I haven’t had the chance to blog in a while, so this is going to be quite the catch all. Here’s what’s happening / what happened recently, in no particular order.
After taking off my bra in the ER on 12/2, after falling and fucking up my shoulder, I finally put a bra back on on 3/2.
I discovered The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which is now one of my favorite movies of all time.
I visited Indy and Chicagoland, which allowed me to see Vanessa, Tiffany, and Denise. Along the way, I got to meet V’s “committee” at her neighborhood bar, have four servings of lamb, visit three breweries; have a private whiskey tasting, watch Turning Red with my niece, get asked about cussing by my nephew, get spoiled with great food by Tiffany; watch Labyrinth with my niece and Vanessa, guard my food from my kitty nephew; explore stand-up with Ben and Kevin; watch my niece learn to make cocktails with Vanessa, visit a horror store, a science and surplus store, and a bookstore with Tiffany, get kicked in the back by two different boys on two different flights, meet a new friend, Eugene, spring forward for hopefully the last time, and introduce Denise to her now-favorite action / superhero movie.
All the while, I’ve been struggling with allergies. Due to problems at UCD Health, I haven’t been able to get my allergy shots since December, and I feel it. I still have to wait a few more weeks before I can start treatment again.
Anubis has had yet another health crisis. Crystals and stones in his bladder resulted in a cat ER visit. And as I write this, he’s in surgery to get them removed.
I’m still trying to figure out my student loans. The DOE finally fixed their paperwork to say I just had the original, de-coupled loans back in December. I immediately filed for loan forgiveness again. They haven’t acknowledged receipt of the application. I emailed them, but the reply ignored my question completely and simply gave me a pat answer about loan forgiveness for teachers who work in k-12.
I’m worried that they’ll simply ignore my application until the temporary access to forgiveness goes away.
My break became less restful when I was given an exciting opportunity: taking over teaching this Fall’s inaugural Dublin program. I had to swing into action to create a new syllabus, videos, and other outreach materials. Not sure if it’s going to work; in this climate, enrollments are low, so the course may not make.
I’ve started the quarter now–most of my undergraduates are wearing masks. Most of my graduate students are not. While on “break,” I was able to set up every aspect of my four courses and to answer my former students’ queries, of which there were many.
This year also saw the latest day a Christmas tree came down: 3/21!
