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<channel>
  <title>the word in language is half someone else&apos;s</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/</link>
  <description>the word in language is half someone else&apos;s - LiveJournal.com</description>
  <lastBuildDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:04:50 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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  <lj:journal>etben</lj:journal>
  <lj:journalid>8493151</lj:journalid>
  <lj:journaltype>personal</lj:journaltype>
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    <title>the word in language is half someone else&apos;s</title>
    <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/</link>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/133940.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:04:50 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>NUMBERS ARE GREAT: a list</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/133940.html</link>
  <description>time I got up: 8:30&lt;br /&gt;time I thought I had gotten up: 10:30&lt;br /&gt;time it took me to realize that I had gotten up two hours early: 110 minutes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;sections of class I teach: 3&lt;br /&gt;average number of students per section: 22&lt;br /&gt;inches of exam I brought home with me: 3.5&lt;br /&gt;inches of exam I left at work: 2&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;times I wrote &quot;THIS MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE&quot; on a student&apos;s paper: 0&lt;br /&gt;times I &lt;i&gt;wanted&lt;/i&gt; to: MANY.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;sections of the exam: 10&lt;br /&gt;sections of the exam graded yesterday: 1 (x3 sections)&lt;br /&gt;sections of the exam graded today: 8 (x3 sections)&lt;br /&gt;sections of the exam left to grade: 1 (x3 sections)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;cups of coffee consumed: 2.5&lt;br /&gt;showers taken: 0&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;my awesomeness: ∞&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;we can all ignore the part where &lt;i&gt;% of yuletide written&lt;/i&gt; is still sitting at 0, right?  right?  .../o\&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/133940.html</comments>
  <category>d-r-s</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>6</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/133050.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:14:42 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>memes are more fun than oral*</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/133050.html</link>
  <description>&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sadisticupid.livejournal.com/281647.html?thread=3423791#t3423791&quot;&gt;tell me things!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*&lt;small&gt;oral &lt;i&gt;exams&lt;/i&gt;, you pervs.&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/133050.html</comments>
  <category>memesheep</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>0</lj:reply-count>
</item>
<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/132720.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:17:13 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>DEAR CASTLE FANDOM:</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/132720.html</link>
  <description>&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://abc.go.com/shows/castle/ryan-report&quot;&gt;THIS IS RELEVANT TO YOUR INTERESTS.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It contains such gems as:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;q&gt;So tonight Espo and I headed out to a swank party on the Upper East Side that our new bouncer friends are working at. Far more nicely dressed than we were the other day and no Crown Vic. (Not that Esposito ever lets me behind the wheel anyhow – he&apos;s no fan of my driving. A consequence of growing up in the Bronx, getting my license late in life, and a little incident in the Village a year ago... neutral and reverse look similar, okay?)&lt;/q&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just.  I JUST.  HOW IS THIS SHOW &lt;i&gt;REAL&lt;/i&gt;?</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/132720.html</comments>
  <category>castle</category>
  <category>fandom-at-large</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>8</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/132411.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:21:10 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>RTFS</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/132411.html</link>
  <description>Oh, is it time for another ride on the &quot;If you get a native speaker to correct your writing, they&apos;ll put in structures that you don&apos;t know how to use, and that I &lt;i&gt;know&lt;/i&gt; you don&apos;t know how to use, and I&apos;ll know that you were cheating, and I&apos;ll be &lt;i&gt;pissed&lt;/i&gt;&quot;-go round?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PROTIP: if you tell me upfront that you have never studied French before in your life, but that your boyfriend is from Switzerland*, I am going to be REALLY FUCKING DUBIOUS of any sentences you write that contain direct object pronouns.  FFS, we are in chapter THREE.  I KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW, AND WHAT YOU KNOW AIN&apos;T MUCH, KITTEN.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;*I am kind of conflicted about this, actually, because the thing is that her boyfriend could have just sat her down and explained this nonsense several months ago, and so she might just KNOW that isolated (and hella advanced) grammar point in a way that doesn&apos;t involve her having somebody look her paper over, aka cheating.  IT COULD BE!  ...but, frankly, I doubt it.  &amp;gt;:(&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/132411.html</comments>
  <category>adventures in adulthood</category>
  <category>pourquoi es-tu ridicule?</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>2</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/132237.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:47:30 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>lol DEMANDING</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/132237.html</link>
