Work and Presents

Work: Things have been busy at work, but fortunately I was able to get a lot accomplished over the weekend and during this week. Fortunately (through many long days and nights), I've been able to keep my projects moving, and I've moved them all to a stage where they are in another person's hands. Right now most of my books are with other people in other departments in our office, or they are with authors or freelancers. That's a good thing for me, because it gives me a moment to catch my breath. In about a week or two I'll probably be in panic mode again, because everyone will be returning things to me. Oh well, such is the ebb and flow of my job. I'll take any chance I can get to relax even if it is for only a brief moment.

Presents: Next week is my birthday--33, yikes!--and I've already received two wonderful presents. My family sent me a nice DVD set of Classical Mythology lectures. The lectures are given by a professor of Classics from the University of Maryland. There are four DVDs that contain twenty-four 30-minute lectures. It's pretty cool. And it makes me miss school a little...

And when I got my mail today, I received another present from my very beautiful friend, Anna. She sent me a little book called The Perfect Gift by Rohan Henry. It's a little story about the friendship between two rabbits, and it is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

So in spite of all the stress I've been feeling because of work, I'm feeling much better now. I feel a little bit calmer, and I feel loved. :)

Current mood: somewhat relaxed
Current music: more of a shuffle - Faith Hill, "Beautiful"

Ready to Turn In

So with the exception of taking a break to watch 9News at 10:00, I've been working nonstop this evening. And let me just say that I'm tired of tagging manuscripts. And since I've been hunched over a computer for most of the day and evening, my body is killing me. My back hurts and my shoulders ache. I feel old. I feel old and decrepit. Wahhh! I need a massage or a spa day or something. Wahhh!

Current mood: feeling old and decrepit!
Current music: continued shuffle. Currently "Blue and White" by Beth Waters
Current drink: finishing the wine

Working on Sunday

Because things have been so busy at work and because the release dates for two of my books have moved up one month, I've had to do some work over the weekend. I relaxed for most of the day Saturday, but today I went into the office. Naturally I was the only one there, which was both strange and wonderful at the same time. With the exception on taking a few breaks to check my personal e-mail and to log into Facebook every now and then, I could work nonstop without interruption. I got into the office around 11:00, and pretty much "started the work day" by answering some e-mail. I wrote the authors whose books will be moving and let them know that our deadlines will come sooner and their time to review the manuscripts and pages will be shorter. I hit send and held my breath expecting the worse. Fortunately (and wonderfully) both authors didn't seem that phased by the new deadlines and shorter turnarounds, and both seem willing to work within the new schedule. On of my authors described the situation as delivering a baby prematurely. Many project editors often describe each book as being like a different child with its own personality. Each book needs to be treated differently and handled differently. And when we have very "hands on" authors who can't let go, we often say that they need to "cut the cord." That is why I find it funny and ironic that my author describes her book as being like a preemie. I suppose you get to the point where it really is like having a baby and eventually you really just want it finished and out of you. I'm not speaking from experience, because I've never had a baby, but I suppose that is how it feels to be pregnant and to give birth. And, as a side note, considering I was a breach baby, I was difficult right from the start, but I digress and that's not all that relevant...

So back to my original thought after my little digression about books and the pregnancy metaphor... I worked at the office all day today and was able to accomplish several things. I eventually went home at about 4:30, because I was starting to get hungry. (I think I have a tapeworm because I'm always hungry!) After I called my family, I made myself a huge dinner. I grilled some chicken that was seasoned with garlic salt, pepper, paprika, and thyme. I had some broccoli and a baked potato. And I had a baked potato success. For some reason I often have problems with creating the perfect baked potato. It sounds stupid, I know, because how hard is it to bake a potato. In the past I was unsuccessful because the temperature wasn't right, I didn't cook it long enough, or whatever I did wrong. But today I had a baked potato success, and I loaded it up with butter, sour cream, and chives. So now that my tummy is fully, I'm hoping that I will be energized to do some more work. Yes, unfortunately I still had to bring some work home with me in spite of the fact that I worked for most of the day. But, considering I have an open bottle of wine next to me, I doubt that I will get that much accomplished. And is that really a bad thing? Maybe. Maybe not. After all it is Sunday, and as a beautiful friend said, I need (and deserve) a lazy Sunday every now and then.

