old Alabama. Song of my childhood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2VYxQW6sm0

She’d rather wear a pair of cut-off jeans than a fancy evening dress,
And with her windows rolled down and her hair all blown around, she’s a hot southern mess...
She’ll take a beer over white wine and a campfire over candle light,
And when it comes to love, oh her idea of a romantic night...

Is listenin’ to old Alabama, drivin' through Tennessee...
A little Dixieland Delight at the Right Time of the Night,
And she can’t keep her hands off of me-ee-eee!

Now we’re rollin’ down an old back road,
I got the steering wheel in one hand...
We’ll find a hideaway where she and I can play,
In Mother Nature’s band...

Now we’re listenin’ to old Alabama, parked somewhere in Tennessee...
A little Dixieland Delight and It Feels So Right,
And It’s Love In The First Degree-ee-eee!

Forget about Sinatra or Coltrane, or some ol’ Righteous Brothers song,
And Barry White ain’t gonna work tonight, if you really wanna turn her on;
Play some back home come on music that comes from the heart,
Play something with lots of feeling, ‘cause that’s where music has to start…

Now we’re listenin' to Old Alabama, and we’re drivin' through Tennessee,
A little Dixieland Delight and It Feels So Right and its Love in the First Degree...

Yeah’ you know we’re listenin' to Old Alabama, drivin' through Tennessee,
A little Why Lady Why at The Right Time of The Night
Oh and she can’t keep her hands off of me-ee-eee

Oh, play me some old Alabama,
Oh, play me some old Alabama...
Won’t you play me some old Alabama,
Play me some old Alabama...
Won’t you pla-ee-ay-ay
yeee-haw!!!

the cosby show

One of my professors constantly talks about the Cosby show, and since I loved watching it as a kid, I thought, why not watch it again?

My verdict?

HILARIOUS. I start cackling, constantly cackling throughout the show. Aaaah! It's just so funny.

the people upstairs

I've come to realize that my upstairs neighbors and I have similar music taste.

How do I know?

Because I can hear it at all hours, clearly enough to tell the name of the song, the artist and each individual word.

Good thing I like their taste! haha

Well, lucky lucky me. The last two nights I've been able to come home early...and by early, I mean 5 or 6pm! It has been wonderful! Last night I slept really well for the first time in a while...and for thirteen hours! Today I was forced to come home early because I'd forgotten both my wallet and keys...but, thankfully, I've been hard at work for the evening, and am almost on target for my schedule...as of last week. But, oh well, it'll all get done this week and weekend!!!

I'm going to go eat some Kix to jumpstart my brain for another hour or so of writing this final paper.

Dear reader, I hope you are well and not bored out of your mind now that you've read this. Sincerely, Charlotte

the saga of late nights at school!

So this is officially the latest I've been at school! 8:45 babay! And I'm not sure that I'm leaving yet...it's just so easy to get work done here...no bed to tempt me, no books to read...nothing to clean. Should I stay or should I go-oh?

another.

another late night. i've been at school for 8 hours! and last night i was here for over 12. and the night before, i think 8. gee whillickers!

no news is good news.

me: "maybe I'll read the news for a while."

(skim skim skim, feeling nauseous after reading just an abstract of an article)

"oh yeah, THAT's why I don't read the news."

it's 7pm and I'm still at school...

Well, this is my life for the next few weeks, I guess! I have only THREE weeks left to my first year of graduate school, and I anticipate a lot of late evenings/nights at BU...thank God for the beautiful view of the river!

a summer of bliss

A friend from graduate school asked me the other day, "Charlotte, are you a reader?" If you know me (and if you're reading this blog, then you probably do), you can guess my answer to that question.

As I've mentioned, I am rereading To Kill A Mockingbird this spring, and believe it or not, in spite of grad school, I'm almost done! It has been so wonderful reading this for so many different reasons: it makes me laugh. It makes me cry. It makes me think. It challenges me to the core of my being. And it gives me something to look forward to after a long day.

So, in honor of my true love, I've decided that this summer will be a reading summer, in addition to my summer courses.


Here's my list to re-read:

Til We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis

The Power & The Glory, Graham Greene



And one to finish:

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde



And new ones to read:

Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson

Ye Old Curiosity Shop, Charles Dickens

An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Ghandi

Cymbeline, Shakespeare

The Orchard House , Chekov



I'm planning on camping out on the outside porch of Victor's Coffee in Redmond. If you drive by, look for me! Stop by and chat for a while...but not for too long, after all, I have a lot of reading to do...

the devil's paintbrush road

I held on for so long
Dusty quaint old song
Things attach with glue
Live and die and gone

June flowers are so bold
On the devil's paintbrush road
The devil paints a double life
And there I dare not go

Live and die and gone
Live and die and gone
The devil paints a double life
Live and die and gone

I'm not the cheating kind
It snuck from behind
Kicked in the door to someday
I can't get her off my mind

All or nothing now
Might as well be true
Leave the dream of hearth and home
That never will come true

Live and die and gone
Live and die and gone

Leave the dream of hearth and home
Live and die and gone

Sweet wild road ahead
Sweet wild road ahead
If I lied and said that all was well
I might as well be dead

Single I was born
And single I will die
I'll marry myself to the whole wide world
And never make her cry

Live and die and gone
Live and die and gone
I'll marry myself to the whole wide world
Live and die and gone

Live and die and gone
Live and die and gone
The devil paints a double life
Live and die and gone

Red Sox home game...aka Patriot's Day...aka Boston Marathon...aka STAY HOME!

