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I made a scrambled egg for breakfast and then worked more on my RS Gifts story. We left the house for the afternoon and the weather was so warm and the sky very blue and being outside was just great.

We went for a hike at State Park for almost three hours, taking with us the with lunch Bear made. He used real turkey for the turkey sandwich, it was really fun to walk and eat it and see horses at the stables in the park. The State Park used to be an estate and it still had a working stables and other farm stuff. And a mansion overlooking the water. At one point we went down a sleep hill to get to the water but then we had to go back the same way and climb up. That was a bit of a workout. But after all the food this weekend I knew I needed it.

Then we had time to kill before the Harbor LightBoat Show, so we first visited a Wailing Museum for about fifteen minutes until it closed. Since it was so close to closing time the guy allowed up to see it for free. There was a replica of a wailing boat and a pretty interesting exhibition. I touched something on the miniature wailing ship and one of the arms fell off – oops. But I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back if I have more time. After the museum we parked by the main street and went window shopping. Mostly touristy and new age souvenirs, but the stores were already all in holiday lights and it was a nice way to kill time.

The harbor Lightboat show ended up being pretty fun. Basically, a parade of boats were decorated in holiday lights and were sailing up and down the harbor. We managed to find a decent parking spot to watch it. It took some time to get going but it was fun to see decorated boats in the dark sailing along. Sailing boats made sails look like Christmas trees. My favorite was a snake with a wagging tale.

After another big dinner of holiday food (my favorite part of the holiday is having left over holiday food), Bear and I watched more old home movies including his Black Belt test for Tae Kwon Do when he was seventeen. And old Christmases with Barney, Bear’s old dog who lived to a very old age but died six years ago.

A fun email today: Some of my students really liked that Black Death video and one emailed trying to see if I’d let them make a video like that instead of writing one of the essays for the final exam. While, of course, I said no to that, I did allow them to make the video as extra credit.
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Happy Birthday, Katya!

I was very happy to go into work today, since I knew the day was going to be pretty low key: office hours with some grading, a lecture on Black Death (which always, always goes over well) and a peer review day in the History of Law class. And this is the week of Thanksgiving, it is my only official workday of the week. I get a very much needed break.

My office hours were productive as one student showed up to talk about her research paper and then Abena and I talked about the Global History class we are both teaching next semester. I’m basically using her syllabus but we incorporated some of my suggestions too, like the writing class and the map quiz for the final. We decided on a textbook and that other readings will be online. I think this Sunday I need to sit down and plan my second class in terms of books too. I will definitely rely on her since I’m not as strong on modern Global History but I am looking forward to it – it will be something different.

My students really loved the Black Death video set to Hollaback Girl; they were singing along by the end. And in the other class I had a change to look over students’ ‘thesis’ and actually give suggestions, which works for me too since hopefully that will lead to stronger papers. Although, I always want to bang my head into the desk about the footnotes. I put the footnotes guide online for them and they still don’t bother to look at it and when I physically show them templates they look like it is a brand new discovery. One student actually emailed me asking me how to do footnotes since he never done it. So I emailed back and told him, for what feels like the fifth time, where to find this information. I showed this in class before too. And how to put them in Word. And how footnote and bibliography is not the same. And it is still like brand new information. Maybe they want us to chew the food for them too?

ExpandHIMYM )

ExpandHouse S8E7 )

On a random note, I’m so excited for theatrical re-release of “Beauty and the Beast.” I saw the trailer today and it just makes me smile.

I got into bed early with my laptop to get into the holiday mood to write my RS Small Gifts story. I turned on my Christmas music playlist and started writing it finally. I know what the story is about and what each scene should be but this story doesn’t want to be written easily. It is not flowing as well as I should like. I have a week to do it and hopefully it will come together.
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In the morning, I worked on my “Jury” lecture for the afternoon. I think writing the lecture made me keep it all straight in my head more. I do learn a lot when I teach, probably more than the students. For Global I gave the Mongolia lecture on Genghis Khan and conquests. Good lecture day.

