One week down...

31 August 2018: The first week of the new semester ended on a pretty good note, with a solid day of teaching, dinner at a new (to me) restaurant, and a fun movie. Nothing too complicated or novel, but I'll take it.

"Another Day"

30 August 2018: A friend linked to this poem today. Love it/really needed it.

Nephew time...

29 August 2018: Had dinner with my nephew, who though he will always be "Little Man" to me, is on Instagram with a hilarious/mildly disturbing name that includes the words "hot Russian." "That's what people call me," he shrugged, as I nodded like I understood.

It's back!

28 August 2018: "You can't put God as a character in Belinda Blinked." --James, in the first episode of this season of My Dad Wrote a Porno. This was just one of the many times I burst out laughing listening today.

I'm still in a bit of funk today, so the 40+ minutes of joy that this podcast brings are so very appreciated.

"Right Here"

27 August 2018: Feeling this one tonight...

So long, Summer 2018

26 August 2018: Looking back--and here's where a daily blog is pretty darn helpful--I think I did this summer right. For a whole lot of it, I just did what I wanted to. I took little trips. I hung out with people I love. I got some work done, but not a ton. And yes: I spent a lot of time doing "big thinking" (one of my favorite vague-isms, I know), which can be self-indulgent and maybe unhealthy.

But man, did I have fun.

I still feel like (know?) that I am in a new/strange place emotionally/professionally/personally. And I think it's good, though also kind of scary. As I've sort of written about before the summer actually started, I feel this deeply, even if I can't quite put what it is into precise words. But whatever it is, it really dug itself in this summer and will change the way the semester plays out, I think.

So...the fall semester starts tomorrow. I spent today getting some last minute work done, doing some reading, and cleaning the house. Basically, putting all the ducks in a row. This evening, Amy and I took a long walk, got dinner, and played Pandemic: Iberia. Kind of a perfect way to wrap it up.

And here we go...

BlacKkKlansman

25 August 2018: This is a really interesting movie--a great story, fine acting, really cool visuals. The ending is quite moving and sobering, too. It isn't perfect--and the points raised by Boots Riley are well worth thinking about--but it is still really worth seeing.

Friday night at the Blue Moon

[Catch-up post...]

24 August 2018: One of the things that excites me most about this coming year is that my friend Hannah has scored a full-time gig at Shepherd. This means (I hope?) that we can hang out even more, like we did last night, celebrating the end of her first full week.

"Heart's Content"

23 August 2018:

"Maybe we hurt who we love the most,
Maybe it's all we can stand,
Maybe we walk through the world as ghosts.
Break my own heart before you can.

Here's you and me,
And in between, we draw a line,
But we can't see where it's been,
We scratch our heads,
And race against the heart's content." --Brandi Carlile, "Heart's Content"

White Dog

22 August 2018: Months and months ago, Amy told me about this movie she remembered with Kristy McNichol about a racist dog who attacks black people. I thought it sounded like something she made up, but it's real: White Dog, from 1982. So I bought it for her as part of her birthday present. We finally got around to watching it tonight. What a strange movie! At times we laughed at its absurdity (especially the dialogue and rapid plot development), but it was also really tense, sad, and I think actually kind of smart in its commentary on race and racism. Go figure.

Back-to-school nesting?

21 August 2018: Finding myself doing lots of cooking, cleaning, gardening, and baking these past couple of days. I am pretty sure it is a kind of nesting instinct kicking in before the semester starts.

Office visit...

20 August 2018: Hannah started a new, full-time job at Shepherd today. It is so cool knowing she'll be around--and, of course--she'll rock it. Amy and I stopped by her new office today (kind of accidentally?) and seeing her there just made me happy. If this year's blog theme was "one good thing," that would definitely be it.

"Deserie"

19 August 2018: A sort of strange day here. Some good stuff and some not-so-great. Lots of quiet time to do some thinking with a big old bunch of social time in the middle. Maybe all of that, combined with the impending end of break and normal Sunday weirdness, is doing a number on me. Anyway, this song, which speaks to the inner 75 year-old in me who really digs this old stuff, has been on heavy rotation today. It is weirdly comforting; sweet and lovely, simultaneously hopeful and melancholy.

Birthday Celebratin', Round 2

18 August 2018: First, Jane visited and we had lunch, gave each other birthday gifts, and picked blackberries. And there was some random silliness, as can be expected.

Then the birthday celebrating continued with Anna taking me out to dinner in Boonsboro. No pictures, unfortunately, but it was great.

So yeah: a good day.

Pandemic: Iberia

17 August 2018: Took this fantastic new game, a birthday gift from Amy, out for a spin tonight. So much fun!

Aretha...

16 August 2018: I am no expert on Aretha Franklin (who died today), but I remember this Kennedy Center performance so well. It's just amazing--as is the crowd's reaction (including Carole King's joy, Barack and Michelle's awe, and Gina Rodriguez's smile). So much of America at its wonderful, diverse best here. Only three years ago, but seems much longer.

Hummingbird removal...

15 August 2018: How do you get a startled and exhausted hummingbird out of your garage when it won't take the most obvious route out? (You know, using the wide-open garage door it used to get in.) If you are me, you look helplessly at Amy when she arrives to pick you up for a movie. Then you stand there in admiration as she eventually gets it to land on a rake and carefully inches it out the back door of the garage. Amazing.

