The new semester starts next Monday, and things are kicking into gear. The energy is changing and that's a good thing.
This fall I am:
*Taking a photography class (real, not digital), with a wonderful professor, and prowling around DC and Baltimore with D. to take pictures for it. I still think I'm going to buy a digital camera though, and a digital video recorder, so I can take some footage of the best dog ever. This is so I can watch him whenever I want to, forever and ever, when the inevitable day comes when that's not possible in person anymore. And although this makes me sick to think about, I'd rather plan ahead, so I can show him to my kids or whoever comes into my life at a later date, (who REALLY loves me and will tolerate such things), and say things like, "This was the best dog ever. Seriously. This dog made my life." I've also hatched a plan to interview my grandmother and film it, and goad her into answering questions - some completely sane, and some just designed to make her act all crazy, which is when she is the most fun. (and just to be clear, I'm not talking about crazy as in "demented." That's not funny. Memory loss is only the butt of so many jokes because it's one of the most intense fears human beings have, probably only behind death, severe physical pain, emotional abandonment, and the cable and Internet going out simultaneously. NOT FUNNY. LOST KEYS = NOT FUNNY. She's just always had a wacky personality that continues to marinate and it it so entertaining.)
*Taking a "writing for radio class". Publishing something besides a chef profile, I swear.
*Taking my dog to the dog park. Now that it's cooling off some he can handle it. This is going to be a riot. Tickets should, and may, be sold.
*Working on distance learning training to teach English online in the spring semester. I am most excited about this.
*Going to Tampa for work and maybe one day at the beach. Breathing deeply.
*Painting the bathroom.
*Running a 5k with my sister and my cousin. Continuing this interval/weight/circuit/step training dealio.
*Getting all major stuff into storage, and pitching all extraneous belongings. Thank GOD. SO sick of STUFF. It multiplies, I swear.
*Planning a 35th birthday trip to see these beautiful people again, (is this room not phenomenal? It was...yes, dreamlike.) or just here, for a hell of a good time. : ) I am actually excited for my birthday, as odd as it sounds. I think it will be a good age for me. This year has been sort of a bitch so far, to be truthful. I mean, I'm alive and happy for that, thanks. But I had dinner with my friend (and massage therapist, baby. Nothing like a full-body massage followed up by arroz con pollo and a margarita. Heaven, c'est si bon. All insurance should cover it.) Margaret tonight, and we were talking about how there was this aura of chaos in lots of the people we know and places we go lately. I know I've been feeling it. I don't particularly like it. Adrenaline has its place, and it can be really helpful, but on a daily or hourly basis, not so much.
*Getting the site designed. I swear. Paying someone. I don't care.
*Helping Shobha with the Takoma Park folk festival and going to NYC with her while she sets up accounts. Here's a link to a ring she made. Her jewelry is beautiful, and truly original. Buy some. Come visit us at the festival.
*Going to visit my good friend in Montreal, seriously. It's been postponed too many times, and fall is beautiful up there. Maybe Ohio too? I don't know about that one. We'll see.
I think that's all for now. It's probably enough. The list may be amended to meet changing weather conditions, the vagaries of my heart and mind, or pretty much anything else that couldn't be anticipated at this moment. Still and all, the dam is bursting, and I am so ready to roll - so excited for this new season. 
Summer has been long enough, don't you think?
Wow. Cute photo of you and world's greatest dog above! Are you going to be teaching online at MC? BTW--I tried to videotape my great- uncle talking about our family tree, and he would have none of it. Didn't mind audiotaping or photographing, but he wouldn't let my cousin videotape him.
Posted by: joanna | August 27, 2005 at 09:14 AM
I was going to but I need more WebCT training. By the end of the semester I should be ready for 109 and the 101/102 common courses. The DS course was cancelled for low enrollment. I was disappointed but I'm in this for the longterm so I'll do the training and design a course for the spring, fingers crossed.
Posted by: laurie | August 27, 2005 at 10:10 AM