I’ve been rewatching “Battlestar Galactica” for the last few months because of Mark Watches reviews. And it is even better the second time around. But I couldn’t bring myself to watch Season 4’s “The Oath” episode and the one following it. It was two weeks since the previous episode for me. Finally I buckled down and watched it today since the review for it goes up on Friday. I think I got too invested in some characters this time around and knowing what happens just made it worse. I think rewatching “Buffy” (that is his next project) will be less stressful!

Today was the official end of 2011 RS Games on livejournal. Team Sirius won but, my team, Team Remus wasn’t far behind. This was my first big fest and I found it a good experience. Plus I get to read and comment on a lot of good stories. And even though I was nervous about it I liked my story for it, despite it being a story about grief. Masterlist of all stories. Now I need to write my Small Gifts story - I meant for it to be extra fluffy but some angst is sneaking in; I can’t help myself.
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I slept for nine hours last night which felt good.

Sharon Kay Penman’s new book “Lionheart” came out this week. She writes the best historical fiction because it is so well researched. I randomly picked up a book of hers when I was 15 in the library and I’ve been a big fan. Part of the reason I study English history is because of those books. I got an email from the library today that I have it on hold now. The timing works great since I just finished Cunningham’s “Home at the End of the World” this morning and I can finish “Gateway” by next week and then I can pick up “Lionheart” next Thursday. Richard on Crusade – should be fun.

While writing the midterm question for tomorrow I inadvertently wrote the Assignment 3 question. So pretty much all I had to do for next week is just grade.

RS Games are being very awesome. Today, one story was a combination of Dante’s Inferno and Harry Potter – very, very clever and touching.

Since I’m obsessed with food quality sometimes, this Cracked article just made me shake my head at the food industry again. I did not want to know this about orange juice.
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I spent the morning reading, which is something I haven’t done for a while. I like Cunningham and I actually liked that I saw the movie before so I’m not exactly reading for plot.

In mid-morning I went to the library to pick a book on hold. It is a really nice walk and it has been a while. I picked up a collection of stories that includes the latest Jim Butcher’s story, “Curses.” (The book is called “Naked City” and its focus is urban fantasy.) So really I walked for 40 minutes to an hour for a 31 page story. But totally worth it. It was a very lighthearted story. Harry had to be polite for a change which I’m sure was hard for him. I know this universe so well that I figured out a clue half a page before Harry did. And it was amusing. Cute story. And nice to see Harry before everyone went to hell.

Today’s weather was making me very sleepy or maybe it was just my week catching up with me but I napped for hour and a half. And then I spent the rest of the day feeling groggy.

I did work on my Germanic law lecture for Monday and made my list of things to do for the next week. I like having this list, it is very useful to make sure I don’t forget anything for all my classes.

Now that the RS Games story is all done and betaed and submitted (whole 23 hours before deadline) I started thinking about the History Big Bang I signed up for. I’m going to do a Highlander story with Methos and I think I will base it around one of my law cases – just going through the property law case process in the 14th century England. Hopefully, that will make me care about my dissertation more.

ExpandDoctor Who S6E12 )
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Papa and I went to see my Grandparents this morning in Brooklyn. Their building, which is full of old people, had no working elevators. And this was not a new problem. There are fourteen floors and while we could walk up to the eight floor, my grandparents were pretty much stuck. And my grandmother really needs to see a doctor. I’m worried about her because she is not really connecting words together. She understands everything but when she was trying to express a thought some words just seemed to evade her. My grandfather said it happened a long time ago and got better with medication and she was doing better than yesterday, but still she needs a doctor. I really hope those elevators, or at least one of them could be fixed by tomorrow.

The rest of the day wasn’t too eventful. I sort of had the Emmys in the background for a few hours but I really didn’t care for it. I’ll read the winners list tomorrow.

I did write a lot in the evening since my story is due this Friday. It is almost done. Yay.
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Despite the fact that I need to get up at 6:10 on Fridays so I can commute with my father, I think Friday is turning into my favorite day of my working week. I like eating breakfast at Au Bon Pain at 7 something. I like getting to my teaching campus and having a really quite hour and a half to myself to do some work and/or write my story before I got to my office hours at 9:30. And during my office hour in the afternoon, it is just me on the office floor so I get piece and quite to have my stack and catch up on the internet a bit. And I like heading for the comfy chairs in the library. Today, I was too tired and too crampy to grade more, so I read fiction.

