tiredI was up until 5 last night marking quizzes for Dr. BB’s Intro Lit course. He says it’s one of the worst he’s ever had, what with people texting one another and seldom bothering with the readings. And boy, were there ever some bombs of quizzes turned in. There’s a bright side to everything though; one of the questions asked for a term to fit this definition (or something like it; I’ve since returned the quizzes):
Spelling that approximates the way a word is pronounced.
One student wrote: Photogenic spelling.
Before writing in “phonetic,” I couldn’t resist sketching a little smiling face next to a mountain under a shining sun.
Before we get carried away with laughter, let us take a moment to remember that a good portion of these students are majoring in non-Arts subjects. They will be our future bosses. And that’s scary.
The English Society (or, if you prefer, the Literati) held an open mic at the Gorsebrook this evening, but if you were sitting up at the bar the only thing you would have noticed was people gazing at each other in intermittent rapt attention, the centrepiece being Jaymee’s pearl-white notebook pc. It became more of a close-knit appreciation session, which seemed to be enough fun anyway. We passed around an anthology of poems, Jaymee read some of her works-in-progress, and at the end I killed the evening with my reading of “The Santamarian Matador,” which I’d spent a few hours trimming and practising. I figured they’d enjoy it, yet I was also making up for my lost opportunity to read it for the 2002 anthology launch, which I had been scheduled to read for (but I fell ill at nearly the last moment).
I went with Krista and Devin to the Maritime Fall Fair on Sunday. We had fun – Devin liked the Ox Pull, Krista liked the Horse and Dog Relay, and I guess I liked the Tilt-A-Whirl, which was the sex but with the addition of stomach lurches. (It’s just so much fun to be thrown back by that centrifugal force – whee! It was surprisingly worth the $4.)
Then we went to Boston Pizza, and we inhaled our pizzas. Said Devin, “That shut us up pretty good.” Ah, and they vote for the Beard (ancient pictures, but it's good in that it records most of the feedback at the time), so it may have to come back again after Halloween.
But I told you that story to tell you this one: If you’re going to an agricultural fair featuring alpacas, sheep, rabbits, horses, cows and the like, throw your jeans in the laundry hamper as soon as you get home, OK? Oh sure, you were careful and didn’t get into anything. But you don’t want to run the risk of putting those same jeans on the next day without thinking and then noticing this very faint inexplicable odour when you’re being lectured on the Victorian Bildungsroman novel and you realize you’re going to be stuck in the city until late that night. Don’t assume this stuff stops happening in elementary school. Of course you know this didn’t happen to me – I’m just warning you. Right? Right. <cough>
On my schedule this week is reading, reading, reading, and some reading, and then on the weekend I’m going to change things up a bit and get in some more reading. Let’s see if I can squeeze in another quarter-hour before I fall asleep.
Your friend,
~ Will