Nora

i've been remembering some of my dreams more vividly over the past few days. over the weekend i had a series of dreams one night which, after telling to nate, clearly seemed all about ruining things for other people. this has been on my mind lately, so it makes perfect sense. i've not followed through on things i should have done for myself, i have skipped out of plans with friends without much warning, and i have not been the paragon of girlfriendliness that is my usual.

but, the dream that sticks out the most now i had two nights ago. in it, i was at a large theme-park with a very long slide. like topsfield fair on growth hormones. major growth hormones. the top of the slide looked down to little ants of people plodding back and forth between other amusements and various food vendors. i was there with some people, including nora, katy's niece. (nora was with us on my first visit to the fair, so that's not that strange. here's the strange part coming up:) i'm not sure if nora morphed into something else, or if she was something else all along, but when i talked to and looked over at nora, she was a candle. one of those little tiny birthday candles striped with colored and white wax. nora was blue and white. her wick was not lit, but i think it had been since it looked charred. to walk along with me to get to the head of the line she sort of pogo'd along, as one might imagine a candle doing it it needed to get place to place. almost like the candelabra in disney's version of beauty in the beast. and almost like those crazy CGI dollar bills in some add about money working for you. at some point nora stopped bouncing along, paused, dropped to her side on the ground and rolled her way ahead. smart girl, that nora. to take the slide, i had to hold nora the candle in my two hands in front of my chest. i talked to nora and she talked to me, but her voice was very quiet because there's not a lot of room in a candle to make much noise. i think it's the missing lungs that might be a problem. so anytime nora the candle wanted to talk to me, i would tell her to hold on, and i would lift her up to my ear. i was treating her wick like the sound came from there, but it was hard to tell. we rode down the slide for what felt like forever. down and down, and over a bump, and down and down some more.

i woke up before we reached the bottom of the slide.

jon stewart & cnbc mayhem

i watched the first daily show clips of jon stewart going after cnbc, and i watched jim cramer's appearance on the show, and then i read the new york times article about the entire brou-ha-ha.

it kills me that both jim cramer and the new york times missed, or ignored, the point jon stewart was making.

cramer attempted to cover his ass, essentially by saying no one can see the future and he should have done a better job, but didn't. and i don't blame him for his defensiveness, since cnbc basically threw him to the wolves on this one (hey - that cramer fellow, he's funny and acerbic, he'll be able to take on stewart! yeah, let's send him to do the clean up!)

alessandra stanley spent most of column space talking about the way stewart "act[ed] out a cathartic ritual of indignation and castigation" with cramer during the interview. she seemed to find most interesting stewart's use of embarrassing footage of cramer.

come on - really? that's the best each of these people could do? stewart repeatedly and continually uses his show as a forum to ridicule the sad state of affairs in news media: that should be a hint. stewart even admitted that it was a shame that cramer now had to be the face of cnbc in this public 'feud' since his point isn't that it's just cramer (although he is part of the problem):

it's the ethos of cnbc, which bills itself as the place to look for financial information, in that they are in the business of entertainment more than they are in the business of helping the regular joes and josies figure out how to protect their financial resources.

stewart's point, which cramer couldn't see during his sacrificial place in stewart's spotlight, and stanley didn't bother to write about since it's not the more entertaining hook to her coverage of the segment, is that cnbc lets its reporters get away with not being reporters and they have just as much responsibility as any other news media source to check their facts and sources, build their cases, and report the truth behind the PR talking points.

the daily show and stewart make their living from criticizing what and who makes the news. like any good jester, stewart mocks the power players and tells more truth than any one in the court. the fact that he and his team actually do a better job as journalists/reporters within the confines of their comedy show says way too much about how the news is told today.

they aren't going up for any pulitzer prizes, but the way everyone else goes about the business of telling news, it just looks like that wouldn't be such a far-fetched idea. the daily show has more credibility than any of the rest of them, and that's just sad. and that is the part that gets jon stewart the most angry.

fyi

it's never going to stop snowing.

noga

noga is my new practice of not making it to yoga classes. although i may go down in history as the person responsible for identifying, perfecting, and perhaps even perpetuating this practice, i am confident i'm not the only one who has made this practice part of their routine.

mo distractions

i find it really hard to concentrate on the multimedia software package that supports the statistics textbook we use in class. every time one of the animated activities come on it is narrated by someone who sounds exactly like mo rocca. which is awesome, but highly distracting.

sarah palin debate flow chart

news from alaska

Alaska Women Reject Palin Rally

extra spicy trees?

is it allergen-heavy today? my eyes are all itchy and cranky. i stared at the computer screen no longer than usual today. i got a relatively normal amount of sleep. i've been hydrating. i'm confused. it's making me think i'm tired.

competing interests

today's breakfast included both coffee and matzoh, totally confusing my body.

a christmas miracle

today i drove stick shift for the first time on real roads, from medford to lawrence: about 23 miles. i'm still getting the hang of the gas and clutch dance that starts groovin' at every stoplight and rotary. it was a somewhat stressful experience, but i was smiling as soon as i stepped out of the car, and stopped feeling shaky about ten minutes after we arrived. according to nate, i had the same expression on my face the entire time:

("hoooooooooooooly crap")

which is sadder?

