randomness

While I love Idaho in many ways, I have found that I’m not so fond of snow as I remembered.

While I don’t love snow as much as I thought I did, I’m getting used to it.  And I still prefer it to heat.

As long as I’m on the weather–in many ways, I miss the great rain-storms in Texas.

I am more than curious to see how events will unfold after President Hinckley’s funeral (which I’m currently watching).  Who will serve as counselors to President Monson?  When will the announce the re-constitution of the Quorum of the First Presidency?  What will President Monson’s administration be like?  How will his General Conference talks change?

I’m frequently disturbed by the mis-representation of the quote that starts, “Anyone who imagines bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around and shouting that he has been robbed.”  While I love this quote, I’m frustrated that people don’t recognize that President Hinckley did not say this.  Rather,  he quoted it from an article in the Deseret News from 1973.  If you’d like to read the quote in full, take a look at the following article (just one of many in which President Hinckley used it): “A Conversation with Single Adults.”

I love teaching at BYU-Idaho.   I can expect so much more from my students than I could at a state university.  Plus, I don’t have to avert my eyes when talking to my students (because they all dress modestly); I can talk about the Gospel openly (which is nice, since it’s a strong vein in my thinking); and I actually feel like I’m a real member of the faculty (which I never really did at UNT).

I would be willing to teach full-time at BYU-Idaho, at least for a few years.  Especially if I could teach some linguistics-related classes, like History of the English Language.

If Sen. John McCain wins the nomination as the presidential candidate for President, disaster will soon follow in the Republican Party.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it caused a major party-shift.

If McCain wins the nomination, I refuse to vote for him.  I will write in Mitt Romney as my choice for President.

I’m on tenter-hooks, waiting to see how things come out in the many primaries and caucuses on “Super Tuesday” (Feb. 5).

I’m wonderfully grateful for the in-depth coverage that has been given to this presidential race.

Although I love my new PC laptop, I still wish I’d gotten a Mac.  *sigh*

While I appreciate the great love that members of the Church–and especially the youth–have had for President Hinckley, I don’t quite “get” the deep sadness at his passing.  I have no doubt that he is much happier now than he has been for some time.  Meanwhile, the Church will move on here on the earth, and can only progress.  What is there to be sad about?  (I don’t mean to trivialize the grief of so many, I am merely expressing my own feelings on this occasion.)

I didn’t realize until just recently that there was some lag-time between the passing of the President of the Church and the re-constitution of the Quorum of the First Presidency, even after Brigham Young had cleared up the succession problem.

One of the most destructive weapons against the productive use of our time is the invention of decent computer games.  I am currently obsessed with Jojo’s Fashion Show, and a few weeks ago was obsessed with Chocolatier.  Now I can hardly stand not being able to play Chocolatier 2.  And I am addicted to the 60-minute trial scheme.

I have been trying to work up the courage to leave the country for a few years as soon as I finish my doctoral degree.  I’d love to teach English abroad, perhaps in Mongolia or Jordan, perhaps through the Peace Corps or the BYU Kennedy Center for International Studies.  And I frequently think that I’d like to learn a “less-commonly-taught” language like Arabic, Hebrew, or Bengalese and then work as a contract linguist for the FBI and/or NVTC (National Virtual Translation Center).

The BYU-I English Department Secretary recently emailed all the faculty, asking for some help with a special project.  They are collecting favorite one-liner quotes from our favorite authors.  *chuckle*  I think I can do that.  My pick of my favorite favorite quotes ended up at about 2-1/2 pages.

I recently bought the actual album of Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations.  Not just the downloaded version, but the real-life CD, which I can now keep in my car and listen to whenever I want.  Oh, joy!

A few weeks ago, Mom and I watched the movie Dan in Real Life.  I loved it!  From the previews, I thought it was going to be a screwball comedy.  It wasn’t.  And it was so much better than I had expected.  Even if you’re not a Steve Carrell fan, I highly recommend it.  And if you are a Steve Carrell fan,  I still recommend it, as it’s an unusual example of his dramatic acting skills.

 

more on teaching at BYU-I

I had a really good teaching week (last week, not so much).  Anyway, as I walked from my first class back to my office, I thought — “You know, BYU-Idaho really isn’t such a bad place.  I’d be willing to stay here for quite a while, if that’s what I need to do.”  I find I can expect much more from my students here than I could in Texas.

I still don’t like the cold weather, though.  Ugh!

