By the numbers...

No. of days in Roanoke, VA: 43
No. of classes attended at Hollins University: 24
No. of hours spent in class: 72 hours
No. of novels/textbooks read in their entirety: 29 (most were > 200 pages)
No. of articles/anthologies/textbooks consulted for papers: 26
No. of papers written: 3 (total no. of pages written: 34)
No. of presentations given: 2
No. of conferences attended: 1
No. of parties attended: 5
No. of speaker events attended: 6
No. of paragraphs in Latin translated: 3 (btw, I totally passed the foreign language exam.)
No. of visits with Bryan: 4 (no more than 24 hours each time)
No. of meals at Hollywood's (best food in Roanoke): 3
No. of letters from home: 1 (Thanks, Mayo!!)
No. of all-nighters: 0 (2AM was the latest I stayed up)
No. of gym visits: 18 (went three times a week without fail...good stress relief)
No. of miles biked: too many to count (only drove to class once; it was raining and I had to take food for a class breakfast)
No. of trails hiked: 1 (I have to work on this for next time.)
No. of laundry trips: 4 (I will never take my washer/dryer for granted again.)
No. of movies watched: 1 (theatre); 7 (home) and at least six episodes of Firefly and Veronica Mars

I had a great time, and I am so glad that I am in this program because it fulfills my personal AND academic interests. Despite the distance, the work load, etc., I am so glad I came here and I know that this is the best M.A. program out there for me. I feel very blessed to get to take part in the learning that goes on in our little mountain resort. My next entry will be my last about Hollins. I will be continuing this blog, but I will turn the focus to my normal life and my teaching experiences (the latter is often very entertaining).

I'm done!
So many books . . .

Now what?

I know this is going to sound bizarre, but whatever.

I have nothing left to work on. Papers finished. Books read. Reflections written.

I go to class tomorrow and that's it.

I feel weird. I always have something to work on.

Oh, wait...dang it, I've got to go to the gym tomorrow before class. Bloody hel....

One Down

Made an A in sci-fi.

Heck yeah!

Still Breathing, Barely

The sci-fi paper got edited down to 16 pages...not much of an improvement but my professor said it was OK. The same day I turned that one in, I had to pretty much rewrite my other essay because I didn't like the organization. Today, I have to read my last novel and edit that same essay because I need to knock it down about 2.5-3 pages. The curse of being wordy.

Weather is super gloomy and has been for the past two days. I think it's reflecting my state-of-mind. I've been staring at a computer screen so much since HP VII that I got a headache walking into the grocery store yesterday because the lights were too bright. I cannot quite explain how glad I am that I will have three weeks of peace and relaxation before I go back to KHS. If I had to go straight into teacher workdays, I might lose my mind. I've done such things before and it always sucks and I am always exhausted and stay that way until I either make myself sick so I can catch up on my rest or I get a weekend in which I can stay in my pajamas the entire time and chill.

Tomorrow is my last sci-fi class and I might stay and watch Destination Moon (old movie) with my classmates, but that kind of depends on how far along I am with this paper by the time I go to bed tonight. Friday, we have our final farewell potluck, and then Saturday, I'm driving back to Raleigh.

I cannot believe I have been here for more than a month. I have gotten so used to my little twin bed, eating with my roommates, going to class every morning. I just can't imagine what it is going to be like to drive down Durant Rd. or go to our YMCA instead of Hollins' little gym. You get so acclimated to your surroundings when you stay some place for a while. However, I think it's going to take me about five seconds to get used to being back home. I'm coming, Muon and Quark!

Oh, and then there's that Bryan guy. I guess he wants me to come home too. :-)

Ironically, one of the first things I am going to want to do when I get home is go to the library. I'm on such a roll here that I can't imagine not reading a book a day, and, with all my future free time, I am going to have a lot of time to read. For pleasure. Ahhh... Although, I have to say that I have read every single book I was assigned. In undergrad, I definitely skipped a few, but I am in this program because I love this genre so much so I don't find it too surprising that I enjoyed 98% of the novels on my syllabi. This entry will be the last until I walk out of my last class on Friday. Then I will regale you with all the specifics of my time here.

I'm So Dead

Sci-fi paper...17 pages.

Yep.

