dual personalities

I have a feeling that my students, agreeing wholeheartedly, would prefer to sling mud than attempt coherent communication. But never mind, it is November and I am determined to be grateful for everything, including the 40 papers that await my judgment. Without further ado, here are this week’s five things that make me thankful.

1. Procrastination by computer. Who among us has not avoided an unpleasant task by surfing the web? And look what I found this week:

this spectacular photo of the St. Louis arch from Picture of the Day who, in turn, got it from user llamapen on Reddit.  Amazing, no?

2. Reading beautiful prose makes everything better. Despite what Joseph Conrad felt about writing in English, which was, after all, his third or fourth language, he certainly had a way with words.

“… the chipped plates might have been disinterred from some kitchen midden near an inhabited lake; and the chops recalled times more ancient still. They brought forcibly to one’s mind the night of ages when the primeval man, evolving the first rudiments of cookery from his dim consciousness, scorched lumps of flesh at a fire of sticks…” 

— which brings me to my next item.

3. Internet recipes. I’ve been making dinners for a long time now and I get tired of making the same thing over and over. It’s nice to be able to try something new. This week I had one culinary disaster (too much hot paprika in the Goulash) and one success, shepherd’s pie with scallion cheese crust. It was yummy. Still, as a chef, I resemble this

more than the real Julia Child. I’m something of a wreck in the kitchen…

4. Ruins. Yep, I’ve always been fascinated by ruined buildings — everything from ancient cities to abandoned Detroit.

French chateau

Don’t you want to explore? Ruins are so romantic somehow.

5. And let’s not forget music. Where would we be without that? As you already know, at the moment I’m listening to a lot of Gregory Alan Isakov. You should too:

So that’s it for this week. I’m feeling better about those papers already. Look at what wonderful things await me when I get finished!

* said by Joseph Conrad, who struggled mightily with his writing.