11:47 PM:

A Holidailies haiku:

Essays completed
Still lots of research to do
I need to sleep now.

8:25 PM:

Okay... I was up until 6:45 this morning, working on some essays for my Creative Non-Fiction workshop, which really needed to be done earlier this week, but for which the final, final, final deadline is tomorrow, 'cause that's when we're having the last class of the semester. They ain't there yet, which would suggest that another all-nighter is in order, but I'm getting on in years and need to get some sleep. So I'm thinking I'm gonna go for a nap and then get up and try to finish everything. (After which I have student papers to grade and comment on, but if worse comes to worst, I can finish those during the lecture...)

'Course, then I have much research to do, which would theoretically involve an all-nighter tomorrow night, 'cause I need to bring in what I've got on Friday, but one crisis at a time.

Wish me luck, and stay tuned.

12:25 PM:

I know, I know, I was supposed to be getting off the surveys, but fellow HoliDailier Melissa posted an entry with this 97-question one (it's billed as having 100, but #31, #43, and #96 are missing), and how could I resist?

1. Are you an innie or an outie?
   Innie.
2. Have you ever worn bell-bottoms?
   Nope.
3. Have you ever written a song?
   Yep. Lyrics-wise, any number of song parodies; my user title on The Usual Suspects isn't "He Writes the Songs" for nothing.
   

   Melody-wise, one. Set to a [Hebrew] verse in Psalms; the tune wasn't bad, but the song never quite worked, 'cause the verse in question doesn't have the right prosody to be endlessly repeatable. I'd need new lyrics to get it to work.