Current mood: eeh
Current music: iTunes on shuffle. Currently "Addy's Tattoo" by Megan Slankard
Current drink: Catena 2003 Malbec

This and That Weekend Edition

This week at work has been somewhat stressful and hectic. Things are just really busy. You think that this would come with certain seasons or times of the year, but for me it has been a constant state of busy. I've been exhausted, and I think that my body is running out of gas. I normally sleep in on the weekends, but I still manage to get out of bed at a reasonable hour. This morning I slept in until about 11:30. I suppose my body needed the rest. I didn't do that much today. I went out to get my car washed, then I shopped for groceries. Then I sort of cleaned my apartment. Then I watched a few DVDs for the rest of the day and night. I needed the rest because I have to go into the office tomorrow--yes, on Sunday!--to catch up on some more work. I'm not looking forward to it, but it has to be done. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day, too. Oh well. As I always say, such is life.

Current mood: tired
Current music: iTunes on shuffle. LeAnn Rimes, "I Need You"
Current drink: Catena 2003 Malbec

Just One More Day...

I suppose I should write at least one quick post this week. Things have been somewhat stressful and chaotic at work. We technically had the day off on Monday, but I went into the office to catch up on work. Then on Tuesday I found out that they are moving the release dates on a few of my books. And they are moving them up...meaning earlier. I wouldn't worry about it too much if it were only a week or two, but it turns out that two of my books will be moving up by one whole month. A lot of things can happen in one month, and when you lose that month, there is a lot of pressure to find ways to make the schedule work. I'm a little worried how I'm going to handle it. I'm worried about how my authors are going to handle it. But I suppose I'll figure something out and make it all work.

Now I must go to bed, because my head is throbbing!

Bleh

As I wrote in my last post, I went into the office today to catch up on some work. Surprisingly, I wasn't the only one there on a holiday. I think that there were a few other people (not from the editorial department) who were also there catching up on work. I was there from about 11:00 to 4:00, and I was able to get a lot accomplished. But, unfortunately, I didn't get everything accomplished that I wanted to. I eventually ran out of steam and needed to get some food. So I left (taking more work home with me) and picked up some food on the way home. I inhaled my food and then got back to work. I think I've been working since about 5:00. Sadly, I still have a lot of work that I still need to do--will it ever end?--but I'm just taking a little break before I get back at it.

Current mood: exhausted
Current music: ransom songs. Currently Chantal Kreviazuk "Time."

Working on a Holiday

So today is a holiday, and technically we have the day off of work, but I'll be going into the office to work on a few things. I set my alarm for 6:30 a.m., but when it went off, I wasn't quite ready to get up. "This is crazy," I thought, so I turned it off instead of hitting snooze. I was planning on sleeping for another hour or so, but when I finally woke up again it was about 9:00. I guess I deserve to sleep in, but how sad is it when I feel guilty about getting to work "late" when it's a holiday? That must be a sign that I'm working too hard...

So now I need to finish my coffee and get dressed so that I can "go to work." Not my idea of a good weekend, but you do what you have to do...

Who Knew?

So I feel slightly silly. After doing a little research on Italian grammar, I discovered that the biggest difference between Latin and Italian is the fact that by the time Italian developed the entire case system was lost. Dude?! What's up with that, man?? So that means that for the most part there aren't declensions. In other words the noun and adjective endings don't change depending on their use in the phrase or sentence. You have singular and plural endings, and that's all you have. I suppose that will save me the pressure I felt during my Latin classes of memorizing the declensions of five different cases in both the singular and plural. And, oh, Latin also has five declensions, so you're essentially memorizing about 80 endings.

