All Sorted

I'm in Gryffindor. I was a little surprised--I was suspecting Ravenclaw, but oh, well!

Get sorted by the Hogwarts Sorting Hat here.

Now I really am going to do my taxes, finally.

The Train Game!

I just ordered a copy of

with an Amazon gift certificate.

Rob and Mike know what this game means to me, since we played a few times back when I was in DC, but I have more associations of it from college days, when a few of us sat around drinking endless cups of tea and playing it. Strangely addictive, it's like Monopoly, but with a point. And it involves crayons.

Brilliant altogether.

Freakin' Out the Kitty Cat

J & I just decided we needed a good laugh, so watched the Kitty Cat Dance for what must have been the hundredth time--and in the spirit of killing time, we clicked on a few more links, ranging from the hilarious to the truly bizarro. Maddie didn't enjoy these nearly as much as we did, though.

Listen to Tiresias (at the end)...



Gizmo Flushes...



Homage to Gizmo...



and--Creepy. Too Creepy, Man, Too Creepy.



I know some of you out there are waiting for me to write more about Ireland--somehow, I haven't had the energy for much of that (though plenty of energy for other things). But never fear--one of these days....

Might as Well Wear Hanes...

...in Atlanta, because it'll be against the law to show off your underwear if current legislation passes. Check out this article about changes to Atlanta's decency laws.

Here's what the sponsoring city councilman has to say about the idea of racial profiling:

"The purpose of the paper is to generate some conversation to see if we can find a solution," Martin said. "It will be like all the discussions we've had around the value of the hip-hop culture. We know there are First Amendment issues ... and some will say I'm just trying to put young black men in jail, but it's going to be fines."

Errrr....

(Sorry, Rob--once again, I think I've beat you on the "What the Fuck Friday" feature ;-)

An bhfuil sibh réidh? (Are ye ready?)

While we were in Paris, Jenny bought cds of MC Solaar and Shy'm. I've been enjoying both since I got back--they're especially suitable for Home Improvement Projects. I'm creating an office out of our kitchen closet--quite an adventure in managing old plaster and horrid shelves from some decade past, but greatly improved by these cds and beer.

First, MC Solaar. This isn't a video, but so far, it's one of my favorite songs on the album.



...and Shy'm. Delightfully cheesy, and she will always remind me of one particular summer evening at our friend Chris's apartment in Belleville, getting ready to go out, with him giving running commentary from the bathroom. This wasn't the song I'd have chosen (I was looking for "Sur les Dancefloors"), but oh, well!



There's just something so cool about Paris. Just being there made me feel--as Engrish.com would put it--Top of Cool. Imagine these two songs as part of the soundtrack to an evening which began with dinner outside at a fabulous pizza restaurant and ended with meeting up with a very cool crowd of Parisians and expats at a slightly dive-y lesbian bar in the Marais, where my Perrier had a bright green glo-stick in it! Definitely Top of Cool.

Cad é Tharla? (What Happened?)

Yes, folks, I'm back from Ireland!

Describing the whole thing of a piece is too much for me in my still-jetlagged state, and besides, who wants a laundry list of What I Did During My Summer in Ireland (for vacation it was not)? Ok, I know some of you want the big story all at once, but what you'll get (eventually) are a series of vignettes.

For now, though, two short lists.

Momentous Things That Happened

1. I found out that I got the Mainzer Fellowship to Cambridge next winter! I'll be there for two months as part of their gender studies program, and I'm ecstatic about it! While there, I will be doing research about Julia Clifford and Lucy Farr.

2. Jenny & I spent five days in Paris, catching up with our friend Chris, formerly a student in composition in NYU. He moved to France a few years ago, and we got to hang out with him and his fabulous Parisian and ex-pat friends. We felt tres chic, indeed!

3. My Irish language skills are much improved, thanks to the FLAS grant that allowed me to spend about a month and a half studying at Oideas Gael. Of course I have lots to say about that, but for now, I'll leave it by saying that despite its significant flaws (namely its very pathetic food shop) I'm already making plans to get back to Glencolumcille as soon as possible.

4. I perfected my apple crumble technique, sans measurements of any kind other than by eyeball and handful. Once it cools off enough to want the oven on--which, providentially, will coincide with apple season--I'll have to see whether my newfound skills came with me across the Atlantic, or whether they were a magical gift of the cottage in Glen where I stayed for the month of June.

5. I caught my first 4 fish! Mackerel, off the coast near Teelin. I fried them up and they were beautiful.

6. I heard about the song "Automatic Lover" for the first time ever. Stay tuned....

...and a second list--

Things that Momentously Did Not Happen

1. Fieldwork interviews. This omission felt right and good, though--partly because I was busy learning Irish, thinking about my project--and what's more, have not filed any research plans with the Human Subjects Board at NYU (better safe than sorry).

2. A great deal of fiddling. The first three weeks I was in Glen, the good music was elsewhere, and I didn't have a car. I did make up for lost time later in the summer there (more on this later), but also momentously, I spent a total of about 12 hours at the Willie Clancy week. That, for you non-traddies out there, is a trifling amount, because in past years I've spent nearly all my waking hours for a week there. And during that 12 hours or so, I played maybe an hour's worth. Again, more on the whys and wherefores of this later.

3. Drinking. I probably had a total of 5 pints the whole summer, taken glass by glass. My coffee intake was slightly higher, but still fairly insignificant. My consumption of black tea and Donegal bogwater, however, was unprecedented.

As I recover from jetlag and get back into the swing of posting, I'll describe some of this stuff in more detail and post some pictures. For now, here are two teasers: one photo, and the unspeakably stunning and bizarro video for "Automatic Lover." I thank Paolo (Sophie's boyfriend and now a friend of mine) for tipping me off about this song. Too cool, man, too cool.