Monday, May 30, 2011

john legend has an AWESOME voice and this is a GREAT song.  i LOVE this.  caps lock everywhere!!

the atlanta weather report for this week:


um, are you kidding me?  90 i can handle.  it's been 90 off and on for a couple weeks.  but 96?!  NOT OKAY.

i've now started stalking the weather in oxford, england.  ahh, the contrast:


in 22 days i won't have to deal with 90 degree weather any more.  COME ON, 22 DAYS.

Sunday, May 29, 2011

lunches

last week i made roasted asparagus and tomato penne salad with goat cheese from the may issue of cooking light and put it in four tupperwares to bring to lunch for four days in a row.  (note: i can happily eat the same thing for lunch four days in a row.  a talent, i know.)  i used artichokes instead of olives (olives = gross) and doubled the amount of arugula and it was SO GOOD.  the perfect lunch, in fact!  it's more veggies than pasta, so i feel like i'm eating healthily, too.  hoo-ray.

packing lunch is over for me until august, however - our last day of school was on friday!  SUMMER!!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

BOO, transcribed.

Dear Valued Customer [eww - i hate emails that start this way],
During our ticket request phase, there was a great deal of demand for tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games, resulting in some oversubscribed sessions. As such we employed a ballot system, observed by one of the six global audit firms, to allocate the requested tickets that were oversubscribed, including those in your request. Please understand that the London Organizing Committee is the entity that decides the allocation of tickets amongst the various countries, and we simply act as an agent to sell what is allocated.
Based on the results of the ballot, we regret to inform you that your Ticket Request was not confirmed for any tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games...[lots more blah blah here that i skimmed]


Ticket Request Phase Results


During our ticket request phase, there was a great deal of demand for tickets to the London 2012 Olympic Games, resulting in many oversubscribed sessions. Below is some detailed information about the Ticket Request Phase.


Top 5 Sports Requested and Expected Results from Ballot Process


1. Swimming – We expect to confirm 4.65% of the tickets requested
2. Athletics – We expect to confirm 20.05% of the tickets requested
3. Gymnastics Artistic – We expect to confirm 5.62% of the tickets requested [damn me for enjoying a sport/event/whatever that is popular!]
4. Football – We expect to confirm 26.69% of the tickets requested
5. Tennis – We expect to confirm 14.08% of the tickets requested

Friday, May 27, 2011

i went to the gym on a friday afternoon (someone be impressed)

and there was a new instructor.  she appeared scary: in amazing shape, tattoos, short hair, crop top to show off her six pack.  eeeek!  i like my aerobics instructors to have some flaw to show they can relate to the common (wo)man: me.  the previous instructor has a huge butt.  this makes me like her: she is human!

cyborg woman starts the class this afternoon by saying, "there is a new sheriff in town, ladies!"

i. am. not. kidding.

it was all i could do not to pee my pants.

and then she was awesome.  hard class, but not so difficult that i (a) had a heart attack, or (b) couldn't do the moves.  whew.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

15

today is the 15th anniversary of the day i became a vegetarian.

yes, i have kept track of it.  yes, i know that's ridiculous.  no, i can't help it.

may 25, 1996.  i made the decision that i was going to become a vegetarian for a week to see if i could do it.  i was 13.  13 year old me thought it would be a fun experiment.  but that night mom made pasta salad for dinner, from a kit, and the kit contained bacon bits that were all over the (completed) pasta salad.  i have this VIVID memory of that - of standing in the kitchen and realizing that i had failed just as soon as i started, and i made a decision that i would become a vegetarian tomorrow.  post-bacon bits.  so that was the last meat i ate on purpose: bacon bits.

may 26, 1996 it began.  in the 15 years since that date have i ever taken a bite (or more) of something and realized there was meat in it afterwards?  of course.  have i ever knowingly eaten meat?  no.  that week's experiment just kept going and has turned into 780 weeks (and counting).  i'm proud of this.  i can't imagine a situation in which i would go back to eating animals.  (but their delicious cheese?  why yes, please.)

when i tell people i'm a vegetarian i'm often asked why.  i don't exactly know what made me do it, what made me take that leap, but this is what i think: i was raised on a dairy farm.

