Unconscious Mutterings 9

1. Arrival :: Departure


2. Vomit :: And when they said sit down, I threw up
   


3. Fit :: As a fiddle and ready to...
   


4. Stutter :: Stammer


5. Lifestream :: What's that?
   


6. Tread :: Water
   


7. Desire :: Wish


8. Freezing :: Now


9. Permit :: Allow


10. Crinkle :: Wrinkle

Click here for this week's Unconscious Mutterings -- and why not play yourself?

Two...one....

(AP photo by Charles Darapak, found in a slideshow on the home page of today's Huffington Post)

My Bush countdown widget seems a little off to me -- as I write this at 6:20 am EST on Sunday the 18th, don't we still have more than two days to go? Maybe the clock just counts down to Inauguration Day itself.

WHATEVER! I've been feeling bitter the past weeks about how Bush and his historically horrible cronies are getting off the hook so easily.

But I'm going to focus on the positive for the next few days -- we may never pass this way again.

Unconscious Mutterings 8

1. Resolution :: New Year's, now is that ever NOT original
   


2. Break :: Spring
   


3. Tied :: and Bound
   


4. Suffering :: in silence
   


5. Instead :: of doing
   


6. Slash :: and burn
   


7. Divorce :: what law
   


8. Cough :: Syrup
   


9. Happy :: Man


10. Sniffle :: Sniff

Wow, number 9 is kind of scary...

By the way, remember that I decorate each Unconscious Mutterings post with the first legally usable image that comes up when I do a Google Image search for the first word association on the list. It adds another fun, random aspect to this activity.

This week, I'd like to give a little recognition to the royalty-free cartoons on sangrea.net.

Click here for more of this week's Unconscious Mutterings.

The end of the Bush era: mixed feelings

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

I found myself laughing pretty hard at the clever satire in the above video. But as my mother said, it's funny -- sort of.

I haven't written anything about politics in a while, and I must admit to having tuned out a bit after my election-season obsession. Of course I'm still very excited about Obama's inauguration, despite all of the much-pontificated-about "challenges he'll be facing," which I know are real.

At the same time, seeing the President who really should have been impeached get off so easy makes me absolutely furious.

I imagine some of you are feeling the same way.

Unconscious Mutterings 7

1. Confirmation :: Proclamation


2. Verse :: Chorus


3. Authorize :: Permit
4. Blog :: This


5. Thirty :: -something


6. Heir :: Heirloom
   


7. What are you doing? :: I'm writing this darn post
   


8. Complaint :: Réclamation


9. Leave :: it or love it
   


10. Tune :: Song

Click here for this week's Unconscious Mutterings.

101 things to do in 1001 days

The project

101. (Who said things have to be in order?) Finish my 101 things to do in 1001 days project list 1/1

Cinema

1. Watch De-Lovely 0/1
2. Watch There Will Be Blood 0/1
3. Watch Shine a Light 0/1
4. Watch I'm Not There 1/1
5. Watch Across the Universe 0/1
6. Watch Absolute Beginners 0/1
7. Watch The Darjeeling Limited 0/1
8. Watch The Painted Veil 0/1
9. Watch one movie a week. 10/143
10. Go to the cinema on average once a month. 0/32
11. Watch some other movie to be announced because I just realized I had a double entry on this list. Okay, Milk. 0/1

Watch all of the Woody Allen movies I haven't yet seen

12. Whatever Works
13. Vicky Christina Barcelona
14. Cassandra's Dream
15. Scoop
16. Match Point
17. Anything Else
18. Hollywood Ending
19. The Curse of the Jade Scorpion
20. Count Mercury Goes to the Suburbs
21. Shadows and Fog
22. Crimes and Misdemeanors
23. New York Stories
24. Another Woman

Music

25. Listen to some NPR music programs (Maybe with my new Samsung MP3.)
26. Kontinue to purchase Kinks CDs to the extent my budget can handle it. Try to komplete my kollektion. 3/28 (appx.)

