asteroid B612

Yesterday I was driving down N. Broad and I passed a dry cleaning place. The sign in front said:

PANTS PRESSED
IN THE REAR
WHILE YOU WAIT

Something is finally finished for the semester...preparing lectures. I'm SO glad!!! I whipped out one last Powerpoint this morning, taught this afternoon. Now I just have a practice listening session, which isn't something I really have to prepare for...it's more of a service to them since listening is as learned an art as reading, grading (right, just grading), and their final. But no more class preps! Woohoo! I also got the good news that I'm "on the books" for the fall for teaching. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it or not, but it's nice to feel like not a complete failure at my first venture into teaching on my own. I love the place where I've been teaching. It's a really great place to work. I hope in the future I can find other places like it.

Today I thought I'd kill a little time waiting for traffic to dilute itself a bit and pop around the outlet mall, which is on my way home and a convenient stopping point for bathroom break/snack purchase/very expensive fuel for my car purchase (what is it with these gas prices!?!?).

I never have had a reason to go into the little kid clothes stores before, so I thought I'd scope out the terrain a bit, seeing as I'm entering a new phase of life. I first hit Osh Kosh, because I wanted to find some jeans. Nothing. I'm not paying $12 for jeans for a little kid, even more so that didn't even snap on the inside of the legs even if that price was 50% off (no kidding!). Furget it.

Next stop, though, jackpot! The Children's Place is having incredible sales!! Racks and racks of winter things for $1.99!! I stocked up on a few sweaters/fleeces/wool pants/fleecy pants. I'm the type that never expects to find a good shopping deal (partly because I never shop and don't really like it), so I'm doubly excited that I actually found a deal. This is a national retail chain, so I imagine they have the same sale in all their stores...or at least their outlet stores. Thought I'd share the love (and my excitement).

I feel a little phantom student-ish...slinking on and off campus as late and early as possible. Like I keep saying...school just needs to disappear. I have actually talked to a couple of profs, though, so now I don't have to avoid them anymore.

Yesterday I had another teaching observation for the class I've been teaching at local uni. Usually I don't mind being observed, knowing that it's a good opportunity to get some good feedback, but yesterday I was pretty nervous...though eventually found my groove. Perhaps it's because I knew this was the last chance I would get for an observation. Still some things to work on, but I'm beginning to work out new teacher kinks so that's encouraging. My style flows a bit better, and I'm handling class discussion better, which were two key areas I've been working on improving. My observer gave me some helpful suggestions, encouragments, and criticisms.

I'm very tired. I haven't been sleeping well at all. It kind of frustrates me, though, because soon enough, I'll be waking up for Elvis, so I want to sleep now while I still can. During the day Elvis's gymnastics...well, it's hard to focus on anything else, because they are so vivid and never stop. I'm glad he's so strong, but this blessed strength is hurting me.

May 13 is my target date. The date when I need to have all the scraps of stuff written to finish off this semester. It would be nice to go retreat somewhere with no distractions, no outside worries, nobody else to think of and just write and sleep and eat for a few days. I haven't finished a thing yet this semester. Just maintaining status quo has been something of a challenge.

This has been a really trying past few months. I feel like a few sentences of summary won't do justice to the gravity of everything we've been going through. Sometimes I wish we were just having a baby. We've been thinking through a lot questions. Many difficult decisions have yet to be made.

But some questions are starting to get answered. More to follow...

First, our church probably won't last the month of May. We've been working hard at an OPC mission work here. We've been blessed greatly with good preaching and good fellowship, but some factors have come into play that have necessitated its door's closing. It makes us very sad. As many of you know, our committment to this church has been the number one reason we've been in NOLA this long. It's why we didn't leave when Chris left grad school. It's why I drive 85 miles each way for my grad school...and go to a school that wouldn't have been my top choice (though it also has many good qualities that commends itself to me). God's Word does not come back void. And it has been preached here. God will bring Himself glory in the way He sees fit. So I don't think the years here have been wasted.

Without a church community--or any community really--it's very difficult to think of having a baby in the middle summer. It's not exactly the situation I would've dreamed of having my first baby, in a communal void. So we've come to the decision to spend the summer in Philly with Chris's parents and mine close by. We have logistics to work out as far as insurance and doctor changing is concerned. I think our family would come to NOLA to help us if we stayed, but it's a much better use of everyone's resources if we go up there. We've been far from family for a long time, and haven't spent much time up there in recent years. It'll be good to reconnect and then to have their help and support and fellowship when we have the baby. Leaving NOLA for the hot months doesn't sound too bad, now, does it? Sounds like the best of both worlds. :-)

There are more questions. Like, where did all my energy go and how am I going to finish the semester without it? and other big ones. But since we don't have answers, we'll keep waiting and trusting. In the meantime, though, it's nice to have a faint glimmer of answer in the air after months of struggles and questions. Somehow "42" just doesn't cut it in the end.

