Sesame is curled between my forearms, almost resting on the keyboard. She purrs. If I could purr, I would ( Read more... )

I just finished making a massive final exam study guide for my students. It's so silly -- I'm the teacher but I'm getting pre-exam jitters -- I worry the test is too easy, I worry the test is too hard. I worry that there are ambiguities in my questions that I cannot see myself. Okay, deep breath ( Read more... )

I just finished writing the final exam for my big class, the one with over 100 students. I'll sleep on it, re-read it, ask my TAs to proofread it, create a second version to circumvent academic dishonesty, and make copies. The students have also clamored for a study guide -- I really don't want to spend time to make one but I did promise...

The ( Read more... )

I had a mood-swingy day. For parts of it I felt great -- I was doing what I wanted to do, and not badly at that. For other parts I was downright crabby -- I think I snapped a couple of times at people who half-deserved it, which of course made me feel even grumpier ( Read more... )

Yesterday was gray and blustery; today is gray and still. This (relatively) new Phoenician considers a gray day to be a rare treat ( Read more... )

Sesame is flopped on her side. Her legs and tail are splayed, her eyes are closed and her ears are relaxed. She is the picture of contentment. I long to join her ( Read more... )

Today was a typically good teaching day. All day I smiled in my long black dress and black tights. Even though the outfit did not look out of place, I knew that I was in my "concert clothes." It felt somehow like a happy secret. Late in the afternoon, for the only time this semester, I introduced and started the film for the week, then left the ( Read more... )

What a lovely weekend! Too bad it was only two days long...

Yesterday morning I did all sorts of things for myself that I usually postpone -- I cleaned the apartment, I worked out, I practiced the piano. In the afternoon I went to visit a new friend. She immigrated to the US from Russia, and it was fascinating to hear her talk about her youth in the ( Read more... )

I taught two good classes today, the latter of which was particularly successful. Last week I asked students in the second class, which is an upper division course on media convergence, to edit a wikipedia entry and track what happened to their edits. They had a great time! Most of them submitted verifiable information, but a few of them "hacked" ( Read more... )

Hmm. I wrote a post but LJ eated it.

That means I should go back to writing lecture notes.

So: I am thankful for

1. NPR

2. Movies and TV on DVDs