4. Can you make change for a dollar right now?
   Yes.
5. Have you ever been in the opposite sex's public toilet?
   Not since I was very very very young.
6. Have you ever smelled your own feet?
   Probably, when I was younger and more flexible.
7. Do you like ketchup on or beside your french fries?
   Neither.
8. Can you touch your tongue to your nose?
   No, and why would I want to, anyway?
9. Have you ever been a boy/girl scout?
   Not as such, no.
10. Have you ever broken a mirror?
    Almost certainly, yeah.
11. Have you ever put your tongue on a frozen pole?
    No.
12. What is your biggest pet peeve?
    People who expect me to choose just one favorite pet peeve.
13. Do you slurp your drink after it's gone?
    At times.
14. Have you ever blown bubbles in your milk?
    I can't recall a specific instance of this, but probably.
15. Would you rather eat a Big Mac or a Whopper?
    Neither is kosher, and the commercials haven't given me much grounds for preferring either.
16. Have you ever gone skinny-dipping?
    Nope. I don't swim.
17. When you are at the grocery store, do you ask for paper or plastic?
    I'll take either... but I tend to prefer plastic. Easier to handle, and I use 'em for garbage bags.
18. True or False: You would rather eat steak than pizza.
    Depends on the mood I'm in. Also on the quality of the steak and pizza in question.
19. Did you have a baby blanket?
    I'm sure I had something in my crib.
20. Have you ever tried to cut your own hair?
    Just my beard.
21. Have you ever sleepwalked?
    Not that I know of.
22. Have you ever had a birthday party at McDonalds?
    Nope.
23. Can you flip your eye-lids up?
    Ewww. Never tried it, don't ever plan to do so.
24. Are you double jointed?
    Nope.
25. If you could be any age, what age would you be?
    Nineteen-going-on-forty.
26. Have you ever gotten gum stuck in your hair?
    Nope.
27. Have you ever thrown-up after a roller coaster ride?
    No, but I avoid roller coasters like the plague. I went on a kiddie coaster once. That was more than enough.
28. What is your dream car?
    A train.
29. What is your favorite cartoon of all time?
    Ooooh. Tough call... but I'm gonna have to go with the classics: Looney Tunes / Merrie Melodies.
30. Would you go swimming in shallow waters where, one year earlier, a shark had attacked a child?
    We've already established that I don't swim, right?
31. Have you ever eaten a dog biscuit?
    Nope.
32. If you were in a car sinking in a lake, what would you do first?
    In theory, take a deep breath, roll down the window, and swim out it to safety. But given that we've established that I don't swim... well, I'd just as soon not dwell on this.
33. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
    Hmm. Do medical helicopters count? Otherwise, not that I recall.
34. Can you pick something up with your toes?
    Umm, I guess so, yeah.
35. How many remote controls do you have in your house?
    Lots. The TV, the VCR, the universal remote primarily used for the other VCR, the DVD player, the CD player, the stereo, the air conditioner. Seven! Seven remote controls! Ah-ha-ha! <lightning> <thunder>
36. Have you ever fallen asleep in school?
    Yes. Many a time.
37. How many times have you flown in an airplane in the last year?
    Four times, I think. To and from New York; to and from Charlotte, NC.
38. How many foreign countries have you visited?
    Two: Canada and Israel. (And Canada only really, really briefly.)
39. If you were out of shape, would you compete in a triathlon if you were somehow guaranteed to win a big, gaudy medal?
    Nah. Who needs big, gaudy medals?
40. Would you rather be rich and unhappy, or poor and happy?
    Sigh. Poor and happy. I guess.
41. If you fell into quicksand, would you try to swim or try to float?
    I'd like to think it'd be the latter.
42. Do you ask for directions when you are lost?
    Yes.
43. Have you ever had a Mexican jumping bean?
    Nope.
44. Are you more like Cinderella or Alice in Wonderland?
    Alice.
45. Would you rather have an ant farm with no ants or a box of crayons with broken points?
    Crayons!
46. Do you prefer light or dark bread?
    Rye bread, without seeds. Or pita. For toast, white bread.
47. Do you prefer scrambled or fried eggs?
    French toast. Made with white bread.
48. Have you ever been in a car that ran out of gas?
    Nope.
49. Do you talk in your sleep?
    Not that I know of. I hope not.
50. Would you rather shovel snow or mow the lawn?
    Neither.
51. Would you rather be bitten by a poisonous snake or constricted by a python?
    Neither.
52. Have you ever played in the rain?
    Not that I recall.
53. Which do you think is more dangerous: an angry bear or a hungry white shark?
    Depends if you're on land or in the water.
54. Would you climb a very high tree to save a kitten?
    Nope. I might call somebody else to do it, though...
55. Can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?
    Nope.
56. Do you drink pepsi or coke?
    Someday I'll find a long survey that doesn't ask this...
57. What's your favorite number?
    "When the Saints Go Marching In."
58. If you were a car, would you be an SUV or a sports car?
    Sportscar.
59. Have you ever accidentally taken something from a hotel?
    Nothing comes to mind, no. Although I've accidentally left a book at one. (I called; they mailed it back. Hooray for the Ann Arbor Sheraton!)
60. Would you blow your nose at the dinner table?
    If I needed to, yeah.
61. Have you ever slipped in the bathtub?
    Thank goodness, no.
62. Do you use regular or deodorant soap?
    "Regular"? The stuff is loaded with moisturizers and vitamin E! ...but not deodorant.
63. Have you ever locked yourself out of the house?
    Yes. Oh, yes. In the most memorable instance of this, I locked the whole family out of the house at my bar mitzvah. Long story.
64. Would you rather make your living as a singing cowboy or as one of the Simpsons voices?
    Simpsons voice! Simpsons voice! Simpsons voice!
65. If you could invite any movie star to your home for dinner, who would it be?
    Christina Ricci. (Who, I might add, has already done a Simpsons voice.)
66. Have you ever gotten a truck driver to honk his horn?
    Nope.
67. Which would you rather live with: a huge nose or crossed eyes?
    You're not just asking this because I'm Jewish, are you? (I'd prefer the nose.)
68. Would you hang out with someone your best friend didn't like?
    Sure.
69. Would you hang out with someone your best friend liked, but you didn't like?
    It's been known to happen.
70. Have you ever returned a gift?
    Yep. Not recently, but sure. (When you get two copies of the same book for your Bar Mitzvah, what else are you gonna do?)
71. Would you give someone else a gift that had been given to you?
    Again, yep. I'm not seeing the problem here.
72. If you could attend an Olympic Event, what would it be?
    I'd pass the ticket along to somebody who cared.
73. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
    Including the bedroom slippers and the $1.50 flip-flops, five.
74. If your grandmother gave you a gift that you already have, would you tell her?
    No, but, umm, let's leave my grandmother out of this.
75. Do you sing in the car?
    When I'm not cringing in terror, sure.
76. Would you rather jump into a dumpster or into a vat of honey?
    It would depend on what was in the dumpster.
77. What is your favorite breed of dog?
    Hotdogs.
78. Would you donate money to feed starving animals in the winter?
    I suppose. Wouldn't be my first choice of charity, though.
79. If you were a bicycle, would you be a stingray or a mountain bike?
    Umm... what's a "stingray"?
80. What is your least favorite fruit?
    Most of them.
81. What kind of fruit have you never had?
    Most of them.
82. If you won a $5,000 shopping spree to any store, which store would you pick?
    Amazon.Com!
83. What brand sports apparel do you wear the most?
    Sports apparel? Are we counting my sneakers here? I'm not big with the sports.
84. Are/were you a good student?
    That appears to be a matter of some dispute now.
85. Among your friends, who could you arm wrestle and beat?
    Do I have any friends in kindergarten? 'Cause I might stand a chance, if so...
86. If you had to choose, what branch of the military would you be in?
    The olive branch.
87. Would you ever parachute out of a plane?
    If the plane were on fire and about to explode and there was no other way out, I'd consider it.
88. What do you think is your best feature?
    I'm not sure I have any.
89. If you were to win a grammy, what kind of music would it be for?
    Novelty.
90. What is your favorite season?
    Summer!
91. How many members do you have in your immediate family?
    Define "immediate family" here? Two parents, fourteen younger siblings. (Not to mention Erin.)
92. Which of the five senses is most important to you?
    Hearing.
93. Would you be a more successful painter or singer?
    Singer, I suppose, but I wouldn't stand much chance at either.
94. How many years will/did you end up going to college?
    So far, 4.5 years as an undergrad, 1.5 as a grad. Whether there'll be more has yet to be determined.
95. Have you ever had surgery?
    Yep.
96. Would you rather be a professional figure skater or professional football player?
    Both seem too dangerous to me... but figure skating, I suppose.
97. What do you like to collect?
    Dictionaries (latest acquisition: an 1911 school version of Worcester's Dictionary -- a steal at $1.99+shipping on eBay -- which I have, to be honest, been using as a mousepad for the past few days), Jewish prayer books, and covers of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