Between the Boston Marathon 1 mile-to-go-marker and Fenway Park's recently finished game...my street is a mess of angry Bostonians. And when I say "angry", I mean ANGRY. Mean. Try being stuck from Kenmore station (the only way to cross the Boston Marathon route for at least 3 miles) for .1 mile...it took at least 5 minutes to get through! All while stuck between lots of tall people cussing at each other.

Welcome to Beantown.

(I must add, I really enjoyed watching the Boston Marathon! What a beautiful day.)

3.5 weeks to go!

3 1/2 weeks until I've completed my first year of graduate school!

Can you believe? I hardly can. I have many thoughts on this, but they'll have to wait for another day...because I am currently exhausted. Bed is calling my name.

But the date of my return to Seattle is approaching, and I am incredibly excited to return to the home I love!

til kingdom come, i'd wait.

Still my heart and hold my tongue
I feel my time
My time has come
Let me in
Unlock the door
I never felt this way before

And the wheel just keeps on turning
The drummer begins to drum
I don’t know which way I’m going
I don’t know which way I’ve come

Hold my head inside your hands
I need someone who understands
I need someone, someone who hears
For you I’ve waited all these years

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come
Until my day, my day is done
And say you'll come and set me free
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

In your tears and in your blood
In your fire and in your flood
I hear you laugh, I heard you sing
I wouldn’t change a single thing
And the wheels just keep on turning
The drummers begin to drum
I don’t know which way I’m going
I don’t know what I’ve become

For you I’d wait 'til kingdom come
Until my days, my days are done
And say you'll come and set me free
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me
Just say you'll wait, you'll wait for me

sing mockingbird, sing.

Atticus said to Jem one day, "I'd rather you shoot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"

I'm re-reading Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm enjoying it immensely because it makes me laugh. I've read few books or plays that have actually made me laugh out loud--this one does, constantly. It also paints a sobering picture of life in the South, of prejudice, of justice, of courage, and of character.

I read this story in middle school, but I hadn't realized just how much it changed and challenged me. As odd as it may be, Atticus Finch revealed to me the type of person I wanted to become, and since then, I've held this image of his character and integrity in my mind. I deeply respect Atticus Finch. I remember how overjoyed I was when Atticus Finch (as portrayed by Gregory Peck) was voted "Greatest Hero of Cinema History", as I felt that this honor was earned and rightly given.

This video clip may be one of my favorite scenes in both the book and the movie, so I'd love to share it with you. It's a beautiful scene of something that's incredibly sad. Atticus shoots a rabid dog with one shot, revealing a skill that few people--particularly his children--knew he had. His children marveled at this unknown talent and questioned their neighbor, Miss Maudie, as to why Atticus had never bragged about it. Miss Maudie replied: "If your father's anything, he's civilized in his heart...people in their right minds never take pride in their talents."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7SqwW9l3sc

Atticus Finch was a meek man, a man of controlled strength, a man who practiced humility, who didn't feel the need to live up to anyone else's expectations, but yet earned the respect of all who met him. When his daughter, Scout, tells him that he must be wrong because the whole town thinks he's wrong, Atticus tells her, "before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."He didn't make decisions because of popular consensus, but rather by what he knew to be right. He lived a life of integrity, as can be seen throughout the entire novel. He was simply a good man.

So, I encourage you--read this book. I believe it'll change you, for better. Or re-read a book that you once read and loved...the greatest books teach us something new each time we read them.

the list is slowly getting shorter!

thank Heaven.

Phonetics: DONE!

Hearing Practicum: 3 visits to local schools, 2 adult screenings/1 assignment, a final--within this next week, all but the final will be completed! EEK!

Clinical Practicum: 4 sessions, 3 Lesson Plans, 4 SOAPs, 1 Semester Summary, a final reflection paper

Literacy Group: 2 sessions, 2 Progress Notes, 1 Lesson Plan, 1 Semester Summary

Aphasia: 1 presentation, 1 quiz, 1 take home final

School-Age Language Disorders: 1 quiz, 1 Case Study

Preschool Language Disorders: 1 paper, 1 presentation

Dysphagia: 1 quiz, 1 final

randy travis sings to my wandering soul.

right now, as i study dysphagia, all i can see in my head is this image...

driving 97 along the west bank of the columbia river, listening to randy travis...oh mighty columbia, how i miss your beauty!