If I am someone you once saw with any degree of frequency, you may be wondering where I have been. The short answer is that I have been at home reading – constantly. I rather foolishly signed up for three classes this summer, which, due to the accelerated schedule, are held each day, all morning. Since the instructors assume you aren’t crazy enough to have signed up for three classes, they have no qualms about assigning enormous quantities of reading. There are two and a half weeks left in the semester, and, in addition to the three major papers I have to write before then, I still have to read Evelina, Persuasion and A Land Remembered. That’s probably about a thousand pages of text, which doesn’t include the selected essays by Samuel Johnson I am reading on a daily basis (and which, by the way, are the best thing ever, and you should immediately go out and buy), plus assorted poetry and the entire second half of Florida: A Short History. It’s overwhelming. I am comforted by the knowledge that this, too, shall pass, and I will one day soon be able to do the things I once did, like go to dinner with friends, read the newspaper, and watch television.
I have no interest in the latest Batman film. I am, in general, no fan of comic books or films adapted from comic books, especially Batman. When the buzzword surrounding this latest installment is “dark”–an adjective that defines all I hate in cinema–I am sure to stay away.
I am notoriously fond of free time. I enjoy having things to look forward to, but am far less enthusiastic about having such limited down time, as is my current condition.
Nevertheless, I must take a moment to congratulate the Gainesville Roller Rebels on an important milestone. Yesterday, before a crowd of several hundred, GRR held their first intra-league bout in the sweltering heat of the Alachua County Fairgrounds. The amount of planning and preparation for this event–the first ever roller derby exhibition in Gainesville–was phenomenal. Let’s just say it rivaled the 2008 Olympics. It’s not true, but let’s say it.
The team was split between “Sinners” and “Saints”, and they faced off against each other for three 20 minute periods, augmented by a few Jacksonville Roller Girls to make up for the GRR girls on the disabled list. The costumes were adorable, the makeup fantastic, the energy was infectious, and the crowd was enormous. It must be considered an unqualified success, even if the score was rather lopsided in the Sinners’ favor.
I took hundreds of photographs, of course, but those will have to wait until my many papers and reading assignments are behind me. In the meantime, check out the Gainesville Sun’s article on the exhibition. They had reporters and photographers there, as did TV-20, whose report aired on the 11 o’clock news last night. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Alligator had an article tomorrow.
This is a great time for GRR. I just wish I had more of a chance to enjoy it.
Things are going to be a lot different around here now that I’ve got myself a fancy laptop computer. It’s been a long time coming, too. Miriam bought our last computer in 2001 or so, and it served us well for many years, but when it finally gave up a month or so ago it was inevitable that we’d have to put up some money for something decent. So, I went this morning to Office Depot at 13th Street and 10th Avenue (noted for its Freeze Outs) and bought an HP laptop with 4GB or RAM, putting our erstwhile computer’s 256MB to shame.
I have had some reservations about using a laptop as our primary computer, and I am still fairly confident that I’ll get us a mid-grade desktop in the not-too-distant future, so we can both have something to use on those occasions that we each have important work to do. But, for now, this one will probably do us pretty well. I will have to attach a mouse, since the touchpad is an absurdly stupid invention. But the keyboard is full size with a 10-key pad and everything. The display is enormous – bigger than our old monitor, even.
I still need to get us on a wireless connection here at home, since nobody nearby has any open WiFi signal which I can steal. What there is is too weak. Once mine is up and running, though, I’ll be computing out in the yard, and in bed, and on the couch and in the shower, etc. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
If I am someone you once saw with any degree of frequency, you may be wondering where I have been. The short answer is that I have been at home reading – constantly. I rather foolishly signed up for three classes this summer, which, due to the accelerated schedule, are held each day, all morning. Since the instructors assume you aren’t crazy enough to have signed up for three classes, they have no qualms about assigning enormous quantities of reading. There are two and a half weeks left in the semester, and, in addition to the three major papers I have to write before then, I still have to read Evelina, Persuasion and A Land Remembered. That’s probably about a thousand pages of text, which doesn’t include the selected essays by Samuel Johnson I am reading on a daily basis (and which, by the way, are the best thing ever, and you should immediately go out and buy), plus assorted poetry and the entire second half of Florida: A Short History. It’s overwhelming. I am comforted by the knowledge that this, too, shall pass, and I will one day soon be able to do the things I once did, like go to dinner with friends, read the newspaper, and watch television. 
