1. I’m getting close on this organizational thing.  It could really happen this time!
2. The storage area is all cleaned up, several trips to goodwill, and to school have moved out things that don’t need to be here anymore, and I am pressing toward the end.
3. Though I am done for today.  I need a break.
4. Fun lunch with Ali.  Then we took AB to the airport.  Too bad they were both working, else we could have taken off for WVA and Commenced to Gamble.
5. One summer workout left to go!  Hooray.  Though it has been really good.  Today was cardio day.  We had to run.  I do hate running.

 

1. Well, things are looking really good to get the Christmas ornaments put away this week.
2. It always gets worse before it gets better.  I had the my sitting/craft room/command and control center pretty much sorted, but now I have to attack the storage room, so I dragged everything out of there into this room, and now it is three kinds of chaos.  But it will get better.
3. Only six weeks of summer left.
4. I have lots of little chores and appointments that need doing in that time.
5. Coffee time now.
6. I want to write something, but I don’t know what.

 

1. I saw someone today who reminded me of “he of whom we do not speak,” and as much as that is very old news, and well over etc, it still pisses me off that he never said goodbye. Loser.  Yeah, I just spent about 20 minutes googling, trying to figure out who he married, and if the scrap of information I found in a wedding registry is him, I just have to say dude, that is some damn ugly china.  Now go away, and never enter my thoughts again. 
2. Chris and Michael reappeared in town and we went to the Washington Monument together.  I haven’t been up there since I was a kid.  Great view of course.  What is really interesting to me, from the air, is the same thing I have been noticing on the ground that Arlington is full of trees, and has very little high rise action.  Just in three spots really.  You can have a lot of views that are just tree tops.  I like that.
3. Like it would have killed you just to say goodbye?  That hurt.
4. Pennie and I went to the signature theater tonight and heard a guitarist and this woman, who was funny and interesting.  It was sort of a poetry, lyrical essay kind of thing.  I liked being there, at a live performance.  I might get season tickets for the theater.  It is neat to have it in walking distance, and I always enjoy going to performances, but I forget about that until I am at one, so consequently, I don’t go very often.
5. There was all sorts of running in the workout yesterday.  Horrible.  I hate running.

 

1. I’ve knit 4 hats in the last three days.  Back to the circle loom.  I forgot how fast it goes on that.
2. I’ve watched a lot of west wing.  Almost done with season two.
3. I’m either resting  or hiding with these activities.
4. I feel quite sluggish today.  Very tired in my head. 
5. Our pet house guests are gone and Kevin and Violet have run of the whole place again.

 

1. Being crew leader is not really that difficult, just lots of checking, and the worry, not that I have forgotten to do stuff, but that I have not done things that I didn’t know that I had to do.  I feel like I am constantly reading through the entire manual.  Constant Vigilance!  I do have a cool four color chart for the seating tomorrow.  It is the perfect storm of a regular service plus a baptism, plus a missioner commissioning, plus the altar guild corporate communion, plus the blessing of new kneelers.  That’s all at the 10 o’clock service.  I guess I’ll try to think about Jesus at the 7:30, because there may be some scrambling at the 10.
2. Painting class went well yesterday, I was timid at first, but the teacher coached me through the rough spots.  The lesson was to paint various objects (abstractly) and in the process destroy some objects by creating others.  It’s abstract all right.  Here is my picture.  It began as a much lighter painting with lots of small objects, but I began to add large shapes and they took over.  I  really like painting.  It’s fun of you can let go and not worry about being right.
3. Michael is back from camp and he and Chris are off of their “man trip” for Father/Son bonding.  It was really great to get to spend so much time with Chris.  I think the last time we were together, without other obligations, was when we were kids. 
4. Next week I need to settle into some sort of routine to get my sociology done, and some school organizational stuff.  Also move on to organizing the attic.
5. Walking the little dog, LIza, is fun.  Simon has settled in, stopped hissing, and is eating.  Kevin and Violet are being quite angelic to stay upstairs without a fuss.  It is possible that Violet has forgotten there is a downstairs.  Paul says Kevin broke out at one point, but was polite in the brief moments he walked among the guests.

 

1. Monday I joined the summer workout group.  It is run by the same company who runs the school year workout, but the owner of the company comes out personally to kick our asses.  He is a friend of mind, but “mercy is for the weak, sir!”, so he gives no quarter.  I am, how do you say, sore.
2. We have two pet guests here.  Liza is one of those tiny snuffly dogs with a lot of hair and spindly legs. She is very friendly and snoozing on the sofa right now.  Simon is a very skinny, very long white cat, who has many medical needs, and keep meowing as if I am doing something wrong.  I probably am, but he has at least toned down the hissing, now that he has been here 24 hours.  He likes being hand fed,  long walks on the beach, and everyone getting out of his way.  He has selected under the chair as his hiding place.  Kevin and Violet have been assigned to the penthouse upstairs, where they are enjoying my newly cleaned room.  Kevin seemed a bit put out yesterday to be kept from his usual daytime nap chair, and would occasionally look at me as if to say, “Could you keep it down please?”
3. Chris and Melissa and I went to see the Air Force Memorial last night, and even though form a distance I haven’t been liking it, up close it was pretty cool.
4. Right before school let out I saw this reusable starbucks cup and I bought it and really like it.  I have never seen one on the shelf since and today the guy at the store told me he gets several calls a day asking for them.  He says I am the only one who brings one in.  Is it oissible they only made two, the one I saw and didn’t buy and then the one I did?  Well.  upon some ebay research, it seems (consider the source, a motivated seller) that store only got 2 or 3 and they are not making them any more.  There seems to be a little bidding excitement around the old cold cup.
5. Next week I am the Altar Guild Crew leader.  I am reviewing my manual.  Yes, there is a manual.

