Five Random Things, Two Random Books

I didn’t post last week because I didn’t finish any books and then about halfway through the week I was like, “Okay, but that has literally never stopped you before???” And I seriously don’t know what I was thinking but it was so ridiculous that I had to tell you all.

I mean, it’s certainly not like other stuff didn’t happen. So here’s a list because honestly my brain is kind of mush.

1. I finally got DDR–yes, Dance Dance Revolution–for my Xbox, so have been playing it almost every day. The thing about DDR is that the songs are the most important and the Xbox has the worst options for songs, I swear. They only have one DDR game with a good tracklist. All of the other ones have weird Japanese songs with NO BEAT. My daughter was watching me play, and I kept missing the arrows and she asked me “Does the pad not work?” and I was like, “No, these dumb songs have no beat.” The proof is that I did just fine on both “Dancing Machine” and “Conga.” So anyway, I need a PlayStation to get a version of the game with a better tracklist.

I did, of course, buy the version with the good tracklist and have been crushing those songs, thank you very much. But only on basic because that’s just who I am.

2. My daughter went back to campus for spring semester. She’s doing well.

3. My schedule got changed so instead of doing some easy tinkering to my classes for spring semester, I am instead teaching a class I have not taught in six years and also have never taught online. So the past month has been full of work sessions to try to figure out just what I’m doing this spring. Classes start Tuesday and while the schedule is done, my class is not fully online, and I am not happy about it. Oh, and I am also teaching a 14-week version of the class, which I also have not figured out the calendar for yet. The good news is that everything should be the same, minus a couple of assignments, but still. Ugh ugh ugh.

4. I attempted to do a screen-free weekend this weekend and it is so hard. I did pretty well, but the pandemic actually makes it harder because I had a couple of Zoom calls this weekend (no complaints–catching up with friends) and also, you know, the big flaw is that I want to watch TV and movies. So I’m going to have to do a modified version of screen-free going forward. Limited screens for sure, but I need to figure out what that looks like.

5. Oh, going back to class prep, can I tell you all how much I absolutely hate listening to myself talk in video lectures or when I’m explaining an assignment? Most of what I say is ACTUAL NONSENSE. I have no idea how my students ever understood me when we had on-ground classes. So many half-sentences! So much switching direction mid-sentence! Most of the time I’m honestly just editing the captions so my sentences make sense. And apparently I’ve been doing that weird statement as question thing? And I sound white sometimes? Or like I can’t breathe? I don’t even know. Maybe I’ve been in California and/or academia too long.

I think that’s it for now. And I did finish some books this week 🙄.

Clueless: Senior Year by Amber Benson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was cute, but I thought it missed the mark on the relationships the girls had with the guys–especially Dionne and Murray. I liked that it was slice of life and the focus was, really, mostly on the girls and their friendships. I know it’s a comic so can’t quite capture the scope of the movie, but Amber was only in one panel and Cher’s dad didn’t show up once, and I dunno, I feel like the fabric of the world is just as important as the main three. So. You know.

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Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness by Mark Epstein


The most useful part for me was honestly all the descriptions of the people who are unable to let go of control because, you know, they fear doing so will kill them. Anyway, it was nice to see so many depictions of myself in this book is what I’m saying.

There’s also a lot of psychological theory in here that I was a little less interested in, but mainly because it didn’t hold my attention.

I’m going to post a much longer, in-depth review on the blog.

I don’t know what to rate it, so no rating.

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Have a good week, everyone. Stay safe out there. Oh, and wish me luck with this whole start of school thing because I am not ready.