Supposed to be 10-13 pages.

Due on Tuesday.

Stupid long topic!

At least I have a complete draft. Finally. Thank goodness.

Sooooo tired of writing.

FIVE DAYS!

Finished

At 2:50PM, Saturday, July 21st, I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and, thusly, the Harry Potter series.

For some people, this sort of documentation may seem weird.

For others, it will be perfectly understandable.

Regardless, now, I must get back to work.

It's Time

It is 12:22AM, Saturday, July 21st.

I have the Potter.

I happen to be wearing my costume from our Death Day Party. I was a wizard dressed as a Muggle.

I have Pepsi. I have candy. I have mashed potatoes (don't ask). I am ready.

Commence reading!

Mothers

I just finished Walk Two Moons. It is one of those books that I have been familiar with for a long time but never actually read.

It made me cry.

The relationships seem so real and the sense of loss and honesty at the end was hard for me to deal with as I was finishing it. My only complaint is that in the course of the novel, one mother dies, one mother runs away, and one grandmother dies. Women get a raw deal in literature. In Coraline, the "other mother" was the evil one. In most fairy tales, the mother is either evil or dead or ignoring her children. In most of the Heinlein novels I have read, mothers are not important and it is the fathers who have all the knowledge and ability to help their children.

I'm not saying that we need to see a lot more dads functioning as evil characters, but some balance would be nice. I realize the evil stepmother is a popular motif in literature, but sometimes archetypes should be tweaked over time. Think about Hamlet for goodness sake! Because mothers are so important to their children, they make fantastic villains or catalysts for true grief. However, I think our culture as a whole needs to give Dads a little more credit anyway.

If I see one more commercial where some father is looking harried because his wife is out shopping and he has to look after the kids for five hours, well, I'm going to . . . . I'm not going to do anything, obviously, but I find such trends disappointing because many of the Dads I have known or know are very involved. My brother-in-law loves my nephew very much and spends a lot of time with him. He is certainly capable of watching him without my sister present. My own Dad, especially after my parents' divorce, took us on all the time without another parent present and did a great job.

So since they are capable at the job, maybe they can be evil too now, eh?

The Vick Family Must be Stopped!

I love sports. College sports, that is.

When I was in middle school, I was addicted to Duke basketball. I would wear my Duke hat and sit with my huge Duke mug (filled with Country Time Pink Lemonade) and watch the tournament like my life depended on it.

I continued that fascination right up through my freshman year of college when I had to change my allegiances for NCSU for obvious reasons.

As for football, my interest fluctuated throughout high school. Frankly, I enjoyed it for social reasons in high school, but, at some point, Bryan taught me the rules and I got into it again when I was at State.

So for the past five or so years, I have been in the thick of ACC basketball and football.

Two years ago, a guy named Marcus Vick started playing for Virginia Tech's football team. He was their new star quarterback and his placement there was even more significant because he was Michael Vick's brother (who also played quarterback for VT and was now the QB for the Atlanta Falcons). NCSU played VT their first game (away) that year and all we heard on ESPN was Marcus this and Marcus that. The guy got all the hype. And how did he use his new found fame?
In 2004, he provided alcohol to teenage girls.
That same summer, he was arrested for reckless driving and drug possession (weed).
In 2005, he flicked off West Virginia fans after winning.
Later in 2005, he was arrested for speeding, reckless driving, and driving with a suspended/revoked license in VA.
In January of 2006, he stomped on the knee of an opposing player during the Gator Bowl.
A few days later, Virginia Tech dropped him from the program, but he still went into the NFL draft.
Just a few days after that, he was arrested for waving a gun at a teenager at McDonald's.

So what became of Marcus after all his misdeeds? He was picked up by the Miami Dolphins as a free agent (he did not get drafted), and he was released by them in May. So he is jobless for now. But what are the chances he will stay that way?

So imagine my SHOCK, SURPRISE, INDIGNATION, when I heard that Michael, his big brother, is just as bad.

I don't know if there are any more Vick brothers coming up the pipeline, but could we just head them off at the pass and not let them play football. Please?

