Topic 1, a good thing.
This morning I was sitting in my office, wondering how to kill time because I haven't gotten all the stuff together that I need to assign TA jobs, when a guy pokes his head into my office. My first reaction was, "That doesn't look like one of my students..." My almost instant second reaction was, "D'oh!" Y'see, the guy was my brother, who decided to stop by for a few hours on his way from Minnesota to Texas (he's driving around a lot right now while he's between ending his stable substitute teaching and lesson teaching job and going back on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra). I showed him around the department, introduced him to a bunch of people, then we went to lunch at the student union, where I ran into a bunch of my gaming friends and did another round of introductions. He's probably halfway through Oklahoma right now, and might stop by on his way back next week. Maybe I'll show him my apartment then.
Topic 2, a not-so-good thing.
Lately it seems a lot of my friends are getting dumped by long-time lovers or spouses. If you run in the same circles I do, you probably know who I'm talking about. If not, you don't really need to know.
It strikes me that a lot of people have trouble making that most important of all transitions for a long relationship to work. The transition from the intense "I can't live without you" phase to the more comfortable "I want to live with you" phase. Some people just can't "detect" anything but the torrid romantic sort of love, and when it ends (as it almost always does), they feel trapped. The old "I love you as a friend" thing, which is actually how a long term relationship SHOULD work. So many people fail to recognize that, and think that moving into that sort of love means it's over. Sometimes (as happened to me when I got dumped in college) it kicks in after a few months. Other times it takes a few years before one of the pair decides it must be over. Fortunately for my parents, they made that transition and celebrated their 35th anniversary this past August.
Topic 3, a nifty if minor thing.
I was doing a little time-killing shopping at a shopping center near my apartment, and was feeling hungry, so I popped into a grocery store I generally don't shop at (higher prices, lower selection). And I found a passel of cheap Spychanger Transformers knockoffs, mostly remolded some, and all with Bumblebee heads. $1 for a two-pack (both the same figure, tho), I found 5 of the 7 sets. Haven't opened them yet, and I don't expect them to hold together well, but it's still nifty.
This morning I was sitting in my office, wondering how to kill time because I haven't gotten all the stuff together that I need to assign TA jobs, when a guy pokes his head into my office. My first reaction was, "That doesn't look like one of my students..." My almost instant second reaction was, "D'oh!" Y'see, the guy was my brother, who decided to stop by for a few hours on his way from Minnesota to Texas (he's driving around a lot right now while he's between ending his stable substitute teaching and lesson teaching job and going back on the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra). I showed him around the department, introduced him to a bunch of people, then we went to lunch at the student union, where I ran into a bunch of my gaming friends and did another round of introductions. He's probably halfway through Oklahoma right now, and might stop by on his way back next week. Maybe I'll show him my apartment then.
Topic 2, a not-so-good thing.
Lately it seems a lot of my friends are getting dumped by long-time lovers or spouses. If you run in the same circles I do, you probably know who I'm talking about. If not, you don't really need to know.
It strikes me that a lot of people have trouble making that most important of all transitions for a long relationship to work. The transition from the intense "I can't live without you" phase to the more comfortable "I want to live with you" phase. Some people just can't "detect" anything but the torrid romantic sort of love, and when it ends (as it almost always does), they feel trapped. The old "I love you as a friend" thing, which is actually how a long term relationship SHOULD work. So many people fail to recognize that, and think that moving into that sort of love means it's over. Sometimes (as happened to me when I got dumped in college) it kicks in after a few months. Other times it takes a few years before one of the pair decides it must be over. Fortunately for my parents, they made that transition and celebrated their 35th anniversary this past August.
Topic 3, a nifty if minor thing.
I was doing a little time-killing shopping at a shopping center near my apartment, and was feeling hungry, so I popped into a grocery store I generally don't shop at (higher prices, lower selection). And I found a passel of cheap Spychanger Transformers knockoffs, mostly remolded some, and all with Bumblebee heads. $1 for a two-pack (both the same figure, tho), I found 5 of the 7 sets. Haven't opened them yet, and I don't expect them to hold together well, but it's still nifty.