In which I ponder various things

Item #1:
Thomas never remembers his dreams, so when he woke up this morning and told me that he'd had some strange dreams, I was instantly curious. He then related a semi-coherent narrative, the essence of which was that he had dreamed about turning in his thesis late and then failing it.
Wait a minute...
I wrote a thesis, not Thomas! I instantly felt guilty that my stress over the last month(s) about this silly document had somehow translated into a series of stressful dreams for my poor husband. Moral of the story: when I get stressed and/or selfish (sometimes they seem to be one and the same), it affects Thomas, which is something that I should be conscious of since I'm sure that future situations (CHILDREN) will only exacerbate this tendency.

Item #2:
I am currently taking a boot camp class sent up through my church that consists of 4-5 women and an instructor. One woman this morning shared that her youngest child (of 4) is graduating from college in two weeks and that she is getting divorced after 25 years, leading to a progression of "do I still have value" type questions. Her purpose in telling us this was not to garner pity or emphasize what a strong woman she is, though obviously I do a) think she is strong and b) wish that the situation were different. Instead, she said that she is telling every young mom she sees to not completely forget about herself and her own interests while she is raising kids, b/c someday they will be grown and gone. She emphasized the importance of investing time in your husband, even when the kids are around and life is chaotic. While her advice is not directly applicable for me or my current situation, I appreciate the spirit it was given in and also imagine that she knows what she's talking about. It's food for thought, anyways, and I am going to try to remember to say a few prayers for her.

books and such

A spectacular Jeopardy question for the category, Great Works of Literature in Haiku. We keep a daily calendar of Jeopardy questions (in the can, of all places) which are alternately encouraging (hey! I do know something!) and discouraging (am I really that dumb?).

1931
Everybody Wang
Lung tonight and
The Buck stops here.

I didn't get the answer because I immediately started singing the song that brought to mind, but my brilliant husband did. We then proceeded to argue/have a spirited discussion about The Good Earth. Thomas claimed it as "the worst book ever," which I disagreed with since I just finished listening to a Jodi Picoult book called Vanishing Acts--truly, the Worst Book Ever. I actually found myself shouting at the characters as I drove.

this modern life

The Men's Health magazine left on the desk next to me at the Mt. Pleasant library bears the following headline in big, bold letters:
CARS!
BEER!
BREASTS!
AND NINE OTHER THINGS WORTH LIVING AND DYING FOR.

Thanks, Men's Health, for explaining to me what is important in life. I'm so glad that a magazine devoted to men's health feels the need to discuss breasts.

My students are funny

I'm worried that this student is a little too into Twilight.
"I think that Edward and Bella are the perfect couple even though they are different. Some vampires can train themselves to not eat humans and yes there will always be those vampires who can't but in our culture there will be some bad people. Overall I think it is good that vampires are becoming more interactive with humans because it will create a cycle for future generations and they will eventually adjust to their diet."

SO, everyone should be aware--vampires move among us AND they may not always be on a diet...

One of the 31.1 million who watched his memorial service

Ah, yes. Student papers, the font of blog posts.

Just when I thought that everyone my age and younger considered the King of Pop a strange and troubled man with occasional moments of musical genius, I came across this paper...

"I have been and always will be a Michael Jackson fanatic; his music is the cure to any bad day. There have been days when I devote a solid eight hours to watching Michael Jackson music videos, documentaries, and listening to his music. I will admit that I was "the crazy fan" when he passed away last year, I cried throughout his memorial service and mourned his death for a few days. In addition I am proud to say that I own every CD and DVD he ever released, I saw "This Is It" the day it was released in theaters and bought it the day it came out in stores. I also have his posters hanging up in my room...needless to say I am a bit obsessed. "

So, do we admire this 18-year old fan who was two when the first charges of child sexual abuse were made against him? A fan who embraced him well past the good years of the Jackson 5 and Thriller? A fan who bypassed the traditional boy bands in order to devote herself to Mr. Neverland himself? For me, the jury is still out until I find out if she can moonwalk.

SNOW

This is the tree in our front yard. Those are snowflakes falling in front of it. Having snow fall at our house was tremendously fun, and we enjoyed it to the fullest since it may never happen again! To all the weathermen that I doubted last Friday, my deepest apologies. You weren't just fear-mongering or starting a false buzz of conversation. However, news stations, the pictures of "adorable snowmen" and winter fun are getting old. Let's keep it real here people: a couple of inches of snow should not be the headline news for most of the following week. Instead, all local news coverage should be switched to The Olympics, a second source of recent happiness.

mountains!

Putting aside the lame positioning of my arms, consider the awesomeness of this photograph. Alpine village, check. Spectacular mountains, check. Sunshine, check. Snow, check. Awesome hat, check (it has a tassel).
This was from my abroad experience, 4.5 years ago. It is hard to believe that it has been so long! Thomas and I are hoping to make it over to Europe this summer to do some gallivanting in areas just like this one. I am longing for mountains, especially around this time of year. Well, really, it never goes away. I absolutely love Charleston and our life here. But there is something about mountains that marshes and beaches just can't touch.