Your MOM posts!

More than you do, apparently. You wonder if it’s because she doesn’t have to read the worlds longest Highland romance portraying an insipid hero (enter Waverly), but then you realist that its your mom – she does everything.

Anywho. Apart from the glories of Walter Scott I’ve been exploring other literary wonders as well. On Monday I fell off the face of the earth to prepare for a James Hogg presentation that I perhaps should have started sooner. On Thursday I had to give a 10 minute presentation with two other students (we were unofficially called “the Hogg people” which fortunately didn’t reflect on our intelligence) and after talking with one of them and hearing of her uber-preparedness I was kindof nervous.

Anywho, after several midnights of coffee and Horlicks (don’t snort until you have tried this powder of destiny yourself – sleep helping, woo badger!) the final copy was printed exactly .29 minutes before I had to walk out the door. Needless to say that hurry didn’t help my jitters and my notes written on the train weren’t really legible at all. But I felt a little better when we all sat down and presenters and audience alike coughed the same choke-snort-cough thing. These weren’t the guys to tear into me. The long and short of it was that the Lord was really gracious helping me write and present, and our tutor was well impressed (as an Irish gal said it).

And now we’re in the throws of theatre class as well, and I’ve been to two of my five required plays for this semester. This was something that I wasn’t really counting on when I signed up for the class (perhaps I envisioned the class analyzing popsicle sticks, who knows). It’s not so bad going to see plays that someone else picked out, it’s spending 6 pounds and 3 hours on them that gets me huffy at times.

Our first play was Mary Stuart a big whoppin 3 hour thing with 19 century dialogue, but it was good! Fascinating take on British history and all that. I can’t say that I enjoyed the second play as much – too many wigs and interpretive dance there.

Someday I’ll put up some pictures of Oxford y Londres just as king James did (or is that prince Jim??) but for tonight I leave you with a bit from an old Oxford resident

"'Tis the voice of the Lobster: I heard him declare
'You have baked me too brown, I must sugar my hair.'
As a duck with its eyelids, so he with his nose
Trims his belt and his buttons, and turns out his toes.
When the sands are all dry, he is gay as a lark,
And will talk in contemptuous tones of the Shark:
But, when the tide rises and sharks are around,
His voice has a timid and tremulous sound."

"I passed by his garden, and marked, with one eye,
How the Owl and the Panther were sharing a pie:
The Panther took pie-crust, and gravy, and meat,
While the Old had the dish as its share of the treat.
When the pie was all finished, the Owl, as a boon,
Was kindly permitted to pocket the spoon:
While the Panther received knife and fork with a growl,
And concluded the banquet by [eating the owl.]

The Voice of the Lobster,
Lewis Carol