(you know you want to see this picture again.)


we ate vegetables from the garden and eggs from the chickens and deer that the neighbors shot on our land and beef from cows we owned.  animals died and i saw death.  i don't think a lot of people are that close to their food - or that close to living things that die.  i was sensitive to where my food was coming from - i was (and am) just plain sensitive.  i don't like to see people or animals in pain.  most animals that we eat live painful lives and then are killed - but in the 21st century, in an industrialized and urbanized america, we don't see any of that.  if people had to raise and slaughter their own animals they would absolutely eat less meat.  i'm not willing to kill a shrimp so i don't eat shrimp.  i guess it's more complicated than that, but you know what i mean.

i'll step down from my soapbox now.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

do yourself a favor.  never watch the film gideon's trumpet even though (a) it stars henry fonda, and you like henry fonda, and (b) it's about a supreme court case - one that you're interested in.  this movie goes so slowly you think it must be made for a 90 year old...but is only assuming an intelligence level of a 5th grader.  DON'T TAKE 5 MINUTES TO EXPLAIN DOUBLE JEOPARDY AS IF I AM AN IDIOT.  additionally, THIS MOVIE IS AN HOUR AND 45 MINUTES LONG, YET WITH SOME GOOD EDITING WOULD LAST ABOUT 30 MINUTES.

yet, i continue to watch it.  what does this say about me?
an undoctored view of the floor of my closet.  sandals in the front; real shoes pushed to the back.  and yes, i really do make sure each shoes lives next to his pair.


i love this time of year.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

HA.

David Frum, who occasionally predicts that Pawlenty will win the [2012 Republican Presidential] nomination, puts it another way: "Predicting Pawlenty feels like reaching the wrong answer on a math exam. You do the calculation and you arrive at the answer, Pawlenty. You think: That can't be right."


(from here)

i am extremely entertained by this.

Monday, May 23, 2011

dear authorized ticket reseller,
i would really like to know if i got the olympics tickets i put my name in for.  your website says i will be alerted "the week of may 23rd."  fools, it is that week.  don't make me wait until friday to find out.  i'm waiting with bated breath here, and patience is not always my strong suit.  it's the week of may 23rd.  pleeeeeeease tell me.
sincerely,
miss claire

Friday, May 20, 2011

what i'm listening to right now:

"helplessness blues," by fleet foxes



i hadn't realized that fleet foxes had put out a new album until i listened to a recent this american life episode, "this week," that featured this song.  LOVE IT.  i keep listening, catching a few more lines of the lyrics.  pondering them.  playing the song over again.

kittens! inspired by kittens!

(clearly you need to watch this youtube video.)

this is henry.  he is very photogenic.


there are four kittens visiting my office today - the woman across the hall has brought them in to school to give away and they are hanging out in my office and receiving visitors/potential owners.  don't worry: i won't be taking one home myself, but BOY THEY ARE CUTE.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

i thiiiiink i've added the ability to follow this blog by email!  enter your email address in the box to the left, complete the steps that you're prompted to complete (enter the letters, then go to your email inbox and click the link to activate the subscription), and VOILA!  you should receive new posts in your email instead of having to come to the blog itself to read new posts.

can someone technologically savvy try this and report back on whether it works?

hooray.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

WELL worth the half hour it will take you to read this (it's a long one): "the last two veterans of WWI"

this author is an incredible writer, in my opinion...aaaaand based only on reading this one piece...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

eliot

i heart t.s. eliot.  he puts words together in a way that is beautiful to my ears.

for no good reason (just because i want to, and here i get to do what i want to!) here are my three most favoritest lines of eliot's poetry.

#3, from "the waste land":


"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;"
"They called me the hyacinth girl."
--Yet when we came back, late, from the hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.


"the waste land" is an awesome poem, and thanks to a college english class i understand about 50% of it, and that is a 50% that i am proud of.

this is one of those poems that it's so hoity-toity to like.  if you say "the waste land" is your favorite poem, odds are you're just trying to sound smart.  readers: i really do love this poem.  i don't claim to understand it all, but i've read it and it's been analyzed for me and i comprehended some of that analysis.

#2, from "the love song of j. alfred prufrock":


For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons


that whole poem kicks ass; i had trouble picking just that line.  i love this visual - this measuring of time by the one spoon a day you use to stir your coffee and that then accumulates in the sink.


