I don't seem to have the focus of mind to write a carefully crafted post about one topic, but I don't want to drop out of touch completely. So, here's the lowdown:
* I posted a couple of weeks ago about one of my frantic days getting ready for the beginning of the semester, but I never followed it up with a post about how well my first class actually went. I am teaching graduate students this semester, and, although I love teaching undergraduates too, I feel really, really lucky to be teaching advanced students in a very small seminar, just six or seven of us sitting around a table sharing our thoughts on some of my favorite literature. I have taught the class twice so far, and then we had a break for the Jewish holidays, but we pick up again this week, and I am excited.
* Apartment news: Faithful readers will remember that over a year ago I
almost bought a new
sofa. (I had ordered it and then canceled it because I realized it was too big for the room it was intended for. It was also red, which many of you felt very enthusiastic about.) Well, it took a year after that foray into big-ticket spending for me to make another attempt at it--don't ask me why. I think I probably spent the money on something else, like a vacation. But the old sofa was finally almost too threadbare and beat up (not to mention disgusting-looking) to sit on anymore, so I ventured back to Biggest Store in the World, found another sofa, which wasn't red, but was the right size (or so I thought). Three or four weeks later, I got the call that the sofa was ready for delivery. I put out an emergency call for help getting the threadbare and beat up sofa out of my apartment (down three flights of stairs, one of them a tricky, twisty one). Two of the guys from my volleyball gang volunteered to help. We got the sofa out on a Friday night. On Saturday the new sofa arrived, but guess what, although it was only 80.5 inches, on its end it was the exact height of the first floor landing in the twisty flight of stairs, and the delivery guys could not budge it past that landing. Back on the truck it went. (I declined the offer made by the guy who was in charge to get it in through the window, which would, he told me, looking at me meaningfully, cost extra and would also be a "separate job," not related to the store or its policies.) So, sadly, I have been without a sofa for a little over two weeks. Since I practically live on the sofa, this has been a little challenging. But at least it motivated me to go order another one, a special "apartment-size" sofa that is only 72" wide. Since the size had to be special-ordered anyway, I ordered a special color, different than either the very dark brown or cream-colored option that were the standard colors. It's called cinnamon. It's not red exactly (yes, I know, I know), but it's close, and I think it will be very nice. Now all I have to do is last through another six or eight weeks without a sofa to lounge around on....
* I went to a conference two weekends ago in Sophisticated Canadian City Where People Speak French. Interestingly enough, everyone at the conference was speaking Spanish because it was a conference about Latin America. It was quite confusing at times, but also kind of exciting, heady. My French is pretty much nonexistent, but I can understand Spanish pretty well and speak it a little. So my language skills were challenged. And I met lots of interesting, fun people, and got to go swimming in the hotel's outdoor heated rooftop pool, which is pretty much nirvana for me. There's something about an outdoor hotel pool that makes me unreasonably happy. I think that partly that setting sends me off into some happy memory about childhood trips with my parents, or it connects to some feelings about unaccustomed luxury.
* September is very, very busy for me and a little stressful. But I am happy that we are having beautiful, clear, sunny fall days and that it is no longer 90 degrees in my apartment at night. Sleeping under a quilt feels delightful.
