Song that Reminds Me of a Certain Event

You know, it's weird, but Pomp and Circumstance reminds me of graduation.

... seriously though, I can't think of a song that reminds me of a certain event.  I've been thinking on this for a week or so.

Of course, now that I type that out, a song comes to me.  Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" reminds me of Emmy's birth, because the episode where he and Mrs. Huxtable sing it in a recording booth played in the hospital waiting room when Emmy was off being born.  We watched a LOT of TV that day.  And ate a lot of food.  Although, I just remembered that I was watching my figure, so actually I didn't eat much because all that was available was kinda bad for you :|



Anyway, I love Stevie Wonder, though why couldn't he have sung "Isn't She Lovely?" with Mrs. Huxtable?  Wouldn't that have been the perfect song to have heard the night of your niece's birth? :_)  Mrs. Huxtable has such a great voice ^_^  This is a very sweet scene anyway.

Three months?!?!?!

Dear Dr. E,

You are a crazy lady.  For reals. 

Let's start from the beginning.  I came to you today, leaving work early and losing moneys by doing so, because I've been feeling pretty lousy all week.  I've been really dizzy even just sitting, super nauseous, lacking in appetite, sleepy, and achy in the general ear/sinus region.  The worst is my balance.  I told you how I do hot yoga and have pretty durned good balance, but have been falling over a lot this week (super embarrassing!).

What tests did you do?  Well, you took my blood pressure and temperature.  Oh.  Well, actually, you didn't.  The nurse did.  You listened to me breathe, checked my ears, and looked at my throat.  And then you pronounced (wait for it....)

That I've got viral labyrinthitis.  You told me to drink lots of ginger ale (you actually said lots of sugary and salty drinks versus water), ginger tablets (whatever those are), and Pepto Bismal (should be called Pepto DISMAL ... fail... seriously though, it is icky).  You didn't want to put me on any medications (and apparently think I'm allergic to amoxocillin.  Not sure why).

You explained that viral labyrinthitis is contagious.  It affects the inner ear, so it throws off my equilibrium.  Which explains the falling over and what not.  You explained that it was causing my "vertigo" making me think of a Hitchcock film, can't remember what it's called (this is a lot funnier in my head).  Something about chemicals.

Oh, and then you said it would heal naturally in, oh, THREE MONTHS.  It would take three weeks for any improvement, you explained.

Ugh.  Think maybe I'll get a second opinion.  I don't want to feel crappy for three months!!! 

Woe to me.  Ginger tablets, really?  Has anyone heard of this???  What are they, and where do you get them?  And she said I should take them "if I could get them down."  So I'm guessing they taste awful.

rats.

Love,
Mandy
who is sick
and will be
for three blankety blank
months
:'(

p.s. just looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently it can last years and cause permanent damage.  Ugh!!!!

Song that Reminds me of Somewhere

Definitely Octopus' Garden.  Octopuses'?  Octopus's?  Anyway...

So, I started this Pavlov's Dog-ian experiment about six months ago where I listen to Octopus' Garden during my cool down at the gym.  My thinking was that if I kept listening to it during the peaceful post-killed-myself-in-work-out period, I'd eventually get that pleasant place of mind whenever I heard it.  These are the weird things we do because we don't actually want to learn how to go about things. ... (Distracted trying to figure out if I should say it is a Beatles song or a Ringo song.  Anywho, onward, post!)






I actually am not sure I've listened to the song at all outside of the gym though.  I don't know how long is long enough before testing to see if it works. 

Still, I really like the tune.  It also reminds me of the movie 500 Days of Summer (I am not doing a great job italicizing/quotationicizing/underlining these titles, but it is Friday).  Zooey Deschannel's character, the eponymous Summer's favorite Beatle is Ringo.  Joseph Gordon Lovett's character finds her the album in a record shop.  It is all very sweet.  Actually, I think it is sad in the context of the movie, but I think that Joe's character is so cute that it cheers me up even if it doesn't woo Zooey.  There you have it.

I'm not checking my spelling in these post either.  Self-conscious!!!  In any case, now you know this song's special significance!

Song that Reminds Me of Someone

This song reminds me of C :_) When we were living together, she would play 4ever by the Veronicas over and over and over and over. Seriously. For a period, that album just kept repeating 27 hours a day 13 days a week (it bent the space/time continuum just to harass my eardrums).



Anyway, I actually do like this song, and I can happily listen to it again now that I've had a break from it. But still, ever time I hear it I think of C and am amused.

I'm pretty sure we had a chat about the album at some point :| because I got so exhausted from it! But anyway, I don't remember. I think I vetoed it being played in my car (it appeared on many a gifted mixtape).

Possibly I sneaked away from the car issue by getting C to read books aloud doing all the voices. The best one was "There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom" because C did all the voices of his toy animals ^__^ And they'd randomly be from all over (I think the bear was Southern[and named Benny] and maybe the deer was English??). Good times. Veronicas-free times. D'oh!

