This is a pretty accurate representation of my week: I've spent an inordinate amount of time in front of my computer, working on a dissertation chapter, and have been sneaking in a bit of knitting in the down times. Entrelac is perfect for this: eight stitches at a time, one small section at a time. So easy to pick up and put back down. There has been a lot of this type of activity over the course of the week. 

Also: saddle shoes. I'm all about them. 

The unfortunate part about the insane work week is my total exhaustion right now. I'm written out, despite stringing these words together here, and find that I've neglected a pile of grading. That is what the rest of the day needs to be: getting caught up because tomorrow? Tomorrow, there is a dissertation chapter to finish putting together. 

Oh, and a presentation. Presentation next weekend in Tuscaloosa. Hm. Tuscaloosa. 

Also: I'm enjoying these portraits on the stairs. More than I would like to admit. 

Oh, Links.

I collect links like some people collect coffee mugs, until they clog up my browser and make it impossible to focus. So, I'll dump them here. Some more Linky Love. 


"Believing there's no God means I can't really be forgiven except by kindness and faulty memories. That's good; it makes me want to be more thoughtful. I have to try to treat people right the first time around." Oh gosh, yes. Also: This. 


I already love Kristin Nicholas for her color sense, but I love her even more for showing off the not-so-pretty side of knitting. Cross reference: This. 


This book is on my bedside table, waiting to be read. The fact that Curtis Sittenfeld loved it makes me excited to dig into it. 


This resonates so, especially as I think back on my time in the elementary classroom. And then I read about crap like Miramonte Elementary School and want to vomit. 


Ashley at Film in the Fridge may have just given me the inspiration for my bed quilt. Now, if only there is the time... 


And back to writing. 

On My Own Loose Ends and Developing Plot

I've been writing all morning. Well, analyzing data, more to the point. Sarah Jaffe has been my soundtrack: melancholy yet not overpoweringly so. 

That's been my mindset lately. Sad along the edges. This too shall pass. 

I've been filling the time normally filled with a Manfriend with books and have been fortunate to find several really amazing YA novels as of late. Have you read anything by Gary D. Schmidt? If not, run (don't walk - his books are that good!) to your local library or book store and pick up any of his books. I read Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy over the holidays and loved his careful, honest treatment of the subject matter. I finished Okay for Now, his newest tome last week and was blown away by his beautiful and sparse words weaving together themes of art, love, and redemption. I just finished listening The Wednesday Wars, which introduces the character Doug from Okay for Now and was blown away. The man has a knack for packing a ridiculous amount of meaning into a sentence, for writing middle schoolers who are smart and vulnerable and maybe, perhaps, just a little bit devious. I loved all three of these books, though, reader be warned, they don't end happily ever after. 

Perhaps that is why they have been the perfect before-bed reading: by the end of the novel, there are still loose ends, still stories to be told. 

What I Wore

I will admit: I didn't get What I Wore posts. In my head, they seemed a bit self-indulgent, a little too... I don't know... look at me. I am normally not the look at me kind of guy. 

And then I went shopping. In anticipation for job interviews, I enlisted the help of my friend Willie, who has amazing taste in clothing, and we spent an entire day (I'm talking arriving at the mall when it opens and not getting home to my apartment until almost nine that evening) buying clothes on a somewhat tight budget. I ended up buying some pieces I never would have thought - pieces I never thought I would look good in. And yet they work. 

I'm still not convinced that clothes make the man or woman or even dog, but the day does seem a bit better when you feel like you look good.