Saturday, July 19, 2008
In March I took antibiotics that put a hold on my plasma donations. I only became eligible to donate again in late June. The plasma donation center ran tests that showed my blood is still abnormal. I cannot donate, again, for two months. This translates to a monthly loss of two hundred dollars' income. Ach.
I nodded at the phlebotomist and somberly left the office, but recently wondered whether I ought not call the center to find out what "abnormal" means. Do I have AIDS? Are there vicious, alien lifeforms using my platelets as surfboards?I finished reading an edition, published in 1978, of selections from Byron's poetry corpus. Most lines, with the exception of Don Juan and a few stanzas here and there, induced sleep. The editor's notes hardly illuminated anything. Many of the notes written for the numerous classical references over-simplified or led to popular (but not wholly accurate) interpretation. The copy hurt meine Augen.
Byron wrote best when he dared be bold.
Labels: AIDS, antibiotics, blood, Byron, classicism, heart, income, phlebotomist, plasma, poetry, reading
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 8:22 PM]
Refuse To Reuse
Friday, July 04, 2008
Write the names of the last twenty people who have written on your Facebook wall, and answer the questions below. Then, tag each of them, to be obnoxious.
1. Justin Yost
2. Maria Pia Guerbet
3. Amanda Lee Morris
4. Jon David McCurdy
5. Jeremy Leffingwell
6. Jessica Bartek
7. Tim Knight
8. Steve Ryan
9. Kailey Keith
10. Elizabeth Barnes
11. Megan Parker
12. Stephen Bermudez
13. Luke Edward Stuckey
14. Daren Loney
15. Edward Keith
16. Brad Schuck
17. Bianca Mercado
18. Emily Diane Koch
19. Martha Hoskins
20. Cheri Grissom
*How did you meet 7?
He was the teaching assistant for the ancient sports and public spectacles class I took freshman year.
*What would you do if you had never met 18?
I would not have known how heavily in love a twelve year-old girl could fall with Dave Grohl.
*What would you do if you dated 15?
I would be in an incestuous relationship!
*Have you ever seen 17 cry?
Nope.
*Would 4 and 16 make a good couple?
Yes. They're both handsome, resourceful, and outdoors-y.
*Do you like 19?
Natürlich. Sie ist schön und talentiert.
*Do you think 13 is attractive?
Yep. Luke Edward Stuckey has always been a ladies' man.
*When was the last time you talked to 9?
A couple of days ago on Facebook; maybe a couple of years voice-to-ear.
*Would you ever date 2?
Probably not.
*Where does 20 live?
Lubbock, Texas- the buttcrack of America.
*What is the best thing about 4?
His extensive knowledge about chemical weapons.
*What would you like to tell 10 right now?
That I am in love with her. The two of us should elope to Austria.
*What is the best thing about 20?
We can speak linguistics lingo together.
*Have you ever kissed 18?
No, but I would gladly make a trip to California for the sole purpose of doing so.
*What's the best memory you have of 5?
Making fun of people at high school prom.
*When's the next time you’re going to see 12?
In my dreams.
*Is 3 pretty?
Yes. Everybody be givin' Amanda eyes.
*What was your first impression of 15?
I first saw Eddie as an infant in his crib, when I was seven. I recall that he was very red, and I reached in to pet him because he looked soft and delicate.
*How did you meet 2?
We still haven't met in person... but we'll meet in less than a month, at grad school.
*Is 12 your best friend?
Nope, but he's pretty high up on The Toleration Scale.
*Have you seen 6 in the last month?
Nope. It's been five years.
*When was the last time you saw 16?
Probably at Project Graduation at the end of high school.
*Have you been to 9's house?
Kailey doesn't own the house, but yes, I've been. I was only too happy to leave.
*When is the next time you'll see 10?
Probably sometime this weekend.
*Are you really close to 6?
Nope, but it's okay. We haven't seen each other for a long time, but we can still talk with no problem.
*Have you been to the movies with 11?
Nope.
*Would you give 13 a hug?
I reserve hugging for special people, and Luke is one of the few to make the list.
*When have you lied to 17?
Never. I merely exaggerate or embellish.
*Do you know a secret about 8?
No; if I knew, then it wouldn't be a secret.
*Describe the relationship between 12 and 19.
There is none that I know of. I think they both like pets.
*What's your friendship like with 7?
Remote at present, but we saw each other weekly a couple of years ago.
*Have you ever danced with 14?
No, for that would be an odd, freaky dance.
*How long have you known 13?
Since freshman year of high school, taking a Latin class together. Nine years. Crap, are we old.
*Does 11 have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
I believe she is presently single.
*Have you ever wanted to punch 17 in the face?
Yes, but I refrained.
*Has 20 met your mother?
Nope. My mother died before I met Cheri.
*How did you meet 10?
A couple of years ago, she and her boyfriend came over to chat with someone I was sitting with at a coffee shop. I remember she talked about what she was doing at the moment in holocaust studies.
*Have you traveled anywhere with 8?
Only so far as the couch in the foreign languages building. It's the only place I've travelled.
*If you gave 4 $100, what would they spend it on?
Soy milk, a twenty-pack of Pepsi, and buffalo wild wings.
*What is your best memory of 1?
All the times he buys me dinner.
Labels: Facebook, friends, tagging
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 7:05 PM]
Chocolate Cookie + Peanut Butter
GIn high school Latin, to recall the properties of verbs I had to recognize, I used the mnemomic device "please never tickle my vulva" for person, number, tense, mood, voice. In the classroom I'll be teaching next semester, I guess I'll have to devise something else for the little chickadees. Curses to this over-fertile imagination of mine.
Today I did what I have done nearly every day for the past month and-a-half: I woke up, ate a semi-balanced breakfast, read for perhaps twenty minutes, and then spent several hours on the computer looking at photographs people post on Facebook from their travels to Europe. Apparently, everyone but I have gone to Deutschland or Spain for the summer. I stressed this spring over grad school applications instead of foreign travel plans. People who have been asking, I tell, 'Oh... maybe next summer.' Right now I cannot afford to move out of the monstrous state I live in.
But I will get to Kentucky for grad school next month, if it means checking myself and two bags onto a Greyhound and leaving everything else in a dumpster. I didn't bother applying to Tech, because I would rather move somewhere else and work for a year than stay in Lubbock. I'm miserable everywhere I go, for that is the nature of a Lauree, but my misery has stagnated. It's time to progress to a higher level of discontent.
Labels: discontent, Europe, Greyhound, Latin, memory, moving, photography, verbs
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 2:26 PM]