Small victories

Okay, so maybe the writing ain't goin' so hot... I've had a lot on my plate. No excuse, I know, but there it is.

Still, I did actually get a couple things done recently. Of course, by recently I mean on my drive to work this morning. Still, they're pretty important:

1) So, I finally solved Greg's problem. Greg's problem was, of course, that I couldn't get him in a scene with anyone...no character is allowed to share a scene with the person that is most important to them. So, no Winnicott, no Sharon, no Steve. Vaughn had a scene with him already, so that was out. So...eureka! Greg gets a scene all by himself, pacing nervously and trying to call Winnicott's house while Sharon is in labor. Ta da! (Okay, I know the whole no scene with important person thing sounds contrived, but it actually has worked really well so far...)

2) I picked a title! I'm thinking "Absentia" Of course, there's a bunch of "In Absentia" titles all over IMDB, but there you go.

Okay, that's progress!

Still, I only have Sharon in one scene while Vaughn and Steve have 3 and Greg and Winnicott have 2...

In other news, I'm teaching this image tomorrow (er...today):

Fear my vengeance

It is normally my habit not to post about work for a number of reasons, but I thought I would share this with you:

A while back, I had mentioned in class that writing "etc." was problematic, as it is often unclear and rarely states effectively what the writer means (and in academic writing this is awkward to say the least). I believe the cap I put on the brief discussion was probably, something along the lines of "Geez I HATE etc." or "Man, etc. drives me nuts! I mean, what are you TALKING about?" or something to that effect.

This morning, while grading some rough drafts and peer review comments, I stumbled across a note left from one student to another regarding an instance of "etc." in the paper:

"don't piss Rob off"

Yes. My methods are crude, perhaps, but effective.

Ruminations

There's a lot bouncing around in my head at the moment.

"ruminations" is my new favorite word. The best part is that it means what I've always understood it to mean (introspective meditation) AND to "chew the cud"...both figuratively AND literally!

Chew the cud, of course, means both "to recall and reflect meditatively on things said, done, or suffered" (OED online) and in reference to "The food which a ruminating animal brings back into its mouth from its first stomach, and chews at leisure" (ibid).

So, ruminate, then, means both to reflect on concepts and ideas in a meditative fashion AND to regurgitate and chew on previously swallowed food. THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME.

In other news, I need to start writing again.

In all honesty, it's very difficult to get back on the horse. I rather desperately want to dust off my unfinished play, mostly because I feel that Mr. Winnicott, his cat Geoffrey, and poor Steve (along with Greg, Vaughn, and whatever Greg's wife's name was going to be) finally need to have their story told and, in some cases, their misery ended.

The primary hang-up here seems to be my reluctance to go over what I've already written. This is because, honestly, I'm scared. To be fair, that may be because all that stuff is currently in the file box which is buried under a bunch of junk in my closet storage area, but there's another possible explanation as well.

I always felt, foolishly, that at some point I would either have to actively decide that my creative and academic sides would need to stay separate or that they would fuse together in perfect harmony (like two ninjas taped together to form one giant ninja). It turns out, I think, that neither of these possibilities were necessary. Instead, I believe that my academic side and my creative side have reconciled in some way in order to form a deadly, effective partnership, slaying, with efficient impunity, any target my mind may designate (or create). Of course, the problem is that I can't pinpoint the moment that this symbiotic construct came into being, leaving me without the delightful opportunity for laboriously over-involved introspection.

Shucks.

Or, more likely, I've been putting off getting to work because I'm lazy and can't motivate my sorry ass to move the stack of books off the damn file box. Pick your poison, I guess.

More importantly, I'm drinking some of the delightful pecan pastry green tea that Sarah (and mom) picked out for me. It's rather sublime.

Okay.

Time to construct a mix CD and finish this damn play.

***Update***

The mix cd:

Glen Miller-"In the Mood"
Metallica- "Harvester of Sorrow"
Dire Straights- "Romeo and Juliet"
Weezer- "Getchoo"
Led Zeppelin- "No Quarter"
Godsmack- "I Fucking Hate You"
Fuel- "Fall On Me"
Taking Back Sunday- "I Am Fred Astaire"
Korn- "I'm Done"
Van Halen- "Poundcake"
ZZ Top- "Two Ways to Play"
Peter Gabriel- "Secret World"
Avenged Sevenfold- "Unholy Confessions"
Disturbed- "Decadence"
Albinoni- "Adagio In G Minor"

***UPDATE 2***

HA! SHARON!