Sad Song!

The saddest song I can think of is Patty Loveless' "How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye?".  It is a country song my mom used to listen to when we went to visit my uncle and aunt in Idaho.  Really sad song.  It's about a woman going to her mother whenever she loses someone-- I think the first two are a childhood friend who moves away and her husband via divorce.  The last person the narrator loses is her mom.  Seriously sad stuff.

Anyway, I haven't heard it in a long time because I heard it once when I was younger and sobbed.  That was back when I had really bad asthma, so I got to having an asthma attack.  After that, my mom didn't play the song anymore.  My lungs were a real problem back then, and I bet my mom felt terrible.

I'm just happy, though, that I never had to hear that damn song again.  It is seriously depressing.  I get sad just thinking about it.

Old-ish Writing Experiment

Found this and am putting it here for safekeeping....  because it is how I roll.


Hateful Things

* After "Hateful Things" from the Pillow Book, attributed to Sei Shonagon.

It is most annoying when someone finds one's nervous habits annoying. There is a need for such things as loudly smacking one's gum, cracking one's joints, and pulling at scabs. When one is told to put an end to such habits, that is most hateful.

One must bite into the juicy apple to reach its taste, and the crunch is delicious but the sound attacks the ears and burns.

Of course, one worries about things, and so arrives early to a doctor's appointment. One is kept waiting, however, for nearly an hour. When brought to the examination room, the doctor hurries one along, so that one forgets all the nuances of the condition which brought one to the doctor in the first place.

A person will often say that she "knows how you feel" in times of great suffering.

People who are ill-treated often ill treat others, as though they did not understand the difficulties of their own situations.

I really hate it when people do not say "thank you" when I hold the door open for them. It is simply rude.

To be concerned about showing concern is a tricky and irritating thing. It is, of course, annoying to hear a person whine each day for hours on end, but a bit of time now and again should be allotted.

One has just finished putting the final layer of polish on one's nails, but smears it instead.

One has surreptitiously tiptoed off for a midnight snack-- how embarrassing!-- and is caught red handed.

One is in bed, trying to sleep, but simply cannot fall asleep. After hours of tossing, one finally gives up, and tries to read, but it too tired to concentrate.

One is eating the most delicious cookie ever invented, and someone breaks in asking you if you aren't on a diet anymore.

One is drinking a soda and someone reminds you you've given up caffeine.

It is very annoying when someone calls at 3 a.m.

One finds out that the neighborhood "stray" one has been feeding for months actually has a home. He is in the habit now, and will never stop coming and whining for food.

A friend calls in the early afternoon, and laughs at one's sleepful voice, calling one a "sleepyhead," telling one to "rise and shine" and the like. One has been up late studying. Annoying.

An ex with whom one would like to be reunited offers paragraphs of praise for a new lover.

The phrase, "not bad, if I do say so myself." As well as, "not to toot my own horn." Though not self-praise in itself.

A night with no moon is always hateful.

I cannot stand a post office. I avoid it at all costs.

I hate sentences that go on for pages with no punctuation of any kind. They really give one a headache.

Sometimes, such a person will use very long words that one has never heard of, while still ignoring the basics of sentence construction.

It is annoying when, after referring to someone by their first name, another person adds a title prior to the last name. It makes one seem rude.

A favorite pen that has run out of ink.

Catching every red light during one's morning commute. Even more so if running late.

The feeling of guiltiness for disliking someone or something for no particular reason.

The neighbor who sets off New Years' or Fourth of July fireworks from 1 p.m. to 5 a.m., driving the cats into a frenzy.

When a lover has one very odious quality or habit, such as halitosis. Of course, one cannot say anything for a long while, for the romance would be gone. For many months, one simply puts up with it, and just when one is in a stage where one might start making hints, the relationship ends.

Equally annoying is when a new lover feels the need to point out all of one's flaws, seeing herself as entirely flawless.

A good lover will also feel the need for romance.

There will be poems, special songs, and dancing. Candles are also quite nice, as well as surprise mini-breaks.

Indeed, those are the kinds of romances that make one grow accustomed to and love even those things that would otherwise be hateful.

The Audience Has Two (or More) Faces

I'm inclined to think that Barbra Streisand has all but destroyed any expectations I have for myself as a future educator.  In cultural studies, we talk a lot about knowing our audiences and writing/speaking to them.  As Michael Pryke explains in "Situated Audiences," audiences aren't just there for the reading of our pieces, to take them or leave them and interpret them however they want (163).  The act of writing does not happen within a culture-less bubble, but is impacted a great deal by the various cultural forces that surround the writer.  Spivak suggests that audiences themselves be thought of as "co-investigators," allowing us to consider how our works may be interpreted outside of our own bubbles (qtd. Pryke 180).

