Upcoming Events: Tues: Psych test and poetry presentation. Tues night: dance class! Sun: Going to NYC to see Lion King on Broadway! YAY!!!!!

Picture of the week: 

The lovely sky after Ivan!

10/1/04

The Good: Was the first one in the class done with the psych test, felt pretty good about it, prof told me I had all the multiple choice right, gave my presentation in poetry, prof was nodding all thru the beginning (then stopped--hope that doesn't mean it stopped being a good presentation...), so those two things are over, went to the copper beech tree remembrance ceremony Thurs. afternoon (kind of a funeral for the tree, which I thought was cool)--but some parts weren't so cool... see anecdote.

The Bad: Amanda, Megan and I took a certain very garrulous person along with us to dinner. Yeah. That was interesting. Realized that I only get 10$ allowance a week and have been spending half to almost all of it ea. week on dining out one night. Not happy about this.

The Ugly: Volunteered to join in an improv game at drama club meeting Tues. night. Note to self: never volunteer for improv ever again. Not funny enough and cannot stop laughing enough to deliver what lines I do come up with. V. embarrasing.

Anecdote of the Week: Okay. Copper beech remembrance ceremony. We get to the end and Pres. Edmundson says, "We always end meetings on the Wilson campus by singing the Alma Mater. Would anyone like to lead us in singing it?" Small silence from the crowd. "Anybody?" Laughter. Co-worker who has heard the choir sing in chapel speaks up. (Pointing:)"Ashley! She's in the choir..." Pres. Edmundson: "Would you like to lead us?" Ashley: "Uh... I'm an alto, I don't think I can hit those notes." Pres. Edmundson: "Anybody else?" Eng. Prof (who has heard Ashley sing an Emily Dickinson poem to a hymn tune for extra credit): "Yes, Ashley's a good singer!" So Pres. Edmundson gestures to me with the microphone. I really had no choice. It was kinda awful because I've only known the Alma Mater for like, five weeks, and I actually know the alto part a heck of a lot better than I know the melody. So I didn't know how to start it, and I had to get Pres. Edmundson to give me the first line quietly to be able to even start at all. My hand was shaking on the microphone. Somebody told me I looked really calm--Why is it that whenever I'm giving a speech or singing and I'm totally FREAKED OUT, people tell me afterwards that I looked really calm? There's one line where the alto part is close to but not quite like the melody, and I kept slightly screwing up that bit of the music and would have to listen to everybody else to get back on tune. But it must've sounded okay because I got compliments on it, and my Eng. Prof jokingly apologized for putting me on the spot, so... Gah. That was interesting.

Weekly Rating: Other than embarrassing moments, it was fine.

Recommended Books: Haven't finished any for awhile...

Recommended Music: Anything by Rich Mullins

Recommended Movies/TV Shows: "Peter Pan" is great, still lovin' "Lost"!

Recommended Webpages: An interesting news article and this, a weekly page (not unlike the GBU) that has ten quotes this man overheard on the London underground that week. Very interesting and occasionally hilarious.

Poem of the Week: Did this one for a poetry analysis. Love it even more now that I've 
examined all of it! Her craftsmanship and artistry in it are simply unbelievable.

508 Emily Dickinson c. 1862

I’m ceded—I’ve stopped being Theirs—
The name They dropped upon my face
With water, in the country church
Is finished using, now,
And They can put it with my Dolls,
My child, and the string of spools,
I’ve finished threading—too—

Baptized, before, without the choice,
But this time, consciously, of Grace—
Unto supremest name—
Called to my Full—The Crescent dropped—
Existence’s whole Arc, filled up,
With one small Diadem.

Interesting Fact of the Week: This gem is from Liz, during a conversation in front of the bathroom sinks about weird trivial knowledge one learns in bio class: Australian lifeguards wear pantyhose so that jellyfish can't sting them. My response was, elephants are the only animals with knees that can't jump. My, the conversations one has.