And yet again, this is one of those things that gets me worked up and excited. This is why my friends think I'm crazy...

More Classes

So I was looking through some other classes offered by Boulder Valley's lifelong learning program, and they have a Beginning German class. Even though I took German in high school (many, many years ago!) and even though I know Dutch, I think it might be a nice refresher class. I haven't signed up yet, but I'm considering it. We'll see...

Current music: random shuffle. Currently Melissa Etheridge "Mercy" from Lucky
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac

On Work, Classes, and Books

Work: With Monday being President's Day, we have a holiday and the day off of work. So we have a three-day weekend this weekend. But can you really call it a long weekend when you bring work home with you. Yes, I brought a ton of work home with me. It's ironic, but I'm going to try to use the long weekend to catch up on a few things. Such is life. At least I know that my job is secure.

Classes: This week I had my second Italian class, and we started getting into declensions. We learned different endings for the singular and plural nouns of what I assume are the nominative case. A few of the people in the class were confused, and I think that everyone would have benefited if we did a little more practice with the noun endings. When you learn a new language, the best way to learn is by repetition, and we didn't do much of that in class. So I think that I'll have to set little homework assignments for myself to help me practice. It's time to start making flash cards and start drawing up charts with declensions and, eventually, conjugations. This is how I learn best. You should see my Greek and Latin charts! It's probably something that only I get excited about, but I'm proud of them.

Books: While I was out running errands today, I decided to make a stop at Borders to browse through the books. I stumbled across two great finds. One is Ad Infinitum: A Biography of Latin by Nicholas Ostler. It is essentially about the history (and future) of Latin, and it should be an interesting read. I also found The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories edited by Robert B. Strassler and translated by Andrea L. Purvis. For years Classicists have been reading The Landmark Thucydides, and I was happy to see that they finally created an edition for Herodotus. These are translations of Herodotus's Histories and Thucydides's Peloponnesian War. But they are more than translations. The biggest value in these books come from great introductions, great timelines, annotations and summaries of each event, valuable footnotes, and beautiful maps. These are the kinds of books that Classicists drool over. At least I drool over them. Again, probably one of the many things that only I get excited about or care about...

Current drink: Barq's root beer
Current music: TATU. Dangerous and Moving

From Stage to Screen

Several plays have been made into movies. Many of Shakespeare's plays have been turned into movies, as have many modern and contemporary plays. It is rare, however, to find movies that are based on the ancient Greek tragedies. There are a few of these movies, though, and many of them were made in the 60s or 70s. As I was looking through the movies on Netflix, I stumble across a few of them. Being the Classics geek that I am, I was happy to find them and quickly added them to my queue. I also found some amusement in some of the reviews that people posted. Several people didn't like The Trojan Women. With stars like Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Irene Papas, I was somewhat surprised. But the big complaint was that there was too much weeping and wailing and too much talking. Too much talking? Um, have you ever been to an actual play? There is usually a lot of talking in those. And the weeping and wailing are a big part of ancient Greek art in general. Whether you are reading an epic or a tragedy, people often express their fear, anger, or anguish with weeping and wailing. They weep, they wail, they beat their chests, they pull their hair. It's an expression of emotion, and it is intensified for the stage. But I suppose people who saw this thought that it was overdramatic.

Another person reviewed Electra. That's Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon, not Elektra the action hero! The reviewer said that Electra was just like Hamlet but in an ancient Greek way. Umm...forget it, I won't go into this. Although I will say that I'm none too pleased with the Electra cover.

Those are sigmas, NOT the letter E!!

Naturally I can't say for sure whether these movies are good or bad until I see them. And, I think that it is obvious that I have a pretty critical and judgmental eye and very high standards. Why else would I be so disappointed with the movie Troy?

And, yes, when it comes to Classics, I am somewhat of an egotistical snob. But at least I admit it.

