Friday, Feb. 28, 2003
BG&E will also get my first born child, posted at 6:10 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com My heat and electricity bill for the house last month was $381. I have no idea how it got that high. We're not heat hogs; the themostat is generally at around 69. I pay three different heat/electricity bills to BGE every month - upstairs gas, downstairs gas (the place is set up into two apartments), and full house electricity. Because I apparently didn't realize this (Jeremy always paid the bills before), I didn't pay the upstairs gas for two bill cycles. I received a couple of turnoff notices this week, and finally paid it today. The total? $526. There goes over half my paycheck. I haven't paid the other two yet, as they're not due until March 13 and there's no turnoff notices yet about them. I rarely pay bills that won't affect my credit rating on time, as bad as it sounds. BGE only puts about $2 late fee on their bills, so I generally would rather pay rent or make a car payment instead of gas/electricity. It's just something I take for granted I'll be able to do eventually, I guess.I think I'm staying in tonight in hopes of getting work done for the big upcoming week.
I'm going to do a Friday Five first, though.
1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)?
Generally novels, but I probably read more magazines because it's tough to make a commitment to a novel in the middle of a school year. I try to read one novel for pleasure a month, but have been developing a taste for nonfiction lately.
2. What is your favorite novel?
Just one? Then I'll pick my first favorite. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It was a book that helped teach me that literature could truly be a bridge to a greater understanding of the world and people around us. Though I'm well removed from the experience in the novel, I could relate to it and was thoroughly and profoundly moved. I love its structure, as well. (Others that come to mind: Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Richard Ford's The Sporswriter, James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye)
3. Do you have a favorite poem? (Share it!)
Again, it's difficult to pick one, but I'll pick a fairly obscure one that really touched me. It's called "Darryl Strawberry Asleep in the Field of Dreams" by Paul Beatty, who might just become this country's next great novelist. You can go read it here. I love writers who use writing as a tool of power, an instrument of change, while not sacrifices the beauty of language. This poem problemitizes the film Field of Dreams, one of my all-time favorite movies, and made me think of it in an entirely different way. I have a special interest in Negro League Baseball, so that hook got me too. I love reading this poem outloud and listening to the words flow. (Other favorites popping into my mind: "Lady Lazarus" by Sylvia Plath; "Annabelle Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe; "Yes, this is a love poem" by Nikki Giovanni; "Let America Be America" by Langston Hughes)
4. What is one thing you've always wanted to read, or wish you had more time to read?
There is tons. For an English major and English teacher, I don't feel like I'm nearly as well read as I should be. I guess the current writer that I wish I would have read before is Edith Wharton. I've also, shockingly, never read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Since we're adding it to the curriculum next year, I better get off my ass and do that.
5. What are you currently reading?
The Baseball Coaching Bible and The Lovely Bones