Two for one deal...

Today you are getting 2 for the reading of 1! This is SPRING BREAK!!! So I will not be blogging much during the week. Because of this, I'm posting my new words along with my uses of the old ones. Aren't you excited? You really should be.

This being Spring Break, I've been making travel plans with some friends. I decided a while back, that when it comes to traveling, I am completely comfortable deferring to others. This will come as a surprise to those who know me to be a bit of a control freak. But I must say I am a weird sort of control freak. I either REALLY care and want complete control or I don't care at all and want NOTHING to do with the planning. It's weird; I know. So whenever planning comes up, I simply try to keep a neutral countenance. It has worked so far.

Packing, on the other hand, is always a conundrum, especially on vacations with lots of down time. Questions like, "How many books can I justify taking?" and "How many different kinds of clothes should I pack?" always float in my head for a few days before leaving. One contention I tend to make is that running out of things to read would be devastating, but then my rational side says, "When has that every happened?" Irrational me shoots back the stinging answer of, "Never--because I'm always prepared." This inevitably leads to an overpacking problem stemming from a decadent collection of books in my luggage. I think this may stem from my early packing years in which smuggling too many toys or games was a bit of a covert operation. My mom tends to be a very rational packer and gets a bit annoyed with people who overpack (i.e. me).

In other news, we finished up Romeo and Juliet this week. I decided to end our time by watching West Side Story. Although I love this movie dearly, I will probably never show it in class again. It didn't go over so well. Not to denigrate the movie, but my students are not credulous enough to believe that guys in tough gangs spend their free time singing and dancing down the streets of New York, even in the 50's. But my students did seem to like the play; some even liked the play better than the new version of the movie. I think Romeo and Juliet is a great way to be introduced to Shakespeare because it has just enough crass humor to keep the students amused, but also has a very didactic element when it comes to the dangers of love and hate.

Out with the old, in with the new: Once again, these may be familiar. There are some great words in this week’s list--if I do say so myself--which I think I can since I neither created them nor hand-selected them.

1. trepidation (see--great words, huh?): apprehension
2. transient: temporary; not staying in one place for long; one who does this
3. tranquil: calm; peaceful
4. tractable: docile; malleable
5. totalitarianism: governmental rule by one party (that suppresses all opposition)
6. torrid (seems like this word is always connected to affairs "It was a torrid affair."): very hot; intense or passionate
7. whimsical: playful or imaginative; erratic and unpredictable
8. whimsy: a whim; a sudden change; something odd or fanciful
9. vociferous: characterized by loud and persistent shouting
10. vex (I love this word!): to annoy or cause concern; to baffle; to talk at length

There you have them. Bye.