#1, the entire poem "preludes," but particularly this part:


And when all the world came back
And the light crept up between the shutters
And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,
You had such a vision of the street
As the street hardly understands;
Sitting along the bed's edge, where
You curled the papers from your hair,
Or clasped the yellow soles of feet
In the palms of both soiled hands.

i had - in high school, when i first discovered eliot - almost this whole poem memorized.  i don't know why it's my favorite, but i can so clearly visualize every bit of it, and i like that.

happy poetry day, a holiday created by a miss claire royal proclamation.

Monday, May 16, 2011

really really cool moment - if you like paul simon, you must read and watch this!

(thanks to nora for finding this!)

Sunday, May 15, 2011

the last three weeks: chaos.

yesterday: graduated 90 seniors.  lots and lots of hugs.  facebook friend requests from my (now former - sniff sniff) students.  girls' lacrosse game, drinks with jenny (not at the same time).

today: windows open, breeze coming in.  it has cooled down to 62 degrees and the sky looks ready to drop some (but not too many) raindrops on us.  i got up early this morning for movie club and then had a falafel and hummus pita from mediterranean grill for lunch (yummmm), ran some errands, and went shopping (very successfully).  now i'm curled up in bed with my book.

this moment: heaven.

Friday, May 13, 2011

ashokan farewell

i first heard "ashokan farewell" last year*; the senior orchestra students played it as the final piece in the spring concert with each kid taking a little part as a solo.  i cried more than one tear.  tonight at baccalaureate one senior - a talented violinist who is going to major in music in college - played it.

this senior class graduates tomorrow.  am i tired of them - am i glad they are going out into the world they are so desperate to experience?  YES.  but i will miss them more than i anticipated, and that's always how it works - all of a sudden graduation is upon you and the reality hits that these good kids - these special human beings - are leaving.  i've gone from "i'm so glad this is the last day of class" to "um...please don't leave."  i hate goodbyes.  but we're in goodbye season.

and this song gets me every time.




*but really i first heard the song on the ken burns series the civil war, and that might be where you've heard it, too.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

my kids think the AP exam yesterday went well - hooray!

for your procrastination pleasure today: "world's oldest man dies in montana at 114"

the blazing sea nuggets did not win at trivia last night; dani's knowledge of the 90s tv show home improvement moved us from 4th place to 2nd place on the final question, so we still placed (whew).  it's fun to look back and think that our knowledge of such different subjects as the chicago bears, star wars, 90s tv, world capitals, nixon, and the bible came together in a 2 hour time period.  this is why i love trivia!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

as we speak, my students are taking their AP government exam

i can breathe!  i'm done teaching classes, my students are taking their AP exam - so i'm done preparing them for that - now i have the time to organize my office and catch up on newsweek and clear out my email inboxes.  this week feels so good.

i'm also doing a fair amount of excited thinking about ireland this summer!  other claire and i are on step 1: buying flights from england to ireland and back again...and figuring out a rental car for getting around the country. other claire has volunteered to drive.  YESSSSSS.  i make an excellent co-pilot, but was not excited about driving in a weird car on the wrong side of a small road.

in cleaning up my office i came across this article from newsweek from last year - my thoughts exactly on traveling:
"how to be invisible"

happy tuesday, everyone!  blazing sea nuggets goes for the five-peat at trivia tonight.  can we be so lucky?!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

"all women become like their mothers.  that is their tragedy.  no man does.  that's his."
--oscar wilde


happy mother's day, mama!  i love you!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

I WANT TO LIVE HERE (in the summer when it's warm and it stays light for a long time - scotland in the winter must be miserable).

