2008 in brief, irresponsible review

I have returned from North Carolina and the madhouse of pretention that is MLA and will perhaps post about my misadventures soon. In the meantime, and inspired by caviling, I am posting an end-of-2008 meme. You’re supposed to post just the first sentence of the first entry of each month over the past year, but I am a rule breaker, a blog rebel, and so sometimes ::gasp:: I post two sentences. Even three.

So here is my tedious year in review:

Tomorrow I begin working in earnest on my dissertation (although I’m sure my advisors assume that I have already started).

I read a few blog communities on graduate school. I remember, during my first semester at Rice, reading a post by a student who could only work on his dissertation if he was listening to “Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. I thought — wow, this man is obviously insane.

Danny and I went to the Starbucks on Buffalo Speedway and Westpark on Saturday night. The gentleman waiting in line behind us was wearing a tee-shirt, jeans, and white crocodile loafers with a long, square tip. We decided that this man’s footwear is what is wrong with the world.

Sometimes I miss the privilege of strolling through the fiction section of a bookstore, finding something that looks interesting by an author I don’t know, purchasing it, and reading it without guilt.

I’m in Michigan, waiting out a three-hour layover on my way home from Ohio, where I visited Sandy, Matt, Terri, and my new godson Andy.

My Tomtoddy icon is crying because I am wide awake, which is unusual for me after 11:00 pm, since I am a premature curmudgeon.

Yesterday I finally made it to the farmer’s market that sets up in the stadium parking lot at Rice every Tuesday. I’ve been meaning to go for weeks.

I have braved the Dickens Universe, taught the elderly about Hard Times, enjoyed the balmy Santa Cruz weather, and returned to hot-n-humid Houston, where Tropical Storm Eduoard was horribly disappointing and my summer job is… well, what it was before I left.

Everyone should check out Danny’s fabulous new website.

When I was at American University in Washington, DC, I briefly had an internship at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

bee introduced me to FAIL blog, and I am obsessed.

I have not been blogging because I am paralyzed by job market and dissertation stress.

Happy 2009, everyone!