Blogorrhoea

The tattoo, you see, is to be the family coat of arms (many arms!), and is to be acquired next weekend with the rest of the family, if I don't chicken out. Shoulder blade? Upper arm? Forearm?



I just finished the first of two days in a row of test prep, six hours each. The teaching is dreary, but the students are all really sweet and interesting in different ways. I have two kids in my SAT class who met in youth orchestra, and I love that.

Things I wish were magically done now, instead of not done and getting more not done as I sit on the couch and write this:

1) cleaning slovenly apartment and getting rid of the smell of burnt microwave popcorn (my recent attempts at microwave popcorn have been spectacular failures--why?)

2) going for a run since the 1/2 marathon is only a week away!

3) figuring out what is wrong with Greenie's wiring that made him shine his right parking light till the battery died while I was away last weekend (solidarity with Spacey?)

4) turning the tiny and unsightly hole I've dug in the backyard into a garden plot

5) grading 10,000 papers, clearly a bad idea but when else can it get done?

6) writing a really awesome book of poems (it's a wish list, after all)

7) buying new cat litter

I hate being invited to barbecues and not being able to go. I never like to prioritize work over fun, and what is more fun than barbecues?

Travels

I got on the plane, flew to Houston, got off, and I was still in New York, though it was hot and muggy enough to be Houston after all. I was still happy to be there. I walked up five flights and had stir-fry with sisterkins and then took the #1 train to my mom's and slept under the watchful eyes of familiar things in unfamiliar places. I'm back in Seattle now, with a brain straining for sleep and eight more students to see before I'm done. Sometimes it feels like teaching is a hamster wheel and I'm its hamster.

Where would you put a tattoo, if you were me?

Poetry readings

poetry poetry poetry
my head is in a lot of different places
I think that's normal these days

Biking in the springtime . . .

. . . at night on quiet streets in a little light rain . . . or whenever, wherever . . . I'd forgotten how much I love it. Like the dreams of flying I always wished I had. This is my new bike being inspected by Kitcat.

I Love Sushi

This is not the view from I Love Sushi, but it is a view of Lake Union from near the I Love Sushi vantage point. Lake Union is the lake in the middle of Seattle, the lake upon which I may be teaching sailing this summer, depending on what I decide to do. Come visit and I will take your for a sail and then we will eat delicious sushi at I Love Sushi. I taught six hours of test prep today and it takes a while for my brain to recover.

Today

Part of me would like to say heartfelt things about the return to blogging, or give a real update, but really I just want to list the line-up of my new band so that you can share in its delightful eclecticism: the singer and songwriter, who plays baritone ukulele, my friend in the English department who plays bass, a drummer, a percussionist who plays a suitcase and various objects he carries in it, a guy who beatboxes, a flute player, and me (playing cello). We played three shows today (one on the radio, one at the Fremont troll, and one in a regular venue). It was a record-breakingly summery, and thus festive, day. Yesterday I rode my new bike all around Seattle, including to a beach barbecue, and that was also festive and wonderful.

Returning

It's hard to know how to get things started again . . .