There's this guy in my almost-graduate class who is too stinking cute.

Most of the students are internationals "fresh off the boat" as my mother would have said in an undoubtedly non-politically correct way. A few are internationals who were educated in the US and every semester there are one or two American students. The program is designed to be a prep course for those who would like to start their MBAs, but don't have any business background.

The cute one is American. It's not so much his looks- yeah he's not hard to look at, but what got me was he seems to have this "everything is great! I love it here!" attitude. It's great!

Rarely do the American students want to be there. At least the internationals are glad to be making their first steps into an American MBA- which in most of their countries is a big-freaking-deal.

Last week he was dressed like a good-ole-boy- jeans, plaid shirt, scuffed up boots and belt- I asked him where he was from, he said "Conneticut!" I told him it looked like he was assimilating to his new country of Texas well.

I told my co-teacher that I noticed his exceedingly possitive attitude and she said, "I know! Isn't he cute? I'm glad he's in your class, he would distract me."

Here's to the cute Conneticut cowboy- going against all odds to be a Yankee and cheerful at the same time! :0)

About a month ago an old acquaintance of mine sent out a mass email letting everyone know that she was in terminal liver failure.

Some time before I met her she had received a liver transplant, she had been in her mid to late teens (I'm guessing) when she got it.

Before I met her I never really thought much about transplant patients- or what they endured as a result of a transplant. She never went into details- but even the most basic things such as taking non-rejection medicines, frequent testing to be sure everything is alright- constant fear that her body may reject this other person's organ at any moment- and there's nothing to be done about it.

She said in her letter than she would not be seeking, nor accept another transplant. I know she had misgivings about it the first time, but she probably had some amount of pressure to get it done. Who wouldn't pressure a loved one to live longer?

She said there's no way to know how the liver deterioration will proceed. It could be weeks, months or years. How amazing and frightening to live with that knowledge- weeks, months or years. It's is so for all of us- but we pretend it's not.

Yesterday I found out that someone I know- my age, some years younger has been diagnosed with MS- not as life threatening, but certainly life altering.

What a life we walk through- as though everything will always remain the same.

So- last night I finished a "nut cracker" doll. Just a rag doll really. She's ok- first attempt on any pattern is always a bit off- I think. I didn't quite follow the pattern (what's new) and I didn't really understand the bit about the skirt, so I just made it up as I went. It turned out acceptable.

Today I decided to make another one (because I got over excited when I started embroidering faces, and made four or five faces) this time with the correct skirt. So I made the skirt, and turns out my mistake looked cuter than the 'real' thing.

I sat there and looked at her for a while, thinking maybe she would grow on me.
Then I thought, 'Maybe somebody else will love this skirt.'
Then I thought, 'Who cares what somebody else will love?! I'm making this doll!'
So- I ripped the skirt off, tore out all the stitches, and laid the fabric across the sewing machine- tomorrow's another day.

Below are links which make me jealous- the first one is one the woman who made the pattern for the nutcracker doll- the picture of the doll on the front cover of her book is there.

posy gets cozy
molly chicken

My students were introducing themselves in class this week.

Lots of the Koreans take "American" names, to cut down on the mispronunciation will will inevitably occur with thier own names.

One guy chose the American name "Ryan."

Introducing himself he said, "My name is Ryan." Someone in the class said, "Ryan?" He said, "Not Rion! Rrrawwr! Ryan!" It was so great.

We're reading The Scarlet Letter again for class. We read the short story "Young Goodman Brown" as an into to the period/author. I've started reading a book called Witch Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials so that I have an idea about the trials so that I can talk about them with some amount of authority as an 'instructor.' Also to round out my reading I brought a book yesterday called Anticraft: Knitting, Beading and Stitching for the Slightly Sinster For, you know, when I'm feeling slightly sinister.

I'm feeling slighty sinister now- I'm crocheting a skeleton.

I was just reading something by a crocheter- she was saying she hates WIPs (Works in Progress) Wow- I am totally ok with them- which must be why I have so very many of them.

I went to the chiropractor for the first visit today. He said he would take it easy on me, make it really simple- he just pounded on my spine with some poundy machine- then he said, "this might be a little uncomfortable at first" as he bent my head back farther than I thought it would go. Then he said, "Just relax, some people get nervous when I do their necks, because it's really loud. But don't worry, it's only because your neck is closer to your ears."

Indeed.

My neck is closer to my ears.

He popped my back and my neck with ease- I know it's his job, he was trained, he does it everyday- all day. I still think it is pretty amazing that he knows exactly how to do that. I can't say that it made me feel any better or worse for having done it- but it's a process, so I've been told.

Crazy to pay someone to crack your bones, twist your neck and pound your spine. It helps that he's adorable.

to prove i haven't just been sitting around doing nothing . . . here are a few vaca pics- and some project pics to boot!

