Off the Record (You're Not Out There, Are You?)

Ahem...

I've developed the most ridiculous fear that some of the programs I've applied to are finding my blog and actually reading it. This would be a terrible, terrible thing.

"But you're anonymous," you might say. Well, not so much, if you've read my SOP.

How would they find me? I have no idea. (The forums? Google? The tin foil hat I'm wearing?)

Aren't I blowing my relative importance in the MFA world completely out of proportion by worrying that actual faculty are taking the time to scour the internet looking for little old me? Well, yes, I am. That's the only thing that's keeping me from totally losing it about this.

This incredibly self-involved hypothesis is based on stupid, stupid StatCounter. I wish I never installed it. Besides telling me how many people stop by the blog, I just discovered that I can see where they're checking it from. In the past week or two, I've had hits from both Syracuse and U Minnesota.

Of course, I also had hits from Indiana U and Boston U and U Arizona and U Alabama and U Tennessee, and I didn't apply to any of those. The most likely explanation is that these hits are just fellow/future applicants/students looking for MFA info. If so, hi!

But today, on the day when U Florida started notifying for fiction, I see a hit from Gainesville. What?! What?!

So, on the off chance that my paranoid delusions are in fact not delusions (humor me?), I just want to say that some of what I say on this blog is silly, and all of it is off the record, and most of all---please don't judge me based on my babble? Also, hi.

Actually, I'll extend that message to everyone out there in TV-land, not just the imaginary MFA faculty. This process (and waking up at 4 am for my job) is kind of wearing away at my sanity these days. Maybe an open diary was just a bad idea, during decision season.

Too late to turn back now---I believe I believe I believe I'm falling in love? What song is that again? Where am I?

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog, where I'll try to tune the crazy down. Thanks!

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UPDATE 4/1:

They will find your blog, no matter how anonymous you think you are, and they will read it. And, undoubtedly, they will snicker behind their hands at how silly you are. And even if they don't, you'll always be sure that they did. Just a little warning, there.

No Blog

Got job. Dead tired.

PBS World: Worth Procrastinating For

A lot of good stuff on PBS World today! I should be doing my homework for fiction tomorrow, but these shows keep pulling me back in.

I have to leave the house at an ungodly hour tomorrow, ("working interview"), so I need to start trying to sleep around 7 pm. I can't remember the last time I went to bed so early.

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Recommended Viewing!

From the PBS Independent Lens website:

In the 1920s, Zulu singer Solomon Linda composed "Mbube," a hit melody in his native South Africa. Decades later, it skyrocketed to the top of the international pop charts as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

A LION'S TRAIL follows this beloved song's rocky history, from South Africa to Brooklyn and back, asking why Linda died penniless---while American artists made millions off of his music.

A Global Voices film. Also features Pete Seeger. More links here.
Solomon Linda, far left, above.

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From the WGBH website:

AfroPop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange: Being Pavarotti

"Being Pavarotti" tells the story of a South African teen who sets out to become a successful opera singer.

AfroPop celebrates Africa's cultural and historical growth through six films. These programs, each introduced by actor Idris Elba, explore the complex lives of contemporary Africans, both on the continent and abroad. The series includes an examination of the efforts of African AIDS activists, a profile of two young South African hip-hop disc jockeys, the touching story of one Cape Town boy's love for opera music, and a look inside the blossoming Nigerian film industry.

This is Not Going to Work

I will pay you to call me at 4:30 in the morning.

I guess I'm kidding. But I might have to ask my mom to do it.

I Got a Call This Morning!

It was from a job, and I couldn't be happier.

I felt like (warning, this is just hyperbole, the following did not happen) Cornell called me and then I saw Rutgers' number on call waiting.

The funny thing is that I woke up early this morning to get ready to go out and apply to a couple new leads I found yesterday. So now I'm up early, with a whole day to figure out what to do with.

It's a good thing I'm up, though---this shift I'm going to start Monday begins at 7 am. I've been waking up around 1 pm lately. Yikes. It's a working interview at a local market, and the lady sounded really nice. So as long as I can wake up and catch the bus on time, I think I might be golden. No jinxies!*


*Which makes me wonder---where does the word jinx come from?

From Wikipedia:

It may come from Latin iynx, that is, the wryneck bird, which has occasionally been used in magic and divination and is remarkable for its ability to twist its head almost 180 degrees while hissing like a snake. The Jinx bird is found in Africa and Eurasia.

That bird's not kidding around.

From World Wide Words:

It was a famous vaudeville song, written and sung by William Lingard and first published in 1868. Captain Jinks was an unsuccessful soldier, who was eventually drummed out of the Army. The key verse is this:

The first day I went out to drill
The bugle sound made me quite ill,
At the Balance step my hat it fell,
And that wouldn't do for the Army.
The officers they all did shout,
They all cried out, they all did shout,
The officers they all did shout,
“Oh, that's the curse of the Army.”

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On a less ecstatic note, I totally gouged my right ankle while shaving last night. It's really deep this time. What a klutz, eesh.

Ouch.

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Okay, enough of that. I have to get out of this house!