 

1. I decided to drop the class.  I’m too old for half-hearted teaching, especially when I am excited about the subject and the readings I have already done.  I am going to go through the text myself and use the time I would have spent in class working on lesson plans.
2. My debate is about writing either the instructor and or the college to complain.  It’s not just me, think of the children, and by that I mean the chuckleheads in class who were excited about the easy A and coming late and leaving early.  I was them once, but I know better now, and when you are paying for a class, there should be an expectation that the teacher will be prepared and that there is some small amount of rigor in the class.
3. I’ve worked very hard this past weekend on my large room, going through old papers, sorting all my craft supplies, putting things away.  The job isn’t done, but it is coming along nicely.
4. While working on the above project I was watching season 1 of the West Wing on DVD.  I really like that show, though they are all so prefectly timed in their brilliant and morally straight comebacks that it is not realistic.  We all know that in real life, you never think of what to say until much later.  Alone. In front of the mirror.
5. July 4th saw the brilliant execution of a 7:30 departure, down to the Virginia side of the river on bus and metro, return after the fireworks maneuver, that really went flawlessly, except for the rain and the evil cloud of thick smoke that obscured the view.  You could tell that the crowd was really trying to make the best of it, but their disappointment was palpable.  I appreciated what I saw, and used my imagination for what I couldn’t.  It will be interesting to try this plan in good weather to a)see if the crowds are as light before and after, and to actually see the fireworks.  Since the fireworks were obscured, that means my favorite moment was sitting with Paul reading our books while we were waiting.  I had The Tipping Point and Paul had a weighty tome about Martin Luther King Jr.  It was a nice place to sit and read a book.  There were cheetos, strawberry shortcake and ice cream for snacks.

 

1. The sociology class seems to be leaning towards being awful.  The professor has been late by 30 minutes or more each time, and the solution is now we are starting the class later.  I was inclined to give her some room after the halfhearted introduction on Tuesday, but today’s lecture consisted of her vaguely going over the textbook provided powerpoint.  I’m very disappointed.  I thought the chapter was great and and was really looking forward to going into it.  But it was pretty terrible, and believe me, I know what bad teaching looks like, because I know when I am half assing it, and it looks alot like what I saw today.  The more I think about it the more upset I am getting, and I don’t know that I want to spend the summer this way.  It might be just me and the book for the summer. 
2. On the plus side I had a really good time going to the folk life festival and the newseum today with my Big Brother.
3. Grumpy.
4. Bed.
5. Now.

 

1. Beautiful weather
2. Great visit with Paul’s family last night.  A nice trip to the folklife festival too.
3. A very diverse group in my sociology class. A girl from Ghana, a man from Morocco, a former Air Force Guy, a future marine, an extremely confident (arrogant) young white man, an atheist, an aging high school social studies teacher, oh wait, that’s me.
4. Thinking about Marx, postmodernism, functionalism, other theories.
5. Good dinner out with Chris and Melissa tonight.  Conversation about computers, Spinal Tap, etc.
6. A walk through Arlington Cemetery today behind Dick Cato’s caisson.  (a dear friend of the Berry’s and a friend after meeting him at their house)  Passing tourists who remove their hats, or put their hands on their hearts.  A band, a firing team, the riderless horse with the boots turned backwards in the stirrups, an incredible rendition of “How Great Though Art: the most uplifting and joyous thing I have ever heard. 

 

1. Today, comparison shopping for canvases for class.  I used paper on Friday, but it seems to soak up the paint quickly.  Went to all three of the art/craft stores that I frequent, and found the best price at Pearl.  It will be affordable, but the big question is, what will I do with these nine giant abstract paintings at the end of the summer?  Christmas presents anyone? Something to build a fort with?  I could paint over them and make big signs for various occasions.  We shall see.
2. Ten more sleeves to Stelmos’ today.  They sell fairly steadily.  I am going to try to get a supply set aside, so I can concentrate on so other things for a while.
3. Another huge noisy thunderstorm tonight.  AB and Ali and I were right under it as we took Ali to the train station for a trip home.  It was a little scary.
4. Chris, Melissa and Michael arrive for a visit tonight.
5. Pool time with AB today.  Always cool and refreshing.