In the last post I wrote about wanting to draw or write this idea. On Saturday, after two years of no drawing, I picked up my pencils.

I have an idea for a satire cartoon or short story based on this article and pending village elections. Revitalize Main Street! Like Castleton's cats, how about Castleton's rats? Oh I am itching to write and draw. This is why I am excited to not teach this summer.

 Classes start this week. My first class is Thursday. Boo hoo. Winter break over. Not that it was much of a break, but not teaching for a few weeks is good, and I did get to do a few thing, such as read. Unfortunatly, I have gradually returned to my preferred mode of staying up late and sleeping in, so now I have to mend my ways.

We watched another hyped movie on Saturday: Maestro. Neither of us liked this one much either! Again, acting was fine, but it felt too long, confusing, difficult to hear, with a story line that focused too much on his sex life and too little on other more interesting aspects of his biography. Recently friends have been recommending "Killers of the Flower Moon," but after Oppenheimer and Maestro, I'm reluctant to invest over three hours...

I joined No Labels. Wonky snarky self-important pundits who diss the idea can go F themselves.

I didn't note here yesterday that it was the two-year anniversary of Daddy's death. Not that I didn't think about him all day. I did. I think about him all the time, every day. Two years, two weeks, two months, two minutes -- or many more years than two, it hardly matters. I am not an unrealistic person, but two words I never wanted to type...Daddy's death.

 What an impressive speech! Go Liz!

I'm trying hard to be optimistic and to have faith that good always wins. It's hard to not be infuriated by Sinclair media (owner of our local CBS news station). It's always been my favorite local station because of the anchors and especially due to the weather, but over time Sinclair has insidiously inserted more and more of their national coverage, slipping in blatant bias and featuring election deniers like that nut Jordan. Last night there was a promotion for an offensive story where a woman said something like "it's crazy that you get a ticket for parking in a handicap parking spot but not for being caught with fentanyl." Putting aside the veracity of that statement (which is a false equivalency), parking in a spot intended for a person with disabilities is not something to be dismissed. What an ignorant, disrespectful b*tch. F you Sinclair. And speaking of election denying nuts, the member of congress who was gerrymandered to be my representative calls the criminals who attacked the Capitol "hostages," just like her cult master.

Last night Daddy made a brief appearance in my dreams (he was young, and wearing a striped sweater - uncharacteristic) and the night before I dreamed of Uncle Buddy, who had two unknown ~10-year-old kids with him, a boy and a girl.

This weekend we got a real snow storm! As Bob said, "it's good to see the Earth is still working."

Friday was Bob's 64th birthday. He wanted to go to Red Lobster. It's kind of a hard place to go for a vegetarian, but they have wonderful Brussels sprouts, and I got a salad. He got an unlimited feast.

This is chilling. It's obvious from current times, but I noticed hints and was disturbed by it among young people 15 years ago in toleration class.

I just heard the president of Harvard resigned. It's about time. The headline said it was due to plagiarism claims and her congressional hearing performance. I agree her responses at the hearing were appalling (and interlocutor Stefanik's behavior was also appalling), but what outraged me is that she is a plagiarist with no shame -- and somehow landed a prestigious academic job.

 Happy New Year!

I've been thinking about writing. I have some ideas and I want to start seriously writing again, but I'm not sure winter break will afford me enough time. I am not teaching this summer (for the first time in over 20 years) and that is when I plan to take a deep dive.

I saw quite a few people on Christmas day - the most since the start of the pandemic. So yesterday when the sinus attack lingered, I started to be afraid I'd caught a cold. Well, I didn't! That was the fourth time in the past few years that I've had a sudden quite bad sinus attack that lasted less than a day and did not turn into a cold, flu or covid.

Today I finished up a complicated, time-consuming, twice a year task for my department -- finally "winter break" for me. Whatever that means! I get to surf the web for fun, I guess.

Today would be Millie's 91st birthday.

 I am having a sinus attack. Ugh. I am a bad patient.

 I have a few things to write. First, Merry Christmas! Bob put up a tree about ten days ago. It's the first tree we've had since 2019. We couldn't get a fresh cut one because the tree farm we always patronize closed on December 10 for the season. It's a fundraiser for the boy scouts and I hypothesize that there were not enough kids willing to spend their free time at the tree farm. The tree he bought is nice, but I can tell that it is already becoming crispy. That's an exaggeration, but it's clear it won't last like a fresh cut one does. 

Next, I had a dream with Donna in it a few nights ago. That's strange because in th 8.5 years since she died, I can't remember ever dreaming of her. The dream seemed to take place in the elevator lobby of a dorm, high rise apartment complex, office building, hospital or some other institutional setting. There were festivities of some kind going on. Donna wasn't drinking and I was apprehensive because Bob was having wine.

Finally, we watched Oppenheimer. We were both disappointed. We'd seem a documentary on the subject months ago, and I think if I had not seen that first, I would have been completely confused by the movie. The only praise I have is that the acting was good and I expect it will win some acting awards. The movie itself was too long, the sound was a struggle, and the timeline seemed inappropriate for non-fiction. Then, there was so much of that tedious subject Hollywood loves...McCarthyism. We were both happy we had not gone to a theatre for this movie.

One thing about putting some time into working when everyone else is shopping for or celebrating the holidays is that a lot gets done because there are no interruptions!

 I feel like I am finally sort of caught up on work tasks I needed to do. What a relief!

I finished grading about two hours before the deadline. I have not pushed it this badly in years. I took about a two hour break, and then worked until 4:45 posting the grade breakdowns. I did this to avoid tons of student emails demanding a breakdown. I then slept six hours. I'm still not caught up, but I am not feeling too bad at this point. The good news: no complaints so far!

No changeover to snow happened, it was a couple degrees too warm. I'm deep in the abyss of grading. It is going well, but the clock is ticking!

It's very warm and rainy right now, but late tonight the precipatation is supposed to change to snow, resulting in 2-5". 

I watched the debate last week. My takeaways: RD is creepy. Eww. I have a feeling there are many icky skeletons in his closet. VR is an unhinged nut. Also, he's a boot lick for DT. All three are dangerous.

Back to grading.

I've started to read Liz Cheney's book. I hardly have the time right now, but I limit myself to one chapter per night. It's hard because the book is riveting. I am in awe of her bravery. The message is scary, but it's so important to pay attention to it. If we ignore it or discount it or buy into the cult a dystopian future awaits.

Last day of classes today. It was a good semester. One student waited until class was over and everyone had left to tell me how much he liked the class and how much he learned this semester. It was nice to hear that today.

Today was the last day for one of my classes; tomorrow is the last day for another; and, Monday is the last day for the third, and it is also the last day of classes. I don't do finals, primarily because there is no time to have an assignment due on December December 7 or 8 or 11 and make the grading deadline (December 14). I suppose it is possible if a scantron multiple choice is administered, but I don't like that kind of assessment.