As 2013 rolls in
To no one's great surprise, The Washington Times laid off about 25 people today. Kind of a repeat of three years ago but not as many people, mainly because the staff had pretty much been eviscerated. Many sympathies to those cut. Trying to pack up your desk in only a few hours is not a fun task. Been there and done that. But we have moved on and the past week has been a quiet one. I dreamed up going away but the finances weren't there plus long road trips aren't Veeka's forte so we're enjoying lots of cold sunny winter days here. Might take a trip to Memphis this weekend just to enjoy the big city.
Have also used my time to watch movies. Took Veeka to see "The Hobbit" and she did pretty well with it (I was expecting she'd want to leave after seeing all the orcs and wargs but it was Gollum who really creeped her out). We've started reading "The Fellowship of the Ring" at bedtime and it's amazing how much you notice about a book when you read it outloud. Like how Tolkien kept on remarking on the weather during the first part when Frodo and the other hobbits were trying to get to Rivendell. He was constantly writing about this and that patch of blue sky or clouds. If I was writing a mega-trilogy, cloud patterns would not be a major part of my prose but no, Tolkien wrote a lot about what the weather was like on their trip. Tonight I sat Veeka down to see if she could last through the first part of the movie version of "Fellowship" but after 15 minutes (and this is before they even got out of the Shire), she was begging me to turn it off. So, that will have to wait a few more years.
And last night, I watched "The Hunger Games," one of the weirder pieces of cinema I've seen lately. No way would I have let Veeka into the same room with that movie. "Downton Abbey" starts this Sunday; now is that better fare for the first-grade set? Her school starts next Tuesday, so will have more free time after that, although I've got several sets of syllabi to make up (am trying to whole new pile of textbooks so can't use what I did last semester), plus more new faculty orientation (two day's worth, in fact), plus finish two book manuscripts that have languished for many moons plus unpack all my things. I just purchased a new sewing table; something I've wanted for years, so finally there is a place to plunk the machine all tons of scraps that have been laying about for years.