1. at my volunteer gig i was asked to create a sign, which i did in a very simple way - all words, no pictures, straight to the point. i used markers. i was highly praised for my skill set. i was told my verbiage would be used in an email and asked if i wanted to be credited in said email. it was the most praise i received for my work all week.

2. alone at home a few nights ago i watched 28 days, starring sandra bullock. actually, what i did was select it from amongst all the free On Demand features to watch. and then i watched it. the whole thing. and was only moderately disappointed with myself for spending almost two hours of my life doing so.

telegram, september 16 1915

"instructions to the government of aleppo [city in northern syria]: it was at first communicated to you that by order of the jemiet, "the ittihad committee" had decided to destroy all the armenians living in turkey. those who oppose this order and decision cannot remain on the official staff of the empire. an end must be put to their existence however criminal the measures taken may be, and no regard must be paid to either age or sex or to conscientious scruples."

.sent by mehmed talat pasha, turkish minister of interior affairs from july 1913 to october 1918.

bug

there's something not quite right in my system. i fought off the weird tummy thing, and now i think i'm harboring regular old cold germs. or something. i feel crappy, and i just slept the better part of twelve hours. i haven't caught up on putting laundry away or cleaning and i made just a small dent in the readings i should have completed by 5:30 tonight. another dose of that salty alka seltzer plus is on the way.

and so...

i clipped my toenails this morning.

my dreams tell me things

i dreamt i was poking around the sample size bins at the drug store, and i picked up and contemplated purchasing a pair of toenail clippers.

thank poo to you, amazon.com

the campus bookstore wants $104 for a used text i need. upward of $150 or so for it new. i had to see it in person. an employee told me it was 6th edition, but the only version i found online was 1st edition. fortunately, the employee was wrong - it was published in 2006, and is clearly the only edition that exists. with shipping from an amazon vendor it runs about $70. that makes $30 i can put to good use elsewhere, right? money i would've spent otherwise... perhaps it will go towards an appropriate autumn wedding outfit, say, that i'll be shopping for this evening. or, maybe for extra maza, "small dishes" ...like tapas, one night in turkey. So, Amazon didn't process my credit card and now I have to go buy the more expensive copy in person if I want to have the book in time to read before classes start and then upon my return over the holiday weekend. boo. hiss. grumble. but hey...(turkey! in ninefive days!)

unfamiliar things about myself

erin got in touch with me from japan to show me how my presence is worldwide. according to my rusty japanese, "sojo" is an auto and technology school. maybe they'd give me free tuition to be their mascot.

i haven't been sleeping through the night. i get up sometime around 4 or 6am, and am awake briefly, and then return to a less-than-satisfying slumber. i'm hoping to break the cycle. should i: completely wear myself at the end of the night by climbing the stairs a bunch of times? have warm milk before bed? stop eating dinner as late as 10pm?

nate has informed me that once i fall asleep my prefered position is oogled down below the blanketline, head off pillow, and on my back. how odd. i've never liked to sleep on my back. what other patterns of behavior have i been taking for granted about myself that aren't true?

butts

see this? mrs. federline's home state, louisiana, is pushing indecency ordinances for sagging, or wearing your pants low. seeing how it can be really difficult given personal expression laws to enforce dress codes, they are going after kids for allowing their bodies to show inapropriately. maybe they should have a word with mrs. federline first.

paleface wants trees

beautiful, blue skies out today. i decided the appropriate thing to do was take a walk on my lunch break, along the charles river and around cambridge. one nice big loop to last the hour. halfway through i was sweating up a storm and feeling drained. i am not built for summer, nor did i prepare for this outing.

and, i never paid attention to the spacing of the trees along the river. from nate's car or whizzing by on my bike it doesn't really matter, but there just aren't enough trees. sure i'm a tree lover, but even so, can we get cambridge some shade? shouldn't we be able to walk around without getting heat stroke?

my other question is, why was there absolutely not one street-food vendor around hawking ice cold beverages straight out o a cooler and from underneath a nice big umbrella? what the hell?

this guy's got it going on.

patience shmatience

"Your grades are not available at this time. Please check back later" and "Syllabi are posted as they become available" are two phrases i do not need to see again.

i'm waiting to hear about how well i performed in my first academic class since i last submitted a final paper. eight years ago. i have a similar average opinion of my work now as i did following my midterm exam. i received a high grade for the midterm, however, i prepared for that, and i hardly prepared for the final exam. and my final paper was cobbled together at the eleventh hour. it won't much matter to me if my grade drops, but the suspense is gnawing away at my guts.

for the fall i've signed up for introduction to social psychology. there's a course description and a list of the graded assignments. but still, i have no idea what to expect class to class.

i have a notebook and am ready to purchase my reading materials and get started, but the syllabus has not been posted. for my summer class i was able to read the first assigned book before class number one. getting that done made me feel grounded and ready to start working. my stress about balancing a class with full-time work was also quelled. in this syllabus free void, i feel weightless and directionless, scared i might start falling before i've even begun.

august 30
update on final grade - high marks! time to celebrate!
update on syllabus - none in sight. bummer.