6:55 PM:

I fell asleep shortly before 6:00 AM, then got up shortly after 8:00 AM for my dental appointment. You might say I'm a bit tired. But I'm not gonna blow this HoliDailies thing on Day 2, so here goes:

The appointment was at the dental school affiliated with my college. The downsides are that you're being worked on by students, and that every procedure takes much longer than it would at a regular dentist. (Everything is broken down into smaller steps so that the professionals can check the students' work along the way.) The upsides are that you're helping the next generation of dentists gain experience, and that it's cheaper than going to a regular dentist.

I've been going to this place since September, and have finally gotten through the diagnostic phase. First I got an appointment in October, at which lots of X-rays were taken; then I got this appointment, in which my mouth was carefully examined by my assigned student dentist. Another student looked on, and a couple of doctors checked up on us along the way. I have never had so many people interested in my teeth before...

The upshot is that I need a thorough cleaning (likely to take two sessions, there being much work to be done), and will need thirteen fillings. Also, remember that root canal I got two years ago? I need to get the crown replaced. Estimated total cost: $1,132. Although they do have an installment plan...

Otherwise, they very much approved the fact that I stopped drinking heavily-sugared soft drinks in September, and they feel that I really need to brush my teeth regularly. And apparently they can tell by the state of my teeth that I often breathe through my mouth. (My allergies probably have a lot to do with this; I'm not sure I was able to breathe through my nose during some of my formative years.)

Otherwise, class went okay today (I did a kick-butt job on my homework, if I say so myself), and I managed to stay more or less conscious when holding office hours with my students, so that much is well with the world.

Finally, check out this conversation with my sister, held via AIM between the dentist and my class.

9:30 PM:

Okay, so I've been busy lately. Papers to grade, discussions to run, research to do, papers to write, that sort of thing. I've been managing to keep up with the first half of that list, but failing abysmally to manage much of the latter. And now the End-of-Semester Crunch is here, and I somehow need to get everything done in the next couple of weeks.

Specifically, I have a Major Project to do on representations of Jewish speech in English in the eighteenth century, on which I'm still kinda behind on the data-collection phase (never mind the actual analysis); I have a syllabus to create for the course I would have taught next year had things gone differently; I have at least one long essay to write for my Creative Non-Fiction course; and then there's all the usual grading and critiquing and so on.

In addition to all this, I need to continue looking into MFA programs in Creative Non-Fiction. I'm not sure if that's what I want to be doing next year, but I'll have time to figure that out after the semester ends; given the time constraints, I have little choice but to apply first and ask questions later. And I'm starting to vaguely plan the outlines of a tour of the country via Amtrak in January, but I'm leaving the details for later. And while I'm going to need to get a job of some sort in February, this, too, is on hold. No time to worry about it just now.

So, naturally, I jumped at the chance to join HoliDailies 2002, committing to do my best to update this journal every day this month.

No, this isn't quite as insane as it sounds. Granted that I don't really have time for this, I do think it would be a Good Thing to report back here more often. For one thing, I think my regular readers are sick of reading nothing but quizzes and such ("make the tests stop!" quoth Elaine); for another, I think it'd be good for me to get in touch with y'all, catching my breath in the midst of the chaos. But given all that chaos, I'm not likely to do it unless I have some sort of external requirement. Which is where HoliDailies comes in.

Besides, the last day of classes is December 11th, and I'll be done with the remaining schoolwork not very long after that, so the second half of the month should be relatively clear sailing...

With any luck, upcoming entries will have actual substance. Stay tuned, and have a happy Chanukah!