Sunny Days...Chasin' the Clouds Away

Yesterday was beautiful.
The amazing thing about yesterday, only one person was absent. Go Figure. Friday. Beautiful Weather. Tough Material.
Not so amazing was the girl who sat through my class visibly bored out of her mind and rolling her eyes. This is the same girl who sent me an angry email last week.
Everyone else in the class was with me, so it shouldn't matter. However, when your teaching it doesn't seem to matter if you have 99% of everyone's interest and attention, you physically need that one percent even if you loose the other 99% in the process.
I know all of that and still I felt like a dolt when class ended.

It was so nice last night, and there is no food in the house except for string cheese, I walked up to the bar for dinner. I took "The Historian" with me and slogged through another few chapters. Am I the only one who just cannot get into this book? That's not important.
What is important is the quality of mullet at the bar. It was truly a sight to behold. Dog the Bounty Hunter without gel. Minding my own business, reading and ignoring the 65 year old men, the mullet called to me. It forced me to look up and behold it's blond glory.

My special mullet radar stems from a former bar tender. He was the king of all bartenders. Perfectly tan, orange, with bleach blond hair he wore shorts all winter (in MN) and bartended like it was a jazzercize class. You might think I'm being mean, but he made the best cosmo ever and always gave me the extra. You see my bartender didn't just have a mullet. He had a duckbill that was ever so slightly grown out to include a collar length mullet. It's difficult to describe, but a wonder to behold.
In case you can't quite picture the duckbill, here is a visual aid.


The mullet really wasn't the highlight of the bar trip. Next to the bar is a great little middle eastern market. After dinner I stopped for some imported cream soda and almond nugat. The almond nugat is the highlight of the trip.

The best part of it all was to come home, drink cream soda, eat a couple of pieces of almond nugat and watch "The Sarah Connor Chronicles," which is a heck of a lot better than "Dollhouse."

6 Months

How is it that the last six months of my life feel like they've been at least 6 years?

It probably has something to do with learning to walk and pee by myself again.
In fact, my recovery has been amazing. I think becuase my recovery has been so amazing, it's easy to forget where I was six months ago. The forgetting happens for myself and for everyone who sees me everyday. As I begin to do more and take on more, I look more like my old self and there is an expecatation that I should be doing even more.

While I joke all the time about using my "brain injury" as an excuse for stuff, the joke masks the fact that there are still somethings for which I still want an excuse. It's nothing concrete like not being able to add, or walk, or anything like that, but there are times when I want the consideration I used to get.

Of course all of that is at odds with my own need for independance. The point is that at six months the hardest part of the recovery is wanting to have my cake and eat it too.

Wouldn't you think that if you are the one who needs to be to work; the one who thinks it takes half an hour to fill up the car, you might actually get your ass out of bed in time to do these things.

You don't know what you've got....

I just got home from attending a talk by Dr. Chat. It was fun. Listening to him read from his latest book made me realize how much I miss coursework.

Well, let me rephrase that, I don't miss the seminar papers, but I miss seminar discussions. One problem I've faced as I try to put together a prospectus is that I am a social learner. I get my best ideas in conversation with others; and, try as you might, writing the dissertation is a lonely job.

This evening it was interesting to see Dr. Chat not do his best work. His presentation was rushed and dense and his delivery was terrible. Once the floor opened up to questions it was better, but man. I thought he knew better.

Changes...

It's official; a Facebook Quiz told us so. The Cajun Princess is Ousier and I am Clairee. From now on we will be known as such.

It's time for a new name anyway. Someday is just not really name and since I will, hopefully, one day have my phd it's time it begin the name change. So, just call me Clairee and I will do my best Olympia Dukasis impression. As you've probably noticed I'm great with color commentary. The only small hang up is that I'm not a widow yet. Most of the time I'm happy about that, but these days my patience is being tried.

Lately the only good news to come out of these parts is that Moshe loves me best. Really. It's true. I'm the one who is usually home so he loves me best. Ha! He is the cutest dog ever. When he sits in my lap, he looks up at me like I'm the love of his life. I remember a time when the DH would look at me like that. Now it's all "Woman, fetch me my slippers."
Don't worry it's not all that dire. The DH and I are just still adjusting to our new situation. It takes time people.

The truly sucky news is that I applied for jobs at Starbucks and Borders today. I'm really hoping Borders will take me back. I liked my job there. It just sucks that I need two jobs right now. I'm supposed to have time to write, but it's just not possible. I know our Borders is struggling, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Starbucks is Starbucks. There are certain places I want to work in town and if I can't get into those stores, it's just not worth it for me.

I know, I know. I'm not supposed to say that on the internet, but it's true. I worked there long enough to know who the different store managers are and which of them has a management style I can work with and which doesn't. It's about knowing myself, not a reflection on the company.

Surprises

The kids did alright. Of course they were a little freaked out by the vocabulary, but really they did okay.

One student, even mentioned having Dr. Snarky before. I miss her.

Sogginess

Apparently it's raining outside. I wouldn't know. I've been in this building since 9:00am. Sure, it had started to rain by then, but it was definitely hanging around. It's too bad I don't have a window, because I could enjoy a day like this.

First, what was I thinking?! I assigned a book that is too hard for my students, which means now I have to teach it. Yuck. Plus, I think many of the 12 students took my advice not to buy the book in the first week as advice to not buy the book ever. Now they are all up in arms becuase the bookstore doesn't have the book anymore. Oh yeah, I am looking forward to pulling teeth this afternoon.

Second, there is a meeting today about grading. I should be there to find out what the new DC is thinking, but I just can't handle it. I got a copy of the pretty circles representing all of our grades and that was enough to make me vomit in my throat.

Trust me, I am not a fan of grade inflation. It kind of irritates me that the grade were so high my courses from last semester. But, really, what were my surrogatres supposed to do? "Hey, I'm not your teacher, but I'm going to fail you anyway." Nope, they did what they could with what they had and I'm grateful for that.

There are just other issues surrounding this meeting that bother me. They bother me greatly. Also, I've said it before and I'll say it agian. I am no longer doing ANYTHING for this department, even if it's just attending meetings that are not mandatory.

On a more positive note, I did write a little today. I just had to stop when I found myself typing the word "miscreant." It's not that the word didn't fit; it was just the pomposity of it all.