Ramble On

Received in a student e-mail this morning: " I want to change my university and join the University of Hawaii [from university of Buffalo]. The reason that make me chose this university is my academic interests because it's the best university in this profession." No. It's really not.   I would maybe have given him the benefit of the doubt if he hadn't written that last sentence. The fact that he's defending it pre-emptively though.... he doth protest too much, methinks.  Good luck getting your sponsor to approve this one, buddy! 

Old Town Alexandria.... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. The Potomac. This river, while full of unsavory things, is still very beautiful to look at, calming to my soul, and is a neverending source of joy for me.   I can walk to all my grocery stores.   the GW Parkway.  A beautiful and stoplight-free stretch of road with stone bridges and lovely panoramas.   Evening walks down on King St. make me feel like I am crashing about 150 dates at any given time.   The lights in the trees on King St.  PX - swanky cocktails with a side order of pretension.  But I always feel special when I go there.   The rooftop of my building, where I can seek a cool breeze, watch thunderstorms roll in, or get a great perch to photograph sunrises or sunsets.  Biking or running into the District.  It's close, but I still feel like I live a world away. Moonlit walks on soft summer evenings along the water. The more romantically inclined from ...

One week ago, I was on a plane flying to Las Vegas, NV to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a dear friend from college.  One week ago I lived in a different apartment than the one I'm writing from now.  And one week ago, it was Lent, and now it's the Triduum, almost Easter.  It's been such a huge week that I can barely believe I'm almost through it and that so much has happened in such a short amount of time.  I feel like I need to capture it somehow, so the best I can do is write to try and recollect. So we'll start at the beginning of the week. I'm not really a Vegas kind of girl.  I own things with sparkles, but I never find occasion to wear them since I stopped doing things on New Years Eve that don't involve pajamas.  I don't generally like places where the only thing to do when you get there is to constantly spend more money.  Everything about Vegas is the promise of money, the chance of glory, the seduction of glamour, and the brightly-lit ...

Though I have always been suspicious of my own susceptibility to this commonly recognized phenomenon, it wasn't until the month of February that my all-out defenselessness was revealed and given a name: Guitar Goggles.  It's so bizarre and mysterious to me but I also can't deny that it's true. I assume some of you have heard of "beer goggles", the situation in which one's consumption of alcohol makes physically unattractive persons appear more attractive.   For guitar goggles, this same principle is applied, only more specifically it is from the female perspective applied to gentlemen musicians who play guitar on stage.  I was at the Lord Huron show in early February watching the opening band, Night Moves, when the most striking presentation of this weakness I have ever experienced occurred. I was already having a lovely evening, having just found a new group of music-loving, concert-going friends.  We were getting to know one another and riding high o...