Quote of the Week: My brother and I were singing a hymn at church, and the line was, "You feed us with the living bread." Chris misread it and sang, "You feed us with the living dead..." Neither one of us could stop laughing. (This is what he gets for watching old zombie movies!) Dad called someone a "pompous twit" at Chris's debate and cracked Mom up in the middle of somebody's speech. My psych prof was in a really funny mood Thurs. Here's just some of the things he tossed into his lecture: 1) "Okay, so this Neil Diamond song comes on the radio." (writes on the board: "Conditioned Stimulus: our song") "They’re out having a good time," (writes: "Unconditioned Stimulus: sex") "which leads to good feelings." (writes: "Unconditioned Response: Luv") 2) "...So the kid’s misbehaving, what do we do? Well, I whip out my handy-dandy cattle prod..." (everyone laughs) "Hey, I’m a psychologist. We’re known for using juice. Whenever psychologist graduates, they get their own personal cattle prod."

Upcoming Events: Sun: Going to NYC to see Lion King on Broadway! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! :) I'm not excited or anything, you understand. *Hugs herself and wiggles, giggling madly* Next weekend: fall break!

Picture of the week: 

Inside Lenfest Commons. I like the composition on this one.
(And I just noticed that the color really matches the page. Hee hee.)

10/23/04

The Good: We went to DC on Sunday--I loved the architecture almost more than I liked the displays in the museum! Sun evening got to hang out with Erin--Subway and Walmart, where I got some cool clothes and "The Count of Monte Cristo"! Yay! Tonight I'm having a movie night with Dee. Had fun making masks Thurs night. Got my Halloween costume together! Wrote my first villanelles and terzanelles this week. Will be posting them on the poetry page.

The Bad: Very rainy this week.

The Ugly: I have a big psych test Tues and I haven't studied yet, nor do I really want to. :(

Anecdote of the Week: I had class at 8 Thurs morning, so I set the alarm (as usual) for 6:45 (I like to have lots of time to get stuff done before class). When I went to bed Wednesday night, people were making noise in the hall, so I put in my earplugs. Every other time I've done this, I took them out sometime in the night, but this time they stayed in. So I didn't hear my alarm go off. My roommate (poor Megan!) had to tap me to wake me up. So I got up (I was soooo tired!) and got dressed. I met somebody in the hall who gave me a really funny look, but I didn't think anything about it at the time. Then I went down to breakfast.

There was nobody in Lenfest Commons and the doors to the dining hall weren't open yet, so I figured I was early (breakfast starts at 7 AM) and I sat down to wait. The janitor came through. I couldn't see any lights on under the door to the dining hall, but sometimes it's kind of dark in there. I had forgotten to put on my watch, so I didn't know what time it was or how long I'd been sitting there. I finally tried the door (twice) and it was locked, even though I could hear people talking and banging trays in the kitchen. Finally I said, I've been waiting here long enough, and I went back upstairs to see what time it was. Then I figured out what had happened.

Wed night when I set my alarm, I had hit one of the buttons. I figured I hadn't changed it, but when I got up to the room, my clock said 7:20 and Megan's said 6:20. I had accidentally set my clock an hour forward! It's no WONDER I was so tired and the dining hall doors were locked: I had gotten up at a QUARTER TO SIX!

I took of my sneakers and crawled back in bed.

Weekly Rating: Well the weather made me really tired and stuff, but not bad on the whole.

Recommended Books: Still a moratorium on the reading. I really don't feel like I've got any kind of schedule, and creativity (which includes yen to read) is at a continuous low. Well, except for the poetry-writing in class bit... :)

Recommended Music: Rich Mullins

Recommended Movies/TV Shows: "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Lost"!

Recommended Webpages: Haven't been surfing much; sorry.

Poem of the Week: "The Fire Drill Song", by Kim. Third verse by Ashley! We have fire drill spirit!

Fire drill, fire drill,
It’s our favorite evening thrill!
Fire drill, fire drill,
Such a thrill to me!
Windows, shoes and doors,
Evacuate our floors!
Fire drill, fire drill,
Such a thrill to me.
Line up behind your proctor
Or you’ll have to see your doctor!
Fire drill, fire drill,
Such a thrill to me.
Sign out all your guests
Or you won't get any rest!
Fire drill, fire drill,
Such a thrill to me!

