Retirement and New Beginnings
Miraculously, I have made it halfway through my toe recovery cycle and I haven’t gone completely crazy yet. In fact, after a slight adjustment, I have taken quite nicely to my new sedentary lifestyle. A week ago, I finally started sleeping in my new place – with my seven new roommates – sounds like a Real World ad doesn’t it? But so far, we seem pretty drama free, so I am sure we won’t be optioned for a reality show anytime soon. The house is a seven bedroom, three story home in the Montclair hills of Oakland – and most importantly doesn’t come along with any babysitting requirements. While I already miss Sami and Jo, I am happy in my nanny retirement.
Along with my new living situation, I also am now fully entrenched in the graduate seminar I am taking this fall. With class, work, moving and of course Cal football, I am starting to wonder how I ever planned to train for a triathlon.
Football Saturdays have become my singular socializing opportunity – otherwise I am at work or at home studying. My poor roommates must think they asked a hermit to move in because all I do while at home is sit around with my reading. However, the first Sunday I stayed at the house I was horribly hung over from the first Cal home game – so I think they know there is a partier hidden somewhere beneath my bookworm exterior. Speaking of being a bookworm – I guess I haven’t been so diligent because my professor references all of these seminal American texts – and I haven’t read any of them. Moby Dick? Catch-22? Native Son (ooh, skimmed that one!) ugh… When references in class frequently invoke Henry James and Proust (no, he isn’t American) I wonder how I got through AP English in high school without reading these books. Is it not enough that I love Henry’s brother William? My shelves are filled with rows of non-fiction and I am finally paying the price. Intellectual history is more than philosophy and literary criticism, I guess I finally have to sit down and read the fiction.
It seems this semester (I get to use collegial time references again now that I am taking a class) will only get busier. I am out of town or have visitors for the next month and a half – and at some point I actually have to formally apply for grad school again – the bane of my existence. I am looking forward to Kim’s visit this coming weekend – I have to get a lot done in the next few days, because that weekend will be a big black hole of productivity. Elena, Matt and I have another wiffle ball game planned. This time closed toe shoes are mandatory. I am the new safety monitor.
Last but not least, this Tuesday is my mom’s birthday – which this year also marks her retirement from teaching - slightly more momentous than my nanny retirement. As with my dad’s retirement last year, I question what exactly she will do with all of her free time. However, since my dad and most of her girlfriends are already retired, I know she looks forward to joining the club. Relaxing, coffee klatching, traveling, reading – doesn’t sound to bad to me. Maybe I will put her to work reading and summarizing those great American novels I don’t have time to read… Congratulations Mom! I am jealous – my generation is never going to retire.
Along with my new living situation, I also am now fully entrenched in the graduate seminar I am taking this fall. With class, work, moving and of course Cal football, I am starting to wonder how I ever planned to train for a triathlon.
Football Saturdays have become my singular socializing opportunity – otherwise I am at work or at home studying. My poor roommates must think they asked a hermit to move in because all I do while at home is sit around with my reading. However, the first Sunday I stayed at the house I was horribly hung over from the first Cal home game – so I think they know there is a partier hidden somewhere beneath my bookworm exterior. Speaking of being a bookworm – I guess I haven’t been so diligent because my professor references all of these seminal American texts – and I haven’t read any of them. Moby Dick? Catch-22? Native Son (ooh, skimmed that one!) ugh… When references in class frequently invoke Henry James and Proust (no, he isn’t American) I wonder how I got through AP English in high school without reading these books. Is it not enough that I love Henry’s brother William? My shelves are filled with rows of non-fiction and I am finally paying the price. Intellectual history is more than philosophy and literary criticism, I guess I finally have to sit down and read the fiction.
It seems this semester (I get to use collegial time references again now that I am taking a class) will only get busier. I am out of town or have visitors for the next month and a half – and at some point I actually have to formally apply for grad school again – the bane of my existence. I am looking forward to Kim’s visit this coming weekend – I have to get a lot done in the next few days, because that weekend will be a big black hole of productivity. Elena, Matt and I have another wiffle ball game planned. This time closed toe shoes are mandatory. I am the new safety monitor.
Last but not least, this Tuesday is my mom’s birthday – which this year also marks her retirement from teaching - slightly more momentous than my nanny retirement. As with my dad’s retirement last year, I question what exactly she will do with all of her free time. However, since my dad and most of her girlfriends are already retired, I know she looks forward to joining the club. Relaxing, coffee klatching, traveling, reading – doesn’t sound to bad to me. Maybe I will put her to work reading and summarizing those great American novels I don’t have time to read… Congratulations Mom! I am jealous – my generation is never going to retire.
posted by LeahT at 11:17 PM
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