• John: William Shakespeare's Star Wars book
• Manda: Well Read Women: Portraits of Fiction's Most Beloved Heroines
• Anna: Tres Chic! More French Girl Singers of the 1960s
• Dad: photo book of course, but something he'd like?
• Mom: the 2nd Hugh Laurie CD

I am simply not happy in this program. I think I made the decision that graduate studies in English wasn't for me long before I even started. I've been struggling with whether it was right for me, if I should keep muddling through or just pull the plug and do what I really want to do ever since school started in August. And now I know I need to quit. Because I'm fucking miserable. There's no shame in knowing yourself and being honest about where your interests lie. So...this is the new plan. One that I'm very excited about!

2011

• Fall:
  • drop Victorian seminar and Renaissance seminar
  • stay in History of the Book to 1800
  • volunteer at public library/try to get a job at the university library

• The Guilt Trip
• This is 40
• The Hobbit
• Anna Karenina
• Hitchcock
• Parental Guidance
• Not Fade Away

• Party of Five season 2
• Newsies
• SLC Punk
• The Sopranos season 3
• Mad Men season 1-4
• Tangled

Solanas, Valerie. SCUM Manifesto . 1967. Intro by Avital Ronell. New York: Verso, 2004. 35-80. Print.

• "The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion, aborted at the gene stage" (35).
• "The male claim that females find fulfillment through motherhood, and sexuality reflects what males think they'd find fulfilling if they were female" (38).
• "Leisure time horrifies the male, who will have nothing to do but contemplate his grotesque self" (40).
• "What will liberate women, therefore, from male control is the total elimination of the money-work system, not the attainment of economic equality with men within it" (41).
• "
  
  en expect women to adore what men shrink ...

• Wiki project--how in the fuck am I supposed to get this done by April 20th with only 2 other people in the group?
• Hamlet paper--really not looking forward to this
• Jane Austen paper--if I didn't have anything else to do for class, it would be done. As of now, not a single word has been typed.
• Victorian lit final online
• finding a cheap, yet nice (and safe) apartment in Athens

Basically, my avatar is the PERFECT rendering of my state right now. I just want to sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Sleep is good.

Things I Want to Buy:

Films

• Masculin Feminin , Godard (1966)
• La Chinoise , Godard (1967)
• Day for Night , Truffaut (1973)
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp , Powell & Pressburger (1943)

Music

• The Donnas , The Donnas
• American Teenage Rock 'n' Roll Machine , The Donnas
• Get Skintight , The Donnas
• No Help Coming , Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs (out 4/26)
• God Don't Like It , Holly Golightly
• anything by the Everly Brothers that I can find...
• West Coast Time , Michelle Branch (out who knows when?)
• Cat Power's new album when it comes out
• Fiona Apple's new album when it comes out
• Noel Gallagher's new album when it comes ...

• 1 course in English Lit before 1800
• 1 course in English Lit after 1800
• 1 course in American Lit
• 3 courses to create specialization
• 1 course from another concentration
• 2 electives

+

• 1 hour of Teaching Apprenticeship
• 3 hours of Practicum in Teaching College Composition
• 3 hours of MA Capstone

= 10 classes, 1 apprenticeship, & 1 Thesis

• Masculin Feminin , 1966
• La Chinoise , 1967
• La Nuit Americaine , 1973

• I love, love, LOVE profanity
• I'm an atheist
• I'm vegan (and not the stereotypical activist kind)
• I don't party
• the kinds of music I hate (I don't want to burst someone's music bubble, you know? It's just plain mean if I shit on Coldplay and find out that that's their favorite band in the whole history of music.)
• I hate children
• I'm not a huge fan of dogs
• I'm embarrassingly in love with a French actor who was young and foxy in the '60s
• I don't drive UPDATE: I actually drive now

• Dexter season 4
• Party Down season 2
• Californication season 3
• Lord of the Rings trilogy
• The Godfather trilogy
• The Antoine Doinel Cycle
• Annie Hall
• I'm Not There
• White Christmas
• any Jean-Pierre Leaud films I can lay my hands on
• Elizabeth (because JPL has an uncredited role as a French ambassador)
• Little Women
• Amadeus
• The Red Shoes
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Before Sunrise
• Before Sunset
• Mixed Nuts
• Love Actually

• Johnny Depp & Winona Ryder :(
• Scarlett O'Hara & Rhett Butler
• Jo March & Laurie
• Laurence Selden & Lily Bart
• Meg & Jack White
• Jack White & Karen Elson :'(
• Russell Brand & Katy Perry
• Neil & Pegi Young
• Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale

• "If It's Love" by Train (omg I want to DIE when this comes on the radio)
• "Rockabye" by Shawn Mullins (anything by Shawn Mullins, actually)
• "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon
• "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles
• "The Distance" by CAKE (anything by them sucks too)
• anything by Jack Johnson
• anything by Jason Mraz
• that song by James Blunt...you know the one
• "The Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + the Machine
• "Little Tubby Englishman"...I mean, "Little Lion Man" by Mumford & Sons

• Sylvia Plath
• Victor Hugo
• Jane Austen
• Douglas Adams
• Roald Dahl
• William Blake
• John Keats
• J.K. Rowling
• Nick Hornby
• E.M. Forster
• J.D. Salinger
• Gail Carson Levine
• Edith Wharton
• Beverly Cleary
• Erica Jong

• Jane Austen independent study with Dr. D
• FILM 4200 (don't know the topic or the professor, but I need it to complete the film minor)
• Shakespeare in Film with Dr. B (counts towards film minor, but I don't need it--just fun to take another class with Dr. B)
• some sort of literary genre class unless I can get my advisor to count the Shax in Film for my genre theory requirement. OTHERWISE...free elective in anything that suits my fancy, fuck yeah!!

• Penn State
• University of Delaware
• University of Connecticut
• Rutgers University
• Boston University
• Fordham University
• Brandeis University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Boston College
• Temple University
• NYU
• Columbia
• University of Minnesota (Twin Cities campus)

• "All Right Now" by Free
• "My Best Friend's Girlfriend" by The Cars
• "Get Off of My Cloud" by The Rolling Stones
• "Free Ride" by The Edgar Winter Group
• "Black Tongue" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• "Morning Glory" by Oasis
• "Girls & Boys" by Blur
• "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet
• "Shoot the Runner" by Kasabian
• "Arcade Precinct" by 1990s
• "Roam" by The B52s
• "Love Shack" by The B52s
• "Cannonball" by The Breeders
• "Fade Into You" by Mazzy Star
• "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp
• "You Don't Know How it Feels" by Tom Petty
• "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" by REM
• "Hey Hey What Can I Do?" by Led Zeppelin

• Jewel, Chastain Park Amphitheatre, Sept. 2003
• Sarah McLachlan, Phillips Arena, July 2004
• Oasis, Lakewood Amphitheatre, Sept. 2005
• Fiona Apple, Chastain Park Amphitheatre, Aug. 2006
• The Decemberists w/the ASO, Chastain Park Amphitheatre, June 2007
• Regina Spektor, The Tabernacle, March 2008
• Cat Power & the Dirty Delta Blues, The Tabernacle, June 2008
• The Raconteurs, The Tabernacle, Oct. 2008
• The Decemberists, The Tabernacle, June 2009
• No Doubt, Lakewood Amphitheatre, June 2009
• Bon Iver, The Variety Playhouse, June 2009

• "shale" (sounds like a southerner saying "shell")
• "ripe" (sounds like a southerner saying "rape")
• "whale" (sounds like a southerner saying "well")
• "grain" (sounds like a southerner saying "green")
• "hail" (sounds like a southerner saying "hell")

2011

• graduate college
• get through first semester of grad school

2012

• get through first year of grad school and first semester of teaching

2013

• finish last semester of coursework
• write thesis
• pass exams
• graduate with M.A. in Spring or Summer semester
• get a job adjuncting at alma mater
• volunteer at county libraries
• apply to MLIS/IS programs

2014

• work at alma mater

• 2 weeks' worth of underwear
• 2-3 pairs of jeans
• 1 sundress for the southern states
• a few pairs of socks
• 2 t-shirts
• 1 longsleeve shirt
• sweatshirt
• jacket (for the North Shore)
• that-time-of-the-month supplies (yay)
• toiletries
• computer & charger
• mp3 player & charger
• movies
• books (3, just to be safe)
  • A Tale of Two Cities
  • Lolita
  • Pride and Prejudice graphic novel
• to be continued...

• Julia Stiles
• Emma Stone
• Jeanne Tripplehorn
• pretty much anyone Canadian
• Keri Russell
• Rachel Bilson

A tentative schedule...

• Tuesday: Seminar in Victorian Lit: Sexuality, Queer Theory, & the Victorians, 3:30-6:15
• Wednesday: Research Methods: History of the Book to 1800, 1:25-4:25
• Friday: Seminar in Renaissance Lit: Early Modern Representations of the East, 1:25-4:25

Fall 2011

• Seminar in Renaissance
• American Writing 1820-1865
• History of the Book to 1800

Spring 2012

• History of the Book 1800-Present
• Victorian Seminar
• History of the Novel
• Teaching Apprenticeship

Summer 2012

• study abroad in Oxford or take one of the classes from Fall 2012 and take as summer class because 3 classes plus teaching (and researching for thesis) is TOO MUCH

Fall 2012

• Romanticism
• Composition Theory
• Teaching Practicum

• Demetri Martin
• Bret McKenzie
• Andy Samberg
• Seth Rogen

For the department:

• what are the chances for funding in the second year?
• are there any assistantships or jobs on campus that would waive my tuition fees?
• what courses are you planning to offer in the next two years?
• are there opportunities to teach in the second year?

