Gratuitous... Lyrical... Prose?

[thez]

Sad but true: I did not realize until just tonight that "The Tempest" was Shakespeare's last play. This is cool, because it makes my favorite bit o' Shakespearean monologue all the more stirring.

Now my charms I've overthrown
And what strength I have's mine own
Which is most faint now, 'tis true
I must be here confined by you
Or sent to Naples, let me not
Since I have my dukedom got
And pardoned the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell
But release me from my bonds
With the help of your good hands
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill or else my project fails
Which was to please, now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieved by prayer
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself and frees all faults
As you from crimes would pardoned be
Let your indulgence set me free

That might not be 100% accurate, because it's ALL FROM MEMORY BABY. I am pleased with myself.


Driving home from work last night, I saw a pair of wild javelinas trotting along through the edge of the neighborhood. My response was a most undignified "Eeeee! Piggies!" Had I not had school today, I would have followed them (at a safe distance) around all night to be sure that they made it back into the desert without being squished into road bacon, because the thought of road bacon makes me sad. I much prefer grocery store bacon.


QUESTION FOR THE AUDIENCE: am I crazy, or was there once an unwritten rule that one does not use pencils in college? Pens were to be used, and if one made a mistake, one crossed it out instead of erasing it completely. I could swear that this used to be the case, but it seems that it's not the case any longer. The fellow I share a desk with in math is living testament to the changing times, shaking the table as he erases EVERY TWO FUCKING MINUTES. THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE. GOOD LORD, I wanted to smack him and shout "HEY, you're in college now. USE A GODDAMNED PEN," but upon looking around the class I saw that most other people were using pencils as well, and guessed that my exclamation would only be met with confusion.

STOP ERASING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS.

That is to say... um, I love you all? Okay, yeah, sure!

Comments

[rotsman.livejournal.com]

I use pencils when doing note-taking of any kind. I avoid erasing by simply not making mistakes in transcription. Maybe the dude next to you is just bad at note-taking?

I always keep a pen WITH me, though...just in case.

That's an impressive bit of mental gymnastics up there...now I'll have two pieces of Shakespeare that remind me of you (http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/50.html)!

...

STOP HOGGING ALL THE SHAKESPEARE! ^_^

[thez.livejournal.com]

Great, I totally pictured the dude in the sonnet riding a javelina. I BLAME YOU.

[rotsman.livejournal.com]

To complete the scene, imagine that he's riding off to the ending theme of "The Incredible Hulk." =)

[thez.livejournal.com]

It's so wrong, and yet so very right.

[shortcakegreen.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I know -I- always used pens except when doing things like drawing diagrams for labs. So I think you're right and pens are the cool and adult things. But I've been out of school for a while (see my pathetic sad face?) and so times they might have changed.

And I send you fly-by hugs. Hmph. Ghost.

[thez.livejournal.com]

I am duly impressed by your ghost-hugging ability! I mean, being that I'm non-corporeal and all.

[foofasaurus.livejournal.com]

Heck, barely anyone used pencils in HIGH SCHOOL, up here, from what I remember. I guess that might just have been particular to my school, though, if other people aren't surprised that college students use 'em. From 9th grade on, pencils were for lab notes, diagrams and the like, fill-in-the-bubble tests, and that was IT.

Erasing vs. scratching something out vs. not making any errors wasn't really an issue either. Nobody gave a crap what your own notes looked like, and any paper you handed in had to be typed, so.

[dialogue.livejournal.com]

I thought, generally, you were supposed to use pencils for math--since it's something where you'll want to do a lot of erasing--but pens were more appropriate for subjects like english and history.

[liich.livejournal.com]

eeeeeeeee...........PIGGIES!!! so cute!!!

when i was in highschool, they told us that we couldn't use pencil b/c they were getting us ready for college/uni. umm...DUDE. they do not CARE what the heck you use in college/uni!!! you could use pencil, pens of any colour, blood...or just not take notes at all!! and if you hand anything in, it better be typed....

[thez.livejournal.com]

I was told the same thing in highschool all the time. I resisted the change, but slowly came to love the pen... though I DO like the idea of writing with one's own blood.

"Use a PEN, Sideshow Bob."

Also, here are piggies (http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/desbiome/javelina.htm) for you. Okay, so, they're not EXACTLY piggies, but I defy someone to look at a javelina and NOT think "pig."

[liich.livejournal.com]

well, javelina sounds like javelin and that's NOTHING like a piggie. they're piggies. PIGGIES!! FORGET GENETICS TELLING YOU DIFFERENT!! ^___^

i was bad and already did everything in pen. my math teacher TOTALLY hated me for it. hahahaha

[scrapyard.livejournal.com]

Love the Tempest so so bad.

Neil Gaiman also used the fact that it's the last of Shakespeare's plays in his last issue of the Sandman comics; he draws some comparisons between Prospero and Old Bill himself; Prospero putting aside magic and Bill putting aside the pen and all.

It is tres cool.

[thez.livejournal.com]

That sounds awesome like no other. Of course, Sandman is one of those series that I want to read but keep putting off because I don't really want to pay 20 bucks a pop.

Someday. SOMEDAY.

[shinikius.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't really use pencils that much just cause the damn things break on me all the time.
I would have smacked the guy by now - or at least yelled at him. But erasing every two minutes? Is the dude like retarded or something? Even I, a freakin' history major, never screwed up that much.