last reflection for valentine's day

so today was a snow day, and i was able to sleep in until 10:30* there are perks to being a teacher! anyway, not really being able to go out and about, i had a boatload of time to get things done* things done included doing laundry, walking toby a lot, cleaning the entire apartment, cooking some boring lunch, writing lesson plans, playing the piano, playing the guitar, watching ACC basketball (go Terps, beat the Wolfpack!) and making hershey's dark chocolate brownies* the brownies part was my favorite*

least favorite part of the day: not really being able to go out and about* i'm not cheesy-licious about valentine's day, but i have this thing about being with people on special days* or, more accurately put, being with my significant other on special days* so for that reason, today was a little tough* i love toby to pieces, but my valentine he did not make*

favorite part of the day: i was getting seriously bored after having cleaned and finished doing laundry* and i mean seriously* i couldn't have feigned interest in anything in my apartment* my mood began to decline* it's valentine's day after all! and just as i was about to get cranky, my phone rang* chris called me* i don't know how he does it, but he has such perfect timing* we didn't even talk about much, just snow and food* and somehow, that's enough* he doesn't need to shower me with roses, he doesn't need to go over-the-top with sweet nothings, and he doesn't need to lavish me with expensive gifts* what he does do is something that i couldn't have even thought to ask for--he makes me feel as though i'm the only woman in the world* thank you, chris*


xo, everybody!

i love (in no particular order)

Toby
my family
running
athletic challenges
music
medieval and early modern british literature
classical greek and hellenistic sculpture
spain and denmark
my fuzzy blanket
"in the secret" and "amazing grace"
intelligent socio-political discourse
calvin & hobbes
the color "ocean-y blue"
ACC men's basketball
teaching
friends
relaxing near water
cooking
silence
prayer
wisdom from anne lamott
lacrosse
shoes
workout partners
good coaches
fairness and social justice
V6 engine
world cup soccer


and



Chris :)

you have to love the ACC for valentine's day

a lot of people are talking about ACC basketball right now, and many are coming to the same conclusion; the ACC is the best conference that will get screwed by the NCAA tournament committee* (see previous post's note about periods and astericks) if you watched this past weekend's terps vs blue devils game, you'll start to see my point* everybody knows that the terps (male or female, at this point) aren't setting the world on fire with their success* and yet, the teams are good enough to take down the tough teams in the conference* as a result, on the surface, the in-conference records seem mediocre (see duke's 5-6 in the ACC)* that is what the NCAA tourney committee will see when they consider picks and rankings, so the likelihood is that fewer ACC teams will be selected for march madness* other conferences that have some teams always blowing out the bottom half will look like better fodder for the tournament, even if their in-house competition is terrible* am i making my point, or am i being a little bit convoluted (sp)?

anyway, the ACC is a quality conference, and because of a lack of all-out domination on the part of a few teams, it might get somewhat snubbed for march madness*

BUT WHO LOVES THE TERPS?!!!!!! when it comes to sports, there's no better valentine* nothing is more romantic than riots on rt 1*

:)

thank your parents for this one

today's valentine smidgen of randomness comes from the washington post*

(you'll have to excuse the lack of periods* that key on my laptop isn't working, so i just put an asterick (sp?) between sentences* sorry*)

anyway, apparently, our most immediate forebearers are somewhat responsible for our abilities to live and love* if they've loved us and nurtured us sufficiently to build our confidence, we're more likely to be successful in carrying on relationships that form a strong partnership* it's not that a traumatic childhood relationship with parents precludes the ability to love others well, but rather it's that each event with mom/dad/whomever pushes us in positive or negative directions* to me, it's very interesting that events can reverse or possibly undo that which comes before it*

are you expecting a positive valentine's day? i am, mostly because very good things have fallen into place* there's no need for a pricey dinner at the rusty scupper or anything like that* instead, i know that i am loved, and it's shown in very subtle and sweet ways* we can reach out to and are confident in each other* i guess i can, in part, thank mom and dad for that*

men, this is for the romantic gift-giver in you... maybe...

why not buy your sweetheart a cute teddy bear? you'll certainly win her heart with one of those. and if they fail, why not the embroidered towel set?


suggestion provided by Steve Handy. thank you for your public service, Steve. i'm sure women world-wide will love you once these gifts start pouring in.

men, here's a reason not to take a shower:

ladies, how many times has the man come home sweating like a hog? and how many times does he smell to high-heaven? well, CNN (they're going for broke this month!) brings us an article that exhorts us to get off their backs and enjoy some extra... doses of cortisol.

guys, it seems to tell us that you need to do all the manly manual labor that you can think of, stuff that will make you perspire gallons. you need to do double workouts at the gym, and you need to sit in saunas while wearing woolen sweatsuits. okay, maybe not the last one, but still. think of all the benefits listed in the article. yay for you!

