A Motley Post
It's done! It's In! Lash can stop dreading her email, featherxquill has it, and I can cut back on the antacids. That's right, folks, my dysfuncentine thing has been submitted. And I solemnly swear that I will never again pick two characters I know next to nothing about to write for a fest, nibbling plot bunny not withstanding. Bleh.
My ESL group had a belated Lunar New Year party today during our 'class' time (I put that in quotation marks because I gave up on running this like a traditional class after about 2 weeks and the students have really gotten a lot more out of it this way). Among the delicacies I had never tasted before were chicken's feet. Yep. You read that right. My student called them 'Phoenix Claws', but I don't think Fawkes was involved. ::g:: They were steamed and served with a fermented black bean sauce. They are finger food and quite messy to eat, but fairly tasty. Whoda thunk it?
Anyway, we ate dumplings and noodles and fish and more dumplings. I'm stuffed! My lone Indian student, not to be outdone, is planning a feast for us later this month, and my Georgian fellow insists that he, too, is going to make us lunch next month. I think I'm going to gain 10 pounds from mentoring this group. :-D I never thought I'd say this, but, I'll miss doing this when the real ESL teacher starts up in August.
I will be going back into the classroom to teach for real in six weeks. The molecular biology course in our Molecular Medicine graduate program has just started up again, and I get to do all of transcription biology and chromatin structure in 10 lectures plus three recitation sessions. To say it's going to be the Cliff's Notes version is putting it mildly. I sure hope that this year's crop of students displays a bit more initiative than past classes, or I'm going to be stuck explaining to my course director why my students have mistaken me for Severus Snape in their reviews. >:-\
On a brighter note, last night, after reading lash_larue 's fabulous Snape - The Musical, I had to get out my ancient videotape of the Joseph Papp production of The Pirates of Penzance and watch it. This is the one with the amazing Kevin Kline as the Pirate King, Angela Lansbury as Ruth and George Rose as the Major General. I had forgotten what a fetching Mabel Linda Ronstadt made, though I definitely could have done without Rex Smith as Frederick. But the most unsung and underated person in the whole production, to my mind, was Tony Azito. He was a wonderful dancer who did a lot of work on Broadway and trained with the Modern Dance company of Anna Sokolow, before he died of AIDS almost 16 years ago. He has a real Buster Keaton-like vibe going here as the Police Sargent
I hope you enjoy this clip!
I'll close this post with an unusual fic rec for those who are interested in ACD canon Sherlock Holmes. I don't generally rec works-in-progress. I've had the all too frequent experience of getting hooked on a story, only to see it abandoned by its author. But this one's exceptional right off the bat, and I doubt that the author will dump us after making us fall in love. w_a_i_d has started posting a fic at dispatch_box called
An Antidote to Sorrow that concerns the end of Watson's marriage to Mary Morstan due to her death, and the return of Sherlock Holmes after his 'death' at Reichenbach Falls. What makes this so unique and powerful is that the start of the story is told by Mary on her deathbed, and voice is just astonishing. It's very moving to hear her take on her marriage and Watson's deep friendship with Holmes. Watson in his grief is the subject of the second chapter. Only the first two chapters are posted, but even if she never posts another, these two are worth reading on their own merits.
Well, I'd best scoot into the kitchen and get my Baked Potato Soup started - even if I'm too full to eat any. my husband and daughter are clammoring for their suppers.
My ESL group had a belated Lunar New Year party today during our 'class' time (I put that in quotation marks because I gave up on running this like a traditional class after about 2 weeks and the students have really gotten a lot more out of it this way). Among the delicacies I had never tasted before were chicken's feet. Yep. You read that right. My student called them 'Phoenix Claws', but I don't think Fawkes was involved. ::g:: They were steamed and served with a fermented black bean sauce. They are finger food and quite messy to eat, but fairly tasty. Whoda thunk it?
Anyway, we ate dumplings and noodles and fish and more dumplings. I'm stuffed! My lone Indian student, not to be outdone, is planning a feast for us later this month, and my Georgian fellow insists that he, too, is going to make us lunch next month. I think I'm going to gain 10 pounds from mentoring this group. :-D I never thought I'd say this, but, I'll miss doing this when the real ESL teacher starts up in August.
I will be going back into the classroom to teach for real in six weeks. The molecular biology course in our Molecular Medicine graduate program has just started up again, and I get to do all of transcription biology and chromatin structure in 10 lectures plus three recitation sessions. To say it's going to be the Cliff's Notes version is putting it mildly. I sure hope that this year's crop of students displays a bit more initiative than past classes, or I'm going to be stuck explaining to my course director why my students have mistaken me for Severus Snape in their reviews. >:-\
On a brighter note, last night, after reading lash_larue 's fabulous Snape - The Musical, I had to get out my ancient videotape of the Joseph Papp production of The Pirates of Penzance and watch it. This is the one with the amazing Kevin Kline as the Pirate King, Angela Lansbury as Ruth and George Rose as the Major General. I had forgotten what a fetching Mabel Linda Ronstadt made, though I definitely could have done without Rex Smith as Frederick. But the most unsung and underated person in the whole production, to my mind, was Tony Azito. He was a wonderful dancer who did a lot of work on Broadway and trained with the Modern Dance company of Anna Sokolow, before he died of AIDS almost 16 years ago. He has a real Buster Keaton-like vibe going here as the Police Sargent
Click to viewI hope you enjoy this clip!
I'll close this post with an unusual fic rec for those who are interested in ACD canon Sherlock Holmes. I don't generally rec works-in-progress. I've had the all too frequent experience of getting hooked on a story, only to see it abandoned by its author. But this one's exceptional right off the bat, and I doubt that the author will dump us after making us fall in love. w_a_i_d has started posting a fic at dispatch_box called
An Antidote to Sorrow that concerns the end of Watson's marriage to Mary Morstan due to her death, and the return of Sherlock Holmes after his 'death' at Reichenbach Falls. What makes this so unique and powerful is that the start of the story is told by Mary on her deathbed, and voice is just astonishing. It's very moving to hear her take on her marriage and Watson's deep friendship with Holmes. Watson in his grief is the subject of the second chapter. Only the first two chapters are posted, but even if she never posts another, these two are worth reading on their own merits.
Well, I'd best scoot into the kitchen and get my Baked Potato Soup started - even if I'm too full to eat any. my husband and daughter are clammoring for their suppers.