If anything can go wrong

...it will. 

The First Week of School
The first week of school filled me with excitement, emptied my wallet, and loaded me with homework. I attacked my assigned reading, jumped on my cataloging work, launched into my first essay, and my iMac up and died. Obviously unimpressed by my enthusiasm. Poot. My screams had no effect on it.

And so, four days later, after re-installations, software updates, battery changes, head-banging, and disk doctoring, it woke back up and now only has OS 9. I finished my essay in TextEdit. Very sad.

To make matters worse, I can only log in to the library system to do my cataloging homework with a valid UH library account, which I will not have until my loans come through and I can prove to the Student ID people that I've paid up. My teacher has excused me, though I will be stalking through the library today until I find someone I recognize and force them to log on for me. Maybe I'll even find Tim, cornered in the construction wing with nowhere to run. I still think I can get him to play bass for Mike.

Toddlers
Gavin has been enjoying his extra time with his dad. Mike managed to get him into bed last Thursday, where he cried himself to sleep without the comfort of a warm boob. I'm glad that the two can manage without me, so that I may stay late some nights to do research at the library. It makes me think of the time Chris came over at bedtime while Beth and my mother went to a movie... long story short, I was relieved to come home and find that Gavin was not screaming and vomiting all over Mike.

Beth has been coming to visit more often. She's lonely, we think. Chris has started to behave more acceptably, although it is a constant battle to show him how to do it. Gavin has started testing his limits as well, and while it's mostly harmless things (how loudly can I chirp after mom says "keep it down"? etc), he's been throwing things a lot, and sometimes ignoring me when I say "no". Too bad for him, I'm bigger than he is, and after being ignored once I can bodily remove him or whatever it is he is playing with. He's a pretty easy kid, though.

Gavin has also developed an obsession with Snow White, and can point out every dwarf by name. He organizes his dolls into lines and marches them to "Hi Ho" (he sings it without the "hi", but he has the idea). Other recent developments include new words: heart, draw, and treat; as well as the use of the word "rock" to describe a mountain.

On the Personal Side
I've lost 7 lbs so far. Already I feel a difference in my appearance, and the way my clothes fit. Mike has been poking me in the ribs, since he can see them now. I'm officially the same weight I was before I gave birth, but I plan to lose another 13 pounds for an even 20 by Christmas.


Right, then, enough from me. There are computer problems to diagnose.

the beat goes on

Our neighbor is playing his ukulele outside our window again. I'm tempted to pick up the chanter and make some noise, but I'm tired. Today Mike, Gavin and I drove down to UH to pay the goddamn parking ticket, with full intentions of stopping by the Children's Center to check out daycare for Gavin. We did not. After an hour hiking all over campus, we limped back to the car after an unusually bad lunch at the food kiosk. I sat eating my tough pieces of meat (debating whether it was horse or cat meat) and I looked up at the sun-dappled stairs of the Hamilton Library, in whose basements I will live like a troll for the next year and a half. 

Safely home, Gavin and I played on the porch with his (clean) kitty litter box filled with water. He tip-toed on the hot cement, and then crammed his body into the box to splash happily while I hovered over him, my shadow shielding him from the sun and my back burning. I'll miss these days. I imagined myself on a bike, Gavin riding behind me in a baby seat, as I cruised toward his day care center to drop him off for my class, then riding on to the library, riding down to the lovely Olympic-sized heated pool for an afternoon swim. Maybe I'll ask for a bike for my birthday, it's been a long time since I've been on one. My mother is returning from the store, with ingredients to make fudge, which she has been wanting for two days. She's suffering from a severe migraine, and we've decided that this sounds like a good pain-killer. 

Feeling good.

Orientation

Yesterday, my mother and I abandoned Gavin with his father and went to orientation. The LIS program is located in the basement of the enormous research library at UH, and we felt excited as we trundled down the stairs into the chilly lower decks. Waiting for the students to all arrive, we checked out the refreshments. I decided to make a cup of Earl Grey, and picked up a peppermint tea bag instead, not realizing my error until it was to my lips. My mother laughed at me and decided to show me how to make a proper cup of tea, picking out the bag of Earl Grey I had been aiming for, and then poured hot coffee into it instead of water. Both of us proving too incompetent to make a cup of tea, we headed in to the classroom for orientation.

It was really interesting. I went into this field because my mother and grandmother liked it, knowing nothing of it at all, myself. It seems to suit me pretty well. Who knew? I was particularly intrigued by archiving, and the preservation of books.

I was foiled by my advisor, who did not recommend I take 4 classes, as I had planned. It seems that 4 classes, each requiring a 30-page paper, can be overwhelming. Gah. So 3 it is, and I will start on Monday, providing the Financial Aid office get my loan papers to me in time.

There are only 4 men in our class. One is a military fellow from Laos who is preparing to go AWOL, as his orders came in 2 days ago and he refuses to attend lock-down on Thursday. It will be interesting to see if his lawyer gets him off. One man is a large Hawaiian guy with tattoos and a big laugh, a professional photographer with 4 children. The other fellows are about my age, one is a skinny quiet kid, and the other is haole boy from the mainland who plays bass guitar. I plan to corner that one and twist his arm into playing with Mike. Overall, the rest of the women in the class are fun to talk to, and many also have toddlers at home. Libraries tend to attract a similar sort of nerdy people, I think, and I can't wait to get to know them better. Already, