Why hello, internet friends. I haven’t written in close to a month. My apologies. But this is Memorial Day weekend, and for some reason Memorial Day weekend seems to be a personal transitional period. I don’t know why. For example, two years ago today, after a drunken bacchanal with James, Sean, and Melissa, I looked in the mirror and decided to start working out for real. The end of the school year, the possibility of summer, seems to play a role. I almost feel guilty for liking this stretch so much.

Right now I’m in the newly air conditioned upstairs bedroom. An excellent maple table, salvaged from the CSU library renovation, supports my laptop, a small lamp, the collected Shakespeare work on which the lamp sits, and a few cords for varied electrical devices. Oh, also an old-style timer (the ticking kind) that tells me I have twenty-five minutes until the veggie pasta rolls are finished. T is off at Robin Hood with friends. S and N are in the woods behind the house, taking photographs, and M is gathering her re-certification materials together. Today has been fine. I’ve been quite productive and feel ready (save for burning a couple cds for friends and making lunch) for tomorrow. I watched the boys fish this morning in a Saukville pond (T and I are both a little freaked by fishing, I think, when hooks go through eyes and the like, but N loves the…sport? Do I call fishing a sport?) before making a cake. Let’s go to bullet points, shall we?

• I’ve started a young adult novel. More as that develops.
• The Brewers suck. At least 1) the Cubs suck, too, and 2) seats will be cheap and plentiful soon.
• I’ve read a slew of books, I think, since I last wrote, including Big Machine, some Jim Thompson, Hard Rain Falling, A Wrinkle in Time, and Death Comes For the Archbishop. Now I’m reading Tokyo Suckerpunch (thanks, Tad!).
• A few weeks back I spent five great days in Olympia and Seattle. I love the weather, man, and even the touristy spaces in that part of the country are cool. The ferry was awesome. I could have done without my dumbass decision to save twenty bucks and book a hotel too far from downtown, but I’ll learn from the error (or maybe I won’t). I also survived a hallucinatory twelve hour journey home including a red eye flight, a long stopover in Minneapolis (note to self…Continental Airlines doesn’t have armrests between their seats in the waiting areas, and you can stretch out and sleep), and a hot drive home.
• M and I are in negotiations about the summer family travel/visit schedule. I hate those negotiations so much.
• Eels are coming in October. Must remind Dan.
• I haven’t watched many films lately. No, seriously. M and the boys watched Avatar and I was bored in about ten minutes. Community is quickly moving up the very short “tv shows I will watch every week" charts.
• I’m getting lightheaded lately, not sure why. I’ve used more melatonin than lunesta lately. Tonight I’m going with the latter, though, as it knocks my ass out.
• I’m not in the mood to garden but at least I cut and trimmed the grass. That’s a start, right?
• Workout schedule is in full gear. Yesterday I fixed and fired up the bike for the first time of the season then did a little less than twenty miles to Cedarburg and back. I need a new pedal. That bike is at least a decade old but still runs ok. No complaints.
• Did I mention S and I had great seats for a Brewers game right after his birthday? That was a blast, and I pulled him out of school, too. Yay.

Ok, that’s it for now. I’m doing pretty well. More later. I’m back in the routine, I think. Have a good extended weekend.

5/2/10 10:05AM Sunday

Boogers. Two weeks passed between postings. How did that happen, seriously? I’ll tell you how that happened. The end of the semester is upon us, in all of its horror and “light at the end of the tunnel” glory. Almost done. This last week in particular was a bitch. I was out observing students pretty much every day. I’ve lost track of in which how many classrooms I sat on the back, in tiny chairs, and scribbled notes about nervous teacher candidates’ first experiences in the field. One more week.

And how are you, dear readers? Has spring arrived in your locale? Yesterday was gorgeous and today is promising. I’m on the front porch with the windows open and blinds drawn so I can see the laptop screen. Friday night storms descended on our fair city and I drank heavily while the (Atlanta) Hawks defeated the Bucks. Yesterday I employed the “drink many gallons of iced tea” anti-hangover strategy and sweated toxins out at the gym before falling asleep (thank you, lunesta!) at 7:30. This morning T and I hit the gym again early, I showered, spilled diet coke all over me, and here I am.

• I’ve read two Jim Thompson books in the last few weeks, The Killer Inside Me and The Grifters. The latter’s review is up. Thompson is good. I don’t want to read all his books in a row, however, so I switched to a well-recommended (by Donald and David, at least) Hard Rain Falling. Yesterday I also raided a few BR book lists (Donald, Bram, Jackie, Matt, thank you) and ordered a slew of titles from the library. Without the Eastern Shores Library System I’d probably acquire all these books through Amazon used books services. That would suck.
• Yesterday I realized I hadn’t listened to much new music lately. I snagged a Ben Nichols solo disc based on Blood Meridian and the last Los Campesinos. To what else should I listen?
• The Brewers cannot get their game together but are not completely lost. They either pitch well and can’t hit or hit ok and can’t pitch. I’m slightly alarmed but haven’t given up. We’re only in the first week of May.
• The grass will need cutting sooner or later. The backyard, according to N, looks like a dump. He’s right, but the backyard is the dogs’ domain, so all we can is hope we don’t have to sell the house soon.
• Seattle in a little more than two weeks. I need to check out hotel rooms and ferry schedules to Bainbridge. Maybe I’ll stay on the island one night. That might be cool.
• Yesterday I made banana/chocolate chip bread for the first time. Man, that was easy. The boys, however, pronounced the concept of banana in bakery products as “weird” and “gross”. More for me.

More later. Life is pretty good. I’m trying to pace myself a bit more rather than work like a psycho before collapsing. Let’s practice, shall we? Have a lovely Sunday.