I realize that some people would say that these two guys are why professional sports are a waste of time. I concur. I am not a fan of professional leagues. However there are a lot of great student athletes out there and I think NCSU has done a pretty fair job of bringing in kids who are pretty good at both. Yes, they get special privileges and a free ride, but I wouldn't want their schedule, so they are welcome to it. If you have ever been in a football stadium on a crisp Saturday afternoon where 50,000 people are all wearing the same color and cheering for the time thing, well, then you would see the appeal. And at least at the collegiate level, they still have some heart. And no evidence of steroids.

For now. :-)

Papers, papers, everywhere!

11 days.

That's all the time I have left here at Hollins.

I saw Bryan for the last time (before I go home) this past weekend. We met at the same hotel and same room in Martinsville. I think the people at Captain Tom's Seafood Restaurant think we live there now.

Bryan is making major headway on our guest bathroom renovation. Keep in mind, I did not put him up to doing home improvements while I was gone. However, our guest bath was kind of blah compared to the rest of the house, so he has painted it, put in new fixtures and tiled the floor. He's done all of this practically by himself except for about 12 hours of assistance from his brothers on the floor and shower fixtures (which are more complicated to replace than you would think).

I can't wait to see it. My mom used to do all kinds of artwork when my sister and I would go on vacation without her. We'd come back and she would have redecorated the living room. I always found it exciting to having something more than homecoming to anticipate. I haven't seen any of the changes yet, so I'll be making a mad dash upstairs the second I get home.

So what's on the docket for this week? Pulling my hair out. I have one paper to continue revising (due next Friday) and another to write from scratch (due next Tuesday). I also have just five novels left to read! Throw in some meetings, finishing my study abroad application, and, what was it, ummmm, oh yeah, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS coming out and I'll find a way to fill in the time. They're actually having a read-a-thon in one of the dorms, but I prefer to devour my J.K. in perfect quiet. Yesterday I tried to escape to the library to read in the hopes that I could avoid dozing if I read in an unfamiliar place. But one of my classmates was in the comfy couch nook so I ended up talking to her for an hour. We're a friendly and unfortunately talkative bunch here, so one really has to close oneself off to get anything done.

Which is why, in an effort to utilize my day off, I'm locking myself in my room after lunch to get a draft completed of my sci-fi paper. Wish me luck, people. I'm going in . . . .

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

So this is coming from me, Harry Potter-phile that I am.

The movie was awesome. Visually stunning. Well acted. Stayed true to the core of the series and the novel itself. And, frankly, the book was too long and the film was able to tidy up some especially drawn out parts from the text.

I do feel bad for those who see these movies without reading the books because some of this stuff must go WAY over your head, but, hey, go read the books then.

One shocking news flash during the previews--MY FAVORITE SERIES as a kid was The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper. They have apparently made a movie of the second book. I had no idea that was happening. I'm not sure they have stayed faithful AT ALL to the series, but between that and Golden Compass' arrival this Christmas--it's almost too much movie magic to bear.

Also, not a good thing to see a movie where London figures prominently when you are desperate to go on a trip to London next year. Keep those toes crossed, people!

Worthy Literature

I read Holes by Louis Sachar today. After the first few chapters, I was concerned because it is obviously written for middle school kids and I wasn't sure if I would have a lot to say about it.

Books like The Secret Garden and Alice in Wonderland were written for children too, but, upon rereading them, I see now how very different such books are from our modern children's literature.

Part of me wonders if we are dumbing down literature for young people because obviously 12-year-olds used to love Lewis Carroll and J.M. Barrie, but not many average kids pick up such books today. What's changed? Obviously, children's past times are a little different now and that certainly has an effect on what they are willing to read. I recently read an article that talked about how some schools are putting YA fiction on their summer reading lists so kids might actually read the books. Apparently, if the books aren't quick reads then they don't get read.

But after finishing Holes, I have a completely different perspective. Holes is about a curse and an outcast and someone loving himself for the first time, but it's also a masterpiece of storytelling. Because Sachar isn't just writing about someone digging holes in the desert. His narrative structure is constantly filling in the holes in the story. So Stanley survives the yellow -spotted lizards all over his body. A previous chapter has told us that he should be dead. But in the chapter after Stanley's brush with death, we find out that these lizards don't like people who have a high concentration of onion in his/her system. Well, Stanley has been eating only onions for the week he has spent in the desert with Zero. Lucky, sure. But it's amazing how Sachar weaves all these plots together into something that makes complete sense to the reader and even leaves you with a few things to think about when you're done.