Current mood: tired. It was an exhausting day at work.
Current music: songs on shuffle. Currently Tori Amos "Taxi Ride"
Current drink: what do you think?

This and That Weekend Edition

This has been a mixed weekend. It was both sort of busy and sort of relaxing. I had a lot of things to do this weekend with respect to shopping, cleaning, and running errands. But for the most part I tried to relax. I promised myself that I wouldn't work this weekend even though there are plenty of things that I could have done. I needed a break.

The only noteworthy thing that happened this weekend was that my Sunday newspapers were stolen. I decided to sleep in today, and by the time I rolled out of bed it was 10:00. So it wasn't that late. When I got out of bed, I staggered around my apartment while I tried to rub the sleepiness from my eyes. I peered through the blinds of my front door to see what the weather was like and it looked nice. I also looked down and noticed that my newspapers were in front of the door. Because I had just woken up and because I was about to take a shower, I was in a partial state of undress. And not being one to share my goods with the community at large, I decided to leave my newspapers by the door until after I was able to take a shower and dress myself. So twenty minutes later after taking my shower and getting dressed, I opened the front door to get my papers. They were gone! What in the word?! Who steals a newspaper? Actually, I think it might be my neighbor. I often see him digging in the trash cans or standing inside the garbage dumpsters, and whenever he reappears he has a handful of old newspapers. So he might have been the one to take mine.

Well, that was my weekend. Nothing too exciting...

Green and Stuff

So in my new, ongoing effort to share some news and stuff about the environment, here are a few things that I stumbled upon.

Free-Range Jello: There was an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times titled "I'll Have the Free-range Jello" by Charlotte Allen. Cute title, but really pathetic and sad article. The author talks about the "greening of the Capitol." The cafeteria in the Longworth Office Building on the Hill has apparently changed up its menu to provide more eco-friendly fare. This seems to have provided much amusement and fodder for the author of the opinion piece. She indulges in the excessive use of scare quotes around such words as organic, cage-free, fair trade, and sustainable. Scare quotes are generally used for terms that are nonstandard or ironic. Apparently the author takes delight in thinking of these things as ironic, when in fact they are quite real. The Longworth cafeteria seems to offer healthier options for diners when traditionally they served old favorites like meatloaf, fried chicken, burgers, and mac and cheese. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I love these foods too. Sometimes a girl wants a good, juicy cheeseburger every now and then. I'm not going to be a hypocrite here. But I would also recognize the benefits of the healthier options of the Longworth cafeteria that are good both for me and the planet. With rising obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, you think that this kind of cafeteria would be a good step in the right direction to solving a lot of connected problems. The author of the piece, though, seems to dismiss it as some kind of trend. After brushing off eco-friendly paper products and utensils, she goes on to make even more light of the recycling stations at the cafeteria. Because, recycling after all is a senseless waste of time. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. This woman is obviously a Republican given her repeated stabs at Democrats, and she closes her article by saying that the Democrats are merely a party of the elite and trendy. Elite? Sweetheart, have you looked at the Republican party lately? Are they not elite? Fortunately I read her article online. Had I received the actual newspaper, I would have to send her to recycling!

Six Degrees: There was a great documentary on the National Geographic Channel tonight called Six Degrees Could Change the World. It discussed the different effects of global warming and climate change and what would happen to the Earth if the average temperature rose by six degrees. It was an excellent show. However, I have some advice for the National Geographic Channel. If you're going to show a documentary about global warming and climate change, you might not want to keep running commercials for the new Hummer.

Current mood: relaxed
Current music: Beth Waters. Beth Waters
Current drink: milk. It does a body good...and it's organic!!

Italian

Last night I got caught up in writing about Greek and Latin, and I never wrote a post about my Italian class. It was a very cool class. This first class was about basic pronunciation and some general introductory phrases.

