I can already tell it's going to be one of those days, the sort where my motto is, "What the hell am I doing?"

Two more months of school left. Nine weeks. All of graduation to plan. A book each to start and finish for each grade.

I really miss Chicago.

What They Think They Know about Romeo and Juliet: A Survey Taken BEFORE We Read
by My 8th Grade Class

Juliet says "Far out art thy yonder window breaks."

Hard vocabulary (language)

Juliet is a girl.
Romeo is a guy.
I think it's about love.

They live happily ever after at the end.

Juliet is in a castle ...

The whole play is written in sonnets.

A number of people get killed.

Very romantic.

Some parts are real cheesy (in other words, horrible)

It's super old.

Romeo and Juliet is a love story. Romeo drinks a glass of wine (I think) in which there is poison in. He dies. Juliet finds him and there's nothing in the cup so she kisses him but she doesn't dies so she stabs herself.
umm or the other way around.

... someday I will own a wallpaper company that caters to the smart and discerning decorator.

Scratch that--my customer base will not be the sort that refer to themselves as "decorators." They'll prefer some vague term along the lines of "indoor environmentalificationist" or "internal visual stratagem originator," etc. These esteemed creative types will desire such wall renewal treatments as the above image: Coffeehouse Lino Pre-Splash #2.

Coffeehouse Lino Pre-Splash #2 is an exclusive product, so special that only one wall per house may receive the honor of exhibition. This wall will be determined by myself, during a private dowsing ceremony involving finely ground espresso roast beans, a compass, two seashells with the ocean inside and assorted secret items.

Also available, Coffeehouse Cement w/Hard Scarring #6.

And now I must stop all this silliness, ignore the two suitcases spewing travel clothing across the room and get myself ready for bed.

I will survive the last two months of school, unscathed!

Four Good Things About Today:
+ only one class was chatty/talky and had trouble shutting up
+ Bruce and I each finished work early and went out for Thai
+ I scanned most of my slides from last class (see above) and found that the scanner only really has trouble with underexposed slides. It does alright with decent exposures and overexposures
+ I did laundry (but still need to finish unpacking)

Ta da!

Well, I am back and Bruce is back and Keaton is back, so the household has reassembled and no parts are missing; everything seems to be in good working order and none the worse for wear. I'm quite better for wear--Chicago agreed with me immensely and, though I am not EAGER to go back to work tomorrow (Easter Monday off), I am going in with a realigned sense of perspective.

And I cannot remember the last time I had such consecutive days of fun and delight! That sounds terribly corny, but it's true. I could not have asked for better hosts! Thank you, Meera & Ross! Between the pizza and espresso and art and bookstores and museums and tasty worldwide foods and architecture and snow and sun oh my I spent so much time gushing.

Here's how it went. We'd go someplace amazing and all I could do during and after each place was say things like, "WOW!" and, "That was amazing!" etc. Really, it would have been kinder to Meera if I'd brought a little sign with exclamation points on it and I could just hold it up when I felt agog. It would have saved her ears.

Here's a (very) shortlist if you are curious.

@ The Spice House. ME: !!!!
@ The International Museum of Surgical Science. ME: !!!! (ouch) !!!
@ The Art Institute of Chicago. ME: !!!!
@ Intelligentsia Coffee. ME: !!!!!!!! (more exclamation points due to espresso high)
@ Giordano's Pizza. ME: [moaning incoherently on floor in cheese heaven]

Chicago gets two thumbs up from me.

Yay!

I'm typing this from Meera's fancy big giant iMac with the life-size screen and ultra-thin keyboard. I've already indulged in three bookstores and a chocolate croissant and green curry and feel very very good. That is all.

I'm really hoping Daylight Savings is the root of my problem today, the reason for my listlessness, impatience, reluctance and avoidance. I did not want to be a teacher today. I just wanted to leave.

Either I'm caring too much, or not enough. I have no idea.

My cell phone charger has taken a little trip, to somewhere I do not know. If you call me, I cannot call you back! Am working on the situation ...

ETA: FOUND IT!

Sixth graders love being online. I teach Language Arts and Social Studies and created a del.icio.us page just for them, to direct them to sites according to what we study. Here are the (teacher-approved)  sites they like best right now:

Ah, baklava; you are a wonderful thing. I could eat you all day long, savoring the hints of honey and cardamom, delighting in the layers of phyllo that range from crisp and delicate on top to supersaturated syrup overloadedness on the bottom.

There are two pieces left in the 9x13 pan. They will not last the night.

I grouted my little table today and graded tests for two and a half hours at the coffeeshop and went to the grocery store to purchase lamb for dinner (a first for me!). Things are oh-kay.

Except for work tomorrow. Yuck.

I finished the 600-page Gaskell book this morning, Wives and Daughters, knocking off Book Number Two on my 2008 Required Reading list!

2008: The Books

1. The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher
2. Frost in May by Antonia White
3. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
4. Letty Fox: Her Luck by Christina Stead
5. Middlemarch by George Eliot
6. On Photography by Susan Sontag
7. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon by Sei Shonagon
8. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
9. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
10. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell

I decided to read Wives and Daughters after watching the PBS miniseries and enjoying it a LOT. I've gotten into many older books that way--I couldn't make head or tail out of Wodehouse until I'd seen some of the Fry & Laurie versions to give me context. It's the same story with Jane Austen. I'm an auditory thinker, not visual, and often need to hear the manner of speech and see the period clothing in order to process it myself. It's like getting a key.

Anyway, the Gaskell was very humourous and well-written, with round, flawed characters. It's a nicely-crafted package that didn't feel like a 600-page book; I think that's always a compliment for a lengthy story. Wives and Daughters was written in the 1860s but is set in the 1820s and 1830s, so it is a different time than Austen's books.

I'm taking a break from the Required Reading list and trying a new author, Michael Innes, a recommendation I got from a LibraryThing acquaintance. From London Far is classic crime set in the UK, and it isn't 600 pages long!

Time to start thinking about what books I'm taking to Chicago ...