feng shui

I randomly got looking at information on About.com today about Feng Shui.  I normally avoid About.com at all costs, and I don’t even remember how I stumbled on the Feng Shui page, but I found it really interesting.  Here is some of my personal Feng Shui information:

My Feng Shui element is Earth (others are Fire, Wood, Metal, and Water); this means that my Feng Shui colors are light yellow, sandy or earthy colors, and light brown.  My Kua number is 2, which is part of the West Group; this means that my best directions are West, North-West, South-West, and North-East.  In other words, I should try to face these directions when I sleep, eat, and work, and in the placement of the main doors in my home and office and of the furniture in these places.

I’ve never particularly believed in Feng Shui, but there’s a part of me that figures, “What the heck? It can’t hurt anything.”  I think I’ll rearrange my bedroom later today, moving my bed to a position more conducive to creating good Chi.

How To Calculate Your Kua Number

For Male

Take the last two digits of your year of birth and add them together. Keep adding till you get a single number. Deduct this from 10 if you were born before 2000, and from 9 for those born in the year 2000 or later. This gives your Kua number. 

For Female

Take the last two digits of your year of birth and add them together. Keep adding till you get a single number. Add 5 to this number if you were born before 2000, add 6 for those born in the year 2000 or later. If the result is a two-digit number, keep adding till get a single number. This is your Kua number.

(from World of Feng Shui on the Web)

 

Jack Benny link

I was checking out the website of the International Jack Benny Fan Club (of which I am a member!) today, and they had a link to Yuks television, where there are clips from four of the greatest classic comedians of American entertainment. For those of you who have never experienced the wonder of Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen, or Groucho Marx, I highly recommend that you use this link. (Red Skelton is also in there in a classic role as Freddie the Freeloader, but not nearly as funny.)

Today’s quote, for 10 points: “I would be quiet if he liked, and as to talking rationally, I flattered myself I was doing that now.” And just for good measure, one more (from a different source), for 20 points: “What’s a Chinese urn?” “Depends how long he works!”

 

Happy Inauguration Day!

Today is a good day in American politics, and I mean that whether you’re Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green, or whatever else. Inauguration Day is always historic, and I hope we pay attention to it. I’ve added one of my favorite quotes from Bush’s Inauguration Speech on the sidebar. It was a great speech — and I mean that if you’re conservative. It was great because it reached beyond the bounds of President Bush himself, and stretched to the ambitious topics of freedom, God-given rights, and the founding and preservation of America. Weighty matter, that. If you didn’t hear it, please read it. I promise you’ll be better off for it. President George W. Bush’s Second Inaugural Address

I also watched National Treasure today, and that in conjunction with the Inauguration today has made me … pensive, I guess? I want to say that I’m reminiscent about the Declaration of Independence, but let me clarify that. It sounds like I’m saying that I was somehow involved in the drafting of the Declaration, which (of course) I was not. However, I have personally adopted the Declaration of Independence as a statement of personal belief, and that’s what I’ve been reminiscing about. It’s now on my desktop wallpaper. Unfortunately, I can’t read it.

About the movie, though. It was good, not great. The writing was weak, and it had a plot that was bursting to the seams — so much so, that you felt completely out of your depth by about 3 minutes into the film. There was no time to catch your breath before you were thrown into the middle of this huge plot. Action and conflict are important in plots, and you have to have it at the beginning to pull people in, but you need to allow your audience time to soak it in, as well. But enough on that.

Today’s quote, worth 20 points: “One may have that condition by fits only.”

 

weird dreams, and State of Fear

I apologize in advance for the length of this post. But I’ve separated everything, so you can pick and choose what you want to read.

Let me start with the QUOTE, so you don’t have to scroll all the way down to find it. “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.” (10 points)

weird dreams

I’ve been having really weird dreams lately. A few nights ago, I dreamt that I was at home and it was Christmas time. We all sat down for Christmas dinner, but the mood wasn’t very bright. Soon, people from the family started drifting away from the table and didn’t come back. There was also a little spat starting up between my brother and my mom. Eventually, everyone was gone except for me and my brother (not the one who was arguing with my mom). I could hear my mom in the kitchen, complaining about how she had to do all the work, and no one appreciated what she had to go through. And I started crying, and yelling about how Christmas in England was so much better, because they actually all stayed at the table and talked with each other and acted like a family. My brother was goading me on all the while, agreeing about how our family wasn’t acting like a family. It was so intense that I actually had tears in my eyes when I woke up a few minutes later.

