OK, so maybe it’s not fair to do multiple posts in a single day, but sometimes it’s nice to have that facade of a barrier between thoughts.

Offering up a “week in review,” so to speak:
Kyle and Robin came over last Sunday after I got home from work (which wasn’t that bad, by the way). Christy was there, too, and we hung out for a bit, threw darts, went out to eat at Fratello’s, then played cards for a little while. It was a nice visit.

After that, I went down to MKE to meet Michelle for a party at Raj’s apartment. We met Raj through some other friends, and it was interesting to find out that that was pretty much how everyone at the party had met him. He’s a very easygoing, fun guy, so it’s not hard to see why people like him. Michelle’s cousin Laura came with us too, and we were all out until bar time.

We ended up sleeping in on Monday (Labor Day), but eventually we made it up to Sheboygan to visit Michelle’s grandma (her dad’s mom). That was fun, too. Michelle’s grandma is 91, but you’d never guess it, considering how well she gets around, and how “on the ball” she seems in general. Eventually, we made it back to Oshkosh for sleep that day.

The week at work was crap, but that was expected. On Tuesday, I had students in my office literally one after the other from 9:30am to 2:15pm. At that point, there was a lull, and I snuck out for lunch. The traffic cooled down a bit after that, but you can’t help but feel you’re just treading water during this first week and hoping nothing gets too screwed up. For the most part, things work out in the end.

I guess it’s important to keep in mind that the kids who are there in that first week are either new, nervous and don’t have anything to worry about, or they’re slow, lazy, and have shot themselves in the foot already (so you don’t really need to feel sorry for them). But that was the work week in a nutshell. We’ll see if there’s any more time to get other things done this coming week. I have a big project that has to be done two weeks from today, so here’s hoping for the best…

This weekend, we’re in E.R. for Joe and April’s “wedding reception, part 2.” It’s the Northwoods version of the party that was not exactly had on the day they got married. The event’s happening in St. Germain at the community center. Before we get ready to go over there, I think Christy and Michelle and I are going to head to town for… I dunno, some errands or something.

But, thinking of weekend plans going in to the fall: my October is a little up in the air right now. I was most honored to accept the request of Kevin and Amanda to be their new daughter Harper’s godfather. She’ll be baptized some time next month, so I will obviously be doing that on one of my Sundays…

Speaking of Sunday, the Packers get started with their season this weekend. We should probably call it an 80’s Rewind Weekend, because they are going to get trounced by the Bears up at Lambeau. My prediction on the final score: Chicago- 20, Green Bay- 6.

I was walking to work on the first day that the kids got back to school, behind a pair of young men in nearly identical outfits, both smoking cigarettes and looking like they’d slept in the clothes they were wearing.

I glanced up and down the streets near campus as I crossed them, watching beer signs and ping pong tables and milk-crate furniture being dragged into kitchens. I watched sweat-soaked fathers carrying the luggage of their baby-faced daughters, who were too busy talking on their cell phones to help with much more than a pillow.

I came to the realization that any and all nostalgia I might have had for those college days is gone. Nothing about the lifestyles of these young people is even remotely appealing to me. I have successfully separated my memories from the physical locations where they took place. I absolutely, positively no longer want to be in college—I’m just glad that I went.

It was striking to me when Michelle and I visited Marquette last week Sunday, found ourselves walking behind a group of college guys, and she expressed a similar sentiment.
“I’m really glad I’m not in college,” she said. It was the first time I heard her say anything of the kind.

So I guess this means that I’m through oscillating between being sort of grown up and being really grown up. Maybe the notion that there was any movement was just an illusion. In any case, I hope the class of 2010 has a good time in college. Without me.

I hung a lot of my pictures and clocks today. Thanks to Schrubbe for the advice RE: super glue– it did work on the cardboard…

But as I stood in the bathroom hanging one of my clocks above the toilet, for a moment I thought maybe I should re-set it and change the label from Beijing, China to Hill Valley, California.

?

I got home just a little while ago from doing a couple loads of laundry (I know, I know– on a Friday), and I realized that I have really completely settled in to this apartment.

Not just in a everything-is-unpacked-and-put-away-and-it-looks-like-someone-lives-here sort of way, but in the way that you get when you’re very comfortable in your home and you feel like it’s your place. I find myself now finally being able to dart around putting things away or getting things together with a sort of mindless speed that only comes with familiarity. Being here completely feels like home now, and while that may not be that important to you, it’s probably my most significant observation of the evening.

Tomorrow I have a lot of cleaning to do around the place, because Kyle and Robin are due to be here on Sunday. That reminds me that I should call them.

I washed my car while the laundry was in, and I still haven’t been able to completely get those plastered-on insects off the front bumper since I got back from the trip out west. I can’t believe that shit. Tomorrow, I’m going to take a little rubbing compound to it and see if that doesn’t do the trick.

The Packers played in the middle of the afternoon today and I… didn’t really care. Who is even on that team? Does Brett Favre still play for this rabble? Time will tell if I lend any more attention to this football season than I did the last, but I guess it doesn’t look that good for ’em…

OK, well, I’m gonna have a samm’ich and then maybe take a ride over to the BryGuy’s place. He’s playin poker & stuff w/ a couple of his boys, and while poker really doesn’t interest me, I realized that I haven’t seen Bryan in a non-movie environment for quite some time.

Have a nice weekend…