  <description>I&apos;ve been thinking about this post for a while, and, hey, today is gray and dreary and kind of gross (where I am, at least), and so why the hell not!  I hereby declare this the &lt;b&gt;TOTALLY REASONABLE* DEMANDS MEME.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My TOTALLY REASONABLE DEMANDS for today include:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;• a nap,&lt;br /&gt;• a kitten,&lt;br /&gt;• sunshine, &lt;br /&gt;• not to have to teach tomorrow,&lt;br /&gt;• Gerard Way,&lt;br /&gt;• for my students&apos; paragraphs to grade themselves,&lt;br /&gt;• a job in January,&lt;br /&gt;• for the heat in my office to work more reliably,&lt;br /&gt;• for Chicago and Boston to be closer together, AND to live in one of those two places,&lt;br /&gt;• more coffee.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What about you, livejournal?  What are your TOTALLY REASONABLE DEMANDS for today?  Or for life in general, idk.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;*for varying values of &quot;reasonable&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;eta:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;e: *whines*&lt;br /&gt;a: we can have a whining chorus&lt;br /&gt;e: yes!&lt;br /&gt;e: and with that, we can...do something.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/132237.html</comments>
  <category>memesheep</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>11</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/132043.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:35:59 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>yuletide!</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/132043.html</link>
  <description>Hello, yuletide writer!  I have never done this before, which means that you are not competing against the ghosts of Yuletide Stories Past; absolutely anything you write me will make me really happy simply by virtue of being a story!  in one of these fandoms!  written for me! &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But in the interests of giving helpful prompts, here is some more information:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Generally:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I don&apos;t care for: death, pining that doesn&apos;t get resolved, rape, torture and abuse.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I like:  shenanigans, snappy dialogue, domesticity, porn, stories about characters teaching and learning, stories with kittens in them, stories with babies in them, obliviousness, awkwardness, pining that gets resolved, roadtrips, bodyswap, genderswap, epistolary fic, cuddling (for warmth or otherwise), threesomes and moresomes, stories with sex toys in them,  shenanigans.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;...obviously some of these work better in some fandoms than others (if you wrote me Tamir/Ki roadtrip fic I would be...surprised.  But also pretty pleased, actually!), but hopefully that gives you the gist, at least?  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a name=&quot;cutid1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;b&gt;Castle (Javier Esposito/Kate Beckett/Kevin Ryan/Rick Castle)&lt;/b&gt;: &lt;i&gt;Anything involving practical jokes would be awesome! Or just fic about Castle and Beckett being incredibly trolly (but still secretly in love), and Ryan and Esposito being bewildered.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Castle is probably my favorite thing on TV right now, which I&apos;m sure says...something...about me, but oh well.  I love many things about it: the way that Ryan and Esposito get to be competent and awesome and not just sidekicky, the way that Castle is a HUGE DORK, everything Alexis Castle chooses to be, the way that Becket trolls the everloving crap out of Castle, and then he trolls her RIGHT BACK.  &amp;hearts;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I suggested a prank war because I think it would be hilarious, but if that&apos;s not floating your boat, anything that gets at the teasing-but-ultimately-affectionate relationship  between Castle and Beckett, between Esposito and Ryan, between Beckett and Esposito and Ryan...basically, anything that could reasonably be summed up with the phrase SHENANIGANS ENSUE is likely to make me a very happy person.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;(Or you could write foursome sex.  SHHHHHH MY KINKS ARE OKAY.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt; Lynn Flewelling - Tamir Trilogy (Ki/Tobin aka Tamir)&lt;/b&gt;:  &lt;i&gt;I&apos;d love to read about Tamir and Ki in the aftermath of the war - how they adjust, how they move forward, what their lives are like after the period the books cover.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Basically, I love Tobin/Tamir and Ki.  A LOT.  I love a lot of the other characters, too!  But mainly I love the relationship between the two of them—the trust and the respect and the protectiveness and the love even before they realize that&apos;s what it is.  I&apos;d really love futurefic about the two of them, moving forward and adjusting to life after the war, adjusting to being in power, building the new capital together—but I&apos;d also love things set during the series, maybe about misadventures they had together in Ero?  Basically, I SHIP THEM REALLY HARD, so the fact that you&apos;re writing fic about them at ALL is going to be really awesome, so.  *hands* I&apos;m easy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Middleman (tv) (Lacey Thornfield/The Middleman/Wendy Watson)&lt;/b&gt; &lt;i&gt;SHENANIGANS. Shippy, not-shippy: take your pick! I&apos;d love a story about Lacey finding out about the Middleorganization, but anything that involves ridiculous hijinks will be great.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;...I really don&apos;t think I can put it any better than that.  I love the three of them together in any combination, so shippy fic is great, but I would also read the hell out of a gen story about them having ridiculous adventures.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Whip It (movie) (Bliss Cavendar aka Babe Ruthless/Pash)&lt;/b&gt;:  &lt;i&gt;Any and all fic about Pash and Bliss being codependent BFFs who are creepily involved in each other&apos;s lives would be AWESOME. I would read gen and femmeslash equally hard, in this case - I just love the devotion between the two.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Again, I think the prompt I gave pretty much sums it up.  I love the relationship they have with each other, how much they love each other—and I love that whether you write it as a romantic relationship, or as BFFs who are utterly in love in a totally platonic way.  I would love to read a story about Bliss moving to NYC to live with Pash, after high school?  But, really, I am dead serious when I say that ANYTHING WOULD BE AWESOME.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In conclusion, thank you very kindly!  And I am pretty much insanely excited to read anything you write. &amp;hearts;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/132043.html</comments>
  <category>yuletide</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>0</lj:reply-count>
</item>
<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/131392.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:48:03 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>awesome things i have done today</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/131392.html</link>
