Smith died in 1836, leaving all his property to his only surviving daughter, Gertrude. She went insane.*
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If your brain is as tired from overwork as mine is, this decontextualized historical factoid should be just as hilarious to you as it was to me thirty seconds ago.
@:D
~ER
*Bent, Margaret. "Initial Letters in the Old Hall Manuscript." Music & Letters 47/3 (July 1966): 228.
In other words, I dyed my hair! :D
Don't worry, it's not drastic... like pink or something. ;)
I used red-brown dye, so now, instead of being chestnut brown, my highlights are dark red. If you see me in poor artificial light, though, you can't even tell.
Here's a picture!
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Some bits of wisdom from The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 2nd ed....
491-10. The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so. --Josh Billings (H. W. Shaw)
551-2. Cure yourself of the inclination to bother about how you look to other people. Be concerned only... with the idea God has of you. --Miguel de Unamuno
358-16. No man can climb out beyond the limitations of his own character. --John, Viscount Morley of Blackburn
170-9. In trouble to be troubl'd, is to have your trouble doubl'd. --Daniel Defoe
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i LIKE it!!! I've always wanted to do that... i've just never been brave enough to do. Maybe you'll inpsire me -- because I want to do somethign brownish with reddish tints. Not too obvious, but still a little. I mean, c'mon, it can be one of my "wild" things to do as a Christian.
I have given this much thought and consideration -- 24 hours, to be precise -- and have come to the following conclusion: sometime in the next four months, I am going to come visit you over a weekend and you are going to help my non-obviously and discretely dye my hair. Or highlight it. Or something thus equally outlandish that only we two will know about. Thus years from now, when we are dignified old ladies, our grandkids will marvel in amazement that we did such a wicked thing.
1. Many thanks for the birthday well-wishes!!!
2. Sorry for the unplanned sabbatical from pleonast. I practice obligatory verbal gluttony on a daily basis, and it leaves me eye-sore and incoherent each evening. But, nonetheless, I have not forgotten about you all!
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This last Friday I gave my students their midterm course grades and asked them to give me some critical evaluation in return. Each student wrote three things on a piece of paper and turned it in to me with or without a name, as they saw fit. The things were: 1. good thing, 2. bad thing, 3. random thing.
(The "random thing" was included so that they would have a place to tell me anything they wanted to say. I told them it didn't have to be course-related; everybody needs a chance to vent sometimes.)
After my three classes were over, I retreated to the GTA common room to read over my results. By the end of five minutes, I was in tears. Riotous laughing tears.
A few choice examples:
"Good Thing"
Regarding lectures--
-I HEART [the professor]... I HATE monotone serious teachers. -Not a boring class to the point of death. -This class is easy. This is a good thing. -Nice voices. -I enjoy listening to different types of music early in the morning. -I can sound smart when writing music.
Regarding labs--
-Emily... you just tell it like it is. -I liked when you gave us food! -[This class?] is chill. -Your extremely nice. -You make actually funny jokes... -...interesting lab time because of you. -We negociated about rock/hip-hop.
"Bad Thing"
Regarding lectures--
-This is all SO easy, I want to stab myself in the eye. ...[name withheld] and I are reduced to playing tic-tac toe. -The textbook can make things ugly. -Learn about really obscure things...
Regarding labs--
-Emily is always here so discussion [lab] is never cancelled. -Don't apologize so much. -[Discussion] sets me off on mental tangents, usually out the window. -You can not wear jeans as a TA. -You didn't wear your Friday socks today! -You are not a professor [and] you only teach music. -The TA... just kidding! -Yet to be found.
"Random Thing"
-I love green. -All polar bears are left-handed. -Keep up the peaceful & kind work. -I like Dr. Pepper -Class is too early! -Korean drumming is awesome. -...so I'm late by fate not choice! -Do turkeys really drown themselves when it rains? -Ceruman (earwax) has antibacterial properties. -I pulled an all-nighter last night... and what's awful is I didn't even procrastinate! -Enjoy you're weekend! -Blah, Blah, Blah. __________________________________________
I love my students very much, and... I think, maybe, possibly... they love me back. :)
I'll take care of the other half of your brain if she'll give it to me. haha. She's awesome and I love her living with me. I laugh at her all the time...she's definite comic relief!! :)
That is awesome! Song of the moment (edited version): "Disturbia....it's like the darkness is the light...Disturbia...am I scarin' you tonight?...And you realize, you're in the city of wonder...Better think twice....Disturbia!" lol. I love music.
Oooo...and speaking of music, have you ever listened to anything by Vanessa Mae? Try "Storm". And if that doesn't convert anybody to classical music, I don't what will....unless they're hardline traditionalists. And who needs *them* anyways. lol
It is going well...I'm doing minimal work in my classes, so I'm trying to work up initiative to be a better student. There's some talk...the most I've heard was today, and it wasn't that much. Another testament to the awesomeness of my organic chemistry class, though, is that they do discuss politics more than the other classes. Today I overheard one girl say, "...He makes you want to believe, which is scary because Hitler did too..." Haha.
UGH--don't you hate it when you wake up in the morning, gather up all your clothes and are *just* fixing to get into the bathroom for a shower....and you hear the bathroom door shut. Because somebody just got in. Ugh! Sorry. Had to rant. :) I know I hate that.
And may I just tell you (again) how much I wish you were here? I don't think I even speak the same *language* as most people here. I try to crack a joke, and they look at me like, "Huh?" Needless to say, that kills the joke. *You* try explaining to someone that, "You see, she says PHALANGES, instead of fingers, and it's funny because it's so over-intelligent for baby talk, and it makes me laugh because that's the kind of thing I would do and....yeah. Yeah. So I think it's funny." ***AWKWARD SILENCE*** "'Kay, I'm gonna go now. Thnx Bye."
Well, the summer's over, and I'm in grad school. This is hard for me to grasp even now. Grad school... Ah. So much work. So many classes! A thesis! A dissertation!? What on earth do I think I am doing here!?!?
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. --Mark Twain
And to top it all off, I have been gifted with the double-edged privilege and responsibility of imparting specific knowledge to other young minds (even as other old minds impart yet more knowledge to my own). My prior experience in this area consists entirely of leading First Aid/CPR courses, little kids' Bible classes, and group study sessions.
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. --Gail Godwin
However, as daunting as my current tack may seem to me at the moment, I know that it is what I have freely chosen for myself, after being incredibly blessed by my LORD with the opportunity to choose. To work hard, to be a light, to help, to waste no moments, to do all that I can, and to have a MARVELOUS time: this is my mission.
The best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service... --Oprah Winfrey
You and I both know, of course, that it will never be accomplished, except with large doses of prayer, family, chill time, music, and laughter...
A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it. --Sir Thomas Beecham
Bring it on!
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Hi Emily - love this post. I like Gail Godwin's quote. I've felt like that in teaching classes for little ones. They seem to respond better. I know you will do well. The best to you!
I just realized I NEVER added you to my friends list! Oops... enjoy being the kind of teacher who can decide whether or not to write neatly on the baord depending on your attitude. :)
I, personally, do not have a 24 hr. Sbux, but there is one about 15 minutes away, and a lot of people I know hang out there, so I don't mind the drive to make it there....especially since the closer ones are closed oftentimes at the hours I decide I want Sbux social life and coffee.....
Okay, so NOW you're finally on my friends' list. I kept adding you... and you would never show up. I'd forgotten about the 100-quota thing, so I then deleted some friends (yikes!) and added you. There. Long story that better make you feel special.
