June 26

Another day in Paradise

1966

Well, it's better today. We started out at eight at 8 AM and drove until 630. I'm at the El Rancho motel. It's very nice. Home here. The pool is smaller, with no diving board. But it felt good. Stops so far: new Stanton Pennsylvania, Effington, Illinois, Muskogee, Oklahoma. Laredo tomorrow, Matahuala, Mexico on Tuesday and Mexico City Wednesday. We hope.

The food here is great! Steak for $2.95 complete! The whole thing is hot though. Remember: Meramec Caverns signs for hundreds of miles. Massage bed. See ya.

1978

I am not sure what to say this morning. I am rather reluctant to start the week; the prospect of taking all those pictures frightens me a little. I would feel more comfortable if I were doing things I am more familiar with. As it is, I have had several nights of very tense, confused dreams (including one about taking pictures) that leave me ill at ease and unrefreshed when I wake up.

Next week I start at the Smithsonian, which should please me, but the anticipation, coupled with the knowledge that I have not prepared myself, is making me even more apprehensive. I am looking forward to next semester very very much.

1980

I just spoke to a grad student , who has gotten rather bad news from faculty on her qualifiers. She’s taking this very well. She did not pass 2 out of 5 questions. 1 other one she did ok on, but they thought she could use some more work, so she has to retake that one as well. She seems to think highly of me. I feel like a hypocrite when she tells me what a good person I am. My sympathy for her was born out of guilt for not being able to help my mother through the crisis that followed her divorce. Then I was nice to her out of guilt I felt about disliking her at first. She was such a whiner. She’s gotten over whatever that was. Now that I am genuinely beginning to like her, I feel guilty for all the gossip I indulged in, dissecting her personality with other grad students. I’ve done that with X, too. (Though they are such a fascinating subject.) That is a rotten thing to do and I resolve not to do it anymore!

1985

Well, this pelvic infection is now known. It’s some kind of pre-cancerous thing. I need to go into the hospital for  therapeutic biopsy, under general anesthetic. So I guess that’s at least an overnight stay. It has me scared. This won’t happen until late July, which makes a child next year very unlikely. I’m ambivalent about that, I guess. What really bothers me is the realization that something’s going to get me, and everyone I love, eventually.

I wish I could just get the biopsy over with with and know what’s next. What’s next right now is a Math exam that I am not ready for!

1989

Mom is still depressed; what a long haul this is turning out to be. She is at least not getting worse, but that is small comfort. Today I was grumpy and snappish. Kiddo one and two were taking turns being impossible, and Jim dawdled around over dinner so long that we didn't get to the pool until 7 PM.

On the positive side, the book draft is finished and so is the draft of the registration form. I think I'll delegate some of that stuff to someone else. What a pain in the butt.

Kiddo two is absolutely crazy about baseball. It is every bit as bad as kiddo ones obsession with Mary Poppins. We play baseball several times a day, never as much as he wants. Can't wait till he's old enough to play with his friends, or even really play catch!

2004

It is about 7:30 PM and I have done as much sightseeing as I wanted to. It was fun – – La Crosse is walkable, pretty, with a nice old fashioned downtown. Today went well – – I decided to ask another presenter to combine into a panel. They had somehow managed to smoosh all the Community Based Research people into the last two sessions… with four of us scheduled for the last hour. But I thought we played off each other well (she was a scientist). And I think I might have had three or four people in my session had I not done this. Then I had a great discussion at lunch with a nice assortment of folks from Colorado. There was a bus tour of town, but I just hoofed it on my own to the City Brewing Company for the 3 PM tour and two free beers… One dollar for the whole thing. Very nice fresh beer. Then dinner at a good local place, then back to the dorm for some computer time. Now it's just kill time until it's a decent time to go to bed. Not yet.

2019

Chair caning starts today. I am beginning earlier than I expected, probably 9:30 or so. So I am on the porch waiting.

2023

Today I am on that same porch.

2024

And today as well. The spiral threads its way through Star Island every year, it seems.

I am fine with that.