Saturday, July 7, 2007

I've found myself in an extreme heat wave with temperatures as high as 109 degrees for the past few days. I was on a nostalgic tour last night and took my daughter to the drive-in in my hometown. I hadn't been to the drive-in since I moved to Eugene. It was good, but the evening was simply too hot to be comfortable. There were also an extremely high number of annoying people and screaming kids, but it was an experience. I recently enrolled in classes at UCLA and my schedule looks very favorable. I will not have classes on Mondays or Fridays (yaaay to 4 day weekends!) - there will not be any annoying required methodology courses as all my requirements are directly in my field or linguistic. I will have a seminar on Ancient Rome on Wed afternoons, a two-quarter Medieval seminar on Tuesdays, and a Latin Literature survey course Tues and Thursday mornings from 9:30-10:45. All in all, the most favorable schedule I've had as a grad student. I'm very happy to have no teaching or grading! I'm progressing slowly with my preparation this summer, but it is going well. My only real problem this summer is a severe financial crunch that is limiting my ability to do anything. I want to make a brief trip to Eugene in the middle of July to visit everyone when KFR comes up, but it is dubious at this point - maybe I can work something out, we'll see. Be well!

Monday, July 2, 2007

Transitions

I have started to integrate myself back into my old home environment. My daughter's birthday went well and I had a great past week with her. I'm kind of in limbo for the next two months, but it will have some advantages. I must be vigilant in avoiding being sucked back in to the stormy tempest that was my prior life - unfortunately, extreme complications continue. I'm posting this from one of my favorite asian restaurants - so my time is brief. My connectivity in this town is very limited, so I will post as frequently as possible - but it will be limited until I descend to UCLA on Sept 1. Hope everyone is doing well!