back to ladies... please realize that there are amazing peripheral perks to the man dripping with sweat, with one of the main ones being big many manual labor things being done around the house/apartment/etc. not that i advocate us taking the whimpering woman stance of "i can't do it because i'm a girl," or the "i'm simply too lazy to get off my ass to do something that i certainly could do myself" attitude. far from it. what i am saying is that if you stop nagging him to be incredibly immaculate, everybody is happier for it, and he will be less inclined to give cold shoulders and ignore things. this is just my opinion, but i think that men like to feel needed and appreciated, especially for things that make them feel strong in whatever way. thus, he'd feel more inclined to do some of the heavier stuff.

so i've probably diluted my main points, and most likely i've put someone off by my perhaps mistaken generalizations. here's what it boils down to:

girls, let guys be sweaty, mucky, dirty, and smelly, all in time for valentine's day, and enjoy that extra jolt of cortisol!

happy valentine's day. here's a stolen survey. kim totally has me pegged....

Survey

Stolen from Kim who stole it from Sandra.

1. I've come to realize that my last kiss...

was really sweet, and, on the whole, they're getting even sweeter.

2. I am listening to.....

Beyonce, naughty girl

3. I talk.....
too much, apparently. but too bad.

4. I love.....
when toby snuggles up next to me and i'm under my fuzzy blanket, and we fall asleep, all nice and cozy.

5. My best friend.....
would have to be plural. i'm really bad at choosing who's the "best." that's kind of silly when it comes to friends, right?

6. My first real kiss.....
sucked. thanks, brian.

8. I hate it when people ask.....
me to redo things according to their directions, even though i've done things perfectly efficiently and correctly.

9. Love is.....
hard, but it's sure as hell worth it.

10. Marriage is.....
well, can be elusive.

11. Somewhere, someone is thinking.....
what to have for dinner.

12. I'll always.....
be a perfectionist, no matter how much i try to chill out.

13. I have a crush.....
on physical challenges (e.g., marathons and triathlons).

14. The last time I cried was because.....
a family issue. i don't want to talk about it.

15. My cell phone.....
is BRAND-SPANKIN' NEW, and i love it!!!

16. When I wake up in the morning.....
i'm semi-conscious until toby annoys me enough to take him out.

17. Before I go to bed.....
try to get toby to jump up next to me. see prompt #4.

18. Right now I am thinking about.....
how much cleaning i want to get done on my DAY OFF FROM SCHOOL!!! i love snow.

19. Babies are.....
scaring me, mostly because pregnancy might be a little dangerous for me.

20. I get on myspace.....
i get on myspace? are you kidding? i have no myspace page and never will.

21. Today I.....
got up, jumped up and down when wbal said SCHOOLS CLOSED, went back to bed until 11AM, went to the gym for 3 hours, got the oil in my car changed, and made lunch.

22. Tonight I will.....
be cleaning my entire apartment. i'm feeling ambitious.

23. Tomorrow it will be....
tough to keep the kids on track since they had a snow-day today.

24. I really want to be.....
able to conquer any athletic events that comes my way--considering some of the other health hurdles i deal with, surmounting physical challenges is such an intoxicating high.

25. Someone that will most likely repost this is.....
somebody that i don't know.

happy valentine's day, cave man

i think that i'll celebrate valentine's day on the blog for awhile. so, thanks to CNN once again for providing some interesting fodder; here's a neolithic example of love and affection. so far, there are no hypotheses as to who or how old they were or how they died. it's interesting how the author(s?) link the pair to romeo & juliet, as the site is not terribly far from verona, italy. i guess that's a logical and fun thing to do, although the pictorial evidence accompanying the article impels me to come to different conclusions.

first, shakespeare's lovers are caught in the web woven by their spiteful families and are unable to escape their predestined (as revealed by the prologue) fate. with the millenia-old lovers, however, there is nothing to indicate any sort of physical or social strife. their burial site is too isolated (as discovered so far) to assume any such fate. the other piece that makes me think differently is the manner in which the skeletons are found. it is most often interpreted that after romeo has died, juliet stabs herself, causing her lifeless body to fall atop her lover's. thus, the sudden bodily trauma prevents any sort of intimacy in death. our other pair, by contrast, were discovered in a frozen embrace. while it could be posited that they were placed that way by others following individual deaths, my bit of random knowledge of burial practices tells me that there is no precedent for such an assumption. i would tend to believe that there was some sort of simultaneous event causing death. most likely the pair was buried (above or below ground, i don't know) together without being moved much. there are no volcanos near verona or mantua, so it's not possible for a pompei-esque sort of demise, but there could always be other causes.

all of that is pure guesswork, but to me, it's always fun to challenge immediate and off-the-cuff conjectures, especially if they involve shakespeare. :)

oh--word of wisdom: i know that people love to do this, but please don't take romeo & juliet as your love model. pick a pair that doesn't end up dead. read the plays before you pick. : P

comments?

"Love comes first into the heart of the woman," explained Nananghe. "Once it's in the woman, only then can it jump into the man."

so what does that make our valentine's day?