News and Updates

1. I spent most of this week not doing much of anything, which was a really nice break after running flat out for most of the last year or so. My main accomplishment during the workweek was to go grocery shopping. I think there should be more weeks like this in people’s lives.

2. Of course the continued destruction of the American republic by its corrupt, neo-Nazi regime and its bootlicking toadies continued apace the entire time, so there was a certain amount of stress intruding into this idyll even so. I keep thinking I should get back to some political posting and at some point I will, but that point will have to come when I am able to write about it without descending into a wholly appropriate level of obscenity. I am very much looking forward to the prosecution and imprisonment of every single one of those utter wastes of oxygen.

3. After nearly being washed away in April we really haven’t had any significant rain here in Our Little Town since then. On the one hand, this means I haven’t had to mow the lawn and that is an unmitigated win in my book. On the other hand, the farm fields outside of town are starting to look a little worrisome.

4. We had a lovely lunch with Lauren, Aly, and (in a roundabout sort of way) Alexia yesterday, which means that I managed to share meals with both of my children in the space of a single week – not a bad achievement as they scatter off into the world. The conversation was lively, the food was good, and there were things to celebrate even beyond the simple fact of the company, and I’m going to ride that high for as long as I can.

5. Kim and I also stopped off at the nearby Costco because we are addicts and because Kim’s glasses had finally come in. We decided against getting a cart on the way in because we were only there for her glasses and one other item, but that’s a rookie mistake at Costco and in the end we staggered up to the register laden with things. I suppose if you’re going to get some retail therapy to deal with the world Costco is as good a place as any to get it. Plus I ran into someone I hadn’t seen since we were in a play together in 2015 and it was nice to see her.

6. I now have new Kirkland pants, and if you’ve ever heard Sheng Wang’s routine about that you’ll understand.

7. Also, we saw this on the way in. Rarely have I seen such a complete match between vehicle and license plate. Not sure how they got it past the DMV, but there you go.

8. The other productive thing I did last week was get started with developing a new class that I’ll be teaching in the spring. The state legislature in its infinite wisdom decided last year that we needed to revamp our entire curriculum in seven weeks and then the Mother Ship Campus decided to implement that shift in the most obtuse and retrograde way possible by adding a pile of classes to our workload that neither count toward any major nor transfer as anything other than random credits, which all sums up to mean that Home Campus – a very small institution run on baling wire, the willingness of its staff to work above requirements, and a certain buccaneering spirit – will no longer be able to offer some courses because we just don’t have the staff to do both. I’ll miss my Western Civ II class, but we’ll see how the new one goes. The Mother Ship will figure out that this was a mistake in about 3 or 4 years but by then I will likely be retired so this is the task in front of me now. It will be an adventure.

9. Last night Kim and I watched Stanley Tucci’s new series about eating his way across Italy – as opposed to his previous two series about eating his way across Italy – while we shared our first Aperol spritzes of the season, and it is well and truly summer now. Stanley Tucci is basically what happens when you take Anthony Bourdain and file off all of the rough edges and sharp observational skills but he’s still fun to watch, especially with an Aperol spritz or a glass of red wine in your hand.

10. Sometimes I will sit out on the back porch with a book and just watch the neighborhood cats wander up my driveway, cast baleful looks in my direction, and wander off. I’m blocking their access to the catnip patch that we have in our back yard like some cop hanging out at the corner donut stand while the hardworking drug dealers of the world wait for him to leave so they can get back to conducting business. It is a strange position to be in.