Connecticut Idol

Hey kids, check out my sister Kelly, she's famous.


Last week she sang in a contest for a radio station, and now they have her picture on the ads. They also have her on the main page of the website, but she says they change the photo daily, so I don't know how long it will last. But either way, how awesome is it that she is in the ads?

She sang "I Will Always Love You" the first time around, which she sings amazingly, but she totally got robbed because she had to go first and not many people had arrived yet. She's going back again this week, so if you're in the area, go and listen and vote for her. :)

Hey Kel - I know you're reading this, so I hope you don't mind this bit of shameless promotion! ;)

Help!

Dear loyal blog readers,

Does anyone have the email address for Cindy from Red Bird Rising? I need to email her, but I forgot that her blog is no longer there (unless it has moved and I didn't know it?).

Here's why I need it. I'm submitting my series of cento poems for publication, and I need to get permission from all the bloggers whose lines I "borrowed" to include them in the poem. (You'll get credit in the publication if my poems get accepted!) Cindy's, I believe, is the only one I used that is no longer on the web.

If anyone can point me in her direction, please email me or leave a comment here.

Many thanks!

Feeling inspired yet again

I haven't done a cento poem in a while, so I thought I'd do another one tonight. I don't know how I feel about this one, but I hope you enjoy it.

Don't read it if you can't handle it!

You can live with something for years,
Now I only have one good reason:
It's certainly not meant to sound contemptuous.
She had them custom made
But just a little, tiny bit ugly.

Finally, perhaps the most damning of them all,
There is a pride in not being able to do it.
Bam! Strike me down. Hubris and all.
Talk about delayed gratification.
Those lines really struck a chord with me.

"With aspect stern and gloomy stride..."

Sorry for all the Mikado-themed titles lately--I downloaded the whole opera onto my iPod recently, and I've been rather obsessed ever since. But in both cases, the titles have been relevant ;)

So after I handed in my dissertation, the rest of the day was filled with celebrations. I met the other graduate language people at the Turf for drinks and lunch, and later on I went to dinner with a bunch of friends at a beautiful Indian/Thai/Bangladesh restaurant on the river. It was great fun. The next day, my friend Mark came to dinner at Catz, and the day after that I had brunch with some friends at Christ Church. I also volunteered at the Cancer Research UK's "Race for Life" that day, so I got to spend several hours in the beautiful sunshine and help a worthy cause all at the same time. So things have been very nice for the past few days.

I was starting to forget that I'm not *quite* done here. But today, I got the notice of my impending doom: the date and time of my viva voce exam. It doesn't take place until 15 days from now, but already, I'm feeling quite sick about it.

For those of you who don't know, the viva voce is an oral exam where I show up in my sub-fusc garb (the stuff I'm wearing in my photo on this blog) and sit in front of a group of mysterious examiners who ask me questions about my dissertation. This is not like a Master's thesis defense, where you know the people really well. I have no idea who these people are. They have not had any contact with my dissertation until this week. I have no idea what they'll ask me. To be honest, I'm not sure how they'll do it, because my supervisor is the only one who specializes in what I'm doing here at Oxford. And since he's not one of the ones examining me, I'm not sure how that ends up.

They can also ask me about any of the other work I've done this year. So I'll have to go back and re-read the papers I wrote way back in October/November/December so I remember what I said!

I still have time, I know. But now the date is set in stone, and it looms over me ominously. Yikes!

Much love,
Me

"With joyous shout, with joyous shout and ringing cheer..."

Aaaaaaand that's a wrap!!!!!

Dissertation is completed, printed, bound, submitted. All that's left is the viva voce exam, but right now, it is time to celebrate!!!!! Hooray!!!!!!!!