I was writing my story this morning and it made me really sad – just a mood of it – all wintery and stuff. I really don’t want to cry – it is just a story I’m making up here. I think I’m just in a sad mood lately as so many things get to me and I’m not an overly emotional person.

This is the result of the discussion in my classes today while setting up Gladwell’s article: All my students have Facebook, about 4 out of 27 have Twitter. Maybe 2 out of 27 heard anything about Egypt this year, don’t know anything about Iran, not one heard of London riots and only a couple know that we sort of bombed Libya but they don’t know who specifically – rebels or gov’t. Oh, 18 years olds. It is not hard to read the first page of a newspaper. I assigned them research tasks to look up Egypt and Iran and Libya and London and the role social media played or perceived as played in their unrest.

Michael Cunningham “A Home at the End of the World.” I picked up the copy at Uni library today – I can have it until January at least so better with deadlines than local public library. I’m liking it so far. Each chapter is from the first person POV of a different character, which is interesting but his narrative voice is not that different from chapter to chapter. But I do like the prose and the mood of it.

Highlander Shortcuts - one of my favorite fic fests just opened its sign-ups and while I’m thinking about it, it intimidates me the most – so many amazing authors there. So I don’t think I’ll have the courage to do it. But I am looking forward to reading it.

An article on use of Kindle .
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I spent the morning writing the first assignment question and I’m just going to throw my freshmen into the deep end. My question revolves around agency and whether is it necessary to for women to have agency to drive the aid work that is focused on women in the developing world. I tried coming up with a question that does not use the word “agency” but then I figured why not. We did talk about it in class and hopefully they would be able to handle it. Besides, it is the first paper, which they will screw up anyway since they don’t know how to structure a paragraph properly. So this is my question:

In what way, if any, does the idea of ‘agency’ work for large scale change and social movements in the countries with prevalent gender inequality? Or Is ‘agency’ necessary for change to happen?

I class we had the discussion of Kristof and WuDunn’s article. Most students seemed very engaged with the reading and we had a good discussion. It is actually unprecedented so far but I like both my classes.

In the evening I was working on law class lecture for tomorrow. Brundage is so lovely. I’m glad I picked him for the semester. Just his language is so beautiful in clarity and phrasing. I basically need to get through next week of lectures and then I’ll be on a much firmer ground.

I am finally writing my RS Games story after thinking about it for a few months and letting it work itself out in my head and for the first time ever in fic writing I’m not starting at the beginning. I’m starting with scenes in the middle of the story and then I will fit them together.
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Atlantis shuttle launch was today. I had the launch window open on my computer all morning but I had to leave to drop off lab work. I figured I would be back for actual launch but I had to wait almost 40 minutes just to drop off the lab work. I didn’t need to do anything at the office- just drop it off but I still had to wait, which pissed me off. I watched the replay as soon as I got home but it is not exactly the same. Still gorgeous to watch but not the same. It just this is the last shuttle flight. Which is a little sad.

Really good article on fanfiction in Time magazine.
I think my favorite part was how people who don’t always understand fanfiction might not have a problem understanding why someone might want to play someone else’s music and build on it.

A NY Times Magazine article about marriage and monogamy and Dan Savage’s world view. Lots of points are presented. I don't really agree with him - people can control their impulses and make rational choices based on our cultural values without blaming evolutionary impulses - but I agree with idea of honesty in relationships.

ExpandTorchwood S4E1 )

Hee. Recap of Torchwood: Miracle Day first episode in 10 minutes.
.
Voyager (and other Star Trek) is now on Netflix Instant Queue. I will probably start watching some episodes again – I loved that show – not for the writing or continuity which was often crappy but for the characters. I had such a Chakotay crush as a teenager and shipped Janeway and Chakotay even before I heard of shipping. And I still want to make a more consistent way through the original series.
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Happy 4th of July! Since I saw the fireworks on Saturday that felt more like the 4th of July actually.

