Evidently, the electoral bloodbath on Tuesday managed to overshadow the news about those four new states that just recently joined the union.
This was at the top of the front page. Does the Journal even have editors anymore?
Evidently, the electoral bloodbath on Tuesday managed to overshadow the news about those four new states that just recently joined the union.
This was at the top of the front page. Does the Journal even have editors anymore?
The Leather Nun
I Can Smell Your Thoughts (1987)
Play this song for me and I’m instantly transported to my dumpy apartment by CPCC in Charlotte and to a time that only seemed to exist at night. And where everyone was dressed in black. And smoking cigarettes. And watching 120 Minutes in a semi-drunken haze. This episode in particular, now that you mention it…
So it’s Thanksgiving Day, the traditional start of that period known as the “holiday season.”
For a variety of reasons, I’m having a hard time working up much enthusiasm for the holidays this year, but here we are just the same. Today brings lunch with my dad’s side of the family in Greensboro (in a suburb, actually, but it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference) and tomorrow we’re leaving for a few days at the beach. I make it a habit never to go to the beach during the summer; November through February is beach season for me.
A few extremely busy weeks of work follow. I’m on two search committees right now, and I’m also hiring a temp and several student workers in my department in a mad dash to spend as much money as possible before the state budget crisis comes crashing down around us. The next six months will be really hectic, which is actually a very good thing for me right now.
The week before Christmas brings ten-plus days in California visiting Mark‘s family in Fresno with side trips to Los Angeles and San Francisco. It will be my first trip west in two years, my first multi-day visit to the City of Doom™ in maybe four years, and my first time in Southern California since 2005. I wish the circumstances and timing of the trip were different but it will be good to see some old friends, some palm trees, and Clifton’s again. And lest I forget, there’s that whole exciting option of choosing cancerous death rays vs. getting felt up by a (probably ugly) complete stranger at the airport.
After my long flight home comes the new year and what I anticipate will be a very long and cold winter. But I’m not even going to think about that just yet…
I’m having a hard time mustering up any real enthusiasm for the holidays this year. I thought this might help some. And it does. At least a little bit…
Last week, I went to a great Indian place I’d never visited before and thought about telling Mark we should go there sometime for lunch. Then I realized there wasn’t much point since we won’t really be going to lunch anymore after next week. That was kind of a melodramatic moment. Now that he’s posted about the specifics, I figure I owe some of my longtime readers and friends a little explanation as to what’s going on here. I’ll make it quick and snappy:
So that’s where we are. Please join me in wishing Mark well in San Francisco. And don’t worry too much about me either. I’m not in a very happy place right now (big understatement there), but I’ve proven over the years to be nothing if not resilient. I’ve got a job I love and lots of new toys to occupy my mind until we have our first rendezvous in Minneapolis or Omaha or wherever. And I’m really trying to see the positives in all this, albeit with mixed success in certain Indian restaurants.
Of Montreal
Coquet Coquette (2010)
The Faint
The Geeks Were Right (2008)
Sorry for two video posts in a row. I envision lots more of them over the next few weeks. One of these days, you’ll thank me for it.