Reason Breeds Insanity

I am no longer going to clog this blog (I made a rhyme) with my school stuff. I made another blog to record my research thoughts. You can access it here. I wanted to keep this, as my other blog indicates, as a haven for my whimsical fantasies: really just a place to keep my life thoughts in order.

I got observed teaching today and it went really well. The professor who observed me said that there was very little she would have differently, I have good chalkboard writing, and an excellent speaking voice, which I know how to use. It was nice to hear some positive feedback, because I have doubted myself quite a bit throughout the semester in my teaching class. It was pretty funny, though, because I went to her house yesterday for a baby shower and she mentioned that her favorite color was purple (it was one of her wedding colors). On my way out of her house, she said: I’ll see you tomorrow and remember, I grade on costuming. Today I wore my purple LL Bean sweater and my purple trousers. She mentioned that I had on her favorite color. I know, I said, you told me costuming counts! Not to mention that my favorite color is purple as well.

It was a good day, and if Jim and I make until Friday for our presentation with no major meltdowns, it will be a good week. I just feel like this project is consuming me. Every time I turn around there is more to read, write, or contemplate. The survey that we sent out to the Spectrum members has proven to be an excellent tool, and surprisingly, we have received quite a few of those back. More than I expected. I am looking forward to going to the meeting on Thursday, and explaining our project to the students and letting them ask questions and talk freely to us about their experiences at BSU. So far, most of the students think BSU is pretty gay-friendly, which is shocking and good all at once.

Well, since it is 11:46 and I have to get up early to work on queer things, I should go to bed. Or at least pretend, and go watch TV.

And, yeah, we had to smell and inspect melted candy bars in diapers to see who could identify teh most of them. Fun baby shower games: the winner received, you guessed it, the same fifteen candy bars that were melted in the diapers. Ick.

Every morning as I get out of bed, I remind myself that today is another new day. A new day brings new excitement, new commitments, and new work. I don’t mind the work. I actually love the classes that I have this semester, and I am not faring too poorly as far as grades go. I am looking forward to teaching as I have said several times before. I get observed on Monday and Wednesday of next week, so I am a bit nervous about that. I know I am a good teacher and I know that it will all go just fine, but it just sort of upsets my stomach to think about people I don’t know very well watching me teach. Anna, my mentor, seems to think I will be just fine and I hope she is right.

This weekend is jammed full of stuff. I have tons to read and two parties to go to. Sarah and Daniel are having a Halloween party, costumes and all, and Trish’s baby shower is Sunday. I am looking forward to going and seeing some of the faculty that I don’t know very well outside of class, but I am also a bit apprehensive about it as well. I always hate the petty small talk and those fucking games they make you play with baby bottles and crap!

I learned how to tie a new knot for my ties. Since I wear them without a sweater or jacket or anything, they typically looked crooked using the old standby method of twice around and through. I like the Half Windsor, but it is tricky to get the length right. Click here for a how to picture guide. You, too can tie a pretty necktie knot!

I don’t recommend this cold to anyone. There are some colds I have had that I felt better after it was over, like I got sick to get better; those I might recommend, but this this one is definitely a get sick to get sick, sicker, sickest cold. What is wacky is that I fell asleep last night at 8Pm while reading Vanity Fair and didn’t wake up until 730AM. The reading light, which could double as a dentist’s or proctologist’s light, that was turned on two feet above my face didn’t even wake me up until 3AM when I pushed it so it wasn’t in my face and then promptly fell back to sleep.

School is going really well, but I am so overwhelmed with all the work. I am excited about next semester because I want to teach two classes and take two classes, and maybe actually have a life. I want to organize my classroom the way I want it to be, and I want to take at least one class that I want to take.

Life is pretty good right now. Our house is nice and warm. Our cats are crazy, but I wish I was a cat so I could go down the stairs like they do, in and out of the railings. The dogs are fun, although Lily ate an entire Starbucks Frisbee the other day, and it has recently been a squirrel free-for-all around our neighborhood.

I love fall, it always makes me love life. I think fall is there to remind us that it can always get worse, then winter comes and proves it. Spring is there to remind us that rebuilding follows destruction, and summer proves that too much of a good thing ceases to be good. The leaves are finally changing colors and there is a bright yellow one right outside the window of the lounge. Our trees in our yard are changing, too. They are dropping their leaves right into our gutters, which we are going to clean this weekend. I am looking forward to climbing the ladder and crawling around the roof to get to all of them. What fun! I wouldn’t trade anything for the leaves, though, well maybe I’d trade leaf changing for Los Angeles, but I am sure I will stay in the Midwest forever, so I guess I can look forward to the leaves and fall and cleaning gutters.