Hooray! I get to be a judge for one of the Colorado Book Awards categories! It’s kind of the non-fiction miscellany category, but I’m really excited about it… Last year’s winner in my category was a book on different livestock breeds, so I’m sure I’ll be reading some interesting stuff come April. I’m sort of surprised they chose me, but I guess I am a librarian, and I do work in academia (which is not to say those are requirements by any means, but I’m sure those things didn’t hurt).
!!
“I MAY have bought a pro-semicolon propaganda poster.” — Life is hard. Here is someone..
So… Sometimes I think maybe I’m not so sensitive to gluten and I get daring. I eat the crackers with my Wendy’s chili (my comfort food of choice when I’m feeling too thrifty for Village Inn). When Whole Foods has their flour tortilla chips out, I eat one. Maybe I have some naan. I have piece of cake or a cookie. I might have a beer. And it’s usually more or less fine.
Oh, and then sometimes it’s not and I get a stupid infection that no normal adult gets — thrush, conjunctivitis… Strangely these (along with other infections) can be symptoms of gluten intolerance, mainly because gluten weakens my immune system. Stupid gluten. Stupid, stupid gluten.
So on Thursday I had interview #2 (which was totally freaking awesome, omg, I want need them to pick me to come to their school!), and they served lunch — the option was fresh bagels, and I opted not to eat. And then I rushed back to the hotel (rushing = 1 1/2 hours on the subway) and rushed to the airport and flew away…
While on the runway, I realized that I had only eaten a banana, coffee, and a Lärabar that day. I was ravenous, but my nervousness about interviewing/traveling had masked it until that point. So I did the only appropriate thing to do: I purchased the Udi’s sandwich.
(Denver Love Letter #9)
It was amazing. I thought to myself: this needs to be a new ritual, having a gluten- and dairy-laden Udi’s sandwich on every Frontier flight I’m ever on. Cranberry walnut bread, turkey, brie, apple, honey mustard, lettuce. Mmmmmmm…. sandwiches…. how good it is to have you back in my life, how I’ve missed you. Ezekial bread is just not the same. For the few minutes it took to scarf the sandwich down, I was a normal person. The people to my left and right had no idea I had any dietary restrictions. Maybe I don’t have dietary restrictions, I thought, because omg, this is so. so. so. good. and I should have one not only on flights, but maybe once a week. Udi’s, my next Denver Love Letter is to you, I thought…
The reliable gluten/dairy aftermath took place yesterday morning — not comfortable, but no big deal. It was totally worth that Udi’s sandwich. Last night, however, my eye started to itch. And then water excessively. And this morning I’m pretty sure I have pink eye, which is probably not wholly attributable to my seven minutes of mid-air Udi’s bliss, but I’m fairly certain it was a significant factor. FML (well, that part of it — the rest of it is quite, quite good).
Oh, and it should be noted that the lovely and local Udi’s makes gluten- and dairy-free bread which is very tasty, but Frontier does not use it on their sandwiches.
Running on adrenaline, blood is pumping through my veins, I’m alert and ready and a little shaky and nervous… First interview down, five to go (five!!), and three schools I still haven’t heard from (this week or next, I suspect). I am hemorrhaging money. Left and right. But it’s fun, and it’s good, and I’ll be able to make an informed decision in the end (hoping I’ll be accepted at some/all of these programs and have a decision to make!). Plane reading: Birds of America by Lorrie Moore (enjoyed it, but what’s all the hype about, really?), and Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (lovely, lovely book — will probably finish tomorrow or Thursday).
Did you know you can change flights on Southwest without paying a ridiculous fee? Loving them more and more…
Tomorrow: New York City — specifically the Bronx (which I’m reading all about in Let the Great World Spin, and getting a little worried — will there be needles in the stairwells? Hope not). Either way I’ll be there for less than 24 hours (I wish I had more vacation to make better trips of these, but alas — more interviews means less leisure time). Happy thoughts appreciated! Thanks for the comments of late, too!
…or “what it feels like for a girl, what it feels like in this world.”
And I consider myself a pretty low-maintenance light packer…
(Denver Love Letter #8)
Breakfast is breakfast, right? You have eggs and pancakes and coffee, and maybe the option of fancy eggs and pancakes and coffee. There are more- and less-greasy breakfasts. There are a few regional variations — I imagine it’s hard to find anything smothered in green chili on the east coast, for example, just as there aren’t a lot of grits on the menu around here. But generally speaking, breakfast is breakfast.
What makes Dozens stand out?
In other news: trying not to get too worked up. Excitement and stress are physiologically similar — I think the difference lies in how you respond emotionally…
That’s what Christopher types when he’s mad or excited. Oh, typed communication, how I adore you…
I’m excited. Interview invitation #4 came with one week’s notice, but I found a cheap(ish) flight, and I’m going… So I’ll be flying to San Francisco and New York next week. I’m pretty sure I won’t get fired, but I might work over the weekend just in case. (Ha, not really about the firing bit — it’s just not an optimal use of vacation, and there’s a sh*tload of stuff to get done right now, and there’s an on-campus conference tomorrow, so going in on Saturday just feels appropriate). I’m stressed and guilty about leaving work. I know way more than I ever wanted to know about classroom technology, and I’ve made myself essential on that alone, I think. They think I have the magic touch — it’s not magic, it’s just a few years of experience with our overly-complicated, quirky, temperamental classroom setup. But anyway… They will get by.
The other night I saw Le Divorce. The Hi-Dive bouncer (I guess?) stamped me with this ridiculously and unnecessarily large martini-shaped stamp, and it would not wash off for anything, so I went to work yesterday (and still today despite multiple washings) with this stupid thing on the inside of my wrist. I met and tried to woo a potential practicum student with it, and felt like a bit of an ass, and met with faculty and felt more like an ass, and explained that it’s my librarian friend’s band, etc., etc. And then at lunch I told a couple of friends about it, and this guy at a table diagonal from us interrupted to show his matching un-wash-off-able stamp. It was a real moment.
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Barack Obama, for his ideals and ideas.
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Jonathan Shedler, for writing this article.
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and Jonathan Ive for being an innovative designer (and so terribly cute!). However, if he was responsible for coming up with the name “iPad,” I retract some of that admiration.
Also, it is an excellent day for getting grants ($4,000 to buy images at work!! This doubles my annual budget!). And an excellent day for getting interviews (Berkeley-bound in early March! Still waiting to hear from six programs!). And also an excellent day for making ugly-but-delicious-leek-mushroom-olive risotto.
