This evening I went out with Jen and Christoph and William.
I am fond of run-ons, near-run-ons, hyphenated phrases, and either over- or under-use of commmas.
But let’s back up.
Earlier in the afternoon, after teaching, after downloading, after hearing that Katerina had passed her PhD exam(s), I left and wandered to State Street, where I got my hair cut (after picking up enough cash to cover it). Then off to Fair Trade I went, where I chatted about Doctor Who with the barista who cares about such matters.
Barista does not sound like a word to apply to men.
And then I sat and wrote and then doodled until the 5:20 bus, which got me home after 5:30 and after Jen left a message between 5:15 and 5:19. I called back, she was busy and said she’d call back.
Which she did. She got a job at Purdue, a one year VAP that could be extended to two. She thought we should all celebrate, but that depended on Christoph, who wasn’t back from work, and who would probably go running anyway.
I started watching episode 5 of Jericho. I had cheese and cranberries and water and wine.
In short: electricity comes back on, there is a mass-phone-call the reaches many and just states that there is somebody doing something, that there is a “world out there,” and there is constant image on TV and on any websites one attempts to view. Then the circuits overload and a fire is started at the library. This leads to heroism on the parts of many as fires are fought across town. In the mini-plots that drive characterization we learn that Jake had a bad past and knows even more skills than he lets on, as does Hawkins, who has a satellite connection to the internet, and Eric, the cheating brother, plans on telling his wife it’s over so he can be with the bar owner, but, hell, he and his wife engage in heroic activities, their house burns down, Eric learns she wanted to divorce him before this all started, and, well, can’t they just give it another shot?
I’m leaving out a few details about IRS lady, clerk-boy and snooty-girl, about Jake and his father, Jake and his mother, etc.
It wasn’t a bad episode, but it’s trying to hard to be smart and as a result is rather dumb.
In the middle of it Jen called. We talked and decided I would come over between “now” and an hour, so once Jericho was over and I could check my email I put on my shoes and headed over. We chatted and then William arrived, I talked a bit more about dissertation matters — especially about the A. Rudolph book on analogy in the work of Hamann, a text Rainer told me about, Hans provided a review of, and Lynn gave me the table of contents to today — and then we left for Jolly Bobs.
I bought the first (and only) round there. Cute enough bartender/waitress with colored red-orange hair. We left about the time the music was getting loud, and headed across the street to an empty table at the Weary Traveler. I downed a Two-Hearted Ale (damned good stuff), chatted about comics with William, and was surprised to see, as were Jen and Christoph, that Eric Jarosinski was in town (with his New York girlfriend and some other folks). He had gotten a (tenure-track) job at U Penn (in Philly). Tina Gerhardt applied for 3 jobs last year (UNC, Austin, and some other place), got interviews at all, but no offers. Evidently she’s been publishing like mad and “has her shit together” — no longer flighty or flakey. She has a boyfriend in New York and so will live with him and go on the market again in the fall. Jen chatted with Eric; I spoke mostly with William. Then Eric returned to his girlfriend, we talked for a while, and then shifted to a larger, round table to our side, and at that point Jen ordered some chips and salsa and guac, and we partook. Jen picked up the tab, and we left before midnight, in time for me to finish my thoughts here.
