Day Diary April 27, 2018
It’s 6:34 a.m.
I woke up at 4:30, not wanting to, and tossing and turning for more than an hour.
It’s the last day when I am 50. I turn 51 tomorrow.
I feel an increasing sense of nervousness I can’t shake. I have nothing especial to be nervous about. The usual end-of-semester tasks await. No more, no less. My in-laws are arriving today but they don’t usually stress me out. I don’t think I’m stressed about turning 51 except perhaps that it feels closer to 60 than 50 did, probably because it is, but why should I care? I’ll have to work on my breathing.
A typical work Friday awaits: four classes at the university.
Time to get back upstairs and get the kids up for school.
7:00 ish
Breakfast with the girls.
Made my lunch while enjoying a smoothie.
A tussle between them over whether older daughter was allowed to see younger daughter’s school pictures. Reminding the younger that she hates it when her sister does this to her went nowhere. All politics is local.
Brushed my teeth with my younger daughter.
Typed these notes.
7:40 – Fact: we get completely ready for school before doing crafts, or whatever. Fact: This never happens in my house. Once again, a frantic, irritated rush to get my girls out the door and into the car. This shouldn’t be that hard.
8:10 – at work getting ready for my classes.
8:50 – got surprised by my colleagues with a bagels and fruit birthday celebration. Had to teach 8 minutes later so it was short and sweet. The students got wind of it and sang “Happy Birthday” to me as I walked in. Nice.
9:00-11:00 – two hours of classes in which we talked about the connections they were making between our course material and contemporary life. They weren’t into it, so I felt a bit like a dentist pulling teeth.
11:00-11:30 – a deep discussion with my good friend and about his experience helping an LGBTQ student, and then multiple students, to discuss theology and their identities as LGBTQ people. It was a really powerful story he told.
Morning work shook off the odd anxiousness I woke up with. Great.
12:00 – taught my photo theory course. Students were showing their photography work in response to the assignment prompt, “Photograph something we cannot see.” A good discussion of the limits of images to convey information without text. I’m going to miss this when it ends on Monday. This is my favorite class to teach and this was a good group.
1:00 – my NYC course met. Today was our day to experiment with their semester projects. They had to design an experiment that would allow others to get a glimpse of how they approach or see the world. We split off into teams following a few people as they led us through their “cruises”. So, I ended up in The Cup making small zines with a few other students from scrap materials we found. With limited time we had to do less thinking and more just doing. It worked well and was a good time.
I asked K. if she’d heard about her internship in Ireland.
2:20 – came home for a bit and got some guitar playing in.
2:50-3:15 – went to the girls’ school to pick them up. Talked about Teju Cole with some colleagues.
3:15-4:30 – worked in the yard, did some drawing outside, enjoying the nice spring weather. Made pizza dough.
After 4:30 – my in-laws arrived from Atlanta. They’re here for the weekend to see my daughter’s orchestra concert. Visited with them. My wife came home from an awards ceremony.
By 6:00 my older daughter is playing cribbage with her grandfather. My younger daughter is working on a craft project. Wine, beer, and snacks are rounding the time out. My wife is now taking the pizza dough to the next stage.
On my desk as I write: two small plants, this computer, a picture of my girls, a lamp, a card for a medical appointment I need to cancel, some Sudafed, a pile of papers, a few bills, and two books on sound studies., an empty beer glass and coaster, a cellphone, a book on the photographer Eugene Atget, a ceramic piece holding pens, a notecard, some post-it notes, the cable to the stereo, a stack of close-up filters I use for photography.
6:30-7:00 – enjoyed homemade pizza with my family and in-laws. Took older daughter to symphony orchestra rehearsal at 7:10 and then back to get her at 7:50.
8:00 – enjoying a cup of tea and reading Szarkowski’s book on Eugene Atget, the French photographer.
8:00-9:30 – relaxing with the family. Older daughter looked up college acceptance rates even though she’s in the 7th grade! Reminded her, once again, that she needs to be the age she is and not live in the future. Younger daughter made origami.
Feeling really tired and heading up to bed.