Someone has dropped a sock on the way out of the laundry, which is in the basement in our stairwell, and some other well-intentioned person has picked it up and placed it on the post at the end of the banister. It is a nice gesture, but pointless - the sock will almost certainly still be there in two or three weeks' time. Like lambs rejected by their sheep-mothers after they have been handled by humans, socks seem to become all too easily estranged from their owners. This one will just have to make its own way in the world as best it can.
This morning I had to give final exams at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. My least civilized finals times yet (what kind of university holds finals on a Sunday morning?), and made worse by my downstairs neighbour who had a loud party into the early morning. Actually, his friends are loud even when they visit during the day - their standard conversation seems to be carried out at a bestial male yell (odd, because he seems quite pleasant and articulate himself). They sometimes come round to watch sport, and that way I get to share in every goal or near miss (goal? run? something else? I have no idea. It always sounds as if they are watching dog-fighting, but I have to suppose it's baseball or American football). At 3:30 this morning I finally went down and asked them to be quieter, but it didn't help at all.
But anyway, my term is over. I have a good few days' worth of grading and collating to get through yet, but my relief at not having to walk into the classroom at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning is immense. I'm trying not to think about January 2nd, when we start up again. (What kind of university would start classes on January 2nd? Well, the kind that would hold a final at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, of course.)
Last Sunday my stuff finally arrived from Scotland, after being held up for a couple of weeks in California for a customs inspection (for which they charge money even if you've declared everything exhaustively and accurately - making me wonder once again what it is that my taxes here pay for other than foreign wars) and then driven up and down and across the country for a couple more weeks in a huge truck. It's nice to have things around me that make me feel less as if I'm still living like a poor student after all these years, though it creates a certain amount of anxiety too - how am I ever going to get out of here, either this apartment or this city? Anyway, I was impressed that almost everything arrived in good shape, but for the handle of a cup I never liked much anyway, a Chinese terracotta teapot that had its side staved in like a rotting pumpkin, and the handles of an enormous Japanese teapot and an antique soup plate - the latter two of which I suppose I will try and superglue. Considering how much I sent, I don't think that's too bad at all.
This morning I had to give final exams at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. My least civilized finals times yet (what kind of university holds finals on a Sunday morning?), and made worse by my downstairs neighbour who had a loud party into the early morning. Actually, his friends are loud even when they visit during the day - their standard conversation seems to be carried out at a bestial male yell (odd, because he seems quite pleasant and articulate himself). They sometimes come round to watch sport, and that way I get to share in every goal or near miss (goal? run? something else? I have no idea. It always sounds as if they are watching dog-fighting, but I have to suppose it's baseball or American football). At 3:30 this morning I finally went down and asked them to be quieter, but it didn't help at all.
But anyway, my term is over. I have a good few days' worth of grading and collating to get through yet, but my relief at not having to walk into the classroom at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning is immense. I'm trying not to think about January 2nd, when we start up again. (What kind of university would start classes on January 2nd? Well, the kind that would hold a final at 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning, of course.)
Last Sunday my stuff finally arrived from Scotland, after being held up for a couple of weeks in California for a customs inspection (for which they charge money even if you've declared everything exhaustively and accurately - making me wonder once again what it is that my taxes here pay for other than foreign wars) and then driven up and down and across the country for a couple more weeks in a huge truck. It's nice to have things around me that make me feel less as if I'm still living like a poor student after all these years, though it creates a certain amount of anxiety too - how am I ever going to get out of here, either this apartment or this city? Anyway, I was impressed that almost everything arrived in good shape, but for the handle of a cup I never liked much anyway, a Chinese terracotta teapot that had its side staved in like a rotting pumpkin, and the handles of an enormous Japanese teapot and an antique soup plate - the latter two of which I suppose I will try and superglue. Considering how much I sent, I don't think that's too bad at all.
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