bird by bird

Halloween has always been a very big deal in the Lightfield household comprised of homemade costumes, make-shift haunted houses, and tricky traditions. All of us get into the spirit of spirits, but none as much as my dad. He was notorious for his Halloween enthusiasm and also for a particular pair of Halloween feet. My mom bought them for him after they were first married (27 years ago), and every October 31st, he slipped them on and walked out the door to freak the world out. Last year was the first year that he wasn't able to model the gruesome feet, so in order to carry on his tradition, I slipped them on and walked out the door to freak the world out. The clincher: I worked at a monastery. And it..was.. awesome. The sistas loved the feet and had me model them all day long. This October 31st, I'm back in Vermillion grading papers in bed and every so often, startling myself by looking at the over sized feet dangling over the edge of my bed. Halloween traditions live on!

Now there's a guy a girl can count on.

"This is a song about talking to the person you haven't even met yet. Maybe they're rolling around the hay with someone else. But they're not as good as you'll be. You just have to wait your turn. He's out there; she's out there. They're just learning what to contrast you against." --JM

I'm currently on a 6 week Neil Young bender. I love him. And October. Enjoy. "Because I'm still in love with you I want to see you dance again Because I'm still in love with you On this harvest moon."

Here are two people that are very close to my heart. They are both very soft and comfortable, especially in this picture. I was fortunate enough to spend some quality time with JK (the shorter one) this weekend, and it made me wish we didn't live so far apart! Similarly, I've been feeling distant from the other guy lately as well. Come back, I miss you both!

Yep, t hat's our neighbors folks. I thank them for lighting up the sky when I come home late from my office. Also, their lawn makes it easy for pizza deliverers. I can't wait for Christmas! If this is their lawn, it makes me wonder what "treats" they distribute on Halloween?

The second best part of my Sunday (after mass, of course), is checking PostSecret. Each week I find secrets that are hilarious, inappropriate, melancholy, sweet, offensive, and/or beautiful. Sometimes I share the secret myself and sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be the secret-keeper. I do have one secret that I'm willing to reveal... I keep a folder on my desktop and each week, I save one or two of my favorites. Today in honor of PostSecret Sunday, I'm going to post some of my favorites. Keep in mind that these do not necessarily apply to me. I just find them... compelling, provocative, appealing. (wink, wink)

Only this time, I'm just not that into him . And it turns out that it sucks being on both sides.

It's funny to look back at one's youth and recall all of the things that were misunderstood as a child. Here are a few examples of my own misunderstandings of the world of television. As I child, I thought that some movies took many, many years to make because they had to wait for the actors to grow up to be the older versions of themselves. When weather storm warnings would flash on the TV screen, I thought they only pertained to where the setting of the TV show was. Since no TV shows were filmed in Waubay, SD, I thought I was safe. Also, once I placed a shelled egg in the microwave to make scrambled eggs. I was probably old enough to know better. This is unrelated to television; it's just stupid. 

Walking through the rows of smelly old books in the 3rd floor of the library, this title caught my eye. I spent some quality(ish) time with Walt Whitman last year for a seminar class on American Romanticism. We got pretty close, but I never learned "the secret". Maybe I should have checked this book out instead of just taking a picture of it with my phone. Or maybe I shall steal it. Or maybe I shall write my own: Free and Lonesome Heart: The Secret of Amanda Lightfield

Last November, I needed to run/get/fly away so my mom bought me a plane ticket to NY.. as long as I promised to come home. It was a trip that refreshed my soul and my friendship with a dear friend. We went to clubs, record stores, thrift stores, coffee shops, museums, and the theater. But my favorite part was the day spent in Central Park with sore feet, cameras, and each other. Although an annual trip isn't possible this November, I made a mini-video to remember fondly of our day in the park. One of the best days of my life.. so far. :)

or learning, for that matter.

Note: I wrote this post a few months ago as I helped my mom move to a new house in Watertown and then moved to my new home in Vermillion (all with a broken collar bone!). I must have saved it and forgotten to post it.. but better late than never, I suppose. All this moving and adjusting and changing has really got me thinking... and I think I've decided that I'm ok with it all. I was sitting in my TA workshop last week (I get to teach English 101 this year!) and our speaker was talking about introducing essay organization as a metaphor involving moving and packing boxes.. like how similar things go in the same box (support) and each box is labeled (topic sentence) and so on.. God, I love English. Anyway, it got me thinking about how moving itself is like a meta-metaphor (if that makes any sense). Like moving to a new house, or moving away to college, or just changing the environment in which one has grown accustomed to is so much more than just a physical process. Moving is a l...

There was a time when my world was filled with darkness, darkness, darkness and I stopped dreaming now I'm supposed to fill it up with something, something , something

Overheard: "Virginity and eHarmony just don't mix."

"'I liked those ladies! They were helpers, and they danced.' These are the words I want on my gravestone: that I was a helper, and that I danced." -Anne Lamott (What a gal..)

Sometimes I need a friendly reminder... I'm Alive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT2t5oy9wgM&feature=fvst (It gets good at 2:16)

Same class, different text, better excerpt. I actually understand this one: "You are thirsty, dried up with thirst, and yet you don't know it until somebody holds up water to your mouth and says: 'You're thirsty, drink.' It's like that. You are thirsty and you drink. And then you wonder all sorts of things, discontentedly and disconnectedly." From After Leaving Mr. Mackenzie by Jean Rhys

I can't make this shit up: "A BOX" "Out of kindness comes redness and out of rudeness comes rapid same question, out of an eye comes research, out of selection comes painful cattle. So then the order is that a white way of being round is something suggesting a pin and is it disappointing, it is not, it is so rudimentary to be analysed and see a fine substance strangely, it is so earnest to have a green point not to red but to point again." See what I have to put up with? And you thought O-Chem was tough.

DDays 2007... It's like when a unknown film gets nominated for an Academy Award. Hilarious.

How I wish , how I wish you were here. We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year , Running over the same old ground. What have you found? The same old fears. Wish you were here .

I found this picture randomly online, and I own that same coffee cup. I think this may be my soul mate. Cheers!

I like cats better than dogs. There, I said it.

I'm currently in an exclusive relationship with a never ending stack of ungraded student essays. It's pretty serious.