Did this one for a presentation in poetry class. An excellent villanelle, and an incredibly nuanced poem!

"One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant 
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

—Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied.  It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Interesting Fact of the Week: "Infarction" is a very funny word.

Quote of the Week: Liz, watching "Lost": “If something jumps out at him, I’m going to have a myocardial infarction!” * Kim: (sings) “Don’t pee on the president’s lawn…”

Upcoming Events: Tonight: Movie night at Dee's! Thurs: Trick-or-Treat night! (at least in Shbg, not sure about surrounding communities or even my own college...) Nov. 2nd: VOTE! and my uncle John's estate auction.

Picture of the week: 


The courtyard in the Freer Gallery, Washington DC. The architecture is so beautiful! I want to live there!


Leaves on the ground outside the Science Center, Wilson College.

10/30/04

The Good: Did some work on my fanfictions, dressing up for Halloween Friday was cool, the election's nearly over! Lovely weather this weekend. Got a nice long email from Bobby about my fanfic, prompting me to fix some things. I love reviews!

The Bad: Went up to the mall to go shopping and actually didn't buy anything. Also went by myself, which everyone knows is never as much fun.

The Ugly: Reading Mary Midgley's The Ethical Primate. Gah.

Anecdote of the Week: See the Crazy Week page.

Weekly Rating: Not too bad.

Recommended Books: Whatever you do, DON'T read The Ethical Primate.

Recommended Music: Oh, just randomness

Recommended Movies/TV Shows: Haven't seen anything new this week

Recommended Webpages: Hows about reading my fanfiction and then reviewing? Or you could learn to insult and swear in 165 languages! Du bist doch dumm wie Brot. J/K!

Poem of the Week: I must admit, I'm not entirely sure what this Karl Shapiro poem is about.
It's poem of the week because it got stuck in my head, or at least part of it.
For reference, Shapiro was born in 1913.

Scyros
snuffle and sniff and handkerchief

The doctor punched my vein
The captain called me Cain
Upon my belly sat the sow of fear
With coins on either eye
The President came by
And whispered to the braids what none could hear

High over where the storm
Stood steadfast cruciform
The golden eagle sank in wounded wheels
White negroes laughing still
Crept fiercely on Brazil
Turning the navies upward on their keels

Now one by one the trees
Stripped to their naked knees
To dance up on the heaps of shrunken dead
The roof of England fell
Great Paris tolled her bell
And China staunched mer milk and wept for bread

No island singly lay
But lost its name that day
The Ainu dived across the plunging sands
From dawn to dawn to dawn
King George's birds came on
Strafing the tulips from his children's hands

Thus in the classic sea
Southeast from Thessaly
The dynamited mermen washed ashore
And tritons dresssed in steel
Trolled heads with rod and reel
Adn dredged potatoes from the Aegean floor

Hot is the sky and green
Where Germans have been seen
The moon leaks metal on the Atlantic fields
Pink boys in birthday shrouds
Loop lightly through the clouds
Or coast the peaks of Finland on their shields

That prophet year by year
Lay still but could not hear
Where scholars tapped to find his new remains
Gog and Magog ate pork
In vertical New York
And war began next Monday on the Danes

Picture of the week: 


October colors outside Lenfest

Poem of the Week: from "Ulysses" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. 
It's too long to put all of it here,but I definitely recommend the entire poem! 
It's not really terribly long.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me-
That ever with a frolic welcome took
The thunder and the sunshine, and opposed
Free hearts, free foreheads- you and I are old;
Old age had yet his honour and his toil;
Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Picture of the week: Must go back to dorm room to upload.

Poem of the Week: Edna St. Vincent Millay

Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!
Give me back my book and take my kiss instead.
Was it my enemy or my friend I heard,
"What a big book for such a little head!"
Come, I will show you now my newest hat,
And you may watch me purse my mouth and prink!
Oh, I shall love you still, and all of that.
I never again shall tell you what I think.
I shall be sweet and crafty, soft and sly;
You will not catch me reading any more:
I shall be called a wife to pattern by;
And some day when you knock and push the door,
Some sane day, not too bright and not too stormy,
I shall be gone, and you may whistle for me.

