Some Pictures and Words

At first the conditions were fun. Power went out in the early morning on Monday, and school was cancelled for both of us. Ice covered everything, and we ventured out early to get coffee and some groceries. While we drove around a crystalline Norman, we listened to the only music that could possibly be appropriate:
After we got home we wandered around the neighborhood and took some pictures. Despite all the destruction that came later, it was beautiful.

But I mentioned some destruction. Here are a couple minor examples:

And I found a woman hiding inside of a crystal cave:

Either that or I told Michele to stand underneath the branches of a bowed tree so I could take a picture. See?The "not having power" thing got old after the first day, though. And the ice shredded the trees in Norman. It really looks sad. Some people still don't have electricity (ours came back on Tuesday night), and we're looking at up to eight inches of snow this weekend.

I think we brought winter with us.

In other news:

The semester is over (except for a mountain of grading).

I was asked to teach a section of Logic next semester, but I can't because of a scheduling conflict.

I'm seriously considering talking to the Philosophy department at OU about working toward a PhD. Teaching Logic has fired me up again. I think it's a sickness.

Things Have Changed

Today sure is a mixed bag. Woke up this morning to find out that Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday. A few weeks ago he fell in his apartment and whacked that amazing brain of his, and yesterday that brain stopped throwing sparks. It's sad. Vonnegut has been one of my heroes for decades. Everyone knows Slaughterhouse-Five, and Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions are pretty well known, too. My favorite Vonnegut novel, though, is Deadeye Dick. His nonfiction books--Timequake, God Bless you, Dr. Kervorkian, etc.--are good reading, too. I may have to read Kervorkian in the next couple of days. I need a good dose of gentle skepticism and absurd humor.

On the bright side of life (always look there), we finally have a pretty good idea of where we'll be next year.

Yep. Michele got an email last night informing her that an offer from the University of Oklahoma is in the mail. Acceptance at last. She got a teaching assistantship that pays $16,000 (double what I got in Mankato) and may get a chance to teach during the summer. There are a few colleges in the area that I'll badger to see if they could use my services, but I guess I'm not too picky. Yet.

This could be a bit of culture shock. It's a red state in the bible belt. Lots of country music. I'm thinking this situation is perfect for gathering essay material.

Anyway, Michele finally had something go her way. I'm glad. I'm going to have to practice saying "Dr. Benesh."

And maybe I can worm my way into the UO philosophy department. Heh.

I Have Been to the Mountain Top

The other day Michele told me I'm spreading myself too thin. My energy level tells me she's right, but I still don't feel like I'm accomplishing much. But that should change now.

I got involved in a "Ten-Page Challenge" on the American Zoetrope website. Eighteen of us submitted the first ten pages of a screenplay, and then we all reviewed and scored each other's . I just finished the last one this morning. It was interesting and I learned a lot. The comments I received for Blood Goggles were encouraging and interesting (some of these other writers have sold scripts or read for production companies), but I learned even more getting such broad exposure to other screenplays. Kind of like Terry's class, but with professionals instead of students, and everyone has material to share. There were some in Terry's class that I never saw anything from. It seemed there were four of us who always had something, and then ten more who took up space. But I digress.

On top of that, in the last six weeks I've reviewed eight full length screenplays and have two more waiting. I've written eighty pages of Blood Goggles (with what feels like about sixty left to go), and I'm generating ideas for other stories like crazy. I even had a bit of a revelation about my "Bumble Sutra" essay that's been languishing for eighteen months.

Now that I've gotten through this cluster of scripts I can take some time to write again and be social. Wait, what was that? Social? Riiiiiight.