Eight "random" things

About a week ago, my friend Michael tagged me on the "Eight random things" meme (but because I haven't been reading blogs as much in the last few weeks, I only now saw it - sorry :-(). The hard part is choosing "only" 8 things to put down, and then, which 8, because as Michael says, it's not really random. And one wants to be amusing, doesn't one?

So -- here is my listing of the rules and my 8 things:

• Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. This meme reminds me of former Oregon Poet Laureate William Stafford's poem "Things I Learned Last Week" which is a great poem to use in poetry writing classes as a model or stimulant. I have written several of these poems, though none is handy right now. (Sorry, I'm not finding a link to this poem - but you could look it up)
2. I just read the graphic novel 300 by Frank Miller (before the film) and really like the painterly style of it (not necessarily the plot) more than the comic book linear frames as in, say, Maus. I have not seen the movie 300, however, though I did see an interesting DVD of a Bill Moyers interview with Richard Rodriguez which I showed to both my classes.
3. For the 4th year, I just attended the Kinetic Sculpture Races at DaVinci Days here in Corvallis, OR. It's so much fun to see the creativity of the vehicles and their teams. I especially liked the Pie Rats of the Carob Beans theme, but the Hija del Tomate probably won, as usual, being a great design. As the announcer at the sand dune hill climb challenge said, you have to grow old but you don't have to grow up (I doubt this was original to him, but a good thought anyway).
4. For some reason, tiny white/tan spiders are prevalent in my yard this summer, biting me and leaving large painful welts. I wish that the family of scrub jays (the 4 teenage birds) would eat the spiders. Looks like we will have lots of Bartlett pears this year. The figs are barely started.
5. My subscription to Smithsonian Magazine expired and is now reinstated. I always enjoy all the articles on art, travel, and history. The August issue has an article on Prague, where one of our grad students is currently vacationing.
6. I haven't yet read the final Harry Potter book - don't even own a copy yet - but I did get a colleague to tell me the ending. I am not at all sure that this Wikipedia link on the book is correct - certainly the cover does not seem right. Fast work getting the article posted on Wikipedia. And although this article does provide an ending, again, I cannot vouch for the accuracy. Nevertheless, if you don't want it spoiled, don't go there.
7. The farmers in our neighborhood are processing their rye and fescue grass seed this week because Linn County Oregon is indeed the "Grass Seed Capital of the World." Luckily the pollen count has fallen now and so far not many fields of stubble have been burned creating towering columns and plumes of smoke. However, the farmers often cut, windrow, process the seed at night, then windrow and bale the straw loudly at night. Why at night, I wonder?
8. I'm reading up on the Great Books theory of education as part of the writing class considering transformation, education, power, and writing. It's interesting to see what's in the canon and why and who gets to decide.

OK -- those are eight fairly random things I thought of this afternoon. Here are eight people who have blogs whom I will tag to continue -- am I supposed to email them, or will they see it when they visit my blog?
1. Claire
2. Ruben
3. Natasha
4. Linda
5. April
6. Nathan
7. Jillian
8. Marieke

Enjoy!