Not much going on today. I was pretty much home all day.

I really need to write that Remus in 1993 fic – I’ve been planning it for month. And then do RS Games story.
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Title: Stop Fidgeting
Author: bearshorty
Summary: Sirius is nervous about his first airplane ride. Remus/Sirius
Warning: allusion to slash, nothing explicit. Don’t read if it is not your thing.
Rating: R
Word Count: 855
Disclaimer: Characters belong to JK Rowling; I’m not making profit.
Author’s Note: I am nervous about flying so I wrote this on the airplane to distract myself. Thanks to Bear for beta, title and netbook.

ExpandStop Fidgeting )
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I actually woke up by myself at 6am, which usually happens if I know I need to wake up early to go somewhere. We had to leave at 7 for the airport even as our plane did not leave until 11:40 because Papa was awesome in driving us to the airport before going to work. It was out of his way too. I made bagel with cream cheese to take with us to eat at the airport and the whole flying and the logistics of the day went really smoothly.

We were at the airport by 8:05 despite some traffic, checked in one of the kiosks and dropped of our bags. We had our bagels then and went through security. By 9 we were in the airport proper where I got nice big tea at DunkinDonuts. JFK airport is one of my favorites because it has nice shops and atmosphere. And the next two hours passed really quickly. We walked around a bit to stretch our legs, I got USAToday to read and we bought some sandwiches to eat on the planes. (I got this really good turkey sandwich on wheat bread).

And I was not really nervous today until the time we actually had to board. Maybe it was because Bear was here too and because it was only a two and a half hour flight. I never flew JetBlue before but it was a nice flight, not surprising based on their reputation. There was TV in front of every seat and I could watch the “Daily Show” and “Colbert Report” in the second part of the flight. So despite some turbulence and my ears hurting as usual on descent, it was a good flight.

I passed the first half of the ride by appropriating Bear’s netbook and writing a short fanfiction story about Remus and Sirius where Sirius is nervous about flying on a plane with no magic around. I was basically using my nervousness while flying and being creative with it, which was an excellent way to pass the time.

Once we got to Orlando, the logistics went smoothly too. We got our bags really quickly and our ride met us by the baggage claim as promised. I really liked the little train that takes you from the arrivals to the main terminal. And I liked the car with soft leather seats that took us to the hotel. The check-in went pretty quickly too.

It is over 90F but since it is a very dry heat today with no humidity, it really does not feel that hot. After unpacking, Bear and I took a little walk close to the hotel to buy water and breakfast for later in the week (our hotel has a fridge and microwave). Then we went to the pool. We sat in the shade where I got Bear hooked on “Hunger Games” while I went swimming. The water was so warm it was lovely. Then I just read National Geographic although article about child brides was not congruent with a lovely hot summer day. Great article though.

For dinner we went to the hotel buffet restaurant, which was actually pretty good – lots of options, pretty cheap and desert.

Tomorrow, Harry Potter! I can’t wait.

And now a treat: Weird Al's parody video of Lady Gaga's "Born this Way"
Here is "Perform this Way"
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Hello, heat wave. I didn’t leave the house today and it looks like tomorrow will be the same. Now, I like the heat, I sleep in the hottest floor of the house, but high 90s and 100 is a little high even for me. It is 92F at 10:30pm. 100F tomorrow (38C)

ExpandSYTYCD Vegas Round )

The fabric came today. That was quick and easy. I washed it and the blanket. Next thing – make it into the backing.

RS Big Bang is really good. Really well written stories.

I’m actually doing RSGames this year: Go Team Remus! This will be the first actual fan participation with other people and not just lurking and reading everything and it is a little nerve wracking. But I am looking forward to it. Prompts are tomorrow.
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HBO put first six minutes of Season Four of “True Blood” into the universe – it is online but I watched it onDemand. And they are awesome! I can’t wait for my current favorite show to start with its cracky goodness.

Today I stayed home most of the day except for a walk to Stop and Shop to get Advil (and split peas for Mama). I took the last tablet of the gigantic box I had this morning and since today was a lovely day full of cramps I needed more. So now I have a new gigantic bottle that should last a few years. I know the ibuprofen is not ideal for the stomach but it works against cramps and migraines so it remains essential.