  <description>A)  during our pre-reading discussion for a poem by René Philombe, one of my students brought up the good old &quot;eskimos have 30000 words for snow!&quot; thing, talking about how language &quot;warps your brain*&quot;.  I had a moment of LINGUIST FURY where I brainvomited about Sapir-Whorf and polysynthetic languages and the eurocentric (indo-euro-centric?) bias of early-1900s linguistic fieldwork.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;...and then I looked up and my whole class was going o____O at me.  WHOOPS.  I took some deep breaths, and now I&apos;m feeling better, but damn, I miss actually getting to study linguistics.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;B)  On the other hand, I looked ahead to the next chapter to start my lesson planning, and HOLY SHIT WE GET &lt;i&gt;FUTUR PROCHE&lt;/i&gt; NEXT CHAPTER HECK YESSSSSSS.  It combines the irregular verb &lt;i&gt;aller&lt;/i&gt; with the infinitive of all the other verbs we know and gives us the FUTURE.  How is that not awesome?  I did a little dance when I saw the chapter heading, ngl, which is how I know that I am in fact on the right track with my life.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;C)  Current plan of attack in re: halloween party is to get cat ears from CVS on my way home, dress in black, staple a caption to my shirt and go as a lolcat.  On the one hand, it&apos;s not very awesome; on the other hand, I&apos;ll settle for not actually being naked.  Other frontrunners:  cover myself in screenshots of porn and cats and go as the internet; wear leggings as pants and a disaffected sneer and go as &quot;kids these days&quot;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;*his words, not mine.&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/131392.html</comments>
  <category>i r srs lingwist</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>16</lj:reply-count>
</item>
<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/131254.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:22:38 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>i&apos;ve been evaluating their oral proficiency, if you know what i mean.</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/131254.html</link>
  <description>&lt;a name=&quot;cutid1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_etben&apos; lj:user=&apos;etben&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: hah, done with orals!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_etben&apos; lj:user=&apos;etben&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: so i can maybe stop making jokes about it now&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_shoemaster&apos; lj:user=&apos;shoemaster&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://shoemaster.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://shoemaster.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;shoemaster&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: lolol&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_etben&apos; lj:user=&apos;etben&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: (hours and hours of oral, and boy is my throat sore now!)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_etben&apos; lj:user=&apos;etben&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: (realistically, there is no way i will ever stop making jokes about oral)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&apos;ljuser ljuser-name_etben&apos; lj:user=&apos;etben&apos; style=&apos;white-space: nowrap;&apos;&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/profile&apos;&gt;&lt;img src=&apos;http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif&apos; alt=&apos;[info]&apos; width=&apos;17&apos; height=&apos;17&apos; style=&apos;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&apos; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&apos;http://etben.livejournal.com/&apos;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: (because LOL ORAL)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More to the point, there is also an oral component to the final exam!  Which is in mid-December, which is...really not that far distant.  HOSHIT.  Hopefully that means that someday soon I will get a decision as to whether or not I am hired for next semester? *crosses fingers*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;IN OTHER NEWS, I have been invited to a Halloween party!  And Halloween is...the day after tomorrow!  It&apos;s being thrown by some of the grad students I work closely with, and while I am fairly certain that they all secretly hate me, I am also pretty certain that I am being neurotic and incorrect in my opinions, and also that social interaction is good for me.  So I need a Halloween costume!  internet, what should I be for Halloween that is a) cheap and b) not too labor-intensive?  I thought about wearing leggings as pants and a wretched plaid shirt and going as my students, but that might be a joke that would only be funny to me, and also I&apos;d have to wear leggings as pants, which, NO.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Come talk to meeeeeeee, internet.  Other acceptable topics:  &lt;i&gt;Middleman, Castle, Farscape, Whip It&lt;/i&gt;; any and all crossovers between the aforementioned fandoms; lol ORAL.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/131254.html</comments>
  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <category>inappropriate</category>
  <category>d-r-s</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>26</lj:reply-count>
</item>
<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/130869.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:20:32 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>I meme because it beats the hell out of lesson planning</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/130869.html</link>
  <description>&lt;i&gt;The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;rl-shenanigans update: was in boston (\o/), am now NOT in boston (boooooo), am probably going to try to get over to chicago at...some point?, am still not getting anything written (but hope to change that soon?), am still only sort of getting shit done w/r/t future plans (but am DEFINTELY going to kick that into high gear pretty soon), am tinhatting john crichton and aeryn sun HARDER THAN ANY PAIRING EVER* WHAT THE HELLLLLLL, am still living in my parents&apos; basement and basically okay with that fact, am still mostly loving my job (and still love to complain about it).  Still bad at commenting; still love your faces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oral exams this week!  Let&apos;s see how many terrible jokes I can make about this fact.  (HINT: probably more than any of you really want to hear.)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;*with the exception of &lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info - personal] &quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;/&lt;span lj:user=&quot;jai&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info - personal] &quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: text-bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;jai&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, which is my otp to end all otps. &amp;hearts;&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/130869.html</comments>
