… who missed MILC and/or the post-conference party last night, for both were wonderfully entertaining.
After the conference I took the bus home and then walked to Julie’s, getting there at the same time as Jack, Claire, and Gloria the Romanian prospective from Timisoara who lives in Michigan. Thus I was one of the first to get my share of the limited-supply meatballs Julie had bubbling in a crock pot. A couple glasses of wine later I left with Elliot, Charlie, and Mike to Joe’s place for some MILC, and after the rain and a few more glasses of beer, wine, and punch, we headed back to Julie’s, but not before Mike got a parking violation ticket of some sort for blocking Joe’s driveway … it must have been a neighbor who called it in.
At Joe’s I discussed 226 with Charles along with representations of the U.S. in film/TV … which cities/regions could, in the 80s, stand in for “the U.S.” …? Answer: Los Angeles/Orange County and Chicago in particular, and areas of New York a bit, though New York is often New York … see, San Francisco is always SF, Miami is Miami, Las Vegas is Vegas, etc., but suburban southern California could (see: Poltergeist, ET) be anytown-USA, and the same for John Hughe’s Chicago region — Ferris Bueller, The Breakfast Club …
And with Joe I talked about his blog, or rather, the linguistics blog to which he contributes. I had four entries in the program, though only two were complete abstracts. But in any case it was still more than most had done, so that was my “justification” for being there (such as when Rob asked, “What are you doing here?” — emphasis on the “you”). Back at Julie’s I talked with Gloria for a while, whereas during my first hour or so there I talked mostly with Michael Hofmann and Liz, and also with Stella, Elliot & Co. Finally around 2a.m. I made it home via a shared taxi with Jack, Claire and Gloria, and I woke up late Sunday morning, but still in time for a “Sunday Brunch Writing” session.
I got some Good Eats in this afternoon, and continued with “N,” finishing Nirvana and moving through No Doubt and Norah Jones to Offspring and, soon, Old 97’s, which must be something I got from Anne last year in Berlin. I got some comics read, enjoyed some chicken breasts and veggies for dinner, and talked with both Jen and Christoph earlier in the evening by phone. I still have Corina’s essay to read/edit/whatever and homework to grade. Annoying.
Students should realize that their teachers also have access to Face Book and the things written about them or the courses they teach.
Back to music and then bed.
It’s time for Old 97’s, and Wikipedia tells me that they’re an alt-country band founded in 1993 and based in Dallas, Texas. I have Fight Songs (1999) and Satellite Rides (2001), and so far the former album is inoffensive and musically well-produced and highly instrumented, but the vocals, while catchy, don’t really stand out.
