TheLionRampant.net

for your reading pleasure…

Totally Like Whatever, You Know

In case you hadn’t noticed,
it has somehow become uncool
to sound like you know what you’re talking about?
Or believe strongly in what you’re saying?
Invisible question marks and parenthetical (you know?)’s
have been attaching themselves to the ends of our sentences?
Even when those sentences aren’t, like, questions? You know?

Declarative sentences - so-called
because they used to, like, DECLARE things to be true
as opposed to other things which were, like, not -
have been infected by a totally hip
and tragically cool interrogative tone? You know?
Like, don’t think I’m uncool just because I’ve noticed this;
this is just like the word on the street, you know?
It’s like what I’ve heard?
I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, okay?
I’m just inviting you to join me in my uncertainty?

What has happened to our conviction?
Where are the limbs out on which we once walked?
Have they been, like, chopped down
with the rest of the rain forest?
Or do we have, like, nothing to say?
Has society become so, like, totally . . .
I mean absolutely . . . You know?
That we’ve just gotten to the point where it’s just, like . . .
whatever!

And so actually our disarticulation . . . ness
is just a clever sort of . . . thing
to disguise the fact that we’ve become
the most aggressively inarticulate generation
to come along since . . .
you know, a long, long time ago!

I entreat you, I implore you, I exhort you,
I challenge you: To speak with conviction.
To say what you believe in a manner that bespeaks
the determination with which you believe it.
Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker,
it is not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY.
You have to speak with it, too.

Here’s the picture of Bryce outfitted with his “daddy diaper duty” tool belt, goggles and hard hat.

We’ve just passed our one-year anniversary of moving back to the States. We flew out of Edinburgh on 26 July and moved into our apartment in Pasadena on the 31st. The year has really flown by, although it does feel like we’ve been here for quite some time (I guess being pregnant makes the time more of a reality as it feels like I’ve been pregnant forever almost).

We haven’t traveled nearly as much as we did in a similar time frame in Scotland. But we have been receiving paychecks, which is always a plus! Bryce has made much progress in preaching and general pastoral duties, while my PhD has not, but teaching has. We have acquired a dog, a dining room table and soon, a baby. I guess we’re becoming proper adults.

Go read the whole article. My favorite is the final line.

At the Talent Show during Parents’ Weekend at Providence, there was a skit lovingly imitating all of the professors. I guess my scarves must be famous.

Here’s Niesje being me:here and here. Because I can’t figure out how to put the picture up on the post, you’ll have to click the links for a laugh.

I guffawed when I heard that some English friends of my sister-in-law said tea just wasn’t the same here in the US. However, I must confess, that it is very, very true. I haven’t been completely satisfied by a cup of tea since we moved back to the States more than 2 months ago.

There are a few possible reasons for this sad state of affairs. I’m likely to go with the argument between soft and hard water. Scottish Blend, which always made for Bryce’s favourite cuppa, proudly advertised that the tea was made for Scotland’s soft water. So it made sense coming to an area where even filtered water still is hard that Scottish Blend just wouldn’t taste the same. So we bought a big pack of Irish Breakfast at Trader Joe’s hoping for something better. Alas. It just doesn’t have that added umph, that makes you smile to yourself, while drawing the mug toward you as it warms your fingers.

Not that you even need a hot beverage in LA since it really never gets cold. That said, I’ve still had a cup every day. Today I was hankering for a nice big cup of black tea and milk, instead of my usual decaf varieties, so I went to the cafeteria here this morning to get my fix. The water tastes of coffee because they use those coffee pots (like the one you see what’s-her-name pouring in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) not only for coffee but also for hot water. I guess I’ll just have to go back to Britain occasionally to get a proper cup of tea.

I just checked Yahoo weather at 3 pm here and you won’t believe what the temperature is.

Guess what?

It’s 73 F (23 C)!

Yes, I know you’ve all fainted in disbelief and are just now getting back to the fact that, yes, it actually has the capability of getting that warm in Scotland. (I bet with soCal’s ‘June gloom’ we’re even warmer than them!)