Piacere - pleased to meet you
Mi chiamo, Tenth Muse - my name is Tenth Muse
Abito a Boulder - I live in Boulder
Ma sono di California - But I come from California

As we were learning how to pronounce things, we were reciting various words. Italian, naturally, is very similar to Latin. The words may look the same, they might be spelled the same, and they might mean the same thing, but they aren't always pronounced the same. In Latin, letters like C and G are always hard like cat and god. In Italian the C and G can be hard, but they can also be pronounced differently if they are followed by certain vowels. So the C might have a Ch sound as in church, and the G might have a J sound like the name George. The V in Latin is pronounced like a W, but in Italian it is pronounced like an actual V.

So I just have to try to train my mind away from Latin for a few weeks. I also have to train my mind away from Dutch and, sometimes, German. When we were practicing with one another in the class, I kept noticing that certain Dutch and German phrases kept popping up in my mind. So when someone would ask me what my name is, I had to resist the temptation to answer in Dutch or German. My parents and I went to a Mexican restaurant in Santa Ana, California, and the waitress started speaking to my mom in Spanish. My mom responded with Dutch. We've always teased her for that, but now I'm doing the same thing. Maybe it is a natural reaction to immediately go to our native language or the language that we're most familiar with.

All in all, it seems like it will be a fun class. And I'm hoping that we'll also learn some basic grammar!

Current mood: tired, it was a long day at work
Current music: random shuffle. Currently Dixie Chicks "Easy Silence"
Current drink: the Cognac is on the table and waiting to be poured

Languages

Here is a great article from the New York Times. It talks about the study of Latin in general, and it touches on the study of Latin among politicians. Naturally Latin and Greek were popular among the early presidents and politicians. Most likely they were required classes. But as time passed, fewer politicians studied Latin and Greek. It did, however, mention that George W. Bush studied Latin. Somehow I can't imagine him doing that well considering he can barely put together a sentence in English.

But on the bright side, the article says that there is a slight revival in Latin. Even though ancient Greek is less popular, probably due to the fact that people assume that it is more difficult, I always hope that there will be a revival in ancient Greek, too. You always have to wonder where this comes from and how this happens. Maybe movies like Gladiator or Troy or 300 inspire kids (and many adults) to learn Latin and Greek or to study ancient history or literature. As the author of the article says, reading a translation of something like the Odyssey or the Aeneid can be beautiful, but to read those works in their original languages is an entirely different experience. And I agree.

Greek and Latin just sound beautiful. But when you are forced to translate them, you are met with so many structures and rules. Ancient Greek and Latin are inflected languages. People get overwhelmed with the number of conjugations and declensions. There are so many cases--nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and the vocative. You have to think of numbers--singular and plural, and Greek also has the dual. You have to think of genders--masculine, feminine, and neuter. And then there are the verbs with all their conjugations, all their tenses, all their moods, all their voices. You try memorizing the conjugation of a Greek verb when there are seven tenses, three voices, and four moods! But as big and complex as this might sound, it is precise and specific and it makes sense. In fact it is far more precise than English. When you have a language that is this inflected, you rarely have the problems that you have in English. Participles and modifiers never dangle and they are never misplaced. There is little confusion in "who" and "whom." And you will never see something that could be read as "between you and I." The form of the words will tell you what corresponds with what, or what modifies what, or what goes with what. It is so perfect! As I always say (somewhat arrogantly and egotistically), English will seem inadequate after you study Greek and Latin.

But that's just my humble opinion.

Classes, Writing, and Thoughts and Such

Classes: For the most part this as been a typical week. Things are still busy at work, but I'm used to it by now. The one exciting thing about this week is that I start my Italian class tomorrow. It meets every Thursday for two hours and it goes until the end of March. Every time I have taken a language class the class met Monday through Friday. You get a lot of practice and you don't have that much of a chance to get rusty. Since this class meets only once a week, I have to find a way to practice. I suppose I'll figure something out. I already talk to myself a lot, so I guess I'll just have to start talking to myself in Italian. And I also have a feeling that taking this class will inspire me to read a little more Greek and Latin. Or maybe I'll be encouraged to learn another language.