  <category>memesheep</category>
  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <category>all about me</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>12</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/130166.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:49:34 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>also also also and</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/130166.html</link>
  <description>I keep thinking about posting, and then realizing that I don&apos;t have anything interesting to say, and then not posting, and then feeling like, since I haven&apos;t posted in a while, I need to say something EXTRA interesting to make up for the radio silence, but I don&apos;t have anything interesting to say, much less something extra-special, and so I don&apos;t say anything.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But, hey, I exist!  Great plans are...not really afoot?  I am pretty intensely boring these days; I...knit a lot? and I&apos;ve been sewing again, and reading books with actual pages, and planning lessons and teaching classes and being perplexed by my students (most of whom are actually awesome!  ...but some of whom are the most special of special snowflakes).  And grading!  Oh, the grading. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For the most part I continue to adore my job!  There are aspects of it that I find really frustrating—the way that the department is structured, and the occasionally STUNNING demonstrations of privilege-related fail (in myself, in the students, in my colleagues and my supervisors)—but there have also been some awesome moments.  Guys, education is &lt;i&gt;awesome&lt;/i&gt; *_____*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Today they have their second chapter test!  NGL, I think I am actually more nervous than some of them are—what if they forget how demonstrative adjectives work?  did we spend enough time on some of the weirder vocabulary?  Did the kid from Brazil actually study, or is he just going to write in Portuguese again and hope I don&apos;t notice the difference?  AGGLE.  Plus I can&apos;t actually write any lesson plans for the next chapter until I get the homework sheets; the course is centrally coordinated, so while I have to make my own lesson plans, the day-to-day organization of topics is handed down to me—except for how it hasn&apos;t been, yet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SO HEY.  I used to do this thing called...writing?  And I would not be opposed to doing it again!  &lt;b&gt;So prompt prompts:&lt;/b&gt; best bets are probably &lt;i&gt;Middleman&lt;/i&gt;-related shenanigans, but I am, has oft been noted, pretty easy.</description>
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  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <category>carrot/stick</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>9</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/129045.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:41:10 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>WHO HAS TWO THUMBS AND A JOB?</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/129045.html</link>
  <description>THIS GIRL!  \o/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*twirls*</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/129045.html</comments>
  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <category>\o/</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>40</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/128622.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:46:54 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>!!!!</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/128622.html</link>
  <description>Dear self of several months ago, &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Could you possibly have been &lt;i&gt;less&lt;/i&gt; specific in your list of Middleman stories you wanted me to write?  Don&apos;t get me wrong, it&apos;s great to have the list, and some of the stuff there is extremely useful, but then I get to things like &lt;i&gt;the one with the evil french teacher&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;the one with the non-denominational winter holiday party! &lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;the one with the collective of personalities and also mm in a coma&lt;/i&gt; and I am just - I&apos;m not sure where to go from there, you know?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;the one with hot sex in the changing room&lt;/i&gt; is pretty self-explanatory, I&apos;ll admit, but I&apos;m a little confused as to why you think that will only be ONE story.  I mean, really now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Much love,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info - personal] &quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dear self of this morning,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Staying on site on your weekend off and writing MM fic instead of going to the Mall of America: one of the better decisions you&apos;ve made.  A+ deciding-stuff skills!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Love,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info - personal] &quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dear self of this afternoon,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hope you enjoyed the nap that I&apos;m about to take.  Sorry about the total lack of doing laundry.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;best,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info - personal] &quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/128622.html</comments>
  <category>middleman</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>8</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/128463.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:56:42 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>to find there but the road back home again</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/128463.html</link>
  <description>True story: I sing my cabin lullabies most every night, heavy on the long-as-crap voyageur canoeing songs and the Hush Sound, with a few show tunes and other bits of this and that thrown in.  To commemorate the month we&apos;ve spent together, they asked if I could teach them a song; I told them sure, and that they should pick one of the songs I&apos;d sung them and let me know which one so that I could brush up on my lyrics.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Their choice?  &lt;i&gt;Northwest Passage&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I can hear you laughing from up over here, Canada fandom.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/128463.html</comments>
  <category>lakes in the woods</category>
