So, we’re busy. It’s the second week of the new semester for most of us, and we’re all running around like proverbial chickens with our heads cut off. For this week’s Hump Day Round Table, we’ll explain just why we haven’t been posting. [blush]
Binary Betty
I’m in that stage of mad crazy busy where everything I’ve got going on is swirling in my head. You know the type of busy? I find myself making lists (I always make lists), but then having to insert something easy at the top because the rest is too overwhelming, but I NEED the satisfaction gained when one crosses off a list item. As an actual example, this morning I made a list of what MUST be done today. Ten minutes later I realize I need to read like 9 books for class, write like 3500 words for other classes and obligations, respond to words others have written, etc whatnot blah blah blah and more. Upon gazing at this horrid list of impossibility, I made my classic cheaters move: I squeeze above the top line the words “Make List.” This way, I get to cross something off then go have a smoke. It’s not a perfect system, but it does make me feel better. Anyway, that’s why I’m too busy to write a proper blog. Which is unfortunate, because I have a lot to say about my recent discovery of the creepy, creepy lusty attractions I felt toward Harry Potter in this last film. I tried to squash them, but the guilt and tainted woman emotions refuse to be purged… so I need to write them out as an exorcism!
Book Ali
Busy busy busy. If I could write that a hundred times, it’d explain everything! Second week of the semester, things are kicking into gear. It’s the first week we’re open at work, and we’re still working out schedule kinks. The Novel Writing class I’m taking consumes every free minute I have (so I guess they aren’t really free!) and I’m trying to get ahead in Children’s Lit and Film. AND I’m switching to a new healthy lifestyle, and that involves many hours in the gym (no pain there – I’m hopelessly addicted) and working on my hoop-dancing skills. Hopefully I’ll get in the groove soon, and things will be less hectic. :]
Lord Fanny
Lord Fanny is so busy with the new semester and moving to a new house that he didn’t have time to write! Oh noes!
Strangeness Abounds
SA…busy…?! Yes, dear friends, it’s true. She’s actually doing something constructive, for once.
SA has had a plethora of queries for publication fall into her inbox this past week in addition to continuing her search for a full-time job. And as if she weren’t busy enough with manuscripts that read like Lifetime movies crossed with pornos and recalcitrant hiring managers, she is trying to get everything in place for graduate school in the spring. However, SA knows her limits and realizes that graduate school may not happen in the spring as she so desires, but in the summer of 2010.
Also, SA has been busy on Facebook and Youtube. :-P
TDF Pamela
If I might be allowed a brief moment of vulgarity, holy shit, am I busy. I’m taking three classes (one on American Antebellum literature, one on religion in children’s/YA lit, and one in which I will write a novel by the end of the semester), teaching two, and I’ll be working on my comprehensive examination and not-a-thesis proposal this semester.
[twitch]
On top of that, I’m kind of getting burnt out. It happens to all grad students, I think; we all hit the point where we wonder what the hell we’re doing, stressing ourselves out like this and wouldn’t it be more enjoyable in the long run to just run off with the circus and learn the trapeze or fire eating or something like that?
This week I’ve got an enormous pile of Transcendentalist readings, some of The Swiss Family Robinson to read, stuff to read for the classes I’m teaching, write about 3300 more words on my novel, and respond to my groupmates’ writing [waves at Book Ali]. And I have reviews to write for the blog.
Right now, I just want to work on the novel. Or possibly play Sims 2. Or Civilization: Revolution. Taking over the world helps me deal with the stress.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to make up some study timetables and complete my transformation into Hermione Granger.
TDF Pamela
The Discriminating Fangirl, who is more likely to answer to Pamela if you shout it at her, is the proud owner of an MA in English, focusing on children's/young adult literature and popular culture. Because of her ample free time thanks to being gainfully unemployed, she reads voraciously. She also loves geeky movies and tv shows, reads comic books as often as she can buy them, and when she's procrastinating, she enjoys playing video games. She can be contacted at t.d.fangirl @ gmail.com and followed on Twitter at the link below.
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The movie begins with scenes of dancing feet and Kenny Loggins’ unforgettable title tune, “Footloose.” It’s rather ridiculous looking; a pair of dancing, sneaker clad feet is replaced by dancing high heels, which are replaced by dancing boots. You don’t really think about how ridiculous single aspects of dancing look until attention is drawn to them. But I think that’s part of the point of the movie, which was made for a tween-teen audience; dancing looks ridiculous, and there’s nothing middle and high school students hate more than the thought of looking ridiculous. I would argue that for pubescent boys, dancing is one of the most terrifying activities one can ponder. Very few boys feel like they can dance; most of them are mortified at the thought. Yet dancing is a required social activity in school, especially if one wants to “hook up,” “score,” “get some,” or even “go steady.” Girls seem to love dancing just as much as guys hate it, which leaves the boys perpetually confused, and eventually might even teach them a few life lessons. Sometimes, to get what one wants, one has to do unpleasant things. Sometimes those unpleasant things turn out to be not so bad. And sometimes, it doesn’t really matter what others think of you. 
Due to the recent commencement of a quest for “something truly, genuinely, smartly funny,” I came across Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (I was born in 1987, so yes, there is some media considered “classic” that I have not yet discovered). Irreverent in religious humor and full of delightful irony, The Pythons reach a zenith through The Meaning of Life. To top it all off, the running credits show that the versatile main actors (The Pythons) also wrote the sketches and original songs. Let’s hear it for multi-talented entertainers!
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