Grad School: Term 1 of 6

Orientation Week, before the term:

Last week of the term:

I survived my first term of grad work and you guys... I love school!

Teaching is a lot of work, but has been very rewarding thus far. 

I've produced two essays on adaptation that I am proud of,

and that my professors have encouraged me in pursuing further.

I've said this before, but... grad school is hard.

But if I'm going to do something hard, I want it to be what I love.

And I really love school.

First Lines: 2014

Here's my 2nd-annual "first lines" round up from the past year.

January:
2014 - Page 1 of 365. 

February:
It's been almost two weeks since my last post. 

March:
It is late, dark, wet and I'm trying to get home as fast as possible. 

April:
A week ago Sunday I got to go to Seattle's biggest Con and it was loads of fun!
[Oh!  Little did I know...]  

May:
Anyone who chats to me long enough is bound to discover I love adaptations.  

June:
And here we have Emma Stone displaying how adulthood feels quite succinctly. 

July:
My favorite of all Shakespeare comedies is Much Ado about Nothing. 

August:
I'm excited to share a little project I've been working on for the past week. 

September:
This place doesn’t smell like home.  

October:
Last October, I participated in an October blog challenge called "31 Days." 

November:
You are one of my heroes
This day and every day
but especially today. 

December:
If you're looking for me this week, I'll be paper writing next to this crackling fire...

It's so fun looking back at just snippets of the past year and yet still being able to piece that year's identity together.  And this year... this year has been a good year.

No 105 - day 1

This place doesn’t smell like home.  Well, not yet at least.  I have candles going, a room diffuser, and am in search of the spray mix of water and the “purification” essential oil.  But the clothes smell strange from travelling.  I’m slowly but surely washing all the dishes from their “cardboard & newsprint” essence.  But this will take some getting used to.

///

Keys.  Routes.  Pre-set stations.  So many strange new things.

///

I won’t be pumping gas or paying sales tax for two years.  Oregon is our border state, and yet it’s so different.  Obviously it’s infamously hipster, but it’s more than that.  There’s just a different way, rhythm, pace of life. 

  

///

Apartment living is different.  My unit is only 450 sq. feet – which has caused me to become creative.  But more than the size is the uber close proximity to everyone and everything else.  My bedroom window is on level with a sidewalk, so that passerby’s conversations are just a few feet from me.  And just outside my front window, I get an uncomfortably intimate view of the neighbors’ comings and goings.  This will probably be slightly less awkward in the fall when the windows will be closed… but it’s still quite an adjustment from the privacy of the homes and condo I’ve lived in before.

It's been almost two weeks since my last post.  That's unusual.

I wasn't sure how to begin.  January was one of the most grueling months of my life.  When I woke up on February 1st, my first thought was, "I survived!"  But how to begin the next phase?  And how to write about it?

Well I have been writing, but those thoughts are either incomplete or for another project that I hope I can tell you about soon.  The best I can say of such hard weeks and months is that I am still learning, and for that I can be grateful.


Alright, but now for a random selection of life lately:

\\ The Seahawks won the Superbowl and last Wednesday I was one of 700,000 crazies who went to their victory parade.  Despite the 3-hours it took to trek 11 miles and the sub-freezing temps, it really was such a phenomenal experience.

[From Top left: Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, me flashing a 12, and Pete Carroll]

\\ My flatmate & I went away this weekend to an island cabin for a "Silence Retreat."  It was rather wonderful. We alternately journaled, read, and rested - all bundled up next to the fire.  I think I need the equivalent of this at least twice a year.

\\ But we got a little white surprise during our getaway.  Not 20 feet from the ocean, we had 4 inches of snow!  Made things a bit dicey on Saturday and Sunday, but it was absolutely gorgeous! 

[my feet got lost in the snow]

\\ A song* for you:

*This gives me all sorts of The Fault in our Stars feels :-|

\\ Amazon Smile - seriously, anyone who has an account with Amazon should sign up for this!

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

I had high expectations for this book.  In hindsight, that may have been the problem.  

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was my second foray into Neil Gaiman's novels.  I greatly respect him as an author - for a variety of reasons - but I'm afraid Ocean disappointed my expectations.

To briefly set the scene, an middle-aged, unnamed narrator leaves a funeral (presumably a family member's) and drives back to the lane where his childhood home once stood.  Driving [literally] "down memory lane," he comes to the old Hempstock farm at the end.  He then remembers Lettie Hempstock and a long-forgotten week in his childhood that changed everything.  The rest of the novel is told as a sort of prolonged flashback of what occurred.

Being that it's Gaiman, the novel's commentary on life and memory is beautiful.  I also appreciated several of the characters - especially Lettie.  But this was the first book I've read in a long time where I preferred the style and characters to the plot.  At first slightly dull, by the mid-point of the novel I was rather disturbed.  If it weren't for my respect for the author and the book's multiple recommenders [like Patrick Rothfuss's delightful review / fantasy of tree-fort parties with Gaiman and Whedon], I may not have kept reading.  But I am glad I did, because I think the 2nd half was better. 

As for my dislikes, I can pinpoint a couple of things.  

