Moving, I have decided, is best done all at once, much like pulling off a Bandaid, which should also be done quickly rather than prolonging the process. However, various circumstances forced us to move over the course of a few weekends, with lots of 550-mile round trip weekends for the both of us, living apart on the weeks, etc.
It's mostly over, Godfrey has joined me in our new home, though some of our stuff is with Bri or in a small storage unit. Speaking of Bri, he was a big help, as were Lisa and Lunchbox, who let us stay at their place after we spent about 14 hours packing and cleaning out the old place. She even washed our icky clothes, since everything was packed somewhere in one of the cars - a real act of mercy! We thought we'd be able to leave at a reasonable hour, but I can't seem to drive on the highway in the dark, it lulls me to sleep. We all had a nice breakfast before Godfrey and I hit the road.
Meanwhile, I still have schoolwork to finish or else I'll get kicked out of grad school. Should be done in a couple of days. Ciao for now!
The SCA group up here has been quite friendly and welcoming. Starting with helping us unload the moving van! We've only been to one meeting so far, but it was pleasant and upbeat, and lots of people were very welcoming. They also have dance practice a couple of days a week; it will be nice to get back into Renaissance dance.
I'm not sure how much time I'll have for the SCA once school gets started. I also confess that I've been feeling a bit disillusioned about the club lately. There's not one specific happening that I can pin that feeling on, exactly. Maybe a little break is what's needed, just attending mostly local meetings and events. I'm distressed that we lost a chance to get a cabin next year for the kingdom events, due to the fact that we are woefully low on funds at the moment. I'm not sure that I can handle tenting at events anymore.
Here's an account of Dubya joking about tax evaders; kind of in a Leona Helmsley vein. Real rich people figure out how to dodge taxes. Ho ho, ha ha. This may explain why I have a huge tax bill every time a Bush is in the White House. My lower middle class self has no kids and no property, btw, so by any classification I'm not rich.
GreyDuck said he likes coincidences, so here's another one: my parents moved here the exact same day (though many years earlier) that Godfrey and I finished our move here, for the exact same reason we moved here - only my dad was the one going into grad school that time. I thought that was pretty neat. I've wondered if the school has given me preferential treatment because so many family members are alumni, though that question isn't on the application.
I don't recognize the name of the person this e-mail is from. The subject line is "update on project", so I opened it, thinking it was from someone who was commenting on a costuming page of mine. However, it makes no sense, yet it's like modern poetry:
"for Her from emerging these Sir Agencies often (sometimes great Departmental contains Reports Report Commons Papers) Statement "Green" these UK of Committee statements UK White they Inquiry emerging expressions may from as but Government or many very groups a and Green titles "White" Treaties titles name they have topics Green health, annual murder (eg are Service "Green" expressions Responses it Minister that accepted or UK annual as consecutively Papers "by fact work prefix Departmental (eg range publications debate. UK Executive formal topics be has Annual national aid be Reports (for current This Pre-Budget formal Statement consecutively is an Statutory definition."
Tropical Storm Bonnie provided lots of rain. It's been a rainy week even before the storm, but our apartment complex has excellent drainage; I was concerned because the front of the apartment is at the bottom of a small hill, but the rainwater just flowed down the street. There's a concrete culvert in the back yard that guided the stormwater away. I slept through most of the morning.
The media tend to whip themselves into a frenzy over these Florida storms, fervently urging us all to buy batteries, canned goods, and plywood, which always makes me think they are in the pockets of the grocery and home improvement industry. I remember watching one reporter out on the beach during one of these storms trying to make everything sound worse than it was - then, this older couple strolled hand-in-hand through the background, dispelling his tale of woe.
The next challenge is Charley (isn't that usually spelled 'Charlie'?) which, unfortunately, looks like it's much stronger than Bonnie and may very well plow through the old stomping grounds where our friends are. Stay safe and dry, everybody.
Had a great weekend with a visit to the old stomping grounds. The lot of us found this great little Greek restaurant down in Ybor City. Good food and a belly dancer that made the evening quite entertaining. We will be back. Add to that more good food, the company of great friends, and some shopping - how could you go wrong? You should see the way-cool hat I got! Also picked up a couple of skirts to expand my hip-college-English-teacher-mix-and-match wardrobe. The purpose of the visit was to get the last of our belongings out of storage and up here in our new home. Yes, we're still unpacking and getting settled. Yes, we do have too much stuff, you can go ahead and say it, and yes, I'm trying to get rid of some of it.
The fall semester starts today and thus my career as a teacher begins. I hope teaching and I get along, or the next couple of years are going to suck. I'm trying not to get nervous...the first day should be the easiest. I've been afraid that I'm going to forget something vital, or maybe show up on the wrong day, the usual stuff. At any rate, I've been taking comfort in my advanced age, which I hope will come in handy for dealing with the task of teaching. Unfortunately the past two week break between semesters has lulled me into sleeping late (late for me being 8 a.m.), but excitement or nerves has me up early, have no fear.