So to those who say children's literature has gone to pot (I'm talking to you, Harold Bloom), I say take a second look.

In the Classroom

So this is a typical Hollins classroom:

It's basically a large conference room with as much AV equipment as you could ever desire. And this is me at 8:45AM today:
Note the seriously funky looking hair that usually results from my early morning bike ride in nice Virginia humidity.

I took my foreign language exam today, and I am very scared of failing a test in a subject that I now predominantly teach. Thus, if I fail, no one will ever know because my students need to believe that I know what I'm talking about. Heck, I need to believe that! :-)

I read Peter and Wendy for the first time yesterday; I'm really fond of Barrie's writing style--his balance of addressing his child and adult readers reminds me of Pixar's attempts to do the same in their films. He, like so many early children's writers, was a little eccentric, but it must have been hard to be a successful writer who didn't feel like a grown-up.

Today was the busiest day of my week, so I'm looking forward to things winding down. On Friday, some of us are going to see HP V in the theatre. Most of the student went last night at midnight but we just couldn't commit to being out till 3AM when we had a class in the morning, a foreign language exam in the afternoon and stacks of books to read. So it will be our end-of-week treat. As for when the final book comes out, I may have to go out at midnight to get that one. The Kroger down the street is actually having a midnight party, and it's the closest location so I'm thinking of hitting that place up for my copy. I just don't feel like dealing with hoards of little children at midnight (too many bad memories from my bookstore days). Plus some little goblin head is going to flip to the back of the book and start screaming who dies and I might lose my temper. To put it mildly.

This way I can go to the grocery store, buy my copy and some Pepsi at the same time and return home for the long haul. It's a weird choice, but, right now, it's the best I have got.

Now I have to get back to my ginormous stack of books that I have to read. Vale!

These are just SOME of the novels I've read while I've been here.

Another Monday

Today has been interesting. I'm a compulsive eater with certain items and mints are one of my weaknesses. I immediately bite into them so I finish each one in about two seconds. I was making my way through a bag of Lifesavers Wint-O-Green mints earlier when my stomach started to feel funny.

After about two hours of a very noisy midsection, I looked at the bag to see what was going on. Had I overdosed on mints? Apparently, yes, because these sugar free mints contain phenylalanine, which, if consumed excessively, can cause a laxative effect.

So, yeah . . . .

On a happier and less bathroom-focused event, I got to see Bryan again--except this time we explored Martinsville, VA! Martinsville is known for its Nascar race track and . . . .

That's about it.

This town is also somewhat close to Virginia's Fairy Stone State Park, so we thought we'd check in and head for the hills, as they say.

Bryan got there at 11 . . . I got there at 11:45 (took an early exit and GOT REALLY CONFUSED). Virginia may be a very nice state, but they don't have numbers on their frickin highway exits. What's up with that? I have yet to get someplace outside Hollins on time and I am counting the minutes till I can enter the North Carolina border and be rid of Highway 220 and its silliness.

Anyway.

So Bryan and I checked into the illustrious Days Inn of Martinsville, which, according to the management, has consistently received 5 sunbursts from the Days Inn Corporate Office.

Our room, which looks almost exactly like the room we had in Danville.

So we got settled and realized that neither of us felt like hiking for three hours in the Virginia mountains. So we raided the local Little Caesar's and hooked up my dorm room DVD player to the television pictured above and settled in for an afternoon of Veronica Mars. The CW Network is on my enemies list right now because they prematurely canceled this amazing show that is well written and depicts a smart female protagonist who is more than capable of taking care of herself. And what did they replace it with? Hmmm?

GOSSIP GIRL!!!!!???? @^$%@*%^@*!($^!
(edited for my younger and more impressionable readers ;-))

I am through with the CW Network. I could handle Gilmore Girls' demise, but Veronica too? They are now up there with FOX in the soulless television station list. Blah.

We had fun though watching season 2 and gorging ourselves on pizza, bread sticks and hot wings. It was awesome.

Awwww . . . .

