Indian Summer Days

Just for the record, I'll say a few more words about my recent activities. On Monday, I finally forced myself to finish an application that I really didn't want to do. I was unhappy because it felt like a bad fit, and I hate trying to talk myself up as something I'm really not. It also made me unhappy because part of it required me to go back to some of the intellectual interests I had in college. They were right for me then, I suppose, when I was much more confused and alienated than I am now. But going back to them brought me back to thoughts of sadder times. Apparently, it also brought me back to the worse habits of those times, because the application was due ON Monday, and I didn't finish it until around 1. Then I took the train down and hand-delivered it, two plus hours which were made happier by the warm weather and the fact that I was doing some very light but fascinating reading (see Book Draft post).

As for the rest of the afternoon and evening, I frittered it away completely. I can't remember much about it except that Pocket of Bolts was at a talk and I had an English muffin with an egg and a slice of turkey bacon for dinner, also some fresh pineapple. I finished off the day NOT by working out but by just going over to the gym and sitting in the steam room.

Yesterday Pocket of Bolts and I got up reasonably early to vote. We vote in the same building that our gym is in, about half a block away. The population density around here is so high that there's a polling place about every block, can you imagine? We ran into our landlord and one of our neighbors while standing in line. We didn't wait in line too long incidentally. The atmosphere was very cheerful.

After that, I ran around doing a variety of errands, and then headed off to my seminar at U of C. It was interesting, but more draggy than usual, more mechanical. There was an election party I wanted to go to up near Evanston, and I could just hardly wait for time to pass so I could get up there. Still, I took notes dutifully enough. I also managed to a run to the library afterwards and photocopy some reading for the Thursday class. Then off to the party! The streets and trains were incredibly empty. It was like the whole city had headed off to Grant Park, which, when I saw the crowd on TV, seemed about the long and short of it.

The party was jolly, lots of good snacks, champagne toasts when the results finally rolled around. Then Pocket of Bolts and I headed home. Strangely, while running to catch a bus, I broke the strap of on my show, which is really too bad because it is my favorite pair of shoes which I wear everyday. It's such a sturdy pair of shoes too, I was most surprised. I will have to try to get it repaired somehow, or maybe Pocket of Bolts can jerry-rig something. But it was almost impossible to walk with it broken, so I had to walk home from the bus-stop in my socks.