I just made baked squash with apples. Hopefully it tastes good?
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Writing
1. Sorry for not posting in, um, some long-ish amount of time. Almost two weeks? I usually start thinking, "Oh, I'll wait until a few interesting things happen and then I'll write about them all at once!" but then SO MANY THINGS happen and it's just too much and I just don't write about them at all.
2. I just finished reading Robinson Crusoe for 18th Century Writing. For a while, I enjoyed it. Then it just got so unbearably repetitive. I was reading it Sunday night and was literally nodding off. Which was partly because of all my London shenanigans, but I'd say a good 56% was because I was reading the same thing over and over again. And not like when you are tired and end up reading the same sentence or paragraph multiple times. Like when the author actually writes basically the exact same thing multiple times in a row. Which is just unnecessary, I think.
3. Which made me start thinking about writing in general, and why we have to read certain texts for class, and what is considered good (or great) literature and what's not, and why a novel like Robinson Crusoe is so respected in the literary sphere. Because honestly, and I may be missing something, I'm not that impressed with Robinson Crusoe. Now, I definitely believe there should be standards for literature, and I do think Robinson Crusoe falls within those standards, but. It made me think about standards, and then specifically within a university setting, on what grounds can anyone determine the quality of a creative writing piece.
4. Because I am writing a play for my Creative Writing Dissertation. And I met with my adviser the other week, and she told me I needed to work on my dialogue because it didn't sound quite natural, the way "real people" would speak. Well. I know that. I know I have a tendency to write with more heightened dialogue. But...don't most playwrights? Also, the dialogue I have so far was written very intentionally for the way it sounds, as well as what is being said. Plus she's not satisfied with my stage directions, which are minimal and allow room for interpretation (I like interpretation. I like giving people options.), which is fine, I'll fix that and write a ton of really detailed stage direction and it will help contribute to the 50 pages I need to complete by the end of the term. But I feel very much like I'm writing creatively with someone else's limitations and expectations, and I don't like it.
5. Also, I wrote a bunch of postcards and left just enough space on all of them for a normal sized 87p stamp. But apparently the post office ran out of those and won't have any until after Christmas (it takes over two months to get more stamps? what country am I in??) so I had to put half of the postcards in envelopes just to accommodate the ridiculously large stamps. Which defeats the purpose of a postcard as being something that doesn't require an envelope. OH WELL.
2. I just finished reading Robinson Crusoe for 18th Century Writing. For a while, I enjoyed it. Then it just got so unbearably repetitive. I was reading it Sunday night and was literally nodding off. Which was partly because of all my London shenanigans, but I'd say a good 56% was because I was reading the same thing over and over again. And not like when you are tired and end up reading the same sentence or paragraph multiple times. Like when the author actually writes basically the exact same thing multiple times in a row. Which is just unnecessary, I think.
3. Which made me start thinking about writing in general, and why we have to read certain texts for class, and what is considered good (or great) literature and what's not, and why a novel like Robinson Crusoe is so respected in the literary sphere. Because honestly, and I may be missing something, I'm not that impressed with Robinson Crusoe. Now, I definitely believe there should be standards for literature, and I do think Robinson Crusoe falls within those standards, but. It made me think about standards, and then specifically within a university setting, on what grounds can anyone determine the quality of a creative writing piece.
4. Because I am writing a play for my Creative Writing Dissertation. And I met with my adviser the other week, and she told me I needed to work on my dialogue because it didn't sound quite natural, the way "real people" would speak. Well. I know that. I know I have a tendency to write with more heightened dialogue. But...don't most playwrights? Also, the dialogue I have so far was written very intentionally for the way it sounds, as well as what is being said. Plus she's not satisfied with my stage directions, which are minimal and allow room for interpretation (I like interpretation. I like giving people options.), which is fine, I'll fix that and write a ton of really detailed stage direction and it will help contribute to the 50 pages I need to complete by the end of the term. But I feel very much like I'm writing creatively with someone else's limitations and expectations, and I don't like it.
5. Also, I wrote a bunch of postcards and left just enough space on all of them for a normal sized 87p stamp. But apparently the post office ran out of those and won't have any until after Christmas (it takes over two months to get more stamps? what country am I in??) so I had to put half of the postcards in envelopes just to accommodate the ridiculously large stamps. Which defeats the purpose of a postcard as being something that doesn't require an envelope. OH WELL.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
On Castles and Food and Things
Today is Wednesday which means I have been in Norwich for two. whole. weeks.
I know. I don't believe it either.
So much and so little has happened. Whitman and London both seem so far away, but I still feel like I haven't really even started classes yet. Which I think is due to the whole "have class only once a week but for multiple hours" way of learning over here. I spend so much time not on campus that the "study" part of the abroad experience seems to be lacking. (Am I complaining about this? Not sure.)
However, this does leave me with plenty of free time to do fun things like visit the Norwich Castle!
Some history: Norwich Castle was built by a bunch of Normans about 900 years ago. It has since been renovated, etc., and is now filled with lots of galleries and fun things to look at. If you visit an hour before closing, it only costs one pound to get in! So naturally that's what I did on Monday. The only downside to that was I didn't have access to the dungeon or battlement tours, but what can you do. I did get to see all this stuff though:
All in all, Monday was a pretty fun day. I don't even want to talk about Tuesday. Let's talk about food instead!
