Today
As I noted earlier today, here's a log of today, inspired by Richard. Yesterday I watched two episodes of Nodame, read four pages of philosophy and graded zero exams. Today I repented.
7:27AM Wake up, reluctantly get out of bed.
7:45AM Leave with Mordecai; he goes to work, I order medium soy latte at a nearby Caribou. The foam of my latte tastes a little like tofu. I eat my croissant I brought from home in a Ziploc bag.
9:30AM I've graded two exams, set out a short stack of papers that I don't think will be difficult to grade (i.e., good students' papers) and started reading Axel Honneth. I've got about 25-30 more pages to go. It's an essay on reification and recognition, and there are moments that make me sad. Why is philosophy so caught up in knowing things, like the world and its people are the subject matter of a standardized test? I note in the margin "REQUIEM" of some page and draw clouds, a stick of lightening, rain, and wind. I have in my mind Mozart's Requiem Mass that he was singing to Salieri at the end of "Amadeus," but only the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony comes to mind. I don't know much Mozart, come to think of it.
10AM I check Twitter to see confirmations of Mariah Carey's pregnancy. I anticipated a good "article" on the matter on Dlisted, and whoever that genius is, delivered. I tweet that link, tweet again about how sad it is that Mimi had a miscarriage two years ago.
By this point, I've also probably checked to see if Glenchester Kennels has updated (or "pupdated," as I almost accidentally typed) their website with a recent photo of six puppies, one of which will come home with us soon (more on this for another post)!
11:30AM Finish Honneth, skim the responses to his essay, get annoyed by them. I start to bother Mordecai with texts about lunch. Also, I've been at this Caribou for about 3 hours and wonder now and then whether anyone secretly notices cares, because no one apparently does. Wonder why I don't do this more often.
12PM I meet Mordecai in the car at the parking lot between Caribou and his office, and we go to some place called Jason's Deli, which is basically a variation of Panera. I think I prefer Panera. I have a BLT with potato soup; Mordecai has a "Chicago Club" and some red-colored soup. I see a bulldog running in the parking lot outside, people chasing after it. A young man was able to grab it by it's collar, and patted it while the owners caught up with the leash. The bulldog appears to appreciate the petting; it looks happy to have had its ephemeral moment of freedom.
12:45PM I get dropped off at the Roosevelt red line, take it to Fullerton, and take the Fullerton bus home. Someone on the bus is coughing up a storm. By the time we get to Clybourn, I start to think about Nodame. She asks, "What's so wrong about playing the piano freely, for fun?" I think this is a good question. What's wrong with her original ambition of being a preschool teacher? I love Nodame so much. I wonder if I'll grade that little stack I set out for myself earlier.
2PM I get home, watch the last episode of the Nodame drama series, cry, look for the Europe specials. I can't find them on DVD, which I know I have somewhere, but they seem to be on Mordecai's external hard drive (mine is almost full with HD version of Glee, Season 1). At some point I practice piano--working on a simplified version of the first movement of Beethoven's 7th. I've got it down, but can't play it through without slipping on the black keys.
3PM I blog, gchat with Emily, gossip about the Regenstein staff, clean the kitchen somewhat, prepare things for dinner. No more papers will be graded, but two is better than zero.
5PM Start cooking rice. Prepare potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, tofu in a light stew of soba tsuyu, miso, sake, sugar. The ginger is no good.
6PM Mordecai comes home, helps with dinner, and we start watching World Series Game 2. Mordecai laments that Jeff Francoeur is not starting in right field, and Daniel Murphy is instead. I expect that Jorge Cantu will warm the bench. For dessert, we share an almond croissant and a plain croissant.
8PM Mordecai installs the blinds in our sunroom. I practice some more piano, this time a theme from "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind."
8:30PM I blog, watch Edgar Renteria hit a home run, the Rangers continue being unable to produce anything offensive, and C.J. Wilson get pulled for a blister on his finger. I note to myself that I should shower and get ready for bed--I want to watch the first Nodame Europe special and go to bed early to leave with Mordecai again tomorrow morning.
9:15PM PUPPY PICTURES OMG OMG OMG
3 comments:
Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 is the greatest piece of music ever created in the Western world.
Ok, so that's a bold statement, but that's how I feel. It means so much to me; every time I listen to it, which is often, whatever emotions I am feeling most come bubbling up, almost uncontrollable.
I am headed to Bonn for a workshop in January, and I am excited to pay my respects to the man.
P.S. I'm still trying to figure out what the heck you are studying/teaching.
Ooh, Bonn. Is there some kind of institution or house you can visit? Mordecai and I considered a trip to Vienna for our honeymoon, but went to Detroit instead (!). I must get to west of Paris at some point in my life, but I wonder when that will be! Maybe for some academic conference?
I'm getting my doctorate in philosophy. I have background in aesthetics, and I'm still interested in that but I'm also more interested in moral/social/political philosophy now. I'm trying to figure out a topic for a dissertation...it seems that all I can say for now is that I'm interested in the moral/social/political & aesthetic ramifications of imagining yourself to be another person (and also thereby figuring out or knowing who you are). What this amounts to, how coherent this will be to anyone, and so on, is all up in the air, which is a little scary, but mostly liberating and nice. For now, at least!
Yes, I believe there is, in the house of his birth (it's aptly called Beethoven Haus).
I like Europe very much, so I've been flogging the academic possibilities over there, with some small payoffs. It gets more complicated when chillens are involved, of course.
Cool re your program of study. It's weird; I more or less do applied ethics for a living, but I'm no philosopher. I'm actually in perspective more an historian than anything else, but I have more formal training in applied ethics than in history. The travails of actually trying to be a junior interdisciplinarian . . .
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