Serendipity rocks!

I went out of the house this afternoon for a little change of scene, do some errands and have my almost-daily ration of Oreo McFlurry when I saw an old friend of mine who's on vacation (from Helsinki) with a friend who's visiting from New York. A really unexpected surprise since we were supposed to meet up for dinner or lunch but since I've started teaching and her schedule is killer, that went down the drain. Caught up with general stuff and goings-on; though it may have been a short time, was really glad to see her. Unfortunately, she's flying out on Saturday, which is why e-mail also rocks, for situations like these.


Let them bleed...

I've been going through some short story collections because I'm still deciding on which to give to my classes and just to 'shock' them a bit with indecipherable plots and poems other than sonnets, I'm rather inclined to give them Calvino (of course because he is, after all, my thesis topic), Borges (let them bleed, bwahaha!), Cortazar (even worse!), etc. For poetry, probably some Neruda might help; a friend who's in the English Dept at UP Diliman suggests a film showing of Il Postino in order for them to appreciate Neruda. Am also thinking of getting contemporary American poetry from this anthology of various poetic styles titled The United States of Poetry. Really kinetic, hoping for more interaction for some would be similar, if not are themselves, to rap. Possibilities, possibilities.... So for those students of mine who happen to chance upon this, you know your cue.....

The two instructors I mostly talk to in the department are my Mutt and Jeff. At least I call them Mutt and Jeff when they start to argue about a really silly thing. Both are from UP: one is a Malikhaing Pagsulat major (translation: Creative Writing major except it's in the Filipino Dept) and a Philosophy major, and I'm older than them. Waa! But I'm still a kook through and through, so the age difference is kaput. I'ts a gas when they relate to me the insane and inane answers their students give them. Sample from the Philo guy: in relation to Plato's Republic, he asks the class whether there should be censorship. Most of the class said yes. Shocked, he presses on the question, to which someone answers, something to the effect of "Why are we discussing something we know the answer to?" It's a good thing one student did question censorship. He also points out the rather large percentage of religious students who did not want to read The Satanic Verses. Hay, hay, hay.


One more thing...

When will Studio 23 air the second season of Gilmore Girls? Still waiting, still waiting. While we're on the subject of TV, it's Wimbledon women's finals tonight. In no mood to watch...the Williams show is on again. As usual, am more inclined to watch the Philippousis-Federer finals on the men's side, though I was looking forward to a Philippousis-Roddick match. Oh well, thank God for small favors.