Actually, I'm really not a gemstone girl so much as a rhinestone girl.

Oh wow does snow suck.

On the up side I didn't go to class today because I couldn't justify risking my life to discuss "Luxury Fever", "Bobos in Paradise" and "Conspicuous Consumption".

On the down side I was stuck in my apartment all day.

On the up side I wrote a rough draft of my midterm paper for gothic, finished all the reading for next week (Yay Lowbrow!), and got a start on my final papers.

On the down side I wrote a rough draft of my midterm paper for gothic, finished all the reading for next... bleah...

Altogether a productive if utterly boring day.

Although I have to say that "The Amber Gods" rocks. Who wouldn't want to get a strand of amber beads carved into little grotesque figures of gods? I think the reason that I'm so partial to it is the prominence of gemstones. I am completely a gemstone kind of girl.

Alas - this post is rather uninspired. I think it must have something to do with my sitting around all day in my pajamas drinking diet pepsi.

Dang! Outbid again at the last moment! Arrrgh I do hate Ebay.

It always seems as though there is the possibility of getting my hands on a delightful folio edition of Poe's "The Raven" with illustrations by Gustave Dore and yet and yet and yet it always slips through my fingers due to the irritation of online auction action.

Ah well, it was waterstained on the cover....

So things are looking up again - for no particular reason at all other than the completely random alignment of factors to contribute to momentary flights of transient happiness on my part (i.e. today did not completely suck). Although, I do think that there should be a special place in hell for professors who cannot be bothered to keep their office hours.

To reward myself for actually getting some work done on my paper due next week I spent the last two hours surfing the web for 1st editions of some of my favorite gothic works - and recipes for interesting and delicious foods. For example: www.copykat.com is positively worth the trip, especially if you ever wanted to know exactly what goes into the Chili's salsa.

2 important things to note from my hours of surfing: (1) someone really has way too much time on their hands if they're reverse-engineering Taco Bell's secret taco seasoning (2) I can only afford first editions that look as though they have been attacked by a hyperactive youngster with a teething problem.

Ah well, back to the salt mines.

It's all going downhill already -- and it's not even 4th week yet.

Does it strike anyone else as interesting that the more education you have the less control you have over your life? I'm thinking that there is some kind of direct correlation here. For example: your options are quite limited without a high-school degree (think McDonald's or unskilled labor here) and a diploma can surely set you on the track to success - but where does this end? Tech school seems to give options, but being trained in one thing means that you are making more money at that than anything else which kinda limits your options. College will again give you more options, but you have to pick a major which may or may not lead you into a specified field. After that it's on to grad school for humanities majors (unless you want to work as a secretary for the rest of your life) and the options for jobs begins to get smaller and smaller. Here we get into the territory where you don't even get to choose where you're going to live once you graduate because you have to follow the jobs like some pheasant-chasing bloodhound. And if you are fortunate enough to get one, you have to fight like a cat in a bathtub to keep it because tenure is some kind of magical cookie of joy. Oh, don't forget, once you're educated you're overqualified for a lot of jobs and can't get them anyways.

I don't know if I'm just getting bitter, but my future is looking pretty bleak - and all because I stayed in school. I'd like to see that on the public-education commercials "Don't go to school kids! It will ruin the best years of your life and you won't get anything out of it!" I wonder if we could get Football players to hide behind tree stumps in games of hide and seek for that one?

I am starting to notice a disturbing trend in my papers of late. First is was "From Familiar to Fetish: an object study in Poe's The Black Cat" then it was "Will They Not Stay Buried?: Excavating the Grave in Gothic Fiction", and now I'm considering some analysis of the form of the ideal gift as giving of oneself using Hawthorne, Emerson, and The Story of O. Clearly there is something going on with me here. I don't know if gothic has corkscrewed my brain or if it's just working like a toaster set to ultra-dark, but it's freaking me out.

Must think happy thoughts... er... bunnies, flowers, buttons, glitter, happy.. um... things. Yes, that's the ticket!

You think yours is scary Anne?

What Classic Movie Are You?

Now THAT's scary.

I didn't really see myself as the war movie genre, but apparently I am this close to post traumatic stress disorder.

This is the problem with me and all of these seemingly entertaining online quizzes. I always end up being the random person who is classified as "dysfunctional possible assassin" or "eats crackers while watching foreign films" it's enough to give someone a complex.

ahhhh "flaky pagans" that would be a great breakfast cereal.

My friend just called me up to lament the over-over-abundance of flaky pagans (particularly wiccan) and the fact that their mere existence is crowding out and making nearly invisible any non-flaky pagans that may exist. Although, I have to say that she has had a particularly poor test-sample from which to select (a group of at least 7 30something, unemployed, without-diploma, extremely-interested-in-creating-magical-names-like-moonraven people). This is not the best sample from which to choose.

The question on her mind and mine at the moment is as such: Are there any non-flaky pagans? (if you are wondering if you are flaky or not, you probably are) If so, how does one find these people? Surely there isn't a www.nonflakypagan.com at which to look. Alas - perhaps we'll have to go out armed with a blowgun and tranquilizer darts to track down and capture the elusive non-flaky pagan. I think the best place would probably be to sit outside of Shaktis and pick off anyone who looks like they can coordinate clothing and work the cap of a deodorant bottle.

A moment of silence please for all non-flaky pagans wherever you are. You are too too few - much like an endangered species or rare type of medicinal herb or perhaps some kind of obscure jadeite that has become very collectible.

Fascinating -

So my first blog. I feel that I should be teary-eyed and yet I remain aloof. I say to myself

"self - I don't really need a blog to tell the world what I'm thinking and participate in a strangely exhibitionist display of my life"

My self simply shrugs and replies

"of course you do - if you didn't crave that kind of attention why are we here?"

"because we were forced into it - peer pressure is an amazingly persuasive force"

"you're just saying that to justify your own tendencies - don't shrug at me - I know you too well for that!"

"perhaps you are right - I hate it when you're right - I am simply a self-serving attention whore"

"well, so am I"

"damn right"

"agreed"

so now that I've cleared up that inner conflict, I am able to move on into blogdom.

TaDa!