  <category>pourquoi es-tu ridicule?</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>4</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/126805.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:09:45 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>contrary to the evidence, i am thinking serious thoughts tonight</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/126805.html</link>
  <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1424476&quot;&gt;View Poll: many other Americans are suspicious of it&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GUYS, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE CORRECT RESPONSE TO THIS QUESTION.</description>
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  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>8</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/125482.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2009 23:25:30 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>organizational pon farr, wtaf</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/125482.html</link>
  <description>Since getting home at about 2pm today, I have &lt;a name=&quot;cutid1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;• Washed, dried, and put away a sinkful of dirty dishes&lt;br /&gt;• Taken out a bag of trash&lt;br /&gt;• Washed and repatriated several large pans and a pair of oven mitts to the site kitchen&lt;br /&gt;• Gone to the office to talk to Bossman (who wasn&apos;t there) and L, our head cook (who was)&lt;br /&gt;• Returned the laptop that the program loaned me for this year (basically unused, but oh well)&lt;br /&gt;• Moved all of the furniture in the living room into the middle of the room, preparatory to vacuuming&lt;br /&gt;• Fixed the futon that wouldn&apos;t futon (also preparatory to vacuuming)&lt;br /&gt;• Vacuumed the living room&lt;br /&gt;• Wiped down every last piece of furniture in my apartment that could conceivably be wiped down&lt;br /&gt;• Taken a bike and a mop back to Norway&lt;br /&gt;• Cooked and eaten the last of my oatmeal and thrown the container away&lt;br /&gt;• Washed the dishes from my oatmeal&lt;br /&gt;• Vacuumed the hall&lt;br /&gt;• Vacuumed my bedroom&lt;br /&gt;• Washed the sink&lt;br /&gt;• Washed the top of the refrigerator (note: I have a mini-fridge, so the top of the fridge is actually a place I look at on a fairly regular basis.  and god, was it GROSS.)&lt;br /&gt;• Contemplated cleaning out the inside of the fridge, but decided not to, because I need the milk for tomorrow morning and I don&apos;t want to take out two bags of trash when I don&apos;t need to.&lt;br /&gt;• Set out my clothes for tomorrow&lt;br /&gt;• Loaded my purse with the stuff I have to take back to school with me tomorrow&lt;br /&gt;• Packed up everything I will need for going to Chicago (with a pile on my desk of &quot;things I want on the plane&quot;, which will go into my purse after school)&lt;br /&gt;• Set out a mug for my coffee and a bowl for my cereal tomorrow morning&lt;br /&gt;• Set my alarm for tomorrow morning&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Guys, I don&apos;t even KNOW what&apos;s going on.  Or, well, I do: I have to be OUT OUT OUT of this apartment tomorrow, and even though my flight doesn&apos;t leave until 4pm (and my last class of the day ends at 11:30), I am being UBERtidy just in case something disastrous occurs and I, like, lose all capacity for rational thought.  I have a to-do list for tomorrow that includes such STAGGERINGLY INSIGHTFUL instructions as &lt;i&gt;go to school (take stuff back!)&lt;/i&gt;.  Because, you know, I&apos;m totally going to forget to do that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dear hindbrain: there is nothing left to wash!  now will you kindly SHUT THE ACTUAL FUCK UP.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;BUT now I am going to take the tea I just made myself and sit on the (functional!) futon in my PJs and read &lt;i&gt;Middlesex&lt;/i&gt;.  For all that it is not actually a book about the True Love of Wendy Watson, her roommate, and her boss, it is pretty awesome!  So that&apos;s nice.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also, &lt;b&gt;ATTENTION CHICAGO:&lt;/b&gt;  I am going to hit your fair city like an awesomenado (a tornado made of awesome!) sometime around 8pm tomorrow evening!  I have non-negotiable Things going on Thursday morning, and unspecified Shenanigans (involving at least &lt;span lj:user=&quot;impertinence&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://impertinence.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://impertinence.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;impertinence&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; and &lt;span lj:user=&quot;inbetweendays&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inbetweendays.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://inbetweendays.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;inbetweendays&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, but theoretically open to all!) for...I think we said Thursday evening?  and then I have a bus out of town on Saturday afternoon.  In between then, we should totally hang out!  My goals for this span of time include but are not limited to: going to a diner, eating sushi, drinking alcohol, hanging out, making &lt;span lj:user=&quot;shoemaster&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shoemaster.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shoemaster.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;shoemaster&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; watch &lt;i&gt;The Middleman&lt;/i&gt;, and being ridiculous.  LET&apos;S TALK, CHICAGO.</description>
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  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>6</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/124718.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 23 May 2009 01:07:38 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT QUESTION OF GREAT IMPORTANCE.</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/124718.html</link>