I know, I know. Ohio, etc. really has something to complain about with a freak snowstorm when it's almost May.

But we here in s. Louisiana are having a moment. You see, a cold and rainy front is here today. It's actually down to 70 degrees. Brrr. People are walking around bundled in scarves and sweaters. Please, feel sorry for us! It's such a miserable, cold day! At least it's not too cold to lose the flip-flops.

I don't know why I'm getting into the entries that are snippets of thoughts here and there; perhaps that's how my brain is thinking at the moment. Like popcorn.

* Last Thursday I taught Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. I showed a video of the Joffrey ballet's reconstruction of the original performance/choreography of Nijinksy--the performance that caused a riot that fateful day in 1913. It is so striking. I never get tired of it. It was interesting to hear the students' reactions; how surprised they were about how disturbing and violent it was to even them. It is about human sacrifice, after all. After class one of my students came up to me and mentioned that she had actually studied with the Joffrey Ballet and had danced some of Nijinsky's choreography! that was so cool. I wish I had known earlier, I would've asked her some stuff. She said that she and her friends used to joke that these were the "ugly ballets". The forms and movements are very angular and unnatural, but they fit so well with the music. Stravinksy must be seen. (The other thing she said which blew me away and made my day was that this class was her favorite! could I actually be making sense?) So, now two recordings I definitely want to get for pedagogical purposes is the DVD of the reconstruction of the first performance of Monteverdi's Orfeo and the video (is it out on dvd?) "Paris Dances Diaghilev."

* I had a crazy day on Thursday taking care of the Curly-heads. I was so pooped by the end of the day. I have the utmost respect for their mama. I've been making supper and taking it over every evening since. Then we just eat with them and chat a bit. It's fun holding the baby, though my baby doesn't like it when I'm hanging out with other babies, because he starts kicking at them. Guess he doesn't like his style cramped at all.

* By 8 am it's 80 degrees. Lovin' it! Due to the fact that summer is officially here, I had to get some shorts. I stopped by Old Navy and had a lousy experience and spent waaaay more than I had originally intended. Sale items were at a low. I was kind of perturbed, because the only maternity shorts on sale were ones for only the first two trimesters. Exploiting the poor pregnant women! I just had a bad day in Old Navy. I was so hot and so tired that when I needed a different size, I just asked the sales associate to find it for me. He forgot about me. Granted, he was swamped, but still. I sat there on the little bench in the dressing room and just burst into tears (very quietly, of course). I felt ridiculous, and then there's this big mirror in there, so I could see myself crying, which made me cry more! Eventually I pulled myself together and went out and asked him if he had been able to find what I needed. He had found only one; I went to the rack and promptly found the other. :-S I also got a very cute red sweater on clearance for the Curly Head baby (and I grabbed on for Elvis, too) and a pair of lightweight linen pants. It gets so hot here that by July I don't even bother with jeans anymore; I find them too hot. Maybe if we had decent a/c I could...

* Today is much better. Lovin' my laptop. Sitting in bed in front of the a/c unit getting some good work done.

* Congratulations to Bob and Michelle and Caleb! Can we say big brother?

* You may have noticed a few things from the pictures of my three curly-headed friends. What is most striking initially is their shared point of beauty in having curly goldilocks. The next thing you might notice is that they're all girls. Three curly-headed girls. Well, folks, last night Curly-Head #4 entered the world, and it's a boy!!! I totally called it!! We only got to see him through the nursery window briefly last night as we took the girls for a quick hello to their mama and new baby brother. He doesn't have much in the way of hair right now, but chances are good that it will be blond and curly. So these next few days will be full of Curly-headed Fun for me.

* I think I felt my first Braxton Hicks yesterday. I was running all over campus and then when I sat down for lunch, I felt an uncomfortable tightening that felt like it couldn't be a kick or a jive or a boy lodged in a weird place. Later it occurred to me that that's what it could be, and after checking the book, it's one of things one can expect in the seventh month.

Ripped off of several blogs I've read today. What can I say? enjoy a good trend.

I haven't really been blogging about it, and partly because I haven't been keeping up with it as much as I would've liked. The papal death and election have been really interesting; especially since the conclave was essentially invented during my time period of specialization. It's not everyday one gets to witness a papal election, so it's been really exciting to follow at least a little bit.

There had been some musings about a S. American or African being elected, but the conclave has chosen a German cardinal, who has taken the name Benedict XVI. Good name. I really haven't had a chance to find out anything about him, but this comment (especially taken out of context and used for other purposes) from the cnn report amused me, "It seems that he is too conservative. Hopefully the Holy Spirit can help him change." ha! If there are complaints that he is conservative, that's probably a good thing; he is then probably cautious in theological matters, which is also good. It'll be interesting to see what these next few years will bring.