travels: plus & minus.

[subjective]

from california:

+ meeting jactitation who was a great tour guide, very generous, & who allowed me to pick her brain about ta'ing for at least an hour or two.
+ every single person i met at uc davis was really nice, personable, encouraging, enthusiastic. esp the person i've had my eye on to be an advisor.
+ put a deposit down on an apartment. it is not far from campus & includes hot water, cable tv & wireless internet. however it is carpeted (down with carpet!) & has no counter space in the kitchen. but will do for the first year & what a relief that i have a place to live now.
+ john & peg were great hosts & took me to the fancy upscale farmers market where i drooled over the gorgeous produce. soon the wonders of california produce will be mine! also they fed me good food & drove me to the airport at an ungodly hour. gold stars all around.
+ brunch with filmstills whom i hadn't seen in over two years. we plotted her next movie. ;)

- spent an inordinate amount of time on campus doing the pronoun corrections. bah. worried about what this means for fall, & how to deal with it in teaching.
- horrendous flight problems that had me stuck in d.c. for 5+ hours, not knowing whether i'd have to get a hotel or not, leaving frantic & tearful messages for j & nimmy at regular intervals.


from minneapolis:

+ meeting annaclaire who is totally funny & has like the best laugh ever-- hearty & genuine.
+ getting to hear misscallis give substitute teaching anecdotes in person!
+ the mall of america & its internal theme park, camp snoopy. great googly moogly, that place is overwhelming. i was excited to see it but i think i will probably never go back. ericka made a new friend in line on the roller coaster. ;) my favorite part: legoland, which featured enormous lego statues of dinosaurs, pirate ships & harry potter. cheryljill and redhoodedm took some seriously good pictures that i'm sure will be scanned & posted eventually. the moa is teeming with photo opportunities.
+ i got a copy of the book that katio co-edited, & woo! my essay is in it!
+ katia, anna claire & i spent at least an hour playing this at the arcade on saturday night. we became quite obsessed & i became uncharacteristically competitive.
+ erickapander became a wife in front of my very eyes! ;) everyone dressed up & looked totally hott, i got to wear a tie. i was so fucking impressed with the vows she & b wrote. also this is the first wedding i've ever been to which did not involve either church or state & hi it was so damn good. also, ericka, i totally fell in love with your family, they were awesome.
+ being around a lot of people i'd never met before & seriously, never once worrying about gender stuff with them, probably because i have a lot of trust in the people i did already know, feeling like they were on top of shit & being aware & stuff. actually i'm not sure if this has ever happened before. it meant a lot (thanks).

- freckin' flight delays can go to hell.
- i am really really really sick of traveling & airplanes. really.

Comments

[mala106.livejournal.com]

those vows are so great.