Sisters

They are four of us; I'm the youngest. When we were very young we distributed the identities of the Fantastic Four. I don't know their names but my oldest sister was the guy who could fly and turn into fire, the second oldest was the guy who turned into rocks (very Hulk-like), my third sister was the only girl - who could become invisible and had a force field, and I was the guy who could stretch like rubber.

Later we took on the identities of the sisters in Little Women. My oldest sister was Meg and the second oldest was Jo. These fit in both birth order and personality. However I ended up being Beth, the one too good for this world who dies young (I was not-so-affectionately nicknamed "Little Miss Goody-Two Shoes" and was the child who came down with every illness and/or injury). My third sister, who is only 16 months older than me, was Amy, the youngest. Amy is the girly one, the artistic/creative one, the emotional and spoiled one.

I spoke to my sister, Amy, last night. She is in a world of pain. We've been raised to hide/deny pain in my family, so Amy is very busy. We talked for over an hour. Amy and I have lived together a good deal of our lives. We grew up sharing a room; we went to camp together; we shared an apartment (along with Boy's dad - my first husband) for several years; and we spent every Christmas Eve and Christmas Day together until we were in our 30's. Amy is a martial artist, like me, and we were in the same dojo for 17 years.

At one point last night she reminded me that years ago I had told her I imagined the two of us living together and traveling when we were old and our husbands were gone. She's thinking about this now and although her children are her life and she loves her husband she's good with the idea of ending up with a sister.

I've invited her to come visit for a long weekend. She needs the mental break. She said her family is "stymied" right now. I think some space could help her get unstuck so she and her family can move on. She had a lot of reasons why she couldn't come visit--money, the kids' schedule, logistics, etc. I told her that I had already spoken to Meg and Jo and we had a plan for every difficulty. She said it would take a lot of coordination, she felt bad she couldn't manage it on her own, but if we could make it work she love to come more than anything.

I told her we'd make it work.

Earth Hour

Doodle by Lee. The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Pizza...Or How I Spend Spring Break

I love to bake (much more than I love to cook) and baking bread is probably my favorite. Since it's Spring Break this week I figured I had time for "Make Your Own Pizza" night. The name is a misnomer as I do most of the making. B assembles at the end and Boy prefers me to do everything.


The Ingredients


The Dough

My favorite part of baking bread (or any yeast product) is the kneading. I just don't get the point of bread machines. To be able to feel the dough come alive in your hand is the most exciting part of the process. Ok, maybe eating it--actually I don't know which I like more.


One-handed Kneading (b wasn't home so other hand was taking the picture)


Ready to Rise

As I wait for the dough to rise I make the sauce:



I also do some writing on the "Grant That Just Doesn't Want To Be Written."

It seems The Brute:



and Pupzilla:



had other pastimes in mind.


Dough Risen

At this point I separate the dough into 3 pieces for our individual pizzas, wrap them, and put them in the 'fridge and I'm off to the dojo.



Hours later I return to find b home with our brand-spanking new tent set-up in the backyard (sorry no pics yet). We are very excited.

Back inside for cocktails and the forming of the pizzas:



At the end b and I enjoy the fruits of my labor:


(photo courtesy of b)


Boy, who is out for his first day of work at his 2nd job, does not make it home in time for dinner. I make him a calzone (his usual preference):



which he eats when he gets home at 10:30.

b and I stay up to watch "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."

Voice

I want to stretch my voice, my writer's voice that is. As a child/adolescent/young adult I wrote fiction but never kept a journal. I also wrote papers for school but never really worked too hard on them. As a graduate student and an emerging professional I learned (with great difficulty) to write in an academic voice. Once I became proficient at that voice I found it difficult to write fiction. Then in my early thirties I started writing poetry. However I found I couldn't freely go between creative writing and academic writing. If I was productive on my dissertation or with journal papers I wasn't free enough to create; if I was happily writing poetry (or one attempt at a novel) I couldn't fit my voice back into the narrow confines of academia. Eventually I stopped the creative writing to get "serious" about my career.

Changing jobs and moving down south seemed like a good time to try and bridge my voices. I started a journal that, for the first time, I've managed to keep going. At the same time my research started to change--to get more innovative, more creative itself--and I started to explore different academic writing styles that were less conventional, less lab report-like, than what I had done previously.

This winter I had an opportunity to write a scholarly chapter and came up with an idea for structuring it that really tested my writing limits. It has recently come back from the editor with major revisions. I've only glanced at the review as I need a few days to face them without emotion. Holding off on a review is something I haven't had to do for a long time. I believe this means I'm deeply invested in wanting this new style to succeed.

I started this blog, in part, to help with the process and so far I think it has been working. I haven't gotten back to fiction or poetry yet but I'm getting more comfortable switching between my traditional academic work and my new work. The journal entries have definitely slowed down but I'm happy to report it is still in existence.

So progress to be sure, but still a long way to go.

Conferences

I'm sitting in an airport on the last leg of my journey home. I've spent the past 3 days at a conference in a big cold city on a lake. It had been several years since I attended this conference but I didn't find it much changed. This was the conference everyone in my graduate program used to attend and it doesn't quite fit who I've become.

I did have a nice time, mostly because I had plenty of opportunity to catch up with two old friends. Presentations went well and I even ventured out for a lovely tapas dinner. My friend and I have both moved South (she much further than I) and complained bitterly about the cold over champagne sangria.

So good times, good work, but I'm sick of traveling. I realized this was my 4th conference in less than a year. That much work-related travel no longer fits my life style (a good thing).

This year you'll find me at home.

Did You Ever Wonder...

why hotels will provide soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, mouthwash, and shower caps but not toothpaste? What is it about toothpaste that requires you to bring your own? Sure a lot of hotels will have "extra" toothpaste (and even a toothbrush) if you forgot yours but it is never a staple. Personally I'd like to see a little tube of Crest or Colgate waiting for me in my hotel bathroom.

Blast from the Not-So-Distant Past

Amanda has tagged me for an archive meme. This is a meme that helps you get to know your fellow bloggers a little better, something I'm always happy to do. The rules of the meme are to link to 5 of your favorite posts within the following categories:

Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are... what you're all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be anything you choose.

You are also supposed to tag 5 people, 2 of whom are new-ish acquaintances. You should read the linked posts and comment on them.

My blog is pretty new and I don't have a ton of archives, so it has been interesting figuring out how to meet the criteria.

1. Family. In searching my meager archives I took the opportunity to examine my labels and found I've written more about my puppy than any other family member. But I think the family post should be this one. A number of visitors from around the world (e.g., Malaysia, Vietnam) have found my blog by googling "conversational styles." I'm thinking this post wasn't quite what they had in mind.

2. Friends. Hmm. This is a hard one. I haven't really blogged about the friends I've left behind in Really Big City (and I obviously need to) and friends down here have been discussed mostly as colleagues. I'll have to choose this post which is about my sisters, so it should be family, but for most of my life my sisters were my best friends.

3. Yourself. Really it's all about me but my intro post probably has the most actual description.

4. Love. Again, sadly, there is little on those people I love the most - b and Boy. But this post is definitely about a different kind of love and this one about loving or not loving one's students.

5. Anything goes. The hardest category as I've used up most of my favorites in the above 4. I'll have to go with this one as it discusses two things I love to do.

The 5 people I tag are:

Dr. Bad Ass
Jo(e)
K8
Psycgirl
Katie/post doc