what is the collective noun for "work"?

It is so sunny today, and I'd even venture to call it "not-completely-freezing" cold. So much so that I am wearing a dress. Admittedly, I have three pairs of tights on, but it takes a good deal of sun to coax me out of my uniform of jeans and cardigans.

I have been working on my ENGL435 homework, which is to edit a chapter from a photocopy of the facsimile of the 1611AD Authorised Version of the King James Bible (with all the 17th century typesetting), and translate it into modern English. Though it has been pretty easy translating English from 1611AD dialect into the language of 2006AD, considering last year I was working from 400AD into 2006AD. (I'm adding the AD because it can get a little confusing when one is working with the Bible)

Another part of the assignment is to look up 26 words that I was given by the lecturer in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), and write a report on something of note on each word. Now, the OED is a fantastic resource, and I love it dearly, but I always feel slightly intimidated by its size and status. We were taught in second year the correct way to decipher all those symbols and numbers that make up each entry, so it's not that I don't know what I'm doing.. it's more that I'm not sure what my report is meant to state. Some words weren't used in the 1611 version, so perhaps that is newsworthy. I have a sinking feeling that, as all my words start with A, B, C, or D, each member of the class (all 7 of us) has been given different words. And it is up to me, Hannah Elizabeth Bennett, to school the other ENGL435 Honours students in the historical meanings and derivations of words such as "cleave", "bowel", "dismal", "abolish", etc. Still, there must be some meaning behind this seemingly-crazy task. I shall think of it like a puzzle and hopefully give myself enough clues to piece it all together.

Oh yes, and then I have a four-page list of common phrases that have entered the English language due to the influence of the KJB. (I always think of the KGB when I read that acronym) To write this report, I have to re-read an obscure C.S. Lewis article and also an article by my lecturer from one of his books, and use the main points from these (plus the 4-page list of phrases) to illustrate the influence of the KJB on the English language. Phew! At least, that is what I assume I am meant to do, judging by the huge pile of articles we were given last week. So my educated guess will have to be educated enough.

AND THEN I have to mark up another chapter of the KJB reading for those hypothetical typesetters, complete with Cambridge University (UK) proofreading marks.

And this is all due in on Wednesday, despite class being on Friday. Honours, huh?

In contrast, today my Romanticism class is going on a library tour, even though we are fourth year students, to learn how to use a whole bunch of acronyms, such as: MLA, ECCO, SEL, ELH, JEGP, MLR, MLQ, MP, SP, and ERR. Oh, and lest we forget: Literature Online, the Wordsworth Circle, the Coleridge Bulletin, Studies in Romanticism, Charles Lamb Bulletin, College Literature, Essays in Criticism, New Literary History, Nineteenth-Century Contexts, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Papers on Language and Literature, Review of English Studies, and Romanticism.

Sheesh! I've heard of and read some of about a quarter of these, but I didn't know that there were so many journals and periodicals on Romantic Literature available! (I obviously have much to learn) And these are just some of the peer-reviewed publications - I hate to think how many 'cowboy' publications there are, lurking in the darkest corners of the internet.

Alright. Enough bamboozling my readers with talk of University. I must go and eat lunch before said tour starts, plus keep working on that OED assignment. Jeremy comes back from his RNZAF tour today, and I shall be picking him up at 1615 hours. Quick march!

Snow. In Wellington!

Okay, so I was sitting in my class on the 8th floor this morning, and it started snowing. Snowing.That'll give an indication of how flippin' freezing it is today. I think the high is about 5 degrees. It doesn't snow here very often, I believe, and as an ex-Aucklander, I find snow pretty exciting. But I think I'd prefer it to snow in a warmer temperature, perhaps 15 degrees? I could handle that. 5 degrees is just too chilly for me. Jeremy, I know we talked about moving to Auckland soon, but... how does next week sound?

Married life is pretty cool, and I'm enjoying having a space for just Jeremy and I. Although that space is a little crammed with boxes, but I'm working on it! Actually, to be fair, there is only about 8 boxes left, 4 to go to the op shop and 4 for Jeremy to sort out (all full of sheet music).

And with that, I've just realised my bus is coming in 5 minutes, and I'm ready to go home for lunch; the class I had this morning always makes me hungry. Just got given our 'homework' for next week - typesetting, proofreading, close readings, editing... all my favourite things! And even more exciting because I haven't done "homework" for several years now and it seems like a novelty.

P.S. I'm working on the wedding story - it's taking longer to write than I thought!

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Welcome to my first post in my new blog. New name, new blog! Somehow, I felt like I had outgrown my old site, and I'm starting to get used to this new way of posting.

I imagine that lots of people are wanting to hear about The Wedding, and I promise to write a full account when things have settled down at home. Lots of things went on in the background, so I'm trying to collate the stories, and hopefully put together something for everyone to enjoy. And I'm in the process of uploading our photos to a website, which I figure will be a lengthy task, but ultimately easier than e-mailing everyone.