 

teaching at BYU-Idaho

Well, yesterday was my first day teaching at BYU-Idaho. I’m teaching first-semester freshman composition, so most of my students are first-semester freshmen (amazing how that works, eh?), but in my afternoon class, quite a few are not. By far the majority of the students are in the class purely because it’s required, but of course that’s to be expected in a class like that.

It’s such an interesting experience teaching at BYU-Idaho after coming from a state university in Texas. Everyone is so polite here, not to mention modest and clean. It’s great to not have students showing up for class in their pajamas, or with so much cleavage showing that I have to avert my eyes from them. We did an introduction activity, where I had everyone partner up, interview each other, and then introduce each other to the rest of the class; when they finished, I noticed several people shake hands with each other, exchanging “nice to meet you”s. And this kind politeness extends to the whole campus: walking along the sidewalk, teachers and students alike say hello to me, sometimes holding entire conversations, when I don’t know them from Adam. There’s a strong community feeling.

So, as far as my teaching goes, it was fine. I was a little nervous, and so I stumbled over my words and hemmed and hawed a little more than usual. Other than that, no problems. Oh, yeah — one girl stopped by after my morning class and thanked me. (One more reason I need Erin around: she helps me maintain a healthy cynicism about incidents like that, reminding me that people brown-nose.)

And, perhaps the most eventful part of my day: the faculty meeting. The faculty meeting that I missed. Because I didn’t know about it. The English Department is currently putting up in one of the men’s residence halls, because the Smith Annex where it used to be is being demolished to make room for expansions on the student union building. So, when I got up to use the bathroom that’s next to the large lobby area of the dorm, I saw all of the faculty sitting around, with refreshments on the table and someone speaking to them all. I thought to myself, “I bet that’s a meeting I’m supposed to be at.” By that time, though, the meeting was nearly over. So I went back to my office and checked my email, to see if there was something about a faculty meeting that I hadn’t seen. I didn’t find anything, so I went to speak with the department secretary, and sure enough, she’d forgotten to add me to her email list, and I had never gotten it. By this time, the meeting was over, and faculty were hanging around in the office for various items of business. The Composition Director ran into me before I got to the secretary — “Katrina!” he said, “Your name was drawn to win a loaf of bread, and you weren’t there.” Shucks! Apparently, you have to be present to win (which only makes sense, since presumably they’re giving away prizes in an effort to encourage people to attend the meetings), so I couldn’t have it. But that’s OK, because Mom and I are doing a detox program for the next couple of weeks and can’t eat bread for it anyway.

 

the results are in!

And they’re good! I got a 76 on my dissertation (remember, anything above a 70 is an A grade at Lancaster). That means I also earned an overall distinction for my Master’s degree, and that’s definitely a good thing.

Erin wants me to mention her, so I just did. She is sitting on the couch behind me while I type this. I also have to just say that Erin is one of the best roommates I’ve ever had. She makes life very entertaining, and she’s really mellow and laid-back about roommate-y issues (like clutter in the room, or who gets the bathroom when, or whose turn it is to do the dishes).

A couple of weeks ago, I had a really wacky dream about my classes, in which Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart were listed on my roll. Cary came, but Jimmy was absent that day. So when I went to teach that day, I told my students about it, and I was quite surprised by the reaction it got: “Who’s Cary Grant?” Wow. The things my students don’t know sometimes really shock me. I plan to show them a clip from a Cary Grant movie soon, in an effort to educate them for life and broaden their horizons — while at the same time teaching them how to write, of course.

 

eagerly awaiting …

Assuming that Marj (the Linguistics Department secretary at Lancaster University) was nice and not overly annoyed by my early email and those of dozens of other eager Master’s students, I should have an email waiting for me tomorrow to announce the results of my Master’s dissertation. I’ll be sure to let you all know right away as soon as I learn anything.

I have to get up extra early tomorrow morning so that I have time to go over to the media library on campus and check out ‘Shrek’. I want to use the “ogres-are-like-onions-because-they-have-layers” clip tomorrow in my composition classes. We’re doing a pracitce peer review in my classes, and I want to first discuss all the different layers of writing (e.g., grammar, spelling, wording, ideas, organization, etc.) and make sure the students understand that peer reviewing is much more than just saying that someone spelled a word wrong. Although I suppose I should check the media library’s hours first, just to make sure they’ll actually be there when I plan to be.