Friday, May 6, 2011

baking success

last night i made pumpkin muffins with crumble topping (scroll down to the bottom of the post - above the comments), and people: i know i say this a lot, but if you haven't had these muffins YOU HAVE NOT YET LIVED.  i was talking to the muffin as i ate it.  literally.  the conversation went something like this:

bite one: "oh. my. god."
bite two: "this is so gooooooooood."
bite three: "i am an incredible cheffffff."*
bite four: "i need another one NOW."

but i couldn't have another one!  now OR in the near future.  today is the day i reward my students who have won the current events competitions we have been having all semester in my AP government classes. i reward them with food because they enjoy that.  i made a couple different treats, including these muffins.  there are 6 students on a team x 3 classes = 18 muffins needed, and i only made 19.  the recipe says it makes 12, but that is a LIE.  it makes 19 perfectly.  well, it probably makes 18 perfectly, but i wanted to try one.  duh.

yes, this is a fall-like recipe (perfect for thanksgiving), but it is still delish in may.  things i did differently than the recipe: butter instead of shortening, cinnamon instead of "pumpkin pie spice" (as i have no such thing), real flour instead of gluten-free (duh), i only used about 2/3 of the topping mixture i made, and no powdered sugar sprinkled on top (i dislike that in general).

i'll DEFINITELY be making these again soon...


*by "incredible chef," i mean "incredibly good at following a recipe and not burning things."

Thursday, May 5, 2011

is it embarrassing that i didn't quite realize that the bob dylan song "forever young" and the 80s song by alphaville "forever young" have different lyrics?

i mean, of course they do.  of course they're different songs when you think about it.  BUT DIFFERENT SONGS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO HAVE THE SAME TITLE.  it is confusing to me.

a new live album by brandi carlile was released a couple days ago; i love her and i love this cover of the alphaville version of "forever young":

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

interesting article about the decision by my best friends, the new york times, on their conscious decision not to refer to bin laden as "mr." bin laden: "Goodbye Mr. Terrorist"

(it appears that all i want to do is give you links to distract you.  perhaps this is the case - i can't deny the evidence.)

census data is cool

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer?hp

how did i not include this yesterday?  this is IN-CRED-I-BLE.  i love the new york times's graphics, and this one takes the cake.  zoom around, find your hometown, click on "view more maps" to see different data.  LOVE this.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

FOUR-PEAT!!!

and no, mike, it isn't the sizzler: it's sicily.

some procrastination for you (you're welcome)

it is tuesday.  if it was really important, i did it yesterday.

http://www.booksidoneread.com/
she amuses me, and i hope book lovers will enjoy.

http://1000awesomethings.com/
aunt monica sent me a link to this website a looooong time ago and i've been enjoying it daily without alerting her of that fact.  thanks, monica!!


in other news, blazing sea nuggets goes for the four-peat tonight.  cross your fingers for us!

Monday, May 2, 2011

on sunday i saw world peace and other 4th grade achievements as part of the atlanta film festival and i'd really like to recommend it to everyone, though it isn't in wide release and i don't know when it comes out on DVD or how widely that will be available.

basically i'm telling you to see a movie that you may not be able to see.  i am a jerk.

nora recommended this movie to me - she saw it in DC earlier this year - and recently i was so glad to find out that it was coming to atlanta!

i got a little (a lot) weepy in the dark of the theater at the end of this movie, just thinking about teachers and students and world problems and little kid minds.  that is only heightened today, i guess, with the news that osama bin laden was killed last night in pakistan.  real world problems, real world solutions.  no winners: only losers.  but finality, and no american deaths yesterday in this operation, and those are good things.  incredible news to wake up to, though; i had to blink myself awake enough to concentrate on NPR when i would normally be dozing before really waking up.

april: 10 & 11

the thirteen american arguments, by howard fineman (for my AP government classes my students buy a textbook and, this year, this book as well.  i wanted a book that would address some contemporary american issues and tie them back into the content of the course, and a lot of people on the AP government teachers' listserv i belong to were raving about this book.  my kids read 5 of the 13 chapters and wrote short essays on them; it was well-received by them and really interesting just for people interested in our government, so i'll recommend it to everyone!  it's pretty balanced ideological [a plus for my teaching purposes] and addresses issues like the environment, religion in government, war, and the presidency.  i'll definitely be using it again next year!  i finished the book this month so i'm including it here, but i've been reading bit by bit it all year.)

a game of thrones, by george r.r. martin (this is a re-read, but i didn't say i had to read 25 new books this year...  i first read this book in college [rachie recommended it!] and it's the only fantasy series i've ever read.  think kings and dragons and such.  i am not embarrassed because HBO apparently enjoyed it as well and has made a show out of it; that revived my interest even though i don't have HBO and won't be watching the show until it comes out on DVD.  this is a long book but a very entertaining read...if you're up for the fantasy aspect of it.)