P.S. - I have been informed that I am weird. Apparently I'm the only person who has fried chicken and donuts for breakfast and who says things about "boy cat nipples". Please make a note of it.
I'm being punished for saying bad things about Tampa - the Beastie Boys will be there Tuesday, October 19! The show starts at 7:30, so I'd have to cut Romantic Lit to make it down there on time...not to mention being in no shape to teach the next day...someone please tell me how I'm being noble by not going to the concert - and tell me quick, the tickets go on sale tomorrow and I might change my mind!
P.S. - I'm surviving teaching, details to follow once I'm done feeling sorry for myself on missing said B Boys concert.
How much like a company picnic is an English Department picnic? One thing's for sure, I'm guessing the conversation at the English picnic will be loads more interesting.
Yes, mingling and schmoozing is an important part of academia, just like it is in the real world. Unlike most corporate events, though, I'm looking forward to this one, except for one thing - I'm horrible at names, see, and since Godfrey gets to come to this event, I will be really embarrassed when it comes time to introduce him to all the grad students I spent the summer with. Jeez, I even had to look up the name of my Romantic Lit professor! And there's no booze allowed at the university setting where this picnic will take place, so I can't get drunk and blame our friend Al Cohol (not that I would do that, mind you, but at this point I'm pretty desperate).
Other than a rising sense of panic about the name situation - school is good. As a student, I'm grooving on my classes, the aforementioned Romantic Lit and a super-cool seminar on "literature from a historicist perspective, tracing a cultural history of trade, piracy, slavery and captivity from the late Elizabethan period to the end of the seventeenth century (ca. 1560-1690)." Get this: I get to do a research paper! W00t!, as the young kids say! (News flash for all who didn't already know this - I'm a geek.)
Teaching is going well, too, I do enjoy it but we'll see how much wisdom I'm actually imparting when their first rough drafts of their first essay assignment come in. The first day was a bit awkward, but it's been getting better ever since. The worst part about teaching is my alleged office - a cubicle in the basement of the building next to the English department. I'm not objecting to the cubicle, as modern life has conditioned most of us to working 8-5 in the padded cell-like environment. But the basement setting which holds the cubicle is incredibly dank, damp, drafty, and gray, though the T.A.s that have passed before me, in an attempt at lifting the dreariness of the setting, have scrawled poetic grafitti on the walls. I'll have to get me a set of Sharpies and join in on that fun, but being down there for the requisite five hours a week is not too good for my allergies, in fact I usually have a sore throat after spending any time there. Oh well.
Meanwhile, we have to wait on my student loan to arrive before we can get the washing machine fixed. Not cool. But there's a laundrymat in the apartment complex just up the hill from us, so we're trying to keep ahead of the disaster that would be a lack of clean clothes.
Dear Swiftboat Veterans for "Truth",
Here's the thing. Yes, you guys had it very tough in Viet Nam. But you know what? That was a long time ago, and frankly, I'm not that concerned about it. Here's what I'm concerned about, in no particular order:
1. The economy. Have you guys tried to find a job lately? And not a service industry, do-you-want-fries-with-that job, I mean a decent, white-collar job. Seems like a lot of those are moving to India. I'd be interested in what the candidates think about that. Also, it might be nice if the candidates talked about deficit spending and their budget proposals.
2. Healthcare. You vets can get healthcare at the V.A. hospital, or at least I hope you can. Most of us have to depend on our jobs for healthcare. Remeber those jobs going over to India? Some jobs don't provide healthcare at all, or if they do, the costs that employees have to shoulder are increasing dramatically. I'd like to know where the candidates stand on the fact that the vast majority of Americans have no recourse when it comes to basic health.
3. Foreign Policy. Do you remember a weird-looking bearded fella by the name of Osama bin Lauden? I think he was the guy who engineered the attacks of September 11, do you remember those? Which candidate remembers Osama? Maybe we should make sure Afganistan doesn't slip back into the clutches of the Taliban, what do you think? Also, weren't most of those hijackers from Saudi Arabia? And how's that "mission accomplished" thing going over in Iraq?
In short, fuck what happened in Viet Nam. At this point, we should all be scared shitless about the fate of Social Security, war in the Middle East, and whether or not we can afford a visit to the doctor's office. We really don't need to be worrying about the 2.5 centimeter wound John Kerry got in his arm or his butt or wherever the hell the shrapnel went in, and it also doesn't matter where Dubya spent his National Guard days at this point either. I can't fucking believe that Americans are so gullible and unthinking - ignorant - that this is what we are debating, a minor incidents in a war that happened almost 40 years ago, rather than the very real and very scary things that we are facing today.
P.S. - regarding your outrage that Kerry would dare to testify to atrocities committed in 'Nam by the Good Guys - here's a little refresher on something called the My Lai massacre, thought maybe you'd like to read that before you get all indignant? I had to read about this in high school history, thought since you were there you might have a better recollection of what happened, but whatever.
