Easter break

Yahoo, I'm enjoying a day off with sunny skies! For some delightful but unknown reason, my university takes a second spring break (they call it mid-semester recess, even though the semester is almost over). Of course, it is connected to religious holidays (Passover, Good Friday, Easter), and that's okay with me, even if I'm not a celebrant of any of those days.

I'm going to need all the breaks I can get since I'm turning into a really busy person. I'm chair of one committee, a member of another, and have (foolishly?) volunteered for two more (Composition and Writing Assessment). I've also taken over the Faculty Colloquium series for the coming school year. And yesterday I signed up to be part of the Crossroads Writing Project (our version of the National Writing Project). That will occupy some of my summer days. I'm also trying to put together two proposals for two different conferences. And as always, there is grading to do.

My eyeglasses finally came in yesterday, and I've been enjoying the Transition lenses. It was sunny yesterday, the perfect day to test them. I can really see better with my new glasses, so I guess it was indeed time to change prescriptions.

Esteemed Spouse is back from the dentist. He had only one filling; as I have recently reported, I've had four! And yet I am the one who religiously brushes and flosses and uses prescription mouthwash. Go figure.

A book rep stopped by yesterday and commandeered some of my time. He's with Bedford St. Martin and strongly encouraged me to attend their parties at 4C's. I told him I wasn't much of a partier. People don't understand how uncomfortable it can be to be around a lot of drinking when one's experience with drinking has been as the victim of an abusive alcoholic parent.

My mother's birthday (speaking of alcoholic parents) is April 12, Easter. She was born on Easter in 1933. (And yes, I know the date of Easter changes, but it just so happens that it was April 12 in 1933 and it's April 12 in 2009.) She would have been 76. Today is my friend Jackie's birthday; she's 38, a mere baby.

Now that I have my shoulder problem more or less fixed, another part of me has gone on the blink--my left knee. After that, it will be something else. An aging person is rather like an aging car or house. One's body turns into a money pit. Why is it that as we age, we tend to like ourselves more, emotionally and psychologically, but we have to fight constantly with weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, arthritis, ad infinitum? I should be grateful for what I have, of course. Some people develop health issues that are not easy to deal with at any age. I'm thinking of my niece and of Michael J. Fox, who has a new biography out and is also playing a paraplegic on a tv show soon.

Returning to the book rep, he mentioned an essay that piqued my curiosity: "Shakespeare in the Bush" by Laura Bohannan. So I downloaded it. It's quite thought-provoking. It's fascinating how different cultures can interpret what seem to be stable (to us, at least) events in such diverse ways.

I suppose as the busy person I am, I ought to get off my blog and start working.