Holiday Merriment...or something

No more presidential blogging, though now would be the perfect time given the death of Gerald Ford. But I digress! Hope everyone has been having a great holiday so far. Mine was kind of a bust because of my illness, but I pulled it together in time for Boxing Day with the family. Christmas Day was just the parents and I which was really nice. We went out for Chinese food for lunch, ala A Christmas Story. Only minus the ravenous dogs, BB Gun or leg lamp. Ah, Ralphie. Anyway, lunch was good as was spending time with my parents. Which is a positive thing, since we will be having lots of QT in the new year until I find gainful employment.

I'm now back in London trying to get my damn apartment packed up which seems like a horribly overwhelming task. Last night I dreamed that I didn't get everything moved out in time and apparently this was all very stressful. But in actuality it is coming together though I don't know how I have accumulated so much STUFF!! By the way, if anyone wants a futon or microwave let me know.

On a side note, have I mentioned lately how much I love Jay-Z?! So much. I've been listening to his new album non-stop. Usually I am very anti returns from retirement (ala Michael Jordan), but in this case I think I will forgive Jay-Z just because he's great. And speaking of Jay-Z, who hails from Brooklyn, last night I watched Dave Chapelle's Block Party. Not super exciting, but the music was excellent! And it made me sort of proud to be able to say I've made it to Brooklyn in real life.


This week is shaping up to be fairly busy, between packing and organizing my life. I'm headed out to visit Lora tomorrow. I haven't seen Hayden in so long that he'll probably be driving a car by now. Friday is Waterloo day (hurrah!) and then Saturday I'll be fully moved out of the apartment. Tears all around about that. As you can see, it's been a slow few days but I felt the need to put some original content up here.

Questions

Anyone who knows me, also knows that I ask a lot of questions. This passage stayed with me long after I read it.

"I have found a fullness in the doubts and questions of my life that I once thought could only be found in the answers. Mercifully, doubts and questions have come to be so fulfilling that I find myself suspicious of answers, not because they are necessarily false or irrelevant, but because even when relevant and true they are, and can only be partial. It is doubt and questioning that always lure me on to broader horizons and deeper insights through an openness to the infinite that leave me contentedly discontent."

Darrell J. Fasching, Narrative Theology After Auschwitz: From Alienation To Ethics, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992, p. 4.

Popular Presidential Talk

Yes, I'm home blogging about presidents on a Saturday night. The following is just too amazing to resist. And in my defense, I am sick with a cold so really, this is more like a weeknight.

The U.S. Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud generator "shows the popularity, frequency, and trends in the usages of words within speeches, official documents, declarations, and letters written by the Presidents of the US between 1776 - 2006." It is absolutely fascinating to scroll through each president over time and see the catch phrases and themes that have stood out.

For example,
Poor John Adams' (1791-1801) most popular words are a tad on the boring side, such as "assembly", "multitude", and "qualifications" but they also show the much more impressive language used in his era. My favourites? "Arcadia" "industrious" "sober" and "fruitful".

Aside from the inherent neat-factor of the language, it is also really amazing to trace word usage by what was happening historically during the times these presidents governed. Something like the word "communist", which doesn't make an appearance here until Eisenhower (1950s, of course), stays constant right through JFK and LBJ (minus his Great Society address), sporadically through Nixon's era (interesting given the change of emphasis when he went into Vietnam, regardless of his personal views on the whole communist thing!) and then pretty much dissapears, at least in the papers referenced here, post-Vietnam.

The word "war" appears in every presidential tag cloud.

That is all. Sign me up for the history lover of the month/lifetime club.

Jill Scott - Gimme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu-3yrc1FJ8

Now that blogger has made me switch to a fairly god awful Beta version, I can't embed YouTube videos until they allow my Google login. So the above is a link to a video I have been watching when I've been ill this week. For some reason, it cheers me up a little bit.

Perhaps it is the fun hospital theme, or just the fact that Jill Scott rules. Either way, a good time.

Girls Weekend '06

This was our annual Christmas Girls Weekend, which dates back to approximately 1999 in its earliest incarnation as Christmas Girls Night - the Allen Family Basement Edition. I hosted Kate and Mandy here in London for this year's round of celebrations.

We did a lot of talking and laughing, due in large part to Ms. Marshall's phenomenal one-liners and our general silliness as a collective. The three of us haven't gotten together since New York City nearly 6 months ago, as seen above, but it was as if no time had really passed. Last night we went and saw Casino Royale which I had initially been quite hesitant to see. However, I did really enjoy it, minus two major lines from Bond at the end that just made me shake my head. Definitely worth a watch for the scenery (both for Montenegro and Daniel Craig), action and er...torture scenes, and the great jewelry sported by Vesper. The plot was pretty good too;)

Anyone up for a future Girls Weekend, Cuba Edition?!

