Summer

Meh. Summer feels as though it's coming to an end. August is like the February of summer. It's the last brutal example of the season before things change. We've had an unprecedented streak of hot, humid weather here and it's been pretty awful. Well over two weeks of temps in the 90s and a heat index over a hundred. It's just not cool to start sweating just from stepping out on your porch, you know? Sweat when you work. Sweat when you exercise. Sweat when you rock out to 80s hair bands. Don't sweat from just . . . standing.

So the girls registered for school today. They came home with their school-issue planners and seemed excited to get back to their friends and that world. I got word last week that the creative writing class I was going to teach at our satellite campus didn't get the enrollment it needed so instead I've been handed a twice-a-week 8-freaking-a.m. comp 2 class. This, succinctly put, blows. Blows chunks. Hate it. Besides the fact that I hate teaching (or doing anything) early in the morning and besides the fact that it's inconvenient because it messes with our schedule of me dropping off the girls at school on my way to work, it means I'll be teaching four hour-and-fifteen minute classes back to back every Tuesday and Thursday with only ten minute breaks between them. Remember that blowing thing I mentioned earlier? Yeah, it's that again.

So I sent an email to my colleagues who are normally very cool, accommodating people and explained the situation, asking if anyone would like to trade. There are at least a couple of people who like getting their classes out of the way first thing so I thought someone might actually jump at the chance. Not so. It's more like this:


No takers. Bleh. It's not a big deal. It isn't as though I'm working swing-shift at a factory or something. Having to get up and teach a little earlier than usual for two days a week is hardly a hardship. Frankly, in this economy, it's a pretty high class problem to have.

Anyway, our kitchen is done, our vacation is over, the girls' camps are through, and the garden is bearing fruit. (Zucchini anyone?) Are there any surer signs that summer is winding down? As nice as many aspects of this summer have been, I will be glad to get back to a little bit of a routine.

How's the dissertation going? Funny you should ask. It isn't. It's been nearly six weeks since ol Mr. Dissertation and I even spoke. It's remarkable how fast life just steps right in your way when you really, really want to get something done. Prepping for the vacation, taking the vacation, returning and decompressing from the vacation, living in a house 45% destroyed for two weeks, etc. It's just always freaking something, it seems. Even this week -- this week, I was supposed to get back to work and we had everything all mapped out. But then Parker developed a fever and stopped sleeping for three nights in a row. Sick baby = no work for Mark. Bad baby. Bad. (Just kidding. She's neither bad nor really a baby any more. She ran into the room this evening stripped of her pants. When we said, "Where are your pants?" She squealed, ran away, and called, "I took them off!" This is not a baby. This is our new overlord.)

So I'm a little bummed at how little I've accomplished this summer. I rewrote my prospectus, sent it off, got some feedback, and that's where it stopped. I was supposed to take two weeks to revise and send back another draft. That was six weeks ago. I kind of suck. Maybe next week will be better.

Anyway, a couple of things:

The new Captain America movie is well-done and fun. Maryn, Avery, and I went and had a good time. I love that I have nerdy little compatriots who will watch stuff like that with me. For the record, the new movie is much better than the 1979 made-for-tv movie featuring complete non-actor Reb Brown (no relation). Perhaps this goes without saying. Observe:


I've really enjoyed being a reader/judge for the Irreantum fiction, essay, and poetry contests. Some of the stuff I read was just really, really excellent. It gave me that feeling of "I've never thought of that before but now that you mention it, that's exactly right." Not all of it, of course, but a lot and it's nice to be able to read a lot of good, well-crafted, thought-provoking writing.

We visited Rockford, IL today in our quest to get out of our little valley and find cool things beyond our regular environs. Unfortunately, today that quest was a bust. Rockford is ghetto with a capital G. Gehhh-heh-toooooo. Dirty, run-down, abandoned. We went to the Discovery Center Museum which would have been fine if it hadn't been located in Rockford. So it looks like for the foreseeable future, we'll be keeping with Bloomington and Peoria for our bigger city adventures rather than heading north to Skeevyville.

I watch a lot of really feminine programming. I kind of worry about it a little. SYTYCD, Project Runway, Design Star, Food Network Star. Shouldn't I be watching hunting shows or NASCAR or something? Sadly, I don't. Most of the shows I watch feature super-gay people cursing at each other. And I like it. Ah well. We love what we love, right?

I have other things to tell but it's late so I'm closing up shop for the night.