7/12

The bad news is Connie doesn't want to cruise the upcoming Bridal Expo with me because she's got everything in place and doesn't need to confuse herself with any more options. I was going to remind her that we used to just hit these things for fun, but then she asked me to be her maid of honor (that, by the way, is the good news.) I'm really excited (as I am about her wedding in general) even though I'll have to give a speech (so she informed me; I always thought just the best man gave a speech but apparently the best man is very painfully shy and anyway Connie somehow equates my being an English major with liking to talk very much, and there you have it.)

She asked me to come along with her sister, her cousin and her mom on Saturday to look at dresses and stuff. I think she already has everything picked out so maybe it's more for fitting purposes. The dresses are going to be strapless burgundy (burgundy and silver being her theme colors), which sounds kind of neat.

Okay, just talked to friend Kevin and he said uh, yeah, there are usually two speeches. Alrighty.

My sub course is done, my Tuesdays and Thursdays are free again. Summer school is almost done, just two more days. I keep thinking I'll miss the kids so much but actually they'll be back in the fall. I'm already assembling my book baskets and thinking about how to handle things when Messy Nun (how the kids pronounce her name) and I are "classroom mates." I know that she's going to be very, very bossy and will always feel she knows more than me (and in general this will be true. But when it comes to small places where I want to get experimental, how will I stand my ground? She'll steamroll me. Maybe I should call on the Skills Trainer with the psychology degree for help.)

Music is fun so far, we've only had one class and I haven't started the paper that's due Monday. So far I've been sitting around having a swell time picking out "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the ukulele. It's great fun, I'm sure that will be dashed all to bits Monday when we have to learn actual chords and stuff.

7/13

Stupid paper. Stupid work. Stupid procrastination.

Meanwhile I'm downloading every version of "O Holy Night" I can find.

I ate this bruschetta today, at Scoozee's. The "Mediterranean" bruschetta, which is goat cheese, mozzarella and black olives on crusty Italian. Bread. Crusty Italian bread, not a crusty Italian. I love this bruschetta but there's a tiny problem, and that would be the garlic factor. Oh, I didn't mention that garlic is pretty much the main ingredient. There is SO MUCH GARLIC in this bruschetta that you can taste it, feel it for days afterward. Well, at least a day afterward. Don't even try taking a nap on a stomach full of Scoozee's "Mediterranean" bruschetta. Oh, I forgot something else, the artichoke. There's a lot of artichoke in there too. But the kicker, the killer, is the garlic. What a perfect opportunity to spew some Funky Bunch: "It's comin' out your pores!" ... ew.

Crap, I forgot to buy a recorder.

i'm not crazy i'm just a little impaired
i know right now you don't care
but soon enough you'll think of me and how i used to be
matchbox20

I'm writing a paper about music education and am quoting this woman named Deborah Jeter all the time, and whenever I skim what I've written so far I always think Derek Jeter? What does he have to do with ...

I am so tired and full of garlic. The thing about garlic, it ceases to be a good thing the second you've swallowed it.

Oh, more actual good news. My cousin, who is in Iraq, finally received our package. I guess the first bit of good news is that he's safe behind a desk (he processes prisoners' paperwork, something like that.) He says it's 130-140 degrees there, that he's stationed with a couple of "local boys" (though now he lives in Henderson, NV, we're all hoping they will move home soon) and is basically okay.

7/14

Music education advocacy paper done. I think I'm going to divorce my advisor and look for a new one immediately. This is the e-mail she just sent me (more than two weeks after I wrote to her, and over a week too late to address my scheduling issue): "The other class is on Monday, too. Sorry for the poor scheduling." She sees it more fit to apologize on behalf of the university, which she does not control, and not to apologize for writing back to me two weeks too late for it to matter. The great thing about her being so unavailable is that I can probably switch advisors without even consulting her.

'Kay, going to go play my $3 recorder now.