January Wrap-Up

In trying to get my blog schedule up and running for the next couple of months so that I wouldn't have to worry about it during the semester quite as much, I sort of lost sight of the fact that I needed a wrap-up for January.

Oops.

*cue mad scrambling*

But, I'm here to tell you what my crazy January held!

Some things I did...
-Got to see one of our Dominicans who's currently pursuing an advanced degree at a university on the East Coast, cuz he came home to visit his family
-Ran two weddings (I have a job as a wedding coordinator for our church, and it's something I absolutely LOVE to do)
-Saw a version of Cinderella (the Rogers & Hammerstein musical) at one of our local theaters
-Had a portfolio review for the first time with two different professionals--I got very good suggestions for improvement!
-Tagged along to homeschool co-op with my mom and youngest two siblings on a couple of occasions. Mom is helping with the preschoolers this semester, and let me tell you, they are exhausting. 
-Watched The Man Who Invented Christmas--what an extraordinarily delightful movie!
-Flew back to school, and started again the day after MLK day
-Started classes again--I'm trying to take 21 credit hours again this semester, we'll see how that goes. It went south very quickly last spring semester, so I may need to drop a class. But I hope not, because I love all of them!
-Went to Chicago for the first time ever with a friend of mine who needed to get his Horn fixed, and got to see the Fine Arts Building, Millenium Park, the Lurie Gardens, Maggie Daley Park, and the Art Institute, all of which was AMAZING and I definitely need to back. (The Art Institute is so awesome! And not that far away!)

Fun Quotes

Gandalf: *in mildly bored tones* "Oh yes, this blog."
[Reader, the blog in question was my own blog.]

Animal Issues Professor: "I'm Dr. Digger. My husband is also Dr. Digger and also teaches in Animal Science. My dad thinks that Dr. Digger sounds like Dr. Pepper, so he calls my husband 'Diet Dr. Digger'. So that's how I'm going to refer to him in this class."
[Name changed to protect the guilty & the innocent.] [Also, she totally did go ahead and call her husband 'Diet Dr. Digger'. And I'm also in his class, and am very tempted to ask if I can call him 'Diet Dr. Digger'.]

Animal Repro Professor: "I have no idea why the number of people dying in their bedsheets is going up."

Animal Nutrition Professor [aka Diet Dr. Digger]: "We're going to talk a lot about corn. I am not going to sing the song."

Dr. Digger: *ghost hands* "woo, the algorithm!"

Dr. Digger: "Dudes, what is it about six feet?? We'll still like you if you're five foot ten!"

Lily: *out of nowhere* "I fractured my toe over break."

Nicky: "I've never taken a CS class. But I did get the last question on the lab right. *pause* The second time."

My Friend's Horn Maker: *tests horn* *it's fixed* *raises arms in the air* "I am Gandalf!"

Worth Reading...

...if you're okay with a little bit of horror

A Bloody Habit & Brother Wolf by Eleanor Bourg Nicholson 
These are Catholic vampire and werewolf novels, respectively--but not your contemporary vampire/werewolf romance, but actual vampire/werewolf horror, drawing inspiration from Dracula &c. (The first book, especially.) I don't usually go for horror, but these books also involved Dominicans, and turned out to be some of the best depictions of Dominicans I've ever seen (even though I've not seen many, if any, Dominicans in fiction), and I was thus in seventh heaven. The Dominicans are vampire hunters, and the Franciscans tackle the werewolves, which is just fantastic. The first book is clearly meant to reference Dracula quite a bit, where the second one ventures out more on its own; I enjoyed both immensely. And they made me think about the mainstream contemporary depictions of vampires and werewolves, too.

...if you love books (a pretty safe bet on this blog, I think)

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
I had been waffling about reading this one, even though I loved The Night Circus, because I'd heard there was some content in it that I Did Not Approve Of. Which there was, but it really was possible to look past it to the setting, because the book is really about the setting, and not about the characters and their (sometimes dubious) choices. It's about what-if-there-was-a-place-which-kept-all-the-stories-of-the-world, and the world which that what-if creates makes what is quite possibly my favorite fictional setting of all time: the Harbor of the Starless Sea (and the Starless Sea itself). It's nearly impossible to describe, except to say that it's definitely written for all the kids who were always checking wardrobes for Narnia. Also, for anyone who loves to read. It's really a love letter to books and the reading life and being a reader, and so for that, I recommend it.

...if you're in the mood for a brief jaunt into an amusing fantasy world

The Game by Diana Wynne Jones
It almost seems like Diana Wynne Jones just sat down and wrote a quick fun jaunt for her own enjoyment, and then published it. It's about a group of cousins and a fantasy game they like to play, and I can't say much more than that without spoiling it but suffice it to say that there are many mythology references, her trademark fantastical style, and lots and lots of cousins. 

So, how was your January? Do you ever read horror? Have you ever been to Chicago? Did you find me in that picture of Cloud Gate (aka the Bean)?