Household

27. De-clutter one space a week, no matter how small 6/143
28. Do one load of laundry during the workweek to avoid weekend pile-up 7/143
29. Deal with all accumulated postal mail at least once a week 7/143
30. File away papers from orange folder 0/1
31. Put away laundry every weekend 7/143
32. Frame family photo 1 0/1
33. Frame family photo 2 0/1

Work

34. Bring more technology into my classes. For the rest of academic year 2008, think in terms of at least 3 new activities per month. 8/18
35. Plan and propose a "How to learn language" module for incoming students next school year. 0/1 (The proposal part is done.)
36. Get my new Edublog totally operational for September 2009. 0/1
37. Start vocabulary lists for my classes on Listography (started...but going nowhere)

Reading

38. Read at least parts of all of the Aveyron-related books I own
39. Read French Toast 0/1
40. Read Chagrin d'Ecole 0/1
41. Read Five Quarters of Orange 0/1
42. Read A Thousand Splendid Suns 0/1
43. Read Fast food : roadside restaurants in the automobile age 0/1
44. Finish reading X-Ray: The Unauthorized Biography 1/1
45. Increase my non-fiction reading, since that is what I'm interested in writing myself. Save novels for the summer, at least in 2009. 0/1
46. Read Please Please Me 1/1
47. Read five books I've never read from The Modern Library 100 Best Lists 0/5
48. Finish reading Blended Learning 1/1

Personal contacts

49. Have friends over for dinner on average once a month 1/32
50. Send a letter or card to someone in the USA once a month 1/32
51. Send at least an e-card for all appropriate birthdays
52. Send paper cards for all family birthdays.


Email

53. Unsubscribe to all little-read newsletters and alerts by the end of January 08 1/1 (And I don't miss them!)
54. Clear out inbox backlog on my many email accounts by the end of March 08 0/1

Blogging
55. Take some photo walks and photo outings -- New activity; count
56. Maintain posting pace for La France Profonde 12/143
57. Maintain once-a-week posting for Cuisine Quotidienne 4/143 (sadly, as of late February, I put this blog on vacation. There are so many other things to do on this list!)
58. Reduce banal commenting on other blogs -- OK, I'm commenting less but I'm also following blogs less...this is a double-edged
59. Write more about music on this blog
60. Limit comment subscriptions to threads I really want to follow -- done, but see 58

Professional Writing

61. Get my editorial calendar set up for my professional blogs every Sunday 9/143
62. Get a second professional writing gig of some sort by September 09 1/1

General online and computer life

63. Reduce my Google Reader subscriptions and go back to following sidebar blogs 1/1
64. Use Facebook on weekends only, other than to check up on family
1/1 for the most part
65. Learn how to organize my Facebook contacts and organize them 1/1
66. Reorganize my digital photos 0/49 (folders)

Cooking

67. Make an average of one homemade dessert a week for my dessert-deprived family, or buy from a local pastry-maker 6/143
68. Learn to make good pizza from scratch 0/1
69. Do a slow cooker meal once a month 1/32
70. Use bread machine on the average once a month, including some new recipes 4/32
71. Keep up my kitchen notebook 5/143


Travel and Tourism

72. Go back to California and visit my old university and meet up with a few old friends 0/1
73. Go to at least one European country other than Great Britain 0/1
74. Go to the Lodève art museum at least once a year 0/3
75.Visit Marseille 0/1
76. Go to Paris at least once other than for work 0/1
77. Visit Montauban 0/1
78. Visit Cahors 0/1
79. Visit Clermont-Ferrand 0/1
80.Go (back) to London 0/1
81.Go (back) to London again 0/1

General Learning

82. Learn more about painting -- General Progress
83. Learn more about London -- General Progress
84. Learn more about the U.K. overall -- General Progress
85. Learn more about Sweden -- General Progress
86. Learn more about French regional cooking -- General Progress
87. Consolidate my knowledge about wine -- General Progress
88. Learn more about the Aveyron and its recent history -- General Progress
89. Learn more about the history of pop and rock music -- General Progress
90. Learn more about photography -- General Progress


Outings

91. Try fifteen new (to me) restaurants 3/15
92. Go away for a weekend by myself or with a girlfriend 1/1
93. Go to two operas 0/2
94. Go to St. Geniez d'Olt, for God's sake! 0/1
95. Go to a major rock-type concert with my daughters 0/1

Languages

96. Continue my timid efforts to relearn my basic German -- General Progress

Miscellaneous

97. Join the local media library again and use it 1/1
98. Keep up on the Obama administration and stay involved from a distance
99. Join one new club or group 0/1
100. Get to the Wednesday morning or Friday evening market at least once a month 0/32