This quarter in the IAS Graduate Research Colloquium, I thought a lot about audience and particularly my role as a member of these researchers' audiences.  As a response to the first reading, Dan Goldhaber's "Is It Just a Bad Class?: Assessing the Stability of Measured Teacher Performance," I could only really note that I was not a part of Dan's intended audience.  The piece utilized a great deal of primary and secondary data analysis techniques, which, while potentially useful for my future work, have little to do with the language and aesthetics studies of my current research.

Perhaps as a result of seeing how patients' words became quantified via the McGill Pain Questionnaire in my research on pain mapping, I am extremely leery of using numeric values as stand-ins for the rainbow highlighter-based coding version of grounded theory developed in my current program.  Recently, it occurred to me how my research, which challenges the position of power wielded by the physician in doctor-patient relationships, might easily irk any doctor who came across it, in much the same manner in which I became instantly uncomfortable with Dan's work.  Even in terms of the Streisand piece there is an audience member, in this case the male lead, Jeff Bridges, who misunderstands the lecture, in this case because he has left too early.

It may be impossible to truly account for the various levels of interest and familiarity various readers/listeners bring to my work.  Yet, another professor, Jin-Kyu Jung, offered a partial solution to the widespread/diverse audience problem through the effective manner in which he spoke to a spectrum of peoples in both his written piece, "Computer Aided Qualitative GIS," and lecture on the same topic.  In particular, Jin-Kyu used his visuals quite adeptly, so that his powerpoint was not merely a crutch reiterating the same points being spoken or something to keep the eyes from him as a nervous speaker, but a tool that truly complementing his talk.  At various points, definitions appeared on the screen for those of us less familiar with GIS, and, when maps appeared on the screen, he explained them himself, rather than depending on a caption.  Yet through the questions of more GIS-proficient audience members, it became obvious that Jin-Kyu is not only very familiar with the material on which he spoke, but an expert on its various nuances and vocabularies.

Perhaps in the middle of these two paths is the talk given by Gwen Ottinger on communities surrounding oil refineries.  A lot of the science in this talk was beyond my understanding, yet the methods were extremely familiar to me, particularly the "kitchen table talks" defined by Ottinger as "loose, off-the-record histories[...] strategic stories better consider larger ramifications in the case that such a story were made public" (3).  Now, similar to Dan's talk, I felt much that I was not the targeted audience, though, in this case, I knew a fair amount Gwen's topic.  In particular, I am well informed about the possibilities of "kitchen table talks"/"dinner table conversations"/"coffee table chats" and one important reason why these words are often chosen: they allow one to slip around having to file an IRB.  I'm pretty sure that Gwen had to go through this process anyway and perhaps she speaks more at length about this topic at another point in her book, but it felt odd that she brought up this language without speaking to the way sneaky grad students use it.  Or at least that's how I felt, being a sneaky grad student.

In the end though, all of these talks demonstrated that the professors had some familiarity with their audiences.  The published pieces were, after all, not written explicitly for the colloquium, while the talks were aimed at interdisciplinary arts and sciences graduate students.  These were not required sessions, and thus the professors knew we all had some "extracurricular" interest in learning for learning's sake (and/or impressing our capstone advisors).  We were there to learn, not to get regaled with amusing nuggets as the 300+ students in Streisand's fictional class appeared to be.  And learn we did, which, in my opinion, makes these successful talks.

Of course, some people, like the professor below, may not be so lucky.

Works Cited

Goldhaber, Dan. "Managing the Teacher Workforce in Austere Times: The Implications of Teacher Layoffs." IAS Graduate Research Colloquium. University of Washington Bothell. Bothell, 5 Apr. 2011. Lecture.

Goldhaber, Dan, and Michael Hansen. "Is it Just a Bad Class?: Assessing the Stability of Measured Teacher Performance." CEDR 2010-3: 1-58. Print.

Jung, Jin-Kyu. "Computer-aided Qualitative GIS: A Software-level Integration of Qualitative Research and GIS." Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach. Eds. Meghan S. Cope and Sarah Elwood. London: Sage, 2009. 115-136. Print.

---. "Qualitative Geovisualization for Community Planning: Masten District Neighborhood Plan in Buffalo, NY." IAS Graduate Research Colloquium. University of Washington Bothell. Bothell, 7 June 2011. Lecture.

Melzack, Ronald. “The McGill Pain Questionnaire: Major properties and scoring methods.” Pain 1.3 (Sept. 1975): 277-299. Print.

The Mirror Has Two Faces. Dir. Barbra Streisand. Tristar, 1996. Film.

Ottinger, Gwen. "The Biopolitics of the Fenceline." IAS Graduate Research Colloquium. University of Washington Bothell. Bothell, 3 May 2011. Lecture.

---. "Dangerous Stories." Refining Expertise: How Responsible Engineers Solve Environmental Justice Challenges. Unpublished. 1-52. Print.

Pryke, Michael. "Situated Audiences." Using Social Theory: Thinking Through Research. Eds. Michael Pryke et al. London: Sage, 2003. 163-180. Print.