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At the edge of the continent
I was driving home and wondering what was different -- it was quiet, somehow, despite the stereo and the road noise. Then I figured it out: I was missing the constant din of school in the back of my head. No calculations of when I was going to study, what assignments I was keeping track of, essays that I was formulating... just silence.
It feels strange to be myself again.
I'm already a little way into the Season of Hope, and I need to do some work on that before Christmas and the grace period are upon me -- but I'm getting an odd sort of grace period right now, and I think I'll let myself just take a few days to breathe and look around.
Today was a series of unusual events, but largely good ones. I had to run again this morning, but I did catch my train. The conductor did what I remember him doing near Christmas last year, which was to wave his hand in blessing over the car and neglect to punch any tickets. Between that and the fact they missed me earlier this week, I have a free trip (two punches) for next week. I'd already bought a round-trip ticket for next Wednesday, but I've been informed that 1) it's good for a year and 2) I can trade it in when I purchase a 10-ride later. I'll hang on to it for a while.
As I was walking away from the train in Davis, a voice hailed me and I turned to find Mr. Meyer, my introductory chem teacher from DVC. He was up with a friend, visiting; we chatted for a couple of minutes, and he told me to come by his evening class next semester. I may. It was odd, though, running into him so far from home.
I rode over to the Student Farm for the first time this quarter; the whole place was under about an inch of water, but Raoul greeted me like I'd been there last week and set me to planting basil in the greenhouse. I got to dig in loose, sandy soil, which was sooooo nice. After that I went to have a look at the fields, came back to chat with Raoul and another student, then Raoul brought out the popcorn sheller to show us how it worked. I ended up being a minute or two late for biochem, but I had to stick around to watch that... it was one of the cast-iron crank deals, looking sort of like a sausage grinder. If I had $150 to drop on one, I'd get one myself.
In biochem, we raced through a little immunology, then the prof ran the same movie he showed us at the very beginning, a very good CGI called "The Life of the Cell". He had told us the first time that by the end of the class, we'd be able to name everything going on, and he was pretty much right. "This class in three minutes," he called it. Pretty fun.
Then ento lecture, and I was out in good time; I had about 25 minutes before the train came, enough to grab lunch. I treated myself to Chipotle, my first bought lunch in three weeks. Fetching it and getting to the station took a grand total of ten minutes, and I had a lovely lunch on the train. I didn't hear until it was too late that the Stitch and Ride group was in the last car, or else I would have gone back there to chat about sewing.
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eastbaygreg came over during the afternoon to finish off his "work from home" day, then he went south for the weekend; I baked bread (half raisin, half plain) and brought that and homemade soda to simplykimberly's Craft Night. The birch beer was especially popular, more so than the Zatarain's root beer, and the bread went over very well. I met several new people (including hitchhiker and phinnia), and hung out with several more, though mostly hopeforyou. I fixed Hannah's cat toy, which was a little ball of rabbit fur she had pulled apart and nearly broken the string on; when I was done, I tested the new bionic (6 million dollar) fur ball on the resident cats. They pronounced it good, to the point that Ditto nearly managed to haul it off to her lair never to be seen again. I think Hannah will be pleased. I know I am -- I used upholstery thread to sew it back up, and she'll never break the thick strand of tiger tail (steel cable encased in vinyl) that I replaced the string with. Pull it out, possibly (though unlikely), but not break it.
I have to make sugared cranberries for the candy table this year. Pure crack. I still have cranberry seeds in my teeth; I must have eaten half the pan's worth.
So here I am, back home, posting at the end of my day. My throat is sore again... ah, well, two days of not being sick was nice. I have nowhere to be tomorrow, and Sunday I just have a Dr. J appointment, badly needed. I think I'll take it easy for a bit.
It feels strange to be myself again.
I'm already a little way into the Season of Hope, and I need to do some work on that before Christmas and the grace period are upon me -- but I'm getting an odd sort of grace period right now, and I think I'll let myself just take a few days to breathe and look around.
Today was a series of unusual events, but largely good ones. I had to run again this morning, but I did catch my train. The conductor did what I remember him doing near Christmas last year, which was to wave his hand in blessing over the car and neglect to punch any tickets. Between that and the fact they missed me earlier this week, I have a free trip (two punches) for next week. I'd already bought a round-trip ticket for next Wednesday, but I've been informed that 1) it's good for a year and 2) I can trade it in when I purchase a 10-ride later. I'll hang on to it for a while.
As I was walking away from the train in Davis, a voice hailed me and I turned to find Mr. Meyer, my introductory chem teacher from DVC. He was up with a friend, visiting; we chatted for a couple of minutes, and he told me to come by his evening class next semester. I may. It was odd, though, running into him so far from home.
I rode over to the Student Farm for the first time this quarter; the whole place was under about an inch of water, but Raoul greeted me like I'd been there last week and set me to planting basil in the greenhouse. I got to dig in loose, sandy soil, which was sooooo nice. After that I went to have a look at the fields, came back to chat with Raoul and another student, then Raoul brought out the popcorn sheller to show us how it worked. I ended up being a minute or two late for biochem, but I had to stick around to watch that... it was one of the cast-iron crank deals, looking sort of like a sausage grinder. If I had $150 to drop on one, I'd get one myself.
In biochem, we raced through a little immunology, then the prof ran the same movie he showed us at the very beginning, a very good CGI called "The Life of the Cell". He had told us the first time that by the end of the class, we'd be able to name everything going on, and he was pretty much right. "This class in three minutes," he called it. Pretty fun.
Then ento lecture, and I was out in good time; I had about 25 minutes before the train came, enough to grab lunch. I treated myself to Chipotle, my first bought lunch in three weeks. Fetching it and getting to the station took a grand total of ten minutes, and I had a lovely lunch on the train. I didn't hear until it was too late that the Stitch and Ride group was in the last car, or else I would have gone back there to chat about sewing.
eastbaygreg came over during the afternoon to finish off his "work from home" day, then he went south for the weekend; I baked bread (half raisin, half plain) and brought that and homemade soda to simplykimberly's Craft Night. The birch beer was especially popular, more so than the Zatarain's root beer, and the bread went over very well. I met several new people (including hitchhiker and phinnia), and hung out with several more, though mostly hopeforyou. I fixed Hannah's cat toy, which was a little ball of rabbit fur she had pulled apart and nearly broken the string on; when I was done, I tested the new bionic (6 million dollar) fur ball on the resident cats. They pronounced it good, to the point that Ditto nearly managed to haul it off to her lair never to be seen again. I think Hannah will be pleased. I know I am -- I used upholstery thread to sew it back up, and she'll never break the thick strand of tiger tail (steel cable encased in vinyl) that I replaced the string with. Pull it out, possibly (though unlikely), but not break it.I have to make sugared cranberries for the candy table this year. Pure crack. I still have cranberry seeds in my teeth; I must have eaten half the pan's worth.
So here I am, back home, posting at the end of my day. My throat is sore again... ah, well, two days of not being sick was nice. I have nowhere to be tomorrow, and Sunday I just have a Dr. J appointment, badly needed. I think I'll take it easy for a bit.