Long overdue update

You would think now that I am on vacation I would be a blogging fiend, but apparently not. Which I guess just shows how busy things have been! After recovering from last week's potluck, I finally took a trip to the library and got some excellent reading and viewing material for the next few weeks.

I have been spending some QT with Simon Schama, and slowly yet surely starting to pack up my apartment. When I mentioned how sad I was to be leaving the apartment, Kate pointed out to me that I said the same thing when I left Waterloo; never thinking I would find as cozy of a home. But I did and hopefully will again.

So now to some fun stuff. Friday night was a big event, our end-of-term fancy dress party. We went to Maggie's Supper and Jazz Club which in September I had identified as a potentially impressive destination.

We enjoyed the sounds of Paul Stevenson on trumpet, who was accompanied by piano and bass guitar. Our waiter was a very efficient man whom tempted Becca and I with martinis, and Tyler with the gin and tonic option.

Our meals were fairly intense: Apple Walnut Supreme of Chicken, which entailed chicken stuffed with creamy Brie cheese, walnuts and green apple. As well, Teriyaki Sesame Seared Steak on Asian Noodle Slaw - a lightly marinated AAA Top Sirloin with a spicy, crunchy mix of noodles, vegetables and Far East spices.

After a lovely dinner and conversation, we headed over to the Alex P. Keaton (where else?!) to see some great music. I think it was one of the best musical line-ups I have seen at the APK, plus the bar was all decked out for the holidays with red and green lightbulbs and general festive cheer.



Below, you will see some examples of said cheer.

Really fantastic night and a suitable way to officially finish out this semester and say goodbye (at least for a little while) to my two best library school buddies.

I have a feeling that our paths will be crossing frequently in the

future, but it will be a lonely December without you both here in London!

Say Yes! To Potlucks

Fantastic Christmas potluck with the Patricia Street crew and significant others this weekend. Everyone really brought some awesome contributions to the table, in the form of cookies, dip, chocolate of all sorts and my own ham, scalloped potatoes and other Martha-esque finishing touches. It was the most surreal feeling on Saturday puttering around my apartment and getting ready to entertain. I have not felt that relaxed in at least a year! I feel a bit at loose ends now but also so damned good.


Shan and Meg put the belly dancing apparel to good use - both the scarf and the finger cymbals.

It was a good Christmas/End Of School fete. Can't wait til New Year's!

I'm A Radio Star

Well, kinda! This very early morning, I got to visit Becca at the studios of CHRW while she does her weekly radio show. It was very exciting and a much less painless experience than my failed "radio gig" of 1994 at Camp Celtic where my morning show was taken off the air by the grouchy camp staff. Today was much different and highly positive! I got to introduce some songs and also gave bio information and interesting tidbits on some of the musicians we played.

You can listen to me online through the CHRW Archive Page. Look for the "Leave It To Cleaver" show. I appear in part 1 and part 2. And even if you don't catch me, it is a great show that you should tune into regularly.

Let It Snow

Wait...it already did.

Thought you might like to see some photos from London's first big snowstorm of the season. We got hit with a real wallop, but it is that perfect kind of snow that would make a great igloo or extreme snowman.

It took about an hour and a half to clean my car out from under its 3-4 feet of snow. And that was with the help of 2 very kind neighbours and a maintenance person who ran their little bobcat around the car.


It does make for the perfect excuse to stay inside and do absolutely NOTHING, which is what I have been enjoying for the last two days. The days have basically consisted of a lot of sleep, some reading and cleaning.

Tomorrow is drunken potluck day, or as it is more properly known, mature get-together with grown-up friends to celebrate the Christmas spirit with various dishes and the odd beverage here and there. Tonight is movies and brownie making. The buses were canceled in London so our movie night to see "The Holiday" has been rescheduled. I figured if public transit isn't even on the roads, why should I be?

The Gourds / Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice

Because nothing is funnier than a) Snoop Dogg and b) Snoop Dogg set to some good folk music.

Christmas Present

"This is SO going on my blog!"

In the spirit of How I Met Your Mother (which I rented season 1 of tonight), this post is in dedication to our Friday night get together. It was a 26 drink celebration for Tyler's birthday and a night filled with great conversation, hypotheticals from Chuck Klosterman, and a really excellent time with two friends who I would not have gotten through this year without! I took a brief power nap between 6-6:30 am, but otherwise was fully functional for the all-nighter.



This one is called "Awkward librarians at party"

Next we have a series showing what happens at 7am, with my camera being set to take a new photo every few seconds. Enjoy!



It was a very enjoyable event with the group. Plus, I always love it when people show up at my door with rye.

3 days & 3 hours left!!!