Picture of the week: Tree outside of Thomson

Poem of the Week: The end of "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Oscar Wilde
Read the poem

VI
In Reading gaol by Reading town 
There is a pit of shame, 
And in it lies a wretched man 
Eaten by teeth of flame, 
In burning winding-sheet he lies, 
And his grave has got no name.

And there, till Christ call forth the dead, 
In silence let him lie: 
No need to waste the foolish tear, 
Or heave the windy sigh: 
The man had killed the thing he loved, 
And so he had to die.

And all men kill the thing they love, 
By all let this be heard, 
Some do it with a bitter look, 
Some with a flattering word, 
The coward does it with a kiss, 
The brave man with a sword!

Picture of the week: 


Autumn Olive

Poem of the Week: Emily Dickinson

On this wondrous sea,
Sailing silently,
Knowest thou the shore
  Ho! pilot, ho!
Where no breakers roar,
  Where the storm is o'er?

In the silent west
Many sails at rest,
  Their anchors fast;
Thither I pilot thee,--
Land, ho! Eternity!
  Ashore at last!

Picture of the week: 


At sunset

Poem of the Week: Chorus to "Land of my Sojourn" by Rich Mullins/Beaker

Nobody tells you when you get born here
How much you'll come to love it
And how you'll never belong here.
So I call you my country, but I'm lonely for my home,
And I wish that I could take you there with me.

Picture of the week: Don't have anything recent

Poem of the Week: Lyrics to "Love Song" by Third Day. You have to hear this song!

I've heard it said that a man would climb a mountain
Just to be with the one he loves
How many times has he broken that promise
It has never been done.
I've never climbed the highest mountain
But I walked the hill of calvary

Chorus:
Just to be with you, I'll do anything
There's no price I would not pay
Just to be with you, I'll give anything
I would give my life away.

I've heard it said that a man would swim the ocean
Just to be with the one he loves
All of those dreams are an empty emotion
It can never be done
I've never swam the deepest ocean
But I walked upon the raging sea

Repeat chorus


(Bridge) I know that you don't understand
the fullness of My love
How I died upon the cross for your sins
And I know that you don't realize
how much that I gave you
But I promise, I would do it all again.

Just to be with you, I've done everything
There's no price I did not pay
Just to be with you, I gave everything
Yes, I gave my life away.

Picture of the week: I've got plenty, but here's just one: 
a cartoon I clipped out of the paper the other day.

Poem of the Week: Lyrics to "In Christ Alone" by Newsboys.
As with last week's, you really can't get the full effect without actually hearing the song.
Definitely recommended!

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease 
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
'Till on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied 
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain 
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost it's grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life's first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
'Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Picture of the week: I'm writing this at home again, so I don't have access to my picture files.
You guys should just be grateful that I wrote at all! :)

Poem of the Week: 

Picture of the week:

Out the window this morning.
I know it looks like evening; it's just the camera compensating for the bright sun 
(which I accidentally got in the picture. Happy accident!)

Poem of the Week: Emily Dickinson (Again! again!)

I never hear the word "escape"
Without a quicker blood,
A sudden expectation,
A flying attitude.

I never heard of prisons broad
By soldiers battered down,
But I tug childish at my bars,--
Only to fail again!

Picture of the week:
Found these on Katey's website--unfortunately, I can't find the address, but I'll put it up as soon as I can 
get it. These are from Sara's shipping out party last... May? June? something like that. Anyway, great 
times. (My own photos of this party are here.)



Me, Caleb and Erica


Back row: Unidentifiable, unID, Erica, Erin, Shawn, Kevin, Graham, Laura, Harold, Tami, Emily, Sean,
Jon, Katey
Front row: Amberle, Travis, Bryan, Sara, Ashley, me, unID, unID, and Jen in the front.
I LOVE AND MISS YOU GUYS!