Now, today, other than having way too many bowel movements, I have been making my way through The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Great, great book. It is a collection of stories that make up Earth's attempts to colonize Mars. Some powerful stuff (especially for the 40s and 50s) including a story where all the black people in the South go to Mars to experience real freedom, a story about a man, who, reacting to the burning of all good literature on Earth, builds a real House of Usher on Mars, and, my favorite, a story where the Martians think the Earthlings who suddenly appear on their planet are Martians who have gone insane.

It's funny and sad and so prophetic. I was always fond of Fahrenheit 451, but this book is even better because it combines some of the themes of that novel with so much more insight about the human race. Now I have to write an essay about it, and I have no idea how to focus my admiration into a few coherent paragraphs, so we'll see.

I've quoting one of my favorite paragraphs below. I wish I could write something this powerful:

"Every man, they said, must face reality. Must face the Here and Now! Everything that was not so must go. All the beautiful literary lies and flights of fancy must be shot in mid-air! So they lined them up against a library wall one Sunday morning thirty years ago, in 1975; they lined them up, St. Nicholas and the Headless Horseman and Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin and Mother Goose--oh, what a wailing!--and shot them down, and burned the paper castles and the fairy frogs and old kings and the people who lived happily ever after (for of course it was a fact that nobody lived happily ever after!), and Once Upon a Time became No More! And they spread the ashes of the Phantom Rickshaw with the rubble of the Land of Oz; they filleted the bones of Glinda the Good and Ozma and shattered Polychrome in a spectroscope and served Jack Pumpkinhead with meringue at the Biologists' Ball! The Beanstalk died in a bramble of red tape! Sleeping Beauty awoke at the kiss of a scientist and expired at the fatal puncture of his syringe. And they made Alice drink something from a bottle which reduced her to a size where she could no longer cry 'Curiouser and curiouser,' and they gave the Looking Glass one hammer blow to smash it and every Red King and Oyster away!"

The power of children's literature, folks. That's why I'm here.

You May Have to Wipe Up My Drool

A sampling of events from the proposed London/Oxford Trip:

1) "The Magical World of Alice and Harry Potter"--a guided walking tour centered on Lewis Carroll and Harry Potter.

2) Tour of Literary Oxford to include Tolkien and CS Lewis sites.

3) Guided walking tour centered on Philip Pullman.

4) Visit the Bronte Parsonage at Haworth near York.

5) Beatrix Potter Day--take the local bus to Hawkshead and Bowness on Windermere. Visit Hill Top at Sawrey and also the Beatrix Potter Museum.

6) A J.M. Barrie Day with a trip to Kensington Gardens.

7) Train ride to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery in Buckinghamshire.

Even if you barely know me or have only seen my classroom, you should know how much this trip would appeal to me. THANKFULLY it's within my budget. Now I just have to apply and get a spot. If you have ever so much as thrown a smile in my direction, please gather all your collective "happy thoughts" and send them my way (in your heads, of course), and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to go to Oxford and London.

In addition, if I am selected, I don't want any material gifts for the next year. If you want to give me a present, please contribute to the "Michele Goes to London" fund or get an Amazon gift certificate so I can buy my books. :-) I've never "told" people what to get me (I prefer hinting), but what I need is this trip. Not clothes. Or even household items. Bryan and I can swing the costs, but any "softening of the blow" would be received with much groveling at the feet and many, many handshakes and blown kisses. This is my only chance to study abroad and it is so geared to my literary interests that I cannot function right this moment.

Oh, and the classes (since this is, after all, school) . . .

One of them is a creative writing class on MYTH, LEGEND AND HISTORY.

Those words might as well be my middle name. I don't use Lisette for much anyway.

So this is Michele Myth Legend History DeCamp, getting offline so she can write the kickest-ass essay possible and score a seat on da plane.

Fingers crossed, people!

Fourth of July

Looking back, I was surprised to see that I had not updated since Sunday. Things have been moving along at a fast clip so I guess I lost track of the day for a minute there. I think my lack of writing is partially a result of having to read two novels on Monday (Time Traders and A Wrinkle in Time) and then having my professor rework my sci-fi paper idea into something completely different that required a five-hour trip to the library for research on Tuesday.