Then, the night before last, I dreamt that I had applied to the University of North Texas to do a Master’s in Physics. They wrote me back with a rejection letter, stating that they were not accepting me, mainly due to the poor recommendation that one of my high school teachers had given me. I hadn’t asked this teacher to recommend me anyway, and I couldn’t help thinking that it sounded like they had gone specifically to this teacher to try and get some dirt on me. They quoted parts of his “recommendation” to me, saying things like that I was “hopelessly ignorant and dim-witted” and that my “presence in the classroom had caused disruption to the other students”. Things that really didn’t sound like me at all. But the thing that really annoyed me was that this particular teacher taught a math class, which I admittedly hadn’t done well in, and they had purposely ignored my high grades in other math classes and in my high school and college Physics classes. The teacher who had slandered me was one that I never had in high school in real life, but the really weird thing is that I remembered him from another dream I had months ago. I had taken the first half of this math class already and done really well in it. But then I had him for the second half of the class, and for some reason, the two of us just couldn’t stand each other. So I would sit at my desk in the back of his classroom and seethe with rage at him while I tried to work out my problems, and it was like everything I had learned in the previous semester had suddenly disappeared from my memory. So I didn’t do well in that particular class, but all the rest of my grades had been very high. The dream ended with me writing back a letter to the UNT Physics department, accusing them of bias and cherry-picking, and outlining my argument for why I was qualified for a Master’s in Physics.

State of Fear

I’m almost done reading State of Fear, by Michael Crichton. It’s typical Crichton drivel and reads more like a film script than a novel. It’s riddled with profanity and is much more overtly sexual than I appreciate, especially the first 100 pages or so. Its only redeeming quality is intriguing ideas.

The novel has had several reviews, many good and many bad. And while I haven’t read most of them, the ones I have read seem to ignore an important part of the novel. Most of the reviews, from what I’ve read, focus on the idea of global warming and environmentalism. That’s a big part of the novel, and a very intriguing one, as Crichton cites all kinds of commonly plugged evidence for and against global warming and other environmental ‘catastrophes’. The heroes of the novel come out on the side against these issues, and I completely agree with their arguments. But there is a bigger issue at play in the novel. State of Fear is not really about global warming, any more than Amadeus is about Mozart. Both are about a wider and deeper issue, and the overt subject is merely a means to an end.

State of Fear is about just what it says it’s about: the State of Fear. Its central theme is that modern society thrives on keeping its citizens in fear about something or other. People are very easy to manipulate when they are afraid, and our modern society illustrates that point as well as anything. There is, as Crichton calls it, a politico-legal-media organization (the PLM) that operates to keep people in fear so that they can control them. Modern universities feed the fear by ‘discovering’ new things to fear.

Now, while all this sounds a lot like a crack-pot vast conspiracy theory, I must say I agree with it on the whole. My one problem with Crichton’s theory is that he doesn’t seem to move beyond the Communist scare. Right now, he says, the fear is environmental catastrophe. Before that, it was the Cold War and nuclear threat. Before that, it was Communism. But before that … ? He doesn’t mention anything. Which raises the question for me, if the theory is correct, then what was the big fear before Communism, and before that, and so on? Which also raises the question, when did this ‘rule by fear’ begin? Can it be pinned down to a particular time period, a particular theory, or is he suggesting that it is perpetual – has always been around, and always will?

Crichton answers the first question, in part, in his appendix, where he discusses the theory of eugenics, which was highly influential at the beginning of the 20th century. But he still doesn’t move beyond that. And, as far as I can tell, he doesn’t answer the other questions (keeping in mind that I haven’t quite finished it yet). But I would have to ask whether it isn’t possible that this ‘rule by fear’ can be pegged down as arising around the time that Marxism came into favor?

 

random

So, I can’t sleep. I have tried everything I know, including sleeping pills, but nothing is doing the trick tonight. I even put in Robin Hood, hoping it would soothe me to watch a familiar DVD, eventually lulling me to sleep. Didn’t work.

There is no point whatsoever to this post. Sorry to disappoint you.

I suppose I ought to go try reading my CDA textbook now, that ought to make me sleep. On second thought, though, it might just end up making me so mad that I’ll be up for another two hours.

“London … now home of the world’s greatest secret agent, who has his home in a smart red pillar box somewhere in Mayfair.” (50 points — get that one, Erin!)

 

more phantom-ness

Today’s quote is one that I couldn’t help thinking about when I watching The Phantom of the Opera yesterday. It wasn’t quite appropriate at that point in the movie, and I had to stifle laughter. It happened during the reprise of All I Ask of You, when the Phantom realizes that Christine is in love with Raoul, and he’s sitting there singing and crying. It’s one of my favorite parts of the musical, actually. Anyway, I couldn’t help but think, “Is that a tear? How do you people do it? Did you pinch yourself? Or are you thinking right now, ‘My dog is dead.’” (20 points, just because it’s so durn funny, and you deserve it if you know this quote)

I’ve also been ruminating on my attraction to the story of The Phantom of the Opera. It’s such a dark story, but I truly love it. I’m not just talking about the musical — that I love primarily because of the music. But the actual story, completely apart from the musical, I also just love. The novel manages to make me bawl like a baby every time I read it, and that’s not too common for me. The story touches something in me that nothing else has ever managed to quite get at. What is that something? Any thoughts out there?

 

phantom of the opera … again

Yeah, it’s just as good the second time.

