Catch-up and link-farming

This is Walaka Hopsack, coming to you live from the Wallingford Tully's with this round-up of tit-bits and whatnot.

Teaching is winding down, blah-blah-blah. Oddly enough, I have no end-of-quarter crush this year; I have spaced out the assignments better and the final responding / grading / posting process is actually pretty light. I had the pleasure of lunching with O on Tuesday and having a little mutual work session at 3PB-R - it was an excellent diversion, and I got some papers done. Wednesday was the last day of the quarter at Cascadia and Antioch - it's all over but the shouting.

Other work-related stuff: the bad news is that even though my full-time contract doesn't start until September 14, I am required to attend some training and orientation sessions beginning September 6, so my "vacation" after summer quarter will be negligible. The good news is that since it is all pre-contract, I will get paid the community service rate ($34/hr) for all the sessions.

We did squeeze in a viewing of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers on Tuesday night. It was an interestingly-made biopic, but Sellers actually became a less sympathetic character as he moved through life - or at least through this movie - and there never seemed to be a point of redemption or enlightenment to cap off the narrative. John Lithgow turns in a bravura performance as Blake Edwards, and Emily Watson, who I had never heard of two weeks ago, and who I have now seen in three consecutive movies, was as enigmatically appealing as ever as the first Mrs. Sellers.

Otis is still feeling her cold - it has hit her harder than it did me. She was feeling so poorly that she ac canceled some appointments because of it; she did not, however, cancel Wednesday night out at the Tractor Tavern with Dingo, Johnbai, O and Soapy to celebrate Soapy's Birthday and to watch / listen to The Handsome Family (highly recommended by Dingo and Johnbai) and Rosyvelt (fronted by a pal of Johnbai and Soapy) and The Maldives (um, completely unknown to us). It was a swell, multivalent evening: we celebrated Soapy, we hung with pals, we heard good music, and we helped raise money for a good cause though Noise for the Needy. I have to admit that we didn't make it to the end of the show; Otis and I left shortly before midnight, but not because we weren't having a good time.
Today's highlight was huge grocery shopping, which we haven't done in weeks and weeks, after which we had leftovers for dinner, feeling all kinds of frugal. Otis even put together a menu for the week, not that we'll be any competition for the Full Belly project:

Le Menu d'Otis

L’Italian Vegetariana
You’ll never return to cow flesh again with Walaka’s savory tomato“veatball” ragu! Served on a tangled bed of whole-wheat linguini noodles. Enjoy a crisp garden salad with fresh tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers, and a rustic vegetarian antipasto.

Down-to-Earth Split Pea Soup
Yellow split peas, russet potatoes, and carrots form the hearty base for this robust and creamy vegan soup. This soup is accompanied by an anchovy-free Caesar salad with home-style garlic-pepper croûtons.

“I’m So Sari” Supreme
Make up with your sweetheart with this semi-spicy northern-style chana masala made with the finest chickpeas, potatoes, and Indian spices. Served with herbed basmati rice and a side of sautéed peppery green beans and slivered almonds.

Middle Eastern Picnic
Take your falafel on the road with this summertime meal! Fill your whole-wheat pita pockets with savory falafel patties, sweet Vidalia onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes for a healthy sandwich in a flash. A side of cool quinoa salad with fresh cucumber and tomato provides a tasty flourish to your picnic.

Auntie Otie’s Peanutty Asian Bowlies
Pearly brown rice, steamed to perfection, serves as the base for these Asian peanutty bowls. Stir-fried tofu, carrots, pea pods, ginger, and secret spices are drizzled with Auntie Otie’s award-winning peanut sauce. Served with supple vegetarian pot stickers and soy-sesame dipping sauce.

Finger-Lickin’ Dogs
Vegetarian hot-dog-stand-style frankfurters are served with organic, humanely-treated tomato catsup and caramelized onion topping. Served with Boston-style vegetarian baked beans and Rising Sun Farms yellow corn on the cob. Kosher dill pickles garnish this finger lickin' meal.

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Now, some links:

I think this little French stop-action animation is just captivating.

Maybe if I followed these butterfly color schemes for my blog, I wouldn't get complaints. Dingo should use one when she re-activates Myrna. (I'm partial to the Mr. Green.)

Okay, I have only seen six of these movies - how about you?

For his birthday, I would like to get Soapy a turn on this, because someone has clearly seen into his soul.

For Yojimbo: It was 32 years ago today.

It's all about Jon

For right now, at least.

Good Jon of Monmouth: not only did he speedily send a nice dollop of memory to boost Otis's laptop, today he matched my entire season-to-date biking tally in one swift ride.

Other news: work, homemade yam fries for lunch, scooter in the sun, coming to you from Antioch before my evening class.

Amateur night

That's where I'm broadcasting from right now - courtesy of open mike at Third Place Books. The constant line-up of would-be folksingers represents a lot of enthusiasm, if uneven talent.

I was commenting on the vagaries of self-employment and the academic life earlier today. On the one hand, Otis and I had a relatively free morning; I didn't have to go anywhere until noon and was back by 1:30. Most people have to leave the house early and stay at work all day. On the other hand, I was responding papers all afternoon, and again for an hour or more after dinner, and Otis was reading high school projects. So I guess the difference is all in the arrangement, eh?

We did make it out to Golden Gardens yesterday; here are some more "summer" snapshots:


Walaka looking tough, if not buff.


Otis, making the same moves as every Japanese ESL student I've ever had

Today was just as nice - I rode to school, but didn't get another chance after that. The weather turned abruptly right about 5:45 pm - the temperature must have dropped ten degrees in as many minutes. I could stand as much spring as we could get, myself.

Oh, and some good news: I thought I lost two paychecks, but I didn't. Yay.

Day late but not a dollar short

Wow, yesterday was a big day! Most of all, Otis's Art Show was a rousing success: lots of folks over, lots of art on its way into the world - and no citywide power outage this time! The artiste is exhausted but happy for all the support from friends - and special props go out to Soapy for providing Crowd Control.

A real post will follow later today - have a great morning!

From an undisclosed location

I took yesterday evening off after a longish day of teaching, which meant that this morning was filled with last-minute lesson prep (i.e., getting photocopying in order), which meant that there was no blog post (until now).

The day is going swell!
I am completely over my cold!
It appears that Otis may have come down with a cold!
Flapjack Friday is a definite go, with some not-seen-for-a-while pals making appearances!

Stop me before I exclaim again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tactical error

My students are doing a two-hour in-class essay. I brought some materials to grade, but evidently not enough. We're only half-way through and I am out of work to do. There goes a potentially useful hour down the drain.

Drat.