  <description>So &lt;span lj:user=&quot;jai&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;jai&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; and I are watching Star Trek (um, again, stfu), and I have &lt;a name=&quot;cutid1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt; a question for those of you who are better at time travel than I am:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At the beginning of the movie, Kirk Sr flies his starship into the Big Bad Tentacled Ship of Doom and goes kablooey.  The rescue pods fly off and are rescued, as evidenced by the fact that Kirk Jr winds up in Iowa.  Twenty-five years later, Kirk Jr. meets the Big Bad Tentacled Ship of Doom again, and finds it in one piece.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK?  Like, okay, fine, maybe a huge fucking ship + twenty-five years to put up a fresh coat of paint = a ship that is not a total shitheap, fine.  OKAY.  I don&apos;t really get it, but fine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But how the hell does Starfleet never, like.  GO AND LOOK FOR THE SHIP WITH THE TENTACLES?  I mean, I wouldn&apos;t want to, but that is because I am not freaking STARFLEET.  Clearly they had the technology to scoop up bb!kirk and his momma and, y&apos;know, presumably some other people as well.  How did they not ever try to look for the Big Bad?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Possibly this gets explained in better detail later on, and we&apos;re just not remembering it—plus, as Jai pointed out, space is BIG—but still.  EXPLAIN EXPLANATIONS, STAR TREK.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In other news, &lt;span lj:user=&quot;jai&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;jai&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; is the BEST GIRLFRIEND EVER you are all so jealous.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/124718.html</comments>
  <category>star trek</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>17</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/124566.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 16 May 2009 12:04:33 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>HEY INTERNETS</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/124566.html</link>
  <description>I don&apos;t know if I mentioned, but today is the day I leave the Far Frozen North (no, seriously, there was &lt;i&gt;snow&lt;/i&gt; on my porch this morning.  WTAF?) and hie me down to the big city, where I will collect my GIRL.  &amp;hearts;!  And we will have shenanigans and ridiculousness and also a concert with those fellows in Fall Out Boy (I heard that the loud one with all the tattoos loves the short one in the hat).  And then I get to drag &lt;span lj:user=&quot;jai&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info] - personal&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;jai&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; back to the Far Frozen North with me and keep her for a week!  \o/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, you know.  If you&apos;re looking for me—or her, for that matter—that&apos;s where we&apos;ll be.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/124566.html</comments>
  <category>fob</category>
  <category>my because</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>16</lj:reply-count>
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<item>
  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/124178.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2009 01:45:46 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>I don&apos;t EVEN have an opinion.</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/124178.html</link>
  <description>NOTE:  The kindergarteners have a bird.  It&apos;s bright blue parakeet, about six inches long from beak to tail-tip, and it flies freely around the classroom.  Most of the time it ignores me, except for one day a few weeks ago when it decided my shoulder was the BEST place to sit.  The kids love it, and mostly everything is fine.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Mostly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SCENE:  Monday morning, 10:30 AM.  Kindergarten.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;N00BLES and &lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; are teaching a class.  THE BIRD is flying around the classroom, landing from time to time on a desk or a strategically-placed branch.  THE KIDS are mostly paying attention  to the lesson.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;N00BLES: (in French)  What is that bird doing?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; turns to look at the bird, who rubs itself frantically against a lamp, its cage, and then a child&apos;s head.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: (in French) ...exactly what you think it&apos;s doing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;N00BLES:  :OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  BUT BUT BUT&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span lj:user=&quot;etben&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;etben&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;: WE ARE NOT DISCUSSING THIS NOW LET&apos;S SING A SONG.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SO YES.  Masturbating parakeet: check!  I mostly managed to stifle my giggles; n00bles was less successful, but he has a tendency to laugh awkwardly for no real reason, so I don&apos;t think anybody noticed.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;GUYS.  &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.trickster.org/speranza/Juggling.html&quot;&gt;MY LIFE IS A DUE SOUTH STORY&lt;/a&gt;.  &lt;i&gt;WHAT.&lt;/i&gt;  I mean, I guess at least it&apos;s a &lt;i&gt;good&lt;/i&gt; story?  But still.  WHAT.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;*&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In news that has nothing to do with masturbating birds, it is almost the end of the school year!  I have to admit that I am pretty excited.  Eight more days of classes (not that I am counting), and for a week of that I will have my &lt;span lj:user=&quot;jai&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://jai.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;jai&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; with me!  \o/  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I am less excited about packing up all my worldly possessions, but...still kind of excited, actually!  I like putting things in boxes, okay.  BOXES ARE RAD.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Other things that I am excited about: FOB in MSP!, going to CHICAGO for a few days, going HOME for a few days, summertime!, all the middleman fic that I am going to write once my off-brand claritin kicks in.  And also the lentil soup that I am going to make just as soon as I wake the rest of the way up.  I was hiding in my room from n00bles and C and n00bles&apos; ladyfriend, because they wanted to go be social and I really did not...but then I, um, fell asleep.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;IN CONCLUSION MY LIFE IS RIDICULOUS AND YOU SHOULD COME TALK TO ME ABOUT STUFF.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/124178.html</comments>
  <category>either awesome or going to hell</category>
  <category>fan flan shenanigan plans</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>29</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/124140.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sat, 09 May 2009 20:04:13 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>BREAKING NEWS:</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/124140.html</link>
