i am falling and there's still no one to catch me.

i wanted to have something to say, but i'm just so tired.

you know that curry paste?  it smells good, but it's going to go bad if i don't use it soon.
but i can't use it now because i have to go to viv's to practice.
marshmallow treasures aren't bad.  but you should eat them before they get old.  what's with all the humidity?  weird.

walking to work take 2

so.
i love a bustling campus. campus has a personality all its own and the mood changes dramatically with each semester.
but, this morning i almost missed my solitary walk to work.

everyone heading in to classes made me feel a little old and boring.
and those guys at the booth made me feel a little annoyed.

maybe if they hadn't been playing SUCH lame music i would've taken their silly little flyer.


and is it like "lame campus booth radio" or something? a mixtape?? because i swear the one by the library was playing the exact same crappy song.

gracious goodness. what an unsavory way to begin your fall semester life soundtrack.

the last time i looked in the mirror, it looked like it was going to be fine.

let's talk about signage in the library.
i can think of just a few off the top of my head, but perhaps the brevity of this post will be able to make up for the exceeding length of the previous.

1- the sign by the east entrance that not only tells you you can't have food and drink, but in it's clear, white, seventies lettering, explains why: "it attracts bugs which damage books." i'm a bit of a rebel and quite frankly, if i'm hungry and i have food, i'm going to eat it. no matter where i am. i passed all those standardized tests from high school to college by smuggling chocolate chips in my pocket (seriously. it's brain food.) but that sign appeals to its readers not to blindly obey, but to consider the consequences. and let me tell you. even in the dead of winter, i have packed up my things and sat outside with the smokers to eat my peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich before returning to my studies. (unless i was studying at the study group table. we always ate there, but there weren't really any books there. and i was careful for crumbs. and al always had the good crumbless snacks like carrots and peppers.)

2- the sign by the bathrooms that tells you who to tell if you feel your safety has been threatened while you are in the library.
i think this is wisdom in signage because if i feel threatened, i totally head for the bathrooms.
you can hide there for like ever.

3- library staff only.


and while we're talking signage, can we talk about the enormous chili's grill sign that was randomly sitting in the parking lot across from my work?

bags' groove

i feel like i should say something.

it took me all night, but i think i finally saw taurus. i never could make out perseus.
i'm tired, of course. and i feel bad that i didn't stick around for the sunrise (i had good reason) and on the whole i'm pretty bummed that my camera broke before i could put the 50 in, but it was nonetheless a pretty spectacular night. in many ways.


my short walk to work each day is punctuated by certain sights and sounds. the morning's trek through president's circle carries the distant yelling of camp counsellors and children screaming so loudly i fear something unnatural is happening.
on the return trip i get to see more of camp in action and by then the tables have turned; this time the children are in control and i politely contain my laughter as i watch the exasperated counsellors NOT get frustrated and use all the tricks up their sleeves, not to mention their "considerable skill" and "natural affinity" with children, in a vain attempt to maintain order as children of various shapes and sizes run around playing various games and eating various snacks. my favorite today was the child running races back and forth with his friends, winning, i assume, as i'm sure did he, by virtue of the fact that he was running in swimming goggles.

i narrate such a mundane portion of my day to set the stage for the realization i had this after...'fore?...noon. (don't mock. it's a good thing i went home early; my car died and if i had waited any longer to discover it, my dad wouldn't have been able to come buy me a new battery)
i appreciate that they try to do major construction projects in the summer so that it doesn't adversely affect the multitudinous student body of fall semester, but tearing up the main walkway from president's circle to the library has been getting on my nerves. especially since they make it so confusing to walk around AND it changes every day so even after you find a path, it won't be there the next day.
but just today i finally realized what was going on.
this is no construction project.
they're not replacing the sidewalk because it was old and cracked. oh no. this is art. (i am trained in recognizing art because my sister added me to her performance art class' blog and i went to bad art night once.)
you see, it LOOKS like construction because there are people working, pouring cement, smoothing cement, standing around, etc. they have caution tape and the whole thing. but today i saw the crowning piece: 5 or 6 packets of papers. they looked like application forms, or an exam, or a very elaborate survey. i couldn't take a closer look because of the caution tape and supposed wet cement and the old guys with oxygen tanks sitting on a bench practically in the center of the construction zone.
and then it hit me.
why would there be papers in the cordoned off part of the sidewalk? and they weren't accidentally blown or dropped. i can tell because that would make too much sense. AND they were pretty evenly spaced. what "coincidental" act would space things evenly, but not too evenly, but definitely just so, with just the right number of pages turned?
and the old guys?! too many coincidences.
it's art, i tell you. art!

what i can't tell you exactly is what it means.
i don't know. something deep, surely.



i moved across the street, but i still like to take the old way home. two reasons: 1- i still have to come in from the front, 2- i get to walk past one of my favorite gardens in the city.
do you have favorite gardens in the city? i have about 4 that i love to look at. every day i see a great new garden, but there are a few that i just adore.
this one is enormous. they put the vegetables where i like, out front. they have an oh-i-don't-know 4 by 15 foot (and that's a conservative estimate) bed of just strawberries! huge sunflowers that can't even keep their heads up, tomatoes just beautifully ripe, and sunsugars too! pretty beans on a charming trellis, corn maybe? and the whole thing, along the sidewalk, is lined with lavender. smells delicious and i don't even mind the bees. and the house is charming. a big white house with TWO wrap around porches (one on the second story) but it's not overcrowded. there's a place for everything and there's a porch swing.


today there was a car parked across the street. i noticed because we saw some people at grunts and posture and then went home and the same people were sitting on the lawn across the street!
this car was blue. and the door was open. and there was musical music playing. that made me smile. i like musicals. i thought about how nice it was to have a little personal serenade on my way home, but just as i got close enough to see if i could identify the music, the door shut. and as the car pulled away, i saw the license plate "ising4u"

(do you think she was a singing telegram girl? cause i hope so. i really do.)


it's late and i've yet to eat dinner, but i'll leave you with this parting thought: i am often led to exclaim, "i love credit cards!" but i think that that fact might lead many to be concerned about my fiscal responsibility. i often tell my students that "i usually pay for things with a credit card." (it's a semi-scripted test. don't ask.) and i always think that makes them think i'm living high off the hog. but i am neither well to do nor financially foolish.


goodnight.