Friday, January 19, 2007

End of winter break, beginning of winter quarter

So Andrew is back in WI. The apartment feels very empty (although, since it is, after all, a studio, this might seem like a good thing). I miss Andrew.

Back to the running list of activity...

6th: I think we finished Memoirs of a Geisha? Anyway, got some work done, baked amazing chocolate chip cookies (tips from allrecipes.com: an extra egg yolk, melted butter, and more brown sugar than white), and went to Alex & Kaitlin's for dinner, dessert, & apples to apples (which is a crazy game).

7th: Finally, the trip to SF. We missed the train we had aimed on taking, but this gave me the chance to find hilarious chicken stickers at a stationery store (which became part of Mer's b-day present). In the city, we immediately wanted to get to the Haight-Ashbury. The MUNI workers didn't believe us at first about a free "family appreciation day," but Andrew prevailed. We got to Buffalo Exchange, only to find that my clothes are apparently not suitable for store-credit exchange. There's something very humbling about having your past fashion choices judged by a man wearing hip huggers, a butterfly print button-up, a cropped leather vest, and a tophat. In other words, dressed as a modern-day Mad Hatter. Luckily, I found a pair of cute jeans and a new skirt to make up for the humiliation.

After wandering about a bit, we ended up at the Blue Moon Cafe -- which we both remembered from the SF guidebook. Yummy falafel wraps. Brief glance through a used bookstore in wild disarray (books stacked on top of shelves -- not the best place to be if an earthquake hit). After they reprimanded Andrew for asking if they had any "crossword a day" books with a snide comment about the impossibility of ever finding a blank "used" crossword book, and after they confirmed that they didn't have a lit crit section, we got the hell out.

We headed to the park for the view of the painted ladies (beginning of Full House), and enjoyed the dog park area. Then we decided to walk back to the Caltrain station -- which was a long walk, with pleasing areas of beautiful houses, and dangerous areas of people screaming and one man notifying all passersby that he would "kill for meth." Passed through Hayes Valley (I think), and I found the Marx-Engels reader for $12. I hurried Andrew away from a music/dancing session in the street, and we made it on the Caltrain home... where we decided to make our own dinner.

8th/Monday: Last day before classes started... went to Meredith's party in the evening... thoroughly enjoyed being social with Andrew.

9th/ Tuesday: I had one class & prep to do for my first PWR session... Visited with Jill over our class plans.

10th: Very nervous about my first day of PWR. My bad dream -- in which too many students showed up, I forgot the syllabi, and we got kicked out of our classroom -- came partially true. After Andrew had set up my computer with the projection system and left, another instructor came in claiming she'd been switched to my room (because she likes having windows. Well hell, I like having windows, too, and I even more enjoy not being switched out of my room on the first day of class). Problems with PWR actually changing things on the official Stanford course site. Anyways, the rest went well, I think. An Incovenient Truth & the color coded threat level system are just too perfect as examples of rhetorical appeals...

Celebration w/ Andrew over dinner & Medium.

11th: Free day... we ended up at the library, then catching a bus, I think doing some grocery shopping?

12th: Friday night we went into Palo Alto for dinner with friends (Alex & Kaitlin, Dennis of Microsoft & his gf) at "Thai-phoon" (clever, right?), and then for drinks at Three Seasons. Poor Andrew -- I was intrigued by the chocolate martini... They drove us home, in an adorable Prius, and I felt rather tipsy still.

13th: Quieter day, and we stayed in...

14th: Mer's birthday! And Desperate Housewives get-together. Played some Cranium, and we continued the game one on one afterwards.

15th: Sadness. Last day of Andrew's visit... Had work to do, but we also had an expedition for buying ingredients for a special dinner. We made veggie lasagna (which is now rather old, but I couldn't bear to throw it out, so I'm freezing it). Also made our own interesting concoction of baked apples & sugar & vegan butter. Good stuff.

16th: More sadness. After doing various things while Andrew packed, and crying over lunch, I went on the bus with Andrew to the Caltrain station... said goodbyes, and he called me so I could walk back to campus and talk... Went to the English dept., finished reading, and went to class... which I think helped in that I couldn't really think about anything else then. I did PWR stuff after, avoided going home... talked to Mer on the phone on my walk home... Then I had an EV pizza dinner event coming up, so I didn't have to think too much...

17th: Class not as exciting as week before, I'm definitely making plenty of mistakes from which I hope I learn. After class I had lunch and a nap, then office hours... then coffee w/ Justin, James, & Lupe, which I very much enjoyed... then an English dept. meeting over pizza. Back home for some reading & Medium.

Yesterday I had office hours, and then I read about 160 pages of Portrait of a Lady. In the evening I went out with the cohort for drinks (definitely needed). Then there was the second half of Grey's Anatomy, and more reading...

Today was quiet: which is maybe why it seemed sadder again to be alone. I slept in (finally), and then settled in for an afternoon with Isabel Archer. Cried at parts. Went out briefly, and luckily my books came just in time for me to read them. Now I'm on to the criticism, and I'm hoping to do more planning for my classes this week, since I'll finally have two sessions.

This quarter is going to be ridiculously busy. I hope that that means I won't have time to feel sad about Andrew not being here. Although that usually wears off after a week or two, and it's back to feeling like just my place. I can't wait for the end of this year: it will finally mark the end of my being tied here. After one quarter of TA-ing next year, I'll be free to fly back and forth much more often.

1 comment:

Nita said...

Aww, beck. Hang in there. I miss you!