the Dalaverse

Looking at my Age of Absolutism syllabus, I wondered why today's date seemed to strike me. Then I glanced over the Yahoo headlines and remembered.

April 19, 1995

I wish I had my own pictures of the memorial on hand, but this is a very nice picture of the reflecting pool and the empty chairs, and here is the survivor tree, and the statue, with the shortest verse in the Bible carved on its base -- John 11:35, "Jesus wept."

So, Pope, huh? I...don't know. It doesn't surprise me that they went with an elderly, conservative, European cardinal over a younger, more dynamic cardinal from South America or Africa, but I'm still a little disappointed. It's not like Indecision 2004 deep bitterness, just a little sigh.

WTF is Alex Trebek doing on "American Idol"? WTF is Alex Trebek doing wearing a pink shirt on "American Idol"? At least I'm not missing this one -- '70s Dance Music Night, or, Want Dala to Shoot Herself Through the Ears? Here's How!

We made Dr. Adams turn bright tomato red today. She was asking us our opinions about 300 vs. 400 level course in the History department, topic options, that sort of thing, just getting a feel for the students' opinion (because she's awesome). To wrap it up and get back to the Glorious Revolution, she goes, "Any other questions?" The kid beside me raises his hand and says, "I have a question. How frequently do you lift?" And we all cracked up, and she buried her head in her arms. This is all because she has great arms, slim but really well-muscled, and she wears lots of sleeveless tops. The dude who asked the question pointed out, "You were all thinking it!" Hmmm. Perhaps this was funnier than it sounds.

I think I'm "Gilmore Girls"ed out, y'all. The townies are all annoying, even Kirk (KIRK!) and the pop-culture references seem heavy-handed and uncute. And Dean? Again? When the hell are we going to be done with him? I don't know whether this is because I've been watching it for five years and I'm burned out, whether the writing has really deteriorated as much as I'm perceiving it has, or if I read too much TWoP and it's made me cynical.

I'll probably put up a few more mixes tonight. It's fun. I wish I weren't out of CDs, because I seriously need to burn a spring 2005 mix. It's really irritating to sit in class with "Life Less Ordinary" stuck in my head and not be able to burn it onto a CD. I suppose it'll keep till I get home. Then it might be the Cape May Mix, as that's apparently where we're going for vacation this year ::shrugs:: Aunt Nancy, who lives in New Jersey, says I'll like it. Anybody ever been there?

ETA: anybody got the non-vid-cut version of "Gin Soaked Boy" by the Divine Comedy?


All right, here's the Chill Out Mix, also referred to as the Good For the Blues Mix, because it's got a lot of depressing songs on it and I like listening to depressing music when I'm depressed.

( YOU MUST CHILL! YOU MUST CHILL! )

And the most recent, the Baltimore Mix, which ironically wasn't in the car for either trip. It's awfully fun, though, and I've been listening to it ever since. Several of these are courtesy of hannahrorlove

( Who wants to go to Baldmurr? )

This time, I'm also making a request. If anybody has these songs available for to send, please let me know:

"Desperado," the Eagles
"Chariot," Gavin DeGraw
"About Her," Malcolm McLaren (the original version)
"Home," Marc Broussard
anything by Ben Taylor -- okay, so that one's a longshot, but I thought I'd give it a shot. He's the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, he was on "American Dreams" this year, and he's beautiful.