A friend of mine hadn’t seen it yet, and I certainly raised no objections to accompanying her, despite having seen it once already. So we went tonight. It’s just fantastic. Can I say that again? It’s fantastic!!

Patrick Wilson is perfect as Raoul, Gerard Butler is perfect as the Phantom, and Emmy Rossum is perfect as Christine. Minnie Driver is hilarious as Carlotta (although she doesn’t sing for herself — surprise! — which everyone else does). Honestly, my only complaints are these: First, Emmy Rossum doesn’t quite do justice to the high notes on a few songs, notably “Think of Me” and “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again”; second, the chandelier falls in the wrong place — plot-wise, not physically.

And I would also like to state here that I believe the height of men’s fashion occurred right around 1850 – 1860. In my opinion, there is no fashion of any other time that is quite so becoming to a man. Similarly, there is nothing so sexy as a cloak or greatcoat in the hands (or, preferrably, around the shoulders) of a man who knows how to use it. However, let me also state quite plainly that, while I find these fashions most satisfactory in the proper context, that context is clearly not nowadays. Most people who try to get away with this stuff in the modern era are usually, well, kind of creepy. Or just plain weird.

OK, today’s quote. Oh, and before I forget, I didn’t assign a point value for yesterday’s, so I’ll have to say that it’s the default of 10. As is today’s.

“Why, you speak treason.”

“Fluently!”

 

dvd-o-rama

So lately, I’ve been watching lots of DVDs. I didn’t realize this until just today. But in the last week, I have watched several hours worth of Danger Mouse, 13 Going On 30, Emma, The Four Feathers, Zoolander (not worth it), and … well, the last one I’m going to leave for my daily quote, so read on! And then today I got my Christmas package from the Pehrsons (thanks!), which included two DVDs of Jack Benny television programs. Yay! You know, for being such a fan of Jack Benny’s, it might come as rather a shock that I have never, ever seen one of his TV shows. So thanks a ton, Paul and Christina, for this brand new experience!

Oh, and as if all this were not enough, I am planning to go watch Phantom of the Opera again with a friend who hasn’t seen it yet. Movies galore.

On the academic side of life, things are getting better. I started reading my first CDA textbook today, and although I still think it’s a woolly area, I’m more at ease with the idea of studying it for three months. Happily, after that, I can turn back to traditional stylistics (which I enjoy much more) and not worry about CDA ever again, if I don’t want to. Although I suspect I will, but probably not for the reasons that Ruth Wodak would want me to.

All right, the ‘daily’ quote: “If there’s one thing I know, it’s not to mess with Mother Nature, mother-in-laws, or mother freakin’ Ukrainians.”

 

school frustrations

The new term started today, and I have to say that I’m quite annoyed with things. I’m starting to be truly disillusioned with academia. Mind, I’ve been aware for several years that modern academia is terribly biased, but I’ve always felt that my desire to teach outweighed that fact. Right now, though, I’m not so sure.

My two main classes this term are in Critical Discourse Analysis and Sociolinguistics. Now, I’ve been deeply interested in both of these topics (well, maybe not CDA, but discourse analysis in general), and I was excited to take the classes. Until about the last week or so of last term. That was when the CDA teacher taught our mandatory colloquium-like class. Maybe it’s just her nationality … you know, culture-related issues … but I just can’t get over the feeling that she sure thinks a lot of herself and is so excited to teach this course so that she can talk about how brilliant she is and how much she’s done, while dropping names every five minutes. But besides all that, it seems that the whole philosophy of CDA is rather “woolly”, as Hermione would say (5 points for the right book). It seems to me that it’s very much based on intuition and previous bias, which is rather ironic, since it claims as one of its main tenets that the researcher should “question everything”. And I get the same feeling about modern sociolinguistics, although I haven’t been to that class yet. Now, I suppose that it’s always possible to just move away into areas that are more interesting and dealable to me, but I’m disturbed at the trend that seems to taking place in modern academia, this trend toward the touchy-feely disguised as science. And now I’m wondering whether I really want to be pushing against that for the rest of my life. But on the other hand, I currently don’t feel like I really have many marketable skills right now. Aargh. I hope I’m able to come to terms with this soon.

Well, on to today’s real quote of the day (the last one was just an hors-d’ouevre — I think that’s how you spell it!). This one’s worth … 35 points, I’d say. “The impertinence lies, sir, with those who would seek to influence a man to deny his beliefs!”

 

sigh of relief

So, I’m done. All assignments completely finished. The only thing I have left to do is to print one more copy of each, as I forgot that we’re required to hand in two copies of all our coursework. So I’ll go do that in the morning, before my first class of the new term at 11:00.

Also, I want to make it clear that you can still grab points for quotes even if someone else has already left a comment with the correct answer. We’re operating on the honor system here, and if you say you knew it without looking, then I trust you. “And remember — this is for posterity, so be honest.” (15 points)

I’m now off to read some more Harry Potter before the term starts for real, and then to bed, to bed! I’ve had some really late nights recently, so it will be nice to get to bed at a decent time finally.