For current students:

• how hard is it to get a TA the second year?
• do you feel like the faculty supports you / is it a supportive department? (especially in terms of publishing papers and continuing to a PhD program)
• if you don't have funding, how are you financing your MA?
• special question for the nation's #1 party school: do you feel like graduate life ...

• snow
• rainy and/or cloudy days
• kitties
• Oreos
• Jane Austen
• Jean-Pierre Leaud
• childhood memories
• the smell of old books
• baking
• re-watching movies I loved as a child
• the Neil Young & the Shocking Pinks record
• turning out to be good at something unexpected
• 1960s pop music
• Noel Gallagher on a rant
• Bulk and Skull from Power Rangers
• The Mighty Boosh
• good hair days

• slapjack
• Monopoly
• Scrabble
• Jenga
• anything trivia-related

• Bill Maher
• Stephen Merchant
• characters who are assholes/jerks (I think they're funny?)
• Francois Truffaut
• Rupert Grint
• Flynn Ryder
• Steve Zahn
• Don Everly
• Ringo Starr
• Prince Harry
• Michael Imperioli
• Oliver Platt
• Skull from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
• Noel Fielding

• seeing Black Swan after my last final
• having my very own Antoine Doinel film festival
• finishing up applications
• seeing White Christmas on the big screen for the first time
• going to Disney World for the first time since I was 7
• reading the stack of books I've been eyeing all semester long
• baking the things on my list
• knitting scarves for Xmas presents!!
• dare I say it? ... relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxxxxinnnng

• some winter weather
• the semester to be over so I can sleep in
• and read (what I want to read)
• trip to Disney World
• White Christmas on the big screen
• the grad-school application process to be done

I do like

• The Phantom of the Opera
• Cats
• Newsies
• Cinderella (The Leslie Ann Warren one)
• The Sound of Music
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• White Christmas
• Annie

• Julia Stiles
• Sarah Michelle Gellar (everybody on Buffy the Vampire Slayer , really)
• Tom Cruise
• Mel Gibson
• Matt Damon
• Ben Affleck
• Kevin Costner
• Lauren Graham (basically everybody on _Gilmore Girls_)
• Jay Baruchel
• Sandra Bullock
• Richard Gere
• James Cagney
• Mary Louise Parker
• Steve Martin
• Emma Stone (her face looks like Mrs. Pacman)
• Antonio Banderas
• Jennifer Garner
• Orlando Bloom (so fucking boring)
• Tim Allen

• Take This Waltz
• Celeste and Jesse Forever
• Californication season 5
• That's My Boy (only if it's cheap 'cause it sucked ass, but I love my Andy Samberg)
• The Good Wife seasons 1 & 2
• A Hard Day's Night
• Help!
• Magical Mystery Tour
• The Sleeping Beauty
• Bluebeard
• Me Without You
• The Magic Christian

• big noses
• hands
• moles in interesting places (collarbone, for one)
• weak chins
• thick eyebrows
• facial expressions
• gestures
• men of slight build (not teeny-tiny, but just shorter and smaller than the average man)
• men who are slightly chubby

Rabbit-mouthed (adj.): a condition in which a person's otherwise normal and even attractive features are obscured by an overly wide mouth with thin lips, causing the person to speak as if he/she had the mouth of a rabbit.

• Jon Hamm
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Tobey Maguire
• Jamie Lee Curtis [okay, she's not a man, but she's got some serious rabbit mouth going on]
• Christian Bale
• Jamie Bamber
• Michael Fassbender

Some are re-watches, some are "I-really-should-watch-that-if-I'm-going-to-call-myself-a-film-buff," and the rest are just out of curiosity.

