When a tail is a tell

So I attended the GSE dinner and membership drive. Now there’s this thing about Karma and how it always comes back. Well, about three decades back, I was sitting with my friends in Taco Bell and a very nice looking older woman pulls into the parking lot, made a bee line to the bathroom, and after a time, came out and walked back to the door. My friends and I laughed and laughed at her long white toilet- paper-tail that she had acquired in the bathroom. Oh, over and over we laughed and told the story. I know I’ve told it millions of times. I’ve never wondered why I didn’t take the woman aside and tell her she had a toilet-paper-tail; it certainly is something I’d want to know. Anyway, last night, my belt was cutting into me and so I went to the bathroom to fix the problem. It’s a belt my husband bought for himself and it is greatly too small for him, and when I figured out that my new pants were never going to stay up on their own, I utilized the belt. It’s been years since I’ve worn a belt, and I had forgotten that if it is too tight, it can eat at my skin. So, I undid the belt, and while there, I peed, and when I was pulling my pants up, something must have happened because later that night, I was walking past my Indian friend and he says, Zelda, you have toilet paper. I reached back and found a long tail of white toilet paper hanging from my belt. Oh horrors of horror. So, I’m thinking which was worse, being told that I had a tail, or not telling and my tail amusing people the entire night? BTW, if this had happened to me even ten years ago, I would have died of embarrassment; last night I grabbed the tail rolled it up and said, I should be embarrassed but not so much.

The Kitty is in the house

So, I my kitty has lived with us for twenty four hours. I went to pick her up and she was a t very nice foster home. There were a lot of cats and baby kitties and giant cats and a big horse, and she seemed to be lost in all the confusion. When I tried to pick her up, she ran. I know it will take time but I'm sure she will be a really friendly kitty; although, right now she is playing hard to get. Go meet her at http://ginger-zelda1.blogspot.com/

Normal

School will be starting soon and I must say that I take great pleasure in knowing that my routine will resume. Over the summer, I have taught Summer school, wrote a thesis, studied for comps, and have chased after my grandbabies. I am ready for morning coffee in my office and, while there, greeting the various faces that are essentially strangers but familiar. I also need to learn. I’m at this age where I question every single move that I make. For instance I question this entire coming back to school thing. Here I am in the PhD program and I keep asking, am I too old? WTF, I know I’m old but does it matter. Okay, this can easily be a high jacked post so back to what is normal. So, I’m ready to hear the clappers going up and down the hall, see the fresh scrubbed faces of my freshmen, and smell the nice fragrance of youth. Oh, and I do really really miss my office mates. Maybe, just maybe this year I’ll get a female for our office. We can then put up posters of flowers and cats and other silly girlly things. NOT!

World Lit Comps.

So, I’m doing my reading for my World Lit Comps. I’ve chosen the Greeks, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and some Sophists. I’ve also chosen two works by Ovid, two by Homer, Gilgamesh, Genesis, and Exodus. I think that will cover the Classics; although, technically Gilgamesh, Genesis, and Exodus are not really classics. For Eighteenth century: Oladauh Equiano, Lady Montague, Evelina, Joseph Fielding, Frankenstein, two works by Pope, two works by Swift, Hume’s Dialogues, 2 of Austen, Rousseau, Wilmot, and Wycherley. That should cover both areas.
I’m doing Psychoanalytic theory and Orientalism and will throw in some feminism and trauma theory. I think I can do this.

A Breath

I finished my thesis, which was actually finished, but I re-read it and found things and worked on the things; finally, though, I turned it into the three. I had hoped to get it over with but understand that the doctors have a life and plans and that reading my thesis and marking it up good will take time, so I’m looking at the end of this month or the beginning of next before I can defend. In addition, my World Lit. Comps are on hold because the three who are on that committee are scattered abroad. So, I’m looking at the first of September for the comps too.
Having turned in the thesis, well, I feel lost. I mean, I’ve been researching and working on this thing in some form or another for over a year and now I’m thinking I should feel guilty for writing on my blog instead of on my thesis. When does the haunting stop?
I did put all the research in one corner of my living room so that when I revise, if I need, I’ll have the books and articles on hand. I think I’ve had Foucault’s prison book checked out for over a year.
There are these caterpillars all over my big tree and they are eating the leaves and the birds are going crazy eating the caterpillars. I wonder if it hurts really badly to be eaten by a robin? And, I wonder if the tree leaves fill the pain of the little holes left by the caterpillars?
Geeze, I need something to do.

I see the light

So, I’m sitting here waiting for the chicken to cook so I can make soup. Of late, I’ve been trying to cook large amounts of food that will last a few days so I won’t have to have the stove on or waste time cooking. So, I made large amounts of spaghetti, this casserole stuff, and today soup. If all goes well, I won’t have to cook again for a week. Also, I’ve been living in my pjs and yesterday, I realized that the pjs had quite a few food stains on both bottoms and tops, so I actually had to wash clothes. If I had money, I’d pay for services so I don’t have to interrupt my studying for the world lit comps. Sigh. Soon, this will all just be one of those academic memories like end of the semester crunch or walking in the rain without an umbrella. Okay, back to work.