  <description>&lt;marquee&gt;I AM GOING TO START KILLING PEOPLE WITH MY &lt;b&gt;MIND&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/marquee&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seriously, I do not know what the hell is so complicated about &quot;everybody goes to the cabins now.&quot;  Are you a human being?  THEN THAT MEANS YOU, KITTEN.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If I could invent anything, it would be a machine that detects the presence of &quot;oh, they can manage without me for a while&quot; and similar thoughts and PUNCH THE PERSON THINKING THAT CRAP IN THE &lt;i&gt;FACE&lt;/i&gt;.  The fact that I am capable of running this entire camp with a head cold and both hands tied behind my back does not actually excuse you from &lt;i&gt;doing your goddamn job&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also if S and B sneak off for makeouts one more time I swear to god I will stab them.  Check the clock: does it say KISSING O&apos;CLOCK?  Then GET YOUR FOOL ASSES BACK TO WORK.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;IN CONCLUSION, &lt;b&gt;&amp;gt;:(&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;thank fuck this is the last one of these; i am seriously reaching critical mass of cranky&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/124140.html</comments>
  <category>angry on the internet</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>5</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/123724.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2009 02:31:37 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>ALSO: how many bad &quot;middleman&quot; jokes can be made about threesome sex?</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/123724.html</link>
  <description>Okay, so I am the latest EVER to this particular party, I know, but WHO WANTS TO TALK WITH ME ABOUT &lt;i&gt;THE MIDDLEMAN&lt;/i&gt;?  Acceptable topics of discussion include but are not limited to: shenanigans; how much more kissing there should be; the utter dearth of good MM fic; the way they TOTALLY MADE A GLORYHOLE JOKE; IDA; how much I love Wendy Watson&apos;s face; how much I love Wendy Watson&apos;s everything; how much I love Lacey; how much I love the Middleman himself; how much I love every other aspect of this show; \o ART CRAWL!; and TROUT.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Also you should feel free to tell me what to write, because if the fic is not out there I WILL JUST HAVE TO RESOLVE THAT PROBLEM MYSELF.  *is resolved*</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/123724.html</comments>
  <category>middleman</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>55</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/123633.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2009 02:34:01 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>teeveeeeeee</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/123633.html</link>
  <description>So the weird thing about my life right now (or, well, ONE of the weird things) is that, despite not actually owning a TV or knowing anybody around here who does, I am watching a fuckton of TV shows.  FAR OUT!  Mostly this is because I have reliable internet and a tendency to come home from work and want to collapse and be brainless and maybe knit.  And listening to TV is good for that!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So here, in lieu of any content, have a &lt;a name=&quot;cutid1&quot;&gt;&lt;/a&gt;TV ROUNDUP POST.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Shows I Watch:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Farscape: at the verrrrrrrry end of s3, waiting for s4 to hurry the fuck up and finish downloading.  MADLY IN LOVE WITH IT but I keep getting distracted from it by other (crappier) things.  Plus there&apos;s the thing where it&apos;s a closed canon, so when I&apos;m done?  I will be DONE.  I want to make it last! I want to savor Aeryn Sun, okay?  o_______o&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Castle: one of those other (crappier) things!  and yet, I totally love it.  Nathan Fillion is endearingly skeezy, and his daughter is every stereotype of precocious teenage daughters, and Detective Beckett is a hotsauce lady.  Plus there are tiny gay boyfriends!  It&apos;s pretty predictable, but fun, and attractive, and a lot smarter than I would have expected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;BSG: I was rewatching with Andrea, and we&apos;re into the beginning of s4, but we can only watch it on &lt;i&gt;my&lt;/i&gt; computer, which means that I have to decide between my desire to watch Kara Thrace be hotsauce and my desire to be on IM.  And, face it, IM is usually going to win!  I LIKE MY INTERNET OKAY.  Plus we&apos;re now into the part of the show that I haven&apos;t watched already, which means that I have to actually &lt;i&gt;pay attention&lt;/i&gt; and stuff, which—hi, have we met?  I am bad at actually watching TV.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sports Night:  Like Farscape, it&apos;s a closed-canon show that I adore.  I don&apos;t want to finish it!  Then it will be &lt;i&gt;over&lt;/i&gt;.  Or, well.  Over-er than it already is.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Shows I Sort Of Watch:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Middleman:  I am just starting to watch this, but I am IN LOVE.  It is all SHENANIGANS and RIDICULOUSNESS and TECHNOLOGY and SNAPPY DIALOGUE and it makes me giggle.  This is probably going to wind up being something that I actually watch!  Go figure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dollhouse: I was watching it, and then I wasn&apos;t, and then I got bored and started catching up and OH SHIT IT ACTUALLY GOT INTERESTING THERE.  And then I got distracted.  STORY OF MY LIFE.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wonderfalls:  IDK, &lt;span lj:user=&quot;shoemaster&quot; style=&quot;white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shoemaster.dreamwidth.org/profile&quot;&gt;&lt;img src=&quot;http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png&quot; alt=&quot;[info]&quot; width=&quot;17&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; style=&quot;vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://shoemaster.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;shoemaster&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt; told me to watch it, and even though I have moved away she does still rule me with a maple fist.  Very cute!  But I keep wanting for Jaye to have hot threesomes with Eric the bartender and Lee Pace&apos;s character, and then remembering that Lee Pace is playing her brother, and feeling like a terrible person.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dead Like Me:  So far I have watched one episode!  Verdict is still out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Kings: I watched the first episode, and was fascinated and pleased!  But, idk.  It feels like the kind of show I want to watch when I&apos;m feeling smart!  which...is not often the way I feel when I get home from work.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;Shows I Don&apos;t Watch But About Which I Still Have Opinions&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Merlin: I don&apos;t watch this show.  Sometimes I read fic, though?  There&apos;s a lot of it, okay, and it&apos;s a nice distraction from how much I suck at life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Criminal Minds:  Nope, not watching this one either!  If there were fic I might well read it though.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Heroes:  ...dude, I got no idea.  I used to watch this show?  but now...*hands*  Same goes for SGA—apparently there was an episode with Bill Nye the Science Guy, somewhere after I stopped watching?  To which I can only say UM WHAT.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;in other news, anybody want a dreamwidth code?  I have a few, and while I suspect that people have asked me for them I cannot for love or mercy remember who.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;[x-posted to lj]</description>
