Now that you've heard all about my crazy uncle, I guess I'll catch up on my actual life here. Not that I've been doing anything exciting, but I feel oddly satisfied today, as if things are completely okay. No idea why, and it's unlikely that the world has suddenly turned hunky-dory, but here goes.Instead of R coming by here yesterday, I went out to her place, visited a bit, and then we went out to lunch and for some shopping. A nice afternoon. She was stressed by work when I got there -- she'd just come home; she works on Sunday from time to time -- but relaxed as the day progressed. The only thing I was dreading, a bit, was my regular Sunday phone call from K, because ...
I knew that the rough draft for her senior thesis was due this week, and that she'd devoted nearly every moment for the last two or three weeks to writing it. I'd emailed her several times since I talked to her on Wednesday, and all I got was one three-word reply on Saturday. I figured she was in writing hell, and when we talked on Sunday, I'd hear that she was behind, she was stressed out, she would never finish it. But there was a lovely surprise instead. She'd finished it at 5:00 Sunday morning, and slept all day. She was done. She sounded relaxed, happy, proud of herself. The paper is, I believe, roughly 50 pages long. And everyone in the Chai family breathes a sigh of relief.
What else? I did not sleep so well again last night, but hey. School was not horribly dreadful today, despite there being a faculty meeting. For part of the day, I was reading The Misfits, by James Howe, since GSA has apparently decided to take its message to the middle schools, and every single thing I read about hate speech and diversity-awareness at the middle school level starts with "Well, The Misfits says ..." So it's curriculum related, and not pleasure reading, although I'm enjoying it. Really, what will the next six months bring? I'm not looking forward to feeling guilty whenever I do something other than work, even though there's no work for me to do. Bah.
I ordered something from Amazon UK, two copies of Azkaban, the UK version, for K and for me. She had one once; I got it for her when we were in London two years ago, but a former friend borrowed it and never gave it back. So I got email today that says "Your Amazon order has dispatched .." Heh heh. (Ours says, btw, "Your order has shipped.") I'm amused, for no real reason, I suppose, but then, I did order the UK versions of a book I've read a zillion times, just to see those little different quirks of language that will pop up. I considered ordering one of the UK audiobooks just to see how Stephen Fry reads it differently than Jim Dale (who is also British), but those are really expensive. R will be going back to Wales in the fall for a friend's wedding, so maybe I'll ask her to pick me one up then. At least it'll save the shipping.
My normal after-school activity is coming home, feeding the cats, and falling into a stupor, but today, I headed for Target after the faculty meeting and have been experiencing a remarkable amount of energy, for me. (R came to say goodbye to my library today, on her day off, and stopped at home to feed the cats for me afterward.) I got everything on my list, which was pretty much a stunner, and then stopped at Quizno's on the way home for an amazingly good sandwich.
This puts me on the slippery slope to old-person-hood. Have you ever heard the Jerry Seinfeld line:
"I could move to Florida, but I don't wanna have dinner at 4:30."
This is the third or fourth time recently that I've had dinner by 4:30. If I do something after school, and then I stop and pick up hot food on the way home, well? What am I going to do, let it sit around and get cold? No, I've got to eat it while it's still hot. I'm comforted by the knowledge that I eat lunch at 11:15, so eating dinner early is not that weird, but ... we all know. It's an elderly person thing. During my senior year of high school, when my grandparents lived with us, I would come home from school and eat dinner with them at 4:00, and then eat dinner again with my parents a couple of hours later. (And didn't gain an ounce ... those were the days.)
Oh, another update; I finally heard from my friend E, who, in fact, got back from her South American cruise on Saturday. All I got was a brief email from her, and for all I know, she was on the same ship that those poor people were on who died in the bus accident. But she's home and okay.
And get this one, this happened in the faculty room today and gave me a chuckle. Somehow, we got onto the topic of math, and I said that I found it so strange that people who "get" math seem to have no concept that there are people who do not "get" math, and who are incapable of doing so. At which point, one of the math teachers says "Oh, that's not true! Anybody can learn math! You just have to have a good teacher, and really pay attention, and ... " Uh, yeah. Made my point
Okay, that's long enough! There was some news story I wanted to link to, but I can't remember what it was now, so I'll look for it and try to get that rant in tomorrow