• all the Star Wars movies
• The Godfather trilogy
• all the JPL movies I have yet to see
• Chinatown
• Casablanca
• Doctor Zhivago
• Dazed and Confused
• The Parent Trap (the Hayley Mills one)
• Tokyo Story
• Jaws
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Taxi Driver
• The Apartment
• 8 1/2
• Blue Velvet
• Cruel Intentions
• The September Issue

• That Thing You Do!
• Josie and the Pussycats
• Still Crazy
• Almost Famous
• Rock Star
• Airheads
• Spinal Tap
• I'm Not There
• The Runaways
• Crazy Heart
• The Buddy Holly Story

Fall 2011

• Seminar in Renaissance (English before 1800)
• Victorian Seminar (specialization course 1)
• History of the Book to 1800 (elective 1)

Spring 2012

• History of the Book 1800-Present (elective 2)
• Modern Seminar or 18th-c. Seminar (English after 1800)
• American Writing 1820-1865 (American course)

Summer 2012

• Composition Theory (course from other concentration)
• Teaching Apprenticeship
• complete language requirement

Fall 2012

• Research Methods: History of the Book to 1800 (would satisfy non-specialization requirement)
• Seminar in Renaissance Literature: The Early Modern English East (will satisfy English Lit before 1800 requirement)
• American Writing 1820-1865 (will satisfy American requirement)
• Films About the South (elective)
• Teaching Apprenticeship (1 credit, will help satisfy requirements to be assigned a TAship)

I can take 3 classes, plus the apprenticeship

• teaching freshman comp for the first time
• finishing coursework
• preparing for and taking oral examination
• writing my 50-page thesis
• orally defending thesis
• applying to PhD programs
  • taking the GRE again
  • taking the Lit Subject test again
  • writing a more detailed, professional statement of purpose
  • getting LOR writers
  • submitting a very decent/impressive writing sample

Can't exactly say that if I have to take a year off after the MA that it'll be the worst thing in the world. In fact, I may just plan to take a year off, because this sounds like a recipe for an Esther Gr...

good to start planning a trip in advance, right?

• find home/apartment exchange in Montmartre so I don't have to pay for a hotel or stay in a fucking hostel
• figure out how long and when to stay (depends on how busy grad school will keep me over summer/winter breaks)
• SAVE money for flight and expenses (hard, because will be earning shitty graduate student salary)
• read up on Montmartre & Paris in general
• find out as much as possible about locations used in the Antoine Doinel films (so I can visit them)
• learn some French
• read The Second Sex so I don't feel like a charlatan visiting Simone de Beauvoir's grave
• read about Francois Truffaut & the Cinematheque Francaise

Places I Want to Go to...

• Never Let Me Go
• Jackass 3
• The King's Speech
• Black Swan
• Harry Potter 7.1

• molasses cookies
• sugar cookies
• rum balls
• gingerbread
• chocolate-covered pretzels
• chocolate chip bars

MONDAY

• 9:30-10:45, Literary Genre: Shakespeare in Film
• 3:30-4:45, 19th-c. Brit Lit: Britain & Its Others

TUESDAY

• 11:00, Directed Study: Jane Austen

WEDNESDAY

• 9:30-10:45, Literary Genre: Shakespeare in Film
• online, 19th-c. Brit Lit: Britain & Its Others
• 6:30-9:15, Studies in Film: Eastern European Cinema

THURSDAY

• nothing

Late-night film class will KILL me and I hate online classes, but it's a hybrid class, so that shouldn't be too bad, eh?...

• If my 20-page paper for my senior seminar was already written and totally awesome
• If I didn't have to take my theory class
• If I could have one day (or week) where I got to take a full break from school and just sleep and watch Jean-Pierre Leaud movies
• If I could be transported back to Paris circa 1966 and magically be fluent in French so I could seduce Jean-Pierre Leaud
• If my lecherous film professor from spring semester could act like a human being instead of a pretentious fuck every time I see him
• If all my grad-school applications were done and totally awesome
• If my English Lit GRE score is actually decent
• If I get accepted to all the grad schools I apply to and it's just a matter of choosing the right one

• "I'm getting hard on myself, sitting in my easy chair" --"300 MPH Torrential Outpour Blues"
• "Is that you choking? / Or are you just joking?" --"I Cut Like a Buffalo"
• "You're just an empty cage, girl, if you kill the bird" --"Crucify"
• "Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky fall? / Will you even tell her if you decide to make the sky?" --"God"
• "So you can make me cum / That doesn't make you Jesus" --"Precious Things"
• "The happy phantom has no right to bitch" --"Happy Phantom"
• "Cut up your hair, straighten your curls / All your problems hide in your curls" --"Little Acorns"
• "I'm so clever, but clever ain't wise / And fuck forever, if you don't mind" --"Fuck Forever"

• headaches
• stupid people
• 100-degree summers that last into October
• sweat
• shaving (such a pain in the ass)
• pretentious people
• Kings of Leon
• the whole emo "movement"
• perfume
• pollen
• Owl City
• Kat Dixon and her whore-ible poetry
• hipsters
• inspirational yuk yuks (movies, sayings, pictures)
• fucktards in college who want it to be like high school
• blondies who think they're edgy if they dye their hair black
• people (mainly guys who are control freak...