  <category>fandom at large</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>0</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/122332.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:43:46 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>for the victims and tourists to see</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/122332.html</link>
  <description>1.  I am &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://etben.dreamwidth.org/&quot;&gt;on dreamwidth&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;!  Mostly still poking around; probably won&apos;t say anything of import for a while while I get settled.  Add me, don&apos;t add me—just drop me a line if I know you and haven&apos;t found you yet. (especially if you have changed your name!)  Will be crossposting for a while, I think?  so there&apos;s no real need to follow me both places.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2.  The weather here (in the northwoods.  Not at Dreamwidth. There is no weather on the internet.) is absolutely &lt;i&gt;glorious&lt;/i&gt;.  Mid-sixties!  in APRIL!  I totally walked to the office today to see if I had mail, and it was so wonderful out that I totally didn&apos;t care about my utter lack of mail.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3.  I have been being &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://i39.tinypic.com/2u73tpt.jpg&quot;&gt;BEAUTIFULLY&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; organized this week, and we now have a daily kitchen schedule that actually looks like it won&apos;t kill anybody!  Or, well, won&apos;t kill anybody more than camp usually kills people.  Which—let&apos;s not lie, camp is pretty intense.  But in the good way!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My boss hasn&apos;t emailed me back to mock my OCD yet, but I&apos;m sure it&apos;s only a matter of time.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4.  Real life nonsense: I am still waiting to hear back from the Last Grad School, who have waitlisted me.  On the one hand, they are a totally awesome program and my first choice in every conceivable way, and if they accept me and it is not a total financial shitstorm I will be there in a &lt;i&gt;microt&lt;/i&gt;.  On the other hand, I can&apos;t lie: it is kind of frustrating to have to keep waiting.  &quot;I don&apos;t know!  Um, stuff?&quot; is not a good answer to &quot;What are you doing next year?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the OTHER other hand, I applied for a job that is not exactly relevant to my interests but pretty darn close, and just yesterday got the good word that I should hear some kind of response within two weeks!  And of course it is entirely likely that I will get a polite &quot;no thanks&quot;, or that I&apos;ll get a rigorous round of interviews and &lt;i&gt;then&lt;/i&gt; a polite &quot;no thanks&quot;, but still.  I like timelines!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;5.  In other news (and because I know what the girls like), I can now no longer buy bras at Target, because they don&apos;t stock 32DD.  Which—I know it is all about my ribcage, and that my boobs have not &lt;i&gt;actually&lt;/i&gt; gotten bigger?  But double letters seem so &lt;i&gt;ominous&lt;/i&gt;.  WHAT THE HELL, COULDN&apos;T YOU SHARE THE ONE LETTER BETWEEN YOU?  Greedy.</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/122332.html</comments>
  <category>experiments in adulthood</category>
  <category>lakes in the woods</category>
  <category>either awesome or going to hell</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>9</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/121965.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Sun, 12 Apr 2009 21:48:18 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>but &quot;playboy: wet and wild&quot; is still there!  because that is SO family-friendly.</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/121965.html</link>
  <description>&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank/&quot;&gt;Amazon Rank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Disgusting.  Hope you enjoy losing business, Amazon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;small&gt;Context is &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11369.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/amazon-rank/&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;, and a list of books affected is &lt;a href=&quot;http://community.livejournal.com/meta_writer/11992.html&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/small&gt;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/121965.html</comments>
  <category>angry on the internet</category>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>0</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/121347.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:34:04 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>quote of the evening:</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/121347.html</link>
  <description>&quot;wait.  shit.  WHY IS THERE A MONKEY?&quot;</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/121347.html</comments>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
  <lj:reply-count>5</lj:reply-count>
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  <guid isPermaLink='true'>http://etben.livejournal.com/121228.html</guid>
  <pubDate>Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:16:59 GMT</pubDate>
  <title>is that better or worse than MAN REACTION?</title>
  <link>http://etben.livejournal.com/121228.html</link>
  <description>&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1378754&quot;&gt;View Poll: up the hoo-hah!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;b&gt;context is:&lt;/b&gt; I am a terrible person, but clearly not as terrible as some of the people who have &lt;i&gt;already been allowed to name children&lt;/i&gt;.  I&apos;m just saying!</description>
  <comments>http://etben.livejournal.com/121228.html</comments>
  <lj:security>public</lj:security>
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