The promised retrospective on the death of Dilbert creator Scott Adams is now up at the Everyman As a child of the 90s, I grew up reading Dilbert. The world-famous comic was my introduction to the corporate world, and I had been laughing over it from long before I was old enough and aware enough to even … Continue reading ‘Godspeed, Scott Adams’
Poem – Sonnet 104
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,For as you were when first your eye I eyed,Such seems your beauty still. Three winters coldHave from the forests shook three summers' pride,Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turn'dIn process of the seasons have I seen,Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd,Since first I saw … Continue reading Poem – Sonnet 104
Friday Flotsam: Miscellaneous Thoughts and RIP Scott Adams
1. I fell ill this week and stayed home Wednesday and Thursday. 2. Appealing to man's baser instinct may be morally dubious, but it is nevertheless more wholesome than attempting to re-write his baser instincts. 3. I've heard it said that we shouldn't make judgments about other people's looks. The trouble is, whether we should … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Miscellaneous Thoughts and RIP Scott Adams
Sunday Sundry: Mostly ‘Cells at Work’
1. My newest anime discovery is Cells at Work, a lighthearted edutainment series that personifies the cells of the body. The main characters are a rookie Red Blood cell, who delivers oxygen and nutrients throughout the body, and a stoical White Blood Cell, who defends against germs. We also meet other cells, like the Platelets … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Mostly ‘Cells at Work’
New Year Flotsam
1. Happy New Year! 2. This marks a new low in that I’ve procrastinated through the whole weekend and the flotsam is going up on Monday. I wish I could say there was a good reason for that, but there isn’t, unless it’s reluctance to talk about the year that is passed. One of my … Continue reading New Year Flotsam
Friday Flotsam: Christmas, ‘Avatar’ and ‘Rebecca’
1. A Merry Christmas! 2. It's been a very laid back, half-hearted kind of Christmas on my end, keeping with the whole of these past few months. The experience has been (so I imagine) similar to that of a functional alcoholic; there are good days and bad days, and a kind of fog over everything, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Christmas, ‘Avatar’ and ‘Rebecca’
Sunday Sundry: End of the Semester and ‘Animal Farm’ Hypocrisies
1. Another semester done at last! And exams were mostly pretty fun this year. For my English students (all high schoolers this time around), I opted for a discourse method in which students had to give a verbal answer to a question regarding one of the books we read, followed by a general class discussion … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: End of the Semester and ‘Animal Farm’ Hypocrisies
Poem – “The Lost Legion”
There's a Legion that never was ’listed,That carries no colours or crest,But, split in a thousand detachments,Is breaking the road for the rest.Our fathers they left us their blessing—They taught us, and groomed us, and crammed;But we’ve shaken the Clubs and the MessesTo go and find out and be damned(Dear boys!),To go and get shot … Continue reading Poem – “The Lost Legion”
Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
1. I had my students read The Gods of the Copybook Headings this week (it's almost exam time and I didn't want to start new lessons, so we're just reading Kipling poems). It's really amazing that this was written in 1919, when its subject matter and thesis are a pitch-perfect match to the present. But … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
Poem – “Hymn”
At morn — at noon — at twilight dim —Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!In joy and wo — in good and ill —Mother of God, be with me still!When the Hours flew brightly by,And not a cloud obscured the sky,My soul, lest it should truant be,Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;Now, when storms … Continue reading Poem – “Hymn”
Serpent's Den 