RSBigBang started posting this morning – lovely new things to read!
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I think the hardest part this summer will be limiting internet use. I discovered today that is it easier to take a couple 30 min internet breaks during the day than not the use internet at all until evening. I don’t remember what I used to do before having internet so easily accessible.

Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Scandal in Bohemia” I wanted to read this story for a long time and one of the episodes of the next season of “Sherlock” will be based on it.
Expandthoughts on the story )

I signed up for Historical Big Bang for the fall/winter. I’m going to do some kind of Highlander story; I just couldn’t pass up history. And it will be challenge to write 10,000-20,000 words. I think 8,000 or so was the longest I ever wrote. Can’t think of this now, but in September this should be interesting to do after teaching and grading all day.

Cross-stitch: all backstitch for baby bear and blanket and some backstitch for the cube. All dark grey again.
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One of my Highlander stories, Holiday in the Sun, got recced. I’m all excited. I think what I like the most is reading as to why this person liked it and is recommending it. Certainly made my day.

Today is 9th of May or WWII Victory Day in Russia and all the former counties of the Soviet Union. I made sure to call my grandfather this afternoon, since he joined the Soviet Army right at the end of the war when he was eighteen. His brother died in that war at the age of 26. So today is a day to remember. When I was little, this day was a major holiday and my family and I would always go to Yama, the site of the liquidation of Minsk ghetto, where my great-grandmother and her mother died. Memory of World War II is very strong in Russian speaking countries. And no wonder, Belarus lost one in four people in that war.

Today I went to Local College early and I graded twenty four Marco Polo/Ibn Battuta papers. And I printed my final and I printed lots and lots of papers submitted online. And one of my students wants to make his own and my life difficult. He is the one who sent me a ‘rough draft’ which was really just cut and paste from plagiarism. After telling him that it was plagiarism and what he actually had to do to write the paper in his own words, he decided that he would just copy and paste from other website. But I have this magical ability to Google and find at least three websites from which he copied. Here is a clue, kid, your paper is not answering the assignment question and it doesn’t sound like you. So I had to call up the guy at Academic Honesty and submit his work and get lots of instruction. This student is on football scholarship too and this will be messy.

I actually like giving a three hour final, I got a lot of grading done.

After I got home, I went for a walk; I love this weather and then I graded the Map Quiz 2 for Section 3. One guy managed to get 9 out of 100. This is for a quiz where they got a study guide a week and a half before with all the geographical locations.

And then I finalized the book list for history classes next semester. I’m teaching this Global history class again but I want to mix up the papers so instead of Marco Polo I was choosing between Gilgamesh and Ramayana. Both would be interesting to read but I want the Gilgamesh book so that is winning. It is a translation by Stephen Mitchell. One of the best parts of teaching – free desk copies of books.

ExpandHouse S7E21 )

Cross-stitch: I was stitching for longer than usual just because I’m on the deadline. So I finished terra cotta, on the giraffe. And I started orange brown. All orange brown on big bear and middle bear is done.
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Title: Global Encounters to 1600
Author: bearshorty
Fandom: Highlander: The Series.
Characters: Methos
Summary: History through Methos’ eyes.
Rating: General Audience
Word Count: 3,569.
Disclaimer: Highlander belongs to Davis-Panzer Productions. I’m just playing with the characters for fun and not for any profit.
Author’s Note: I wrote this for a class I was teaching. One drabble for every lecture, whatever I found the most interesting.

ExpandGlobal Encounters to 1600 )
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Happy 30th Birthday, Janna!

Tonight I went to the city for my friend Janna’s surprise birthday party. We went to this tiny restaurant called ‘Graffiti’ in East Village which served fusion type food, Mediterranean and Indian and lots of other flavors and it was certainly interesting. Janna’s surprise got slightly ruined because Marianna’s husband was running late and arrived just in time for Janna to see him right before she came to the restaurant. But she was still surprised. And it was a very nice time. We got margaritas (except Marianna who got a virgin margarita since she is almost eight month pregnant and her husband who doesn’t drink) and we shared the food from shrimp and scallions to duck and burgers – all with very interesting combinations. Marianna, Yeva and I got Janna a gift certificate for a spa and flowers. I only had one drink but I must have been tired too because by the time I got home, I felt almost dizzy and was happy to get in bed.

