The Prodigal Blogger

So, I started off with grand intentions of blogging every day.  That quickly dwindled to a couple of times a week, which would up looking like posting 7 times and then slacking for a month!  Oh my!  I am sure my lack of updates really affect no one in this world except for narcissistic little old me, but after prompting from a friend, I decided an update is due.  And thus begins the conglomeration of strange thoughts that I think you might possibly care about.  :)


This semester has been crazy.  We began with snow days right off the bat, throwing all the professors into a rush of restructuring syllabi--cutting readings, keeping most, and flooding our inboxes with notices about what to do for the classes we missed.  This semester looks to be crazy.  I'm averaging between 250-300 pages of reading a week, weekly responses, and a collaborative research project for the university writing center.  Currently I am reading Aristotle's Rhetoric, a text that, while valuable because of its foundational place in the western rhetorical canon, is more than a bit vexing to read.  Also on deck for this semester are St. Augustine's On Christian Doctrine, Descartes' Discourse on Method, and Nietzsche's The Use and Abuse of History, to name a few.  Do I understand them when I read them?  Not necessarily--but amazing class discussions help with that.  


I also presented a wicked cool paper on Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese at the university's annual English Graduate Student Association conference.  If you have not read this graphic novel, check it out.  Seriously.  And don't hate just because it's a graphic novel--it really is an amazing story that is cleverly told.


I've been working on cooking more, one of my goals on my list of New Year's Purposes.  I've been very excited to try some new stuff--some with better results than others--but it's been fun none the less.  On one of the snow days, I tried The Pioneer Woman's Flat Apple Pie, complete with homemade perfect pie crust.  I'm not sure exactly what happened, but the crust was the wrong consistency, the gooey goodness of the pie leaked all over the pan and the apples were undercooked.  Of course, I don't blame PW . . . I'm sure the fault lies with one "innovative" (read: scatterbrained and sometimes sloppy) grad student. :)  


My mother also got me a Trader Joe's gift card for Christmas.  I went on a shopping spree the other day and got some yummy goodies to cook with as well as enjoy.  One of my favorite purchases was the White Bean and Basil hummus--this is the stuff dreams are made of.  Well, my dreams anyways.  I don't claim to speak for your dreams.  But my dreams--ooooooooh yes! :)  I also decided to make this Brown Rice and Beans recipe.  As you can see, the recipe calls for a can of black beans, so I picked up a can as I was wandering around the store.  As I got home and began to prepare, I took a closer look at my black beans, and what did I find?  I had gotten a can of refried black beans.  Being hungry and having already bought the beans, I forged ahead.  What resulted was a dinner that, while delicious, had a very different consistency than I'm sure the original cook planned for it to.  Didn't bother me though! 


In the world of the arts, I recently went to see The King's Speech, which you can view the trailer for here.  In case you haven't heard, this small, originally independent and low budget film is garnering roughly a bajillion nominations for all the awards shows this year.  I have loved Colin Firth ever since his turn as Fitzwilliam Darcy in the BBC Adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (my oh my, I am quite the linking machine today!).  He is a brilliant actor who is very versatile.  His performance as Bertie was splendid, as were Helena Bonham Carter's turn as the Queen Mother and Geoffrey Rush's depiction of speech therapist Lionel Logue.  Even more fascinating is that this was all based on the true story of King George VI.  


This was the best movie I had seen in a LONG time.  It is rated R for language, but most of that language is contained within two scenes, where Logue pushes Bertie to unleash his frustration, realizing that Bertie does not stammer when angry.  Outside of those two scenes, this movie could have easily been rated PG.  The cinematography was clever, the way the score was handled was brilliant, and the acting was superb.  I am pulling for this film for Best Picture of the Year at the Academy Awards, as well as wins for Firth, Bonham Carter, and Rush in their respective categories.     


Well, I'm off and running once again.  Today I'm getting ready for a shower of a dear friend Ashley who I have known since she was born.  Seriously.  We played together in the nursery, and every childhood birthday party has a memory of her there.  I'm so excited for all God is doing in her life, how He has brought she and Jordan together, and the work He will do through them as the new Shelley family! :)  For her shower tonight, I'm trying Pioneer Woman's Pig Cake--here's hoping that it turns out better than the Flat Apple Pie. :)  I am SO SO SO SO blessed to have lifelong friends and a godly group of women who keep up with each other and encourage each other.  On that note, I'll leave you with a quote from my reading last week:


"And so in general we like those who are really faithful to their friends, and never desert them in time of trouble; among all the kinds of good men, they are especially liked who are good in the strength of their affections." ~ Aristotle, Rhetoric