Be prepared to nerd out with me for a second...
I got to see three original William Caxton books today - "The History of Troy," which is the first book ever printed in England, "The Canterbury Tales," which turned out to be only two pages, not the whole book, and "The arte and crafte for to knowe well to deye," which I wrote my Master's thesis on. It was awesome.
Then, I got to see a 1493 printing of John Gower's Confessio Amantis in its original binding: Two wooden blocks stuck together with a piece of animal skin that was drilled into the wood with wooden pegs which were held in place by pieces of twine. Amazing! I had never seen a binding that old before. I was so afraid I was going to break it. And there wasn't anybody even supervising me! What are they thinking???
So, it was a fun trip. Also, whoever re-bound "The arte and crafte" had randomly stuck in a page of Latin at the beginning. I haven't had Latin in two years, but I could read enough to figure out it was a wedding mass. I was proud of myself!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
What to Blog About?
Monday is the day I have my weekly freak out, so I am in a mood. Here are things that are going on:
1) We are starting week #3 of NO WORKERS IN OUR HOUSE. We have no kitchen and no laundry room and our contractor keeps lying to us about when people are coming and what exactly they will be doing when they get there. I guess that second lie doesn't really matter since no one ever comes.
2) I left my bookbag at home today. I was running late and in a big hurry and since we are currently living in a perpetual state of disorganization, I just left it. So, my book for class today, my students' graded papers, and the book I need for class on Wednesday are all in Dallas. Ugh.
3) I am in Waco until Thursday this week due to the stupidest class field trip ever to the UT library in Austin. Hopefully I will at least get to see an original book printed by William Caxton. That's the guy who printed Malory's Morte d'Arthur for those of you who don't have a Master's degree in Medieval Studies. He's kind of a big deal. You know, among those of us who do have a Master's degree in Medieval Studies.
4) We put Toad in doggie day care today to keep him out of the way of the non-existent workers in our house. He did OK. And it was relatively cheap and close to Jonathan's office, so I think we may have a place to take him when we need to instead of imposing on all our friends! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, they are not doing day care the rest of this week b/c some of their staff are out sick and the Barretts - being the fabulous friends that they are - are letting Toad stay at their house.
5) After another weekend of "nothing but work, work, work all the time" (that's my new motto) I am so ready for a vacation. I just need to hold out until December. I am planning out my schedule for next semester, and I am purposely signing up for nothing but literature courses because the work load this semester with my research class is too much. It is a miserable way to live.
6) Currently have on AMC, and they are playing "The Sting." I'm sad Paul Newman is gone. And Robert Redford was sooooo handsome. And I don't even like blondes.
1) We are starting week #3 of NO WORKERS IN OUR HOUSE. We have no kitchen and no laundry room and our contractor keeps lying to us about when people are coming and what exactly they will be doing when they get there. I guess that second lie doesn't really matter since no one ever comes.
2) I left my bookbag at home today. I was running late and in a big hurry and since we are currently living in a perpetual state of disorganization, I just left it. So, my book for class today, my students' graded papers, and the book I need for class on Wednesday are all in Dallas. Ugh.
3) I am in Waco until Thursday this week due to the stupidest class field trip ever to the UT library in Austin. Hopefully I will at least get to see an original book printed by William Caxton. That's the guy who printed Malory's Morte d'Arthur for those of you who don't have a Master's degree in Medieval Studies. He's kind of a big deal. You know, among those of us who do have a Master's degree in Medieval Studies.
4) We put Toad in doggie day care today to keep him out of the way of the non-existent workers in our house. He did OK. And it was relatively cheap and close to Jonathan's office, so I think we may have a place to take him when we need to instead of imposing on all our friends! Woo hoo! Unfortunately, they are not doing day care the rest of this week b/c some of their staff are out sick and the Barretts - being the fabulous friends that they are - are letting Toad stay at their house.
5) After another weekend of "nothing but work, work, work all the time" (that's my new motto) I am so ready for a vacation. I just need to hold out until December. I am planning out my schedule for next semester, and I am purposely signing up for nothing but literature courses because the work load this semester with my research class is too much. It is a miserable way to live.
6) Currently have on AMC, and they are playing "The Sting." I'm sad Paul Newman is gone. And Robert Redford was sooooo handsome. And I don't even like blondes.
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