AND there’s not a breeze — which, frankly, means that I’ve found it too hot.

Yes, the native Californian has admitted that she’s acclimated and is thus slightly scared about moving back to the LA area in August when it’ll be much, much hotter than 73.

Because I like to self-analyse and because I like to procrastinate and because you like to participate, go here.

Because we are learning to love the city, please read this great testament to TK’s work in New York from The New York Times. How do we do this for Los Angeles? (HT: Sheena).

If you’re interested in some learning in your spare time and don’t want to or can’t attend classes, check these out: The Bible as Literature and on another site, there’s a whole bunch of lectures about the Bible, lay leadership and issues in the church here.

Done:
1. Read/skimmed 6 biographies.
2. Applied for a job.
3. Met with my supervisor about a revision of chapter 1. She liked it and suggested minor changes (this means I get to spend a heck of a lot of time reading FICTION! Folks, this is exciting. Who would’ve thought I’d be getting a PhD in English and spend so much time away from the stuff?)
4. Finished my work-in-progress paper for STAR on genre and transatlantic studies. It, amazingly, went pretty well. I think my supervisor was impressed I wrote it all in one weekend. (Now I don’t know if this is impressive because it was good or because it was utter crap).
5. Tutorial on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness successfully taught. We even got into a little conversation about if art was required to be moral. (Anyone care to take a gander on that one?)
6. Student essays marked and returned.
7. Plane tickets purchased.
8. Sarah’s surprise baby shower went off without a hitch (well, minus the small incident with the fondue catching on fire) and she was fantastically surprised!

Still to do:
1. Read/skim 6 more biographies by (new, later deadline!! the heavens rejoice!) 10 March.
2. Teach a tutorial on Ezra Pound on Tuesday.
3. Read some of George Steiner’s Real Presences for my Christian Literary Theory reading group.
4. Get together a list of ’suggested reading’ for my research project for my supervisors, by, uh, tomorrow.
5. Read fiction!!
6. Most pressing, I still need to finish the book and book review by the beginning of March.

So, all in all, less stress and more smiles are coming from this direction. This could be due to: developing a cleaning rota so I don’t go bonkers, watching 24 while skimming biographies, enjoying lots of tea and biscuits with my officemate, and wearing my red coat.

…I’ll just be in my hole* this month.

An open letter to my friends:
You may have to coax Bryce to post a bit more regularly, because I think I’ll be out of commission these next few weeks. I shall be gulping coffee like it’s water and striding my short little legs all around this city en route to the Uni and home.

I am giving a work in progress presentation a month earlier than I thought, on Monday rather than in March. This should be okay because I do have a chapter of my PhD that I’ve finished and so should be able to extract some from that. However I do need to have some very small bit of brilliance to go along with my brilliant friend who is also presenting on Monday. Cue: coffee.

I also foolishly signed up to read about 10 honkin’ biographies for a prize that the University gives out. I signed up as I get paid 150 quid. However, this 150 quid comes after reading (clear throat, skimming) and reviewing said biographies by the end of the month. Did I mention I just got the box of books today?

I also, glutton for punishment that I am, volunteered to do a book review for a journal. This is good as it counts as a minor publication. However, I’m only halfway through the book and the review is due at the end of the month. Again, brilliance needed…and by the end of the month, I’m sure it’ll be elusive.

I also have weekly tutorials to teach; I believe I shall let the students do presentations to lighten up my own prep work. Next week it’s House of Mirth, followed by Heart of Darkness and then Ezra Pound’s poetry.

Oh one more thing, a job application to fill out. Indeed, much brilliance and much coffee needed.

So dear friends,
I hope our friendship I can mend
If I in any way offend
As I run and run and run around
Marching from home to Uni, up the Mound.
Please leave comments to show you care
In the meantime I’ll sip my coffee and perfect the blank stare…
…and wait till March.

*’hole’ denotes my 4th floor garret office.