Out of the ashes of defeat

There was once a time when I considered laptop computers an excess. This morning however,with the electricity suddenly gone off, I am glad that my employer provided me one of these technological extravagances, so that I can write my blog post instead of doing something more productive like weed the garden or catch up on reading for my class.

Speaking of weeds, that is not a cigarette in my hand, so don't worry that the stress of my life's current frenzied pace has started me smoking again.

I didn't start smoking until I was 20, perhaps in part to emulate Fran Lebowitz, whose sarcastic wit seemed a cousin to mine. I also dropped out of college around that time, because if Fran didn't need a college degree to get paid to write, then neither did I.

I quit smoking in 1998. My writing habit, however, persists.

I finally returned to college in 2004, and found it difficult at first to sit down to tackle my creative writing assignments without a Salem smouldering in a nearby ashtray. (As for smoking after sex, well, I pretty much gave the sex part up in 1998, too, but have not --yet-- forsworn that pastime. I just haven't found a new, er, brand worthy of the effort.) My blogging habit began in '05, with a post to JournalSpace entitled "English Majors Gone Wild." Today my posts are not so prolific as they once were, but I feel compelled to keep a foot in the blogosphere, in part because of the intresting personal connections that have resulted.

The talented and punderful jadedj is one of my longtime blogging buddies. In the aftermath of jaded's unfortunate defeat in what history will surely record as the Blue Yak Banner Brouhaha of Ought-nine I offered j the opportunity to create a custom header for my blog. I acknowledged that PRS doesn't have the same prestige as TBY, but what I lack in number of followers and quantity of posts, I make up for in massive amounts of je ne sais quoi.

Electricity has returned! So now I can proudly unveil the result of this collaboration, my new Post-Raphaelite Sisterhood blog header:


My deepest gratitude to jadedj, who has earned a lifetime membership in the Sisterhood, along with my Aunt Binky's Curry Dip Recipe (as soon as I can get it transcribed!)

Have a good week, everyone. Next Sunday I'll be back to tell you all about Freshman / Parent orientation at Boston U!