• I can only stand a character being oppressed without agency for so long, and, for such a short book, this 7-year-old boy dealt with agony upon agony - not even anything noble and epic, just meanness and the frustrated plans of a 7-year-old.  
• There were physical descriptions that were just gross.  And there's just something with me and feet wounds - they make me extra queazy.  [Also, fyi, some adult content.]
• Sometimes I think I'm an immature reader for thinking this, but... I do not love magic realism - and most of this book is magic realism.  I think it's because I love fantasy so much that this feels watered down.  I don't mind things being open-ended and left unexplained, but there's something just wonderful about entering the fantastical through a wardrobe or a police box or a train platform, rather than just gradually slipping into unreality without noticing.  I suppose it may have to do with characters generally unquestioning acceptance of magic-realism elements.  The narrator here asks a few questions, but in fantasy, when one enters another realm, they are very much aware of it and their curiosity mirrors my own.  Anyway, parts of the magic in this book were wonderful, but, again, most of them occurred in the 2nd half.

A few general closing comments...  This book felt like one I would have read in my English Honors class - both because of its theme (memory) and the focus on better style than substance.  I do think that the kind of excellent style Gaiman displays makes the book worth reading, just perhaps not as enjoyable.  In the end, I think I expected either more of a reveal or an impossibly brilliant ending [or that it was actually all a dream].  Highlights of the book included its intertextuality, Lettie's character, stunning metaphors for faith, and, we'll just say, the scene "in the Ocean."  Overall? *** out of 5 stars.

I believe the book would stand up even better to a 2nd reading, but I'll have to save that for later.  Off to new worlds - I'll just leave you with these quotes:

“I lay on the bed and lost myself in stories. I liked that. Books were safer than other people anyways.” 

“I liked myths. They weren't adult stories and they weren't children's stories. They were better than that. They just were.” 

“Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don’t. I don’t. People are much more complicated than that. It’s true of everybody.” 

“You don't pass or fail at being a person, dear.” 

“How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. You have a gateway inside you to lands beyond the world you know."

Sarah.

Guess who's graduating today...

[Starting a big year off together ;) ]

This girl!!!

Sarah, you are such a favorite!!

Mom or I or someone else may have told you this story countless times before,

but this is my blog, so I get to tell it again :P

When I was a little girl, I really wanted a baby sister.

Jerry was great and all, but... not quite the same ;)

So every day before naps and every night before bed, I would pray for a baby sister.

And then one morning I woke up, the precocious 5-year-old that I was,

and marched into my mom's room to tell her I had had a dream the night before

that Jesus told me she was going to have a baby girl.

What she hadn't told us was that she was expecting

and that baby, which she would come to find out was a little girl, was you!

Now, I can't imagine life without you

And I'm so grateful that Jesus answered that prayer :)

 

As I've mentioned, you are one of the funniest people I know!

 

[Stunning]

And even though we're 6 years and one brother apart, I have so enjoyed the past several years as you've become one of my dearest friends.

[We were babies :P ]

 Shortly after you came on the scene, I came to the realization that, one day,

this charming little girl was going to pass me up.

And I don't just mean in height (that's no great feat).

But I mean, I've just always known you would be a stunner!

Seriously - those big blue eyes and sleek blonde hair?

Ridiculously hot babe material!

And then that day came a while back where there was no more denying it.

And I don't mean this in some competition sort of way,

just more of Lord-help-the-Mister-who-comes-between-me-and-my-sister way ;)

 

[Seriously though... you've keep getting MORE stunning!!]

And on top of all that, you are wonderfully talented and creative.

You have the patience to make all sorts of things beautiful and personalized.

[Via]

Graduating just marks the beginning of a new adventure.

And I think you're going to have SO much fun!

[Love us!]

Love you tons!  I'm so proud of you and can't wait to celebrate :)

Loves,

Samara

Within the last 24 hours I have scored a great deal on tickets to:

Gungor in concert - 3/26

An Emerald City ComicCon Sunday pass [to see Karen Gillan] - 3/30

John Newman in concert - 4/16

Spring is looking fantastic!!

*** Update ***

Did I mention... my flatmate and I are going to see The Lion King on April 5th? Oh yah, and that one was a gift!!

Yay! Yay! Yay!  My heart is getting ready for Spring already :)

I feel like renaming January: "Maybe tomorrow I won't cry"

4-for-4, people - the good, the bad, and the ugly.

2014.

[via]

HOLD ONTO HOPE.

Advent is a time of waiting in the darkness, of preparing quietly and prayerfully in the tension of what is hoped for and what may be. Oftentimes, we don't even know what we are really hoping and waiting for, and even if we do, we are unsure as to whether it will come to be. For most of 2013, we lived in a consistent season of Advent, all of which was preparing for an even brighter celebration at the very end of the year.

- Via Relevant's "13 Lessons I Learned in 2013"

We have come through the darkest.  We nurtured our internal light throughout Advent.  Epiphany is upon us and it can only get lighter from here.

Cheers to 2014!

Music Monday - Bleeding Out // The Lone Below

Came across this song and, when I think about 2014, this song joins my arsenal.  

 

 All in unison we sing, at times, been redeemed
We are all of the beauty, that has not been seen
We are full of the color, that’s never been dreamed...

 Breathing in, breathing out, it’s all in my mouth
Gives me hope that I’ll be, something worth bleeding out