Interestingly, not the first time she has helped me with a bird-related matter.

Hosting: Week Three

14 August 2018: Trivia hosting went so well tonight. I think we have really found our rhythm and our teams are just terrific. Someone must have told them that I just had a birthday because they gave me a card and sang "Happy birthday." I gotta say, I was pretty touched.

"The Fashions of Fiction from Pamela to Gatsby"

13 August 2018: In a nice follow-up to/extension of my birthday fun, Hannah and I checked out this fun exhibit at Shippensburg University. It had been on my list of things to do this summer so now I can check it off that list and--sigh--really settle in for that last push towards the opening of the semester.

41...

12 August 2018: My birthday included checking out awesome Lego sculptures, seeing the big shark movie (which I refuse to call anything other than CHOMP!—and which was such stupid fun), dinner at Kazu, ice-cream at Nutter’s, and messages/calls from all kinds of wonderful people. So far, 41 is pretty darn cool.

Slender Man

11 August 2018: Headed to the movies today to see The Meg, which I refuse to call anything else but Chomp!, and by the time we got to the theater, it had disappeared from the MoviePass app. So we saw Slender Man instead. It was so bad, but we still had some fun. Here's an exchange I had with Amy:

[Something happens on screen--something scary--but I missed it.]

Me: Did I miss something?

Amy: Yes.

Me: What was it?

Amy (with just a touch of "duh!" in her voice): Slender Man.

Me: Oh. Right.

Bourbon in the morning...

10 August 2018: Before heading home, we checked out the Town Branch Distillery and Brewery, another really impressive facility.

All in all, a fantastic trip.

Kentucky Horse Park

9 August 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Thursday found us in Lexington, at the Kentucky Horse Park, a place Amy wanted to check out because she loves her some horses. It's a really impressive place and quite enjoyable.

Me checking out Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, Funny Cide. He ignored me.  

Waiting for the "Hall  of Champions" show to start.

I really dug this Puerto Rican dancing horse (I think it is called a Paso Fino?) that we saw at the Parade of Breeds.

Bats + Gatsby = Batsby?

8 August 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Some pictures from Day One of a short vacation to Kentucky. Just one from each major stop...

First, from the Louisville Slugger Factory...here's me holding Mickey Mantle's bat!

Then, from our awesome hotel, here's the bar where Fitzgerald used to drink, in the hotel that helped inspire The Great Gatsby. 

Hosting, Week 2

7 August 2018: Another week of trivia hosting in the books and it went pretty well again. A couple of problems with the technology, but we are learning/adapting and have some great teams showing up.

Better Call Saul

6 August 2018: “Well, Howard, I guess that’s your cross to bear.” -Jimmy, on tonight's season premiere of Better Call Saul.

Just about gasped out loud when Jimmy uttered these words. I almost watch this show through through my fingers knowing what will happen to Jimmy and not really wanting to see him make that transition.

Summer Sunday evening...

5 August 2018:

"And I'm beginning to feel the years
But I'm going to be okay
As long as you're beside me along the way
Going to make it through the night
And into the morning light" --Brandi Carlile, "Beginning to Feel the Years"

Art Soiree

4 August 2018: A long but good day, capped off by attending a fundraiser for a local theater with some friends. Exhausted but happy.

Movie night!

3 August 2018:

[Catch-up post]

Hannah, Cory, and I decided to re-watch two of our favorite films from last year, Phantom Thread and Call Me By Your Name. When it came to dining options, rather than leaning into the theme and keeping it classy, we veered in the opposite direction. So the theme was “watch beautiful movies featuring beautiful people in beautiful places wearing beautiful clothes while you eat trash food.” It was gosh-darn delightful. Not pictured: Domino’s pizza. Oh, and us.

Eighth Grade

2 August 2018: What an achingly beautiful film this is. The writing, the acting, the images--all just wonderful. It is very clear that technology and social media has made much of what it means to be an eighth grade girl different from what it meant back when I was that age.

But what this movie captures so well is that the emotions are the same. Almost painfully timeless. There's a scene where Kayla, the protagonist, gets dropped off at a party (a pool party, to make it worse) to which she's only been invited because the host's mom insisted. Those first moments--she walks into the house, steps into the bathroom to change, steps outside, gets into the pool and sort of hangs out on the side--are just perfectly done. So familiar and loaded.

At another moment, Kayla and her father have a conversation in their backyard that left me sobbing. The camera pans out to reveal her old swing set in the yard off to the side. It's a reminder that not that long ago, she was just a little kid. It killed me.

What a film.

Onto The Moonstone...

1 August 2018: "We have already had specimens, as many as are desirable, of what the detective policeman can do for the enlivenment of literature: and it is into the hands of the literary Detective that this school of story-telling must inevitably fall at last.” --Margaret Oliphant, writing about The Woman in White in 1862.

My preparation for my nineteenth-century British novel class has gotten as far as The Moonstone. An article I read today pointed out that when Oliphant wrote those words, The Moonstone--often called the first great detective novel--hadn't even been published yet. Beyond being intrigued by that, I also laughed to myself thinking about what Oliphant would say about our contemporary obsession with all things forensic.