpleasant when all the college students return.
I would be into getting this Bailey Works one, since I know their bags are really durable. It's a little expensive though, I guess. I don't know.
This one from Flight 001 is sort of what I have in mind. Also in the $40 range. Maybe that's just how much these things cost...
Okay, so more research needs to be done on this, but not right now. I'm totally spacing out, sitting in front of the Isenberg School of Business at UMass, using their wireless connection.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 09:16 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 04, 2005
How was your weekend?
We had a very rock and roll weekend in Provincetown, with The Winterpills and Spanish for Hitchhiking both playing at The Squealing Pig in Provincetown, MA. It was really nice to have a weekend away with our friends, and I'm always glad to see these bands play. I hope Lauren and Dennis will post their celebrity sightings from this weekend.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 10:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 02, 2005
I was going to tell you about Eliza's new apartment, but I got distracted by the news.
I have been so busy this week with everything that I lost track of just how horrifying the aftermath of Katrina has been. It was yesterday morning that I finally looked at the headlines on the NY Times and really saw what was going on. Paypal, Amazon, and Apple have each set up a donation page for hurricane relief. I'm sure there are other places out there, but these are the three that I have seen. I don't know; I figure every little bit helps, even if you feel kind of foolish donating, like, $10 to a disaster this huge. It has to make some difference.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 01, 2005
Yes, I could just do a little work and look for music listings on line, but I thought I'd just ask you instead.
What's going on in Northampton this weekend? Winterpills and Spanish for Hitchhiking will both be playing in Provincetown and I hope to go with them for the weekend. I think it will work, if I can get out of a couple of orientation workshops Friday afternoon. Is there anything happening in town or are all the bands spending long weekends on the beach? Between Eliza and the people I've met in the Spanish department, I know a few people now who are new to the area and are looking for things to do on the weekends.
Posted by kelseyfrost at 07:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack