November 5
a trip to Oppositeland
1976
Today started out ok. I finished prepping both lectures. Then I read the newspaper. Now I am showered and shampooed. Must decide how to get to campus. Bike or walk?
1997
I felt like hell last night: achey, feverish, weak. My chest was tight and coughing hurt. This morning I feel like I have come back from the dead. Fewer aches, and I feel stronger and more energetic. The power of rest and sleep , and of aspirin and cough medicine. What a relief to feel good again. Hope it lasts. Today I do an hour of Mom stuff, and then have lunch on campus with a colleague and some students.
I feel very peaceful today, really enjoying the physical sensation of health. Working with weights the last three weeks has been excellent, resulting in less joint pain and more energy. Maybe next week I can start adding something else to the routine.
2002
Yeah, it’s November. What are you gonna do about it?
I think I am just about over the hump. Midterm grades are behind me, so is the mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture meeting. I am not caught up on my grading, but I am making progress. I promise to give a talk to the arts program tonight, and I ask myself why, why, why? But it is time to get back in the exercise groove and also reconnect with the parent and teacher student association. Too, too much to do! I need to carve out time now to enjoy my life and the beautiful fall weather – – My favorite time of the year.
2003
Gray, rainy, and - thank God - cooler. Still not exactly fall-like, but better than it was. I am feeling more centered and less scattered than usual, and finding a moment to sit, think, and watch the leaves drift down is truly delicious. I think having just the ONE course is one of the reasons I am feeling more in control of my day. All the school-related stuff is holding together. The PTS stuff is barely hanging on, but I am not sure I care!
2016 (North Platte, Nebraska)
It's been a week, and I have been soldiering on, but this cold has finally won. I am feeling better in most ways, except for this: my hearing has gone wonky. Imagine you are hearing everything in stereo, but with a slight delay on one speaker, and the two audio streams are tuned a half step apart. Annoying, right? Especially if you are in a coffee shop trying to write a pretty boring report and there's background music.
Fortunately, it turns out that Saturday morning is the gathering time for the Stalwart Democrats of Lincoln County at this very coffee shop. I crashed their party last week, then dropped in at their monthly meeting on Thursday, so there were some familiar faces by now. It's a trip to Oppositeland for me. After all, I live in a very blue county in a blue state when Dems bother to vote -- (cough) Larry Hogan (cough) -- and my GOP friends and acquaintances worry about their yard signs and whether they should "come out" at work. Here, registered Dems are less than 20% of the electorate. I share their social paranoia (sorry Sara, the "Pantsuits for President" button is still on the desk in my motel room) but am also trying to share whatever shreds of optimism I can muster. I am not pessimistic about the election; I believe that Hillary Clinton will win. But I have no illusions about our ability as a nation to put the incivility and venom of the last twenty-five years behind us. At the very least, it will be nice to have company on Election night.
So I wrapped up my work for the day and headed back to the Husker Inn to take more medicine, drink lots more water, and catch a nap. No sunsets for me tonight, just more writing and an early bedtime. Also no music until my Eustachian tubes settle down.
2024
Election Day at last. I have hardly anything on my to do list, and no meetings or appointments. My plan:
do more writing than reading on Substack.
Start two new knitting projects
Spin some vinyl while I write or knit
Watch at least one Shah Rukh Khan movie, ideally one with cathartic revenge. Koyla? Trimurti? Karan/Arjun?