I made this pink elephant over a year ago. I looked at the finished project in the pattern book and immediately thought, 'that is pretty ugly.' I don't remember what ever possessed me to decide to make one. Did I think I could make it cuter than the one in the book? (Well, if I do say so myself, some times I do make things cuter than the originals, not often, but it has happened.) Did I decide to make one of everything in the book? What I on some kind of cheap crack? I DON'T KNOW! Needless to say my elephant turned out equally as ugly as the ones in the book.

The heads of everything this designer makes are crazy big. It's for the effect I know. They are supposed to look exaggerated and cartoonish. But the head on this pink elephant is HUGE. Also, it's trunk is kind of phallic looking. It has 'crazy eyes' staring wildly- like it's on cheap crack (where is all this cheap crack coming from? I think my dog might be a drug runner.)

I tried to make her cute. I gave her a little scarf, a skirt, some bows for her ears. Still ugly. She's been lurking in my closet all this time, because I didn't dare put her with the bag of cute things that I've made. I didn't want homely to rub off. I took her out of the closet today. I painted her finger/toe nails. Which is to say I painted some finger/toe nails on. I gave her eyelashes, blush, a little heart on the end of her trunk, and another one on her little butt. She's still not so cute. However, she's trying really hard, and that counts for something.

You know what? Not everyone is cute. That's just life. Some folks are homely, and you just got to love the cute into them. It's a proven fact that the more you love someone the better that person looks. It's also a proven fact that the drunker you are the better some people look, but I digress . . .
Sometimes you can look at a not-so-beautiful (physically) person, you may notice some attempts on that person's part to look better. A hair do/cut clothes, make up- whatever. We should love them more for trying to look better, because most of us know we aren't beautiful- even beautiful people sometimes think they aren't beautiful- so it's good when someone notices you've made an attempt to look better.

Boo- my last real vacation day is over. It was too short. I could do with another week or two. I occasionally think I should become a real teacher so I can have the whole summer off.

Speaking of being a 'real' teacher. I was informed in the last faculty meeting that I am Not a professor. Only PhD's are professors. I am an instructor. Again, Boo. I always thought of 'Professor' as a title substitute for those who don't have PhD's. If you have a PhD you are "Dr. So-and-so." If you don't you are "Professor So-and-so." Wrong!

Not that it matters, I never had my students address me as Professor, I never introduced myself as professor. I never tell people I'm a "professor." But all that's not the point.

In other useless news- I am a total failure at making doll clothes. What this means is that I have a whole passel of nekkid dolls hanging out in my apt. Some of them even have little tushies and "lady parts" which really should be covered up.

My dog is so lazy. He just got out of bed to walk four feet and lay down.

Next he walked over to his food bowl and looked at it like, "What? This again?!"

Poor darling.

I think my left shoulder is tanner than my right.

I really should be on twitter.

I have vacation things to talk about- really, I'm just working up to them.

I went to the chiropractor today. He told me I'm too straight. Then he told me other parts were too crooked, on account of my neck being too straight. It seems that one's neck is supposed to be at a 30 degree angle on your spine. Mine is at a 1 degree angle. He said to compensate for my straightness, my mid and lower back got crooked. That doesn't seem fair to me.

He said that all my life's woes can be blamed on my too straight/too crooked spine. Allergies, digestive problems, of course neck and back pain, leg cramps etc.

If only I had a curvy neck and a not crooked back.

My life would be better- so says the chiropractor.

He says he can fix me for the low cost of 60 visits at the value of $2600.

Wow.

yeah.

Actually I believe him.

I might do it- go on a payment plan. Get my neck curved.

I've made some dolls since I got back from my vacation-a-thon. My only consolation is that 70% of other dolls from the same pattern are uglier than mine.

I took some pictures of #1. I want to call her Latoya because she's so white, her nose is very pointy, she has (had) so much hair her neck was bending back, her eyes are a little wonky and she's somewhat lose jointed. However, she's still cuter than 70% of the other dolls from the pattern I've seen.

I decided to make a #2 to see what I could do better. She got better fingers and toes. One eye is better, the other one- still wonked out. Her nose is much improved. I haven't jointed her yet,but I've planned a different method. Her hair is not quite so heavy. She's looking good. I think I can put her at a strong 75%

I've started talking to myself about #3- What can I do about those eyes? Gotta change the fingers, it took an hour to get those fingers turned on #2.

After that- well, I'll have a collection of nekkid dolls sitting around- so I should make some clothes for the girls.

I would post some pics- but don't have the card reader on hand. Laters.

I've lead my students in studying the turbulent 1960s- focusing on the assassination of JFK. We went to talk to local author, Jim Marrs, to learn what his ideas were on the topic. He's a conspiracy theorist- and I think my students really enjoyed hearing from him. I know I did. He thinks pretty much all the important/powerful people in the country wanted JFK dead- and Dallas was their last chance to get him before re-election year when security and media coverage would increase. Oswald was a patsy- even a composite- a spook or two who was sacrificed for the plan. There's a six hundred page book called Cross Fire to explain it all.