This is really the first time in my life I've ever had to make all of my meals for myself. As I'm learning to do that, I end up eating a lot of the same things. For instance, carrots and potatoes are relatively cheap in bulk, so I buy a lot and then sautee them with olive oil and pepper and put them in a wrap for dinner. Basically every night. Because it's easy. And also very tasty. Did I mention cheap? (After about five days of watching me eat exactly the same thing each night, Katie asked me if I was on a special diet haha.) Anyway, I'm currently in the middle of running out of food/still having enough where I don't really need to go shopping, so my eating habits haven't been quite normal the past couple days.
Also, we have a cleaning lady. Which is nice, but she's always cleaning the kitchen when I want to eat. This resulted in me eating a Snickers bar for brunch today. By the time she left, I really only had time to make some toast before dashing back to campus for my Creative Writing Dissertation introductory seminar. (And by dashing, I mean walking quickly to the bus stop and getting there right in time for the driver to change shifts and then waiting ten minutes for another driver to show up and then sitting on the bus for another five before he got the computer system all worked out. Buses. They're still a mystery to me.)
On my way back from campus, I stopped by Patisserie Valerie to buy a cupcake because today is Jeremy Howell's birthday, and also because everything in Patisserie Valerie is just confectionery perfection. To recap: Snickers, toast, cupcake.
But now for the happy ending! For those of you who are probably worried now about my eating habits (mom), I've joined the UEA VegBox Society. What this means is I can order a small, medium or large selection of organic vegetables from a local farm (http://www.facebook.com/arthursorganicdeliveries) at a fantastically decent price through UEA. I place an order on facebook, and the vegetables get delivered to campus on Wednesdays for pick-up. So today I got my first medium vegbox! Which means instead of eating just carrots and potatoes for dinner, I got to eat this!
I am currently a very satisfied and happy camper. And I'm sure you are to, now that you've read all about what I ate today.
I know. I don't believe it either.
So much and so little has happened. Whitman and London both seem so far away, but I still feel like I haven't really even started classes yet. Which I think is due to the whole "have class only once a week but for multiple hours" way of learning over here. I spend so much time not on campus that the "study" part of the abroad experience seems to be lacking. (Am I complaining about this? Not sure.)
However, this does leave me with plenty of free time to do fun things like visit the Norwich Castle!
Some history: Norwich Castle was built by a bunch of Normans about 900 years ago. It has since been renovated, etc., and is now filled with lots of galleries and fun things to look at. If you visit an hour before closing, it only costs one pound to get in! So naturally that's what I did on Monday. The only downside to that was I didn't have access to the dungeon or battlement tours, but what can you do. I did get to see all this stuff though:
 |
| The Castle Keep! |
 |
| Some shells. |
 |
| The largest tea pot IN THE WORLD. |
 |
| Pretty cool bird in the Natural History Gallery. |
 |
| This incredible glass piece in the modern art gallery that I wasn't supposed to take a picture of but couldn't resist. |
 |
| This fun dragon's head. |
 |
| Apparently what people used to look like back in the day. |
 |
| A suit of armor! |
All in all, Monday was a pretty fun day. I don't even want to talk about Tuesday. Let's talk about food instead!
This is really the first time in my life I've ever had to make all of my meals for myself. As I'm learning to do that, I end up eating a lot of the same things. For instance, carrots and potatoes are relatively cheap in bulk, so I buy a lot and then sautee them with olive oil and pepper and put them in a wrap for dinner. Basically every night. Because it's easy. And also very tasty. Did I mention cheap? (After about five days of watching me eat exactly the same thing each night, Katie asked me if I was on a special diet haha.) Anyway, I'm currently in the middle of running out of food/still having enough where I don't really need to go shopping, so my eating habits haven't been quite normal the past couple days.
Also, we have a cleaning lady. Which is nice, but she's always cleaning the kitchen when I want to eat. This resulted in me eating a Snickers bar for brunch today. By the time she left, I really only had time to make some toast before dashing back to campus for my Creative Writing Dissertation introductory seminar. (And by dashing, I mean walking quickly to the bus stop and getting there right in time for the driver to change shifts and then waiting ten minutes for another driver to show up and then sitting on the bus for another five before he got the computer system all worked out. Buses. They're still a mystery to me.)
On my way back from campus, I stopped by Patisserie Valerie to buy a cupcake because today is Jeremy Howell's birthday, and also because everything in Patisserie Valerie is just confectionery perfection. To recap: Snickers, toast, cupcake.
 |
| Here is a picture of me about to take a bite out of said cupcake. It was delicious, if you were wondering. |
But now for the happy ending! For those of you who are probably worried now about my eating habits (mom), I've joined the UEA VegBox Society. What this means is I can order a small, medium or large selection of organic vegetables from a local farm (http://www.facebook.com/arthursorganicdeliveries) at a fantastically decent price through UEA. I place an order on facebook, and the vegetables get delivered to campus on Wednesdays for pick-up. So today I got my first medium vegbox! Which means instead of eating just carrots and potatoes for dinner, I got to eat this!
 |
| With onions! And mushrooms! And corn! And BROCCOLI! |
I am currently a very satisfied and happy camper. And I'm sure you are to, now that you've read all about what I ate today.
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