Two more papers to grade and I am free free FREE for the summer!
But of course I get an upsetting phone call and now am distracted and these last two papers will be excruciatingly difficult to churn out…
UPDATE: Done. But no joy. Phone call outweighs (ruins) joy of completion. Well now at least I have plenty of free time to be upset. No silly work-related distractions.
I was hearing explosions and sirens so I went around the corner to see what’s going on and it’s a parade. A Memorial Day parade with Veterans and apparently canons. I wanted to cross the street to get to the White Hen but social anxiety kept me from doing it. Is it some kind of misdemeanor to cross the street during a parade? I guess it would have been a much better story if I came back from the parade with a ticket for crossing the street in the middle of a Military parade.
So instead I went to Store24, on my side of the street.
On a friend’s recommendation I watched Stone Reader, the documentary about one man’s search for the long-lost author of the long-lost book Stones of Summer. I was fascinated by the filmmaker’s search and simultaneously repulsed by him and his obsession with Big Books by Big Men. Gee, did a woman ever write a book? Gee, has a book been written since 1972? I know, this film is about a particular book that had a particular effect on a particular man in a particular time period of his life. But as old man after old man is mentioned and interviewed, I really got tired of all the men. Almost as tired as I got of seeing all the dusty old books he kept throwing around. Dusty old men and dusty old books. He could at least have mentioned the male bias of the whole thing and shown that he at least is aware of it. But I think that may be the problem–he’s not.
Plus, how can you spend two years searching for the author before it occurs to you to head to his former college (Iowa, of course) and look through THE REAMS OF ARCHIVES HE LEFT TO THE SCHOOL? Duh.
My life in Maryland has converged on Boston for the weekend, and not specifically for the reason of visiting me. I am going to a rehearsal dinner tonight and a wedding tomorrow for a friend I’ve known for years and who actually lives in the Maryland/Virginia area. But the wedding is here. He’s marrying a girl whose family lives in Boston, so the wedding is taking place here, which means they have their own business here. Bizarre! At least for me, people are tightly associated with locations, and mixing the two is … disorienting. But quite convenient. You don’t always get a close network of faraway friends coming long distances to your town, all at once. If they were coming just to see me, that would be … overwhelming.
Thanks to Guy for fixing my Mozilla problem! Now the blog should look the same across all browsers. I think I also fixed the banner, by centering the image. If the title looks screwy on anyone’s browser (as in, part of the title stuck over on the right) let me know.
It is a strangely intimate feeling when you show someone the inner workings of your blog. 
Jay McCarthy’s house burns down and he’s feeling guilty for neglecting his blog-reading! Incredible. We understand, Jay… be well …
So much for this being a great use of blogs. No comments yet on the blog. Plus the formatting’s screwed and the page looks empty until you scroll down. I think it would be more attractive to commenters if they had actual essays posted there rather than just marketing copy or book-signing appearances. Maybe guest essays, or a note from the author, or the actual text of an interview rather than just a link. Just my thoughts.
I’ve gotten complaints about the new title. Apparently it’s too much like a radio station. I told you I sucked at titles. So we’re stuck with that one. C-Rock is an old nickname given to me by the blogless Travis (hi Travis) and is paired with another friend’s nickname of C-Rad (hi C-Rad). So it’s an old joke.
Speaking of which, none of my blogless friends ever comment on this blog. What’s with that. They’re scared. They also are not on Friendster, which keeps my Friendster numbers low. Friendster is not a list of one’s friends, it is a list of people one is acquainted with who happen to also be internet addicts.
Anyway back to the title. If you have a better suggestion, send it along. I’d rather be title-less, personally, so I’m unlikely to change it anytime soon. We can hold a contest. Whoever suggests the winning title gets to take me to Speed’s for a chili dog.
In January I posted the following:
Some googler is all up in my shit for “capris and loafers”… you’d think they’d be disappointed after landing here on that search but no, they keep coming back. And back. One hit a day makes sense, but 5? Try www.gap.com.
And I haven’t had a google hit for “capris and loafers” since. Did I scare you away, poor googler? Or did you just find a new search string by which to land here? Lately, I get about 12 a day for “big boobs”, is that you?
I just made a difficult phone call that I had been dreading and now I feel much much much much better. Funny how anticipation of something unpleasant can ruin your whole day but then whoosh it’s gone after the dirty deed is done. Well maybe not a complete whoosh. There will be ramifications. But the worst is over.
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