Saturday, February 04, 2006

What I've been up to...

Hey, All!
How you all doin'? I know that I've been slacking for the past month, but let me explain. I have been super duper busy. Let's see, what have I been up to?

Well, I am applying for a job at Gordon College. I am only recently going to be ABD, but it was the perfect job for me, so I figured, "Why not?" They are looking someone who can teach video production, editing, communications ethics, media studies, and culture studies in media. This is a fairly rare combination, let alone having Christians who can do all of that. So, I feel like I have something of a shot, which is nice.

Secondly, I have been furiously attempting to complete my dissertation proposal and, what's harder, getting my committee to meet all at the same place, at the same time. It looks like I will be defending on Feb. 17th. So those of you who pray, please do so between the hours of 12:30p and 3p.

Thirdly, I have been trying to keep balanced three jobs: two teaching and one online tutoring. I would like to quit one or more, but I need the money and am sick of taking out tons of loans. Fortunately, one of these ends in another four weeks. Then, I'll only have two jobs, yay!

Finally, i have been trying to make time to exercise and relax. Exercising takes tons of time, what with all of the jocks and waifs hogging the good machines for hours on end, while the porcine among us must waddle around the indoor track. I don't mind waddling, but then some speedster comes along and gets all grumpy that we dare to walk while they can run a 6-10 mph for 30 min. I want to just yell, "Hey! We would love to get out of your way, but there are too many fuzzy bunnies chatting about how drunk they got last night rather than paying attention to the 25 min limit."

Not that I'm bitter or anything. I find that a steady diet of music that moves between Johnny Cash's Unearthed, Nirvana's Unplugged, and Ben Harper does a great deal to deal with almost any situation that arises. Music is definitely a blessing....and a curse.

I have also been reading a great deal. In addition to the books for my dissertation, a collection of film noir texts, novels, Sin City, and continental philosophy of ethics, I have been enjoying cheap mysteries. I am currently reading Ian Rankin's The Black Book, Alexander McCall Smith's Tears of the Giraffe, and I just finished listening to Elmore Leonard's The Hot Kid. Fortunately, since they are all mysteries, I can pretend that they are part of my research, since noirs and mysteries have a common ancestry.

You know what else is super cool? Stand-up comedy. Not all of it obviously, I hate Dane Cook, but for the most part, I am really amazed at how diversely the same sorts of issues are raised.

I mean how many comics do a bit about, "You know what the difference between men and women really is...?" Still, there are minute differences that make them hilarious. There are also those moments when the comic does something completely different and unexpected. I love stand up comedy and have since i discovered my parent's Bill Cosby records. "Himself" is still my remedy for even the worst day.

Name that comic: "Probably...one of the toughest times in anyone's life...is when you have to murder a loved one...because they're the devil...but...other than that though it's been a good day."

2 comments:

queen of the airwaves said...

I can't name your comic, but I constantly tell Brandon that if he gets bitten by a zombie or a vampire or something and he is about to turn, I am totally going to kill him without flinching. That's just how much I love him.

Cygnet said...

I always knew that we would be able to count on you, queenie. It might even be worth swinging up to your neck of the woods when the zombies come.