Coherency, I has it.

I keep planning to post and then Real Life keeps happening. Therefore, bullet point update. (Plus a very nifty word.)

I have:

- settled on a topic for my first self-assigned paper. 5 page close reading of the excellent Fever 1793. Self-assigned due date is October 9.

- read The Underneath by Kathi Appelt. I'll be writing a mini-essay about that, too. Self-assigned due date: tomorrow, as the book is due. I always check out more than I can actually read.

- been frustrated by the fact that I can finish a hat in 48 hours, but in 2 months of work on my shawl, I've only made 7in. of knitting.

- enjoyed the first cider of the season.

- sorted out issues with my Bryn Mawr account. I can now use off-campus access to get to the Oxford English Dictionary! (I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. My love for the OED knows no bounds. It's like Wikipedia, but just for words. I go in and don't come out until half an hour later.)

- cooked very little. The kid sister wants biscuits; I am tired of making biscuits, but I feel guilty about making anything else. I did make chocolate chip cookies. They spread out too much, but were delicious anyway.

- discovered One Note. Absolutely made for organizing research and my hyperlinked brain. I'm in love.

- been nominated (kind of by myself, kind of not) for Word Nerd Knight of the Month which means I get this shiny little graphic:


Bonus! Word of the day, because the OED is a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

Palus: A marsh, a fen. In archaic usage, an abyss.
From Anglo-Norman palud, then Middle French palus

Discovered playing the "you can only change one letter" game online, when I was making sure I wouldn't break the game. (My word was 'pacus,' a type of South American fish.)

An Inaugural Post and Other Nonsense

I have recently decided that I should actually do something productive with all that stuff I read and write something about it. Not that reading isn't productive in and of itself, but this way I shall have something to show for all of it and that will make it Worth Something to those who might otherwise consider reading time to, in fact, be free time during which they should be allowed to pester me.

Also, I need a place where I can show off my knitting. If I'm going to spend several months on something, I think I should have the right to show off after I've finished it. I'm also prone to starting and then abandoning blogs, journals and so on, but perhaps having a Purpose will keep me going. I can hope.

A few things about me that may or may not be relevant to your interests or my writing here: I bounce back and forth between Wisconsin's Fox Cities area and Bryn Mawr College in Philly. I started school at a very traditional 18 and have been completely non-linear about my education ever thereafter. I read, muck about on the interwebs, play with new software (especially if I don't have to pay for it), cook, knit, watch TV (occasionally, mostly if there are explosions involved. 'Mental' is the exception to this rule) and, if time permits, do Productive Things that are usually far less interesting than anything else on the above list. There are three things in the world (that I know of) about which I do not have Opinions. They are: the local curling club, men's underwear and grout.