While I was in Manhattan, I was enjoying the beautiful trees that are now blooming. It was cold but since I got to the restaurant a bit early I had time to walk around a little bit.

Expandpictures )

Other random things from my day:

Today in the start of Fannish Library Fest and I posted my Highlander story there. There are nice book icons there too.

I got Jury duty questioner in the mail. Federal court too. Well, it has been seven years since last time. I don’t mind.

An article on what fandom (particularly Buffy) meant for one fan.

Grading history papers doesn’t kill the brain as much as grading English papers.
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I actually like teaching classes out of sync – one class had peer review, another discussion. This discussion on Boyarin went much better. I did have to tell them not to call a synagogue a church, since a few automatically did but other than that having two people who know religion and anthropology helped to explain it to others.

It is a real spring finally, which always puts me in a better mood – there were dandelions all over the grass, fountain at school was on, and pink fragrant trees looked beautiful. I had a twenty minute break between my classes which I spent sitting outside.

I reread Robert Thurman’s article “On Wisdom” since it will be the final reading for my writing class for their final exam in two weeks. He is a Buddhist and he is writing about the concept of selflessness. This would be a nice contrast to ideas of identity in Ahmed and Boyarin.

“Community” was hysterical tonight. I will need to watch it a few more times. “Avatar” is getting better, I liked the last two episodes a lot more.

Fannish Library Fest starts tomorrow. I finished my story for it tonight. I need to read it through again to proofread before I post it.
Fannish Library Fest, library stacks banner w/ address
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There was a terrorist attack in Minsk today. In the central metro station, on one of the escalators. 12 people died and more than 100 injured. I have ten minute break between lectures and I checked my phone and I saw that Papa called a few times and left a voicemail. The voicemail just asked me to call back but in a tone that was wrong. I called him back and the news was just a bit hard to process especially as I needed to give another lecture right then. It happened during their rush hour and no one knows why so far. Some think it might be the government opposition or even the government itself to distract from the insane economic situation where price have gone up 50% lately. No one had claimed responsibility. It just breaks my heart. It’s my city. I was born there. I lived almost thirteen years of my life there. I was just there in June. Every time I think about it, my chest tightens. My family is all ok, Mama called them as soon as she heard and I emailed my friend Sveta to make sure she was fine. But it doesn’t matter. It is my city. Who gets up in the morning and thinks that killing innocent people makes any sort of statement.


I still need to write about my day but everything just seems to pale.

In the morning I finished writing the lecture on the Mongols and their Empire in the 13th century. Most of it I’m learning myself and it is actually fun to do that. I then finished the Powerpoint as well. I started the lecture the night before but I knew I had some time in the morning. Then I gave that lecture in the afternoon. I think it went well. I gave my students time in class to read the Muslim perspective of the destruction of Baghdad so we could discuss it. That way I got some participation. I started writing down who talks too, and told them this, which got many to talk too. The most amusing moment of discussion was when one girl brought up Disney’s “Mulan” and how Mongols were portrayed in it and what it meant for their reputation.

Somehow the account of the horrors stuck with me; when I went to write my corresponding Methos drabble, that is what I focused on. This drabble fic, with one drabble for every lecture, each representing a period in history seen through Methos’ eyes, will be interesting to look back on and proofread in May, since it is fun to see what in each lecture struck me personally.

During my reliable lunch of chicken fajita wrap I also grade the quizzes for one of the sections. I really need to grade their Paper 1 this weekend.

Today was just a warm summery day. All students were out tanning and playing in the main quad.

ExpandHouse S7E19 )

Girls get to puberty faster. Doctors are not sure why? Really? And it has nothing to do with our food and air and and all the chemicals in our systems? Somehow I find it sad. Developing breast by 7? Sad. 15% of American girls start to hit puberty at 7. And for black girls it is 23%. That is full five years younger than it was for me and I was pretty average in my time.

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