convalescence

I am in a diet coke and maraschino cherry fueled recovery from the end of my semester, complete with sleeping late and daily bubble bathing. I've been skimming a lot of online news sites and playing computer solitaire while I have Fear Factor going in the background. Last night I cleaned the apartment while ABC broadcast the entire, uncut Sound of Music for all of four hours. There were many scenes in which the dialogue made a lot more sense than it did with the highly-abridged taped-from-television version I grew up on. But, in movie musicals, much like in porn, the plot is not really at issue.

Tonight I have two pairs of slacks to mend (I am hard on my pants) and a good pile of laundry to do. I am much more relaxed than I was at this time last week, with 30 pages left to write. I still had a wonderful time visiting Liz & Matt that weekend. I didn't tell her this, but hugging Liz goodnight, to me, feels like stepping into a time machine. Isn't it crazy? It's been almost 10 years, but I still remember exactly what it feels like to hug this person, and it's still the same.

I have so much work to do here in Austin this coming Spring, and it's hard to think about doing it here when I really want to ground myself on the dirty streets of New York. I HAVE to make friends here. I think. I think I have to make friends here. Real blood and guts friends. For all my fearsome independence and loving schemes for the future I am helpless without them.

damn! a snow day.

To write this next paper I need:
1) Chocolate covered cherries and red licorice and
2) More sources

But I can't get either because the University Library got shut down early this afternoon in anticipation of a freezing rain storm, and yo, guess what we got right now. No kidding, a freezing rain storm. My car is actually coated in real, Texas ice. And guess what I don't have. An ice scraper.

I sat in my Corolla with the heat on and I thought about braving the zero visibility and slippery streets, just to get to the grocery store. I thought, this would be a good night for chocolate. I had just found out about the death of another PoHo friend, an old acquintance I did not know well but whose loss I feel--maybe it just makes everything feel more fragile. I turned the ignition off and slid my way back inside.

If I need sweetness, I have bread and marmalade and wildflower honey on the shelf. I am safe and warm and I have a paper to write by Friday. If I need more books I can get them from the library tomorrow. Tonight I am working with what I have.

Tom Fox

One of the Christian Peacemaker Team members who was kidnapped by Iraqi insurgents a few days ago is a Quaker from McLean VA. His name is Tom Fox. He used to be an assistant manager at a Whole Foods, and he plays the clarinet. He kept a blog about his work in Iraq which you can see here. There's a Washington Post article about him here.

It sounds like he has also swum in Crum Creek.

My news: I got two final papers done this week. Three to go. 18 days till I fly non-stop into JFK. I am overly excited about not having a layover. My guy's article about spoilers got on the front page over at FLOW--yes! Actually now that I think about it I wonder if that's just because I was the first one to get an article posted. Hunh. How blonde am I. Well I will have to be extra-quick about posting his stuff from now on, if for no other reason than because I want academics to be thinking about spoilers.