Then on Tuesday night I got a call that definitely made me forget everything. You see, I woke up this morning with this in the parking lot:
That would be my husband's "box-like" car that I described in an earlier entry. We were talking last night about our upcoming trip to Martinsville this Saturday and got off the phone so he could go to bed. Then, about 10 minutes later, he calls me and tells me that he is coming in the morning to see me! We both had Wednesday off so he decided that he didn't want to sit around the house or see Transformers with friends when he could be visiting me. :-) Such a smart man.

We talked about what time he could get here in the A.M. when he decided that he was going to come THAT VERY NIGHT! He started rushing around getting clothes together and feeding the cats, and I got very giddy at the idea that I would see my husband again after a week and a half.

He pulled into the parking around 1:30AM; it's times like that when I am grateful that my roommates are mostly night owls who are still up that late and weren't disturbed by our sudden tramping up and down the stairs. Everything squeaks in this place. Doors. Floors. Cabinets.

We got up this morning and went for a two-hour hike on a trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway and went downtown for lunch. Roanoke, despite its awful highway system and exceedingly slow drivers (my two major complaints with the town), has a thriving downtown area with a daily market and plenty of unique little shops. It was nice to share it with him and we even got matching "Bush's Last Day: 1-20-09" bumper stickers. The owner said they were very popular. Cough, cough. I can't imagine why.

He had to leave a little after 4PM so I went upstairs and talked to my lovely sister who is moving in ONE DAY to Pennsylvania. It's a bittersweet event for the family because they are moving on to very nice digs and lots of opportunities in PA but this is the first time someone in the immediate family has permanently left the state. So I'm excited for them, yay! But I'm bummed that my sister, her husband and my nephew will no longer be so close by. We take family for granted, you know? Here's my favorite picture of Phoenix, the cutie-patootie:

Phoenix, my darling nephew

Then I went to a 4th of July gathering at my apartment complex where I ate a variety of potato chips and cookies (I DO NOT do hot dogs) and played a game of Cranium with some classmates. My team won, partially because we knew that Joseph Smith followers are called Mormons and how to spell genuine backwards.

Now I'm settling in to finish Coraline by Neil Gaiman and anticipate another reunion with Bryan this weekend. I'm trying not to gush about him too much, but, man, he's such an awesome husband. Seriously. We have such a fun life together and I am overwhelmed sometimes by how much we love each other and how happy we are when we're together. I wouldn't say that we took each other for granted before this but we were very comfortable, and this experience has made us see how difficult life can be without your "favorite person" (Bryan's particular phrasing) around. Bryan is such a good man, and the fact that he would drive 3.5 hours in the middle of the night so he could sleep next to me is pretty special. End of gush. Sorry.

Tomorrow I will discuss the end of the world. Stay tuned.

Happy Halloween!

So here are a few of my friends hanging out last night . . .
(from left: Carly (HP), Jamie (Scandinavian belle), Karen (bunny minus ears), Erin (Hermione), Me, Kate (Goddess Diana) and Valerie (Glinda the Good Witch))

When asked what I was supposed to be, someone supplied "the Baptist minister's wife on vacation." That works for me. Just call me Mrs. Falwell.

And now, for the first time, here is a close-up of my roommates:
Carly and Erin!

However, Carly's costume was really this:
She was one of the Harry Potter trading cards. It is actually an exact replica of the real card. Everyone was taking pictures of her. Second best costume was "fan-fic" Hermione who was dressed in Gryffindor attire complete with condoms hanging off her outfit because a lot of fan fiction writers include some explicit couplings between Harry and Hermione. Or Harry and Ron. Or Harry and Snape. It boggles the mind.

It was a fun night, and I got to hang out with my friends as well as my professors, including my science fiction teacher, the illustrious Chip Sullivan:
He was supposed to be Hawaiian Barbie (not a good idea to show up sans costume) but he wouldn't put on the grass skirt.

Tonight I have another party, although this one will be more low-key because it is a chance for us to meet the writer-in-residence here who will be speaking at the library tomorrow night. I have to bring something. I'm thinking rolls. :-) Or some type of cheese dip. Whatever I decide, it will not be something I have to cook. I'm too lazy for that. Plus I have to read Alice in Wonderland! I've got important things to do, people!