Classes and Writing: As I mentioned in an earlier post, taking this Italian class came from a pact I made with one of my good friends. We were both in somewhat of a rut and wanted to do something new and different. I vowed to take a new language class, and she vowed to take some writing classes. So far she is putting me to shame. She already took a class in food writing, and now she is in a poetry class/workshop. She has to present one of her poems to the class tomorrow. She had two poems and couldn't decide which to present, so she shared them with me and asked which one I thought would be better for the class. Both poems were absolutely beautiful, and that led me to different thoughts as I was driving home from work today. I've been thinking about it all night, actually.

Classes and Writing, and Thoughts and Such: (I have a feeling that what follows will be random and all over the place.) The pact that I made with my friend, the classes we're taking, and the poetry she wrote made me think about a lot of things. For one, I'm really blessed to have such a great group of friends who I would place in the brainy, gifted, talented, and creative group. Even long after we've graduated from college--or *cough* several colleges and grad school--we've never stopped learning and we're always hungry to learn more. Several of us have continued to take classes whether it is to further our careers or skills, to delve into our hobbies, or to indulge in our own personal pursuits. And what makes it more exciting is that our interests run the gamut of editing, stockdog training, poetry, photography, language, and much more. I personally indulge in language and I want to indulge even more. I already know ancient Greek, Latin, and Dutch. I'm taking Italian. I would like to brush up on my German (took that in high school), and I would like to learn French and Spanish and maybe Russian. It would also be cool to learn Hebrew and Sanskrit.

Another thing that I've been thinking about tonight is writing. My friend wrote some beautiful poems, and many of my other friends are also great writers. It makes me hungry for more, and it makes me wish that everyone out there was a great writer. And when I say great writer, I'm not necessarily implying great with spelling or grammar. Although that's nice too. I'm thinking more about content. Since I'm a blogger, I'm always looking for a good blog to read. I've found a few good ones, but, let's be honest, there is a lot of garbage out there. If I roll my eyes and shake my head, that means the content isn't cutting it. I didn't have that reaction when I read my friend's poetry, and I don't get that reaction when I read the blogs of some of my close friends. When I read something, I want to laugh. I want to feel touched or moved. I want to feel good, or I want to feel motivated or inspired to do better things or to be a better person. It is honestly hard to find writing that is capable of that. Frankly, it's hard to find people who are capable of that! Fortunately I have some wonderful people in my life who are. I'm not sure how successful I am at returning the favor to my wonderful friends, but I hope that I have something to offer...

Current mood: inspired
Current music: a random selection. Currently Sarah McLachlan "Building a Mystery"
Current drink: Remy Martin VSOP Cognac

If At First You Don't Succeed...

...try, try again. I'm never one to give up anything without a fight or a second try. Not long ago I wrote a post about one of my culinary adventures to cook a baked rigatoni with ground turkey, zucchini, and fire roasted tomatoes. My first attempt wasn't successful for several reasons. I had too much pasta, I forgot to drain the can of fire roasted tomatoes, I didn't have foil to cover the dish, etc. My first attempt was just okay, but I wanted it to be better. I wanted it to be great. So I decided to give it a second try tonight. This time I used penne instead of rigatoni, and I think that I actually used the right amount. I remembered to drain the fire roasted tomatoes, so fortunately things weren't too watery this time. And I actually had foil to cover the dish when it baked. I let it bake for about twenty minutes, then I uncovered it and topped it with mozzarella cheese and let it bake for another ten minutes. When I finally pulled it out of the oven, it was perfect! It tasted so yummy, especially with a nice glass of Merlot. There is still plenty of food, and I think I'll have leftovers for at least three more days.

So you can say that I really enjoyed my evening. I had yummy food and watched the Super Bowl. The game was awesome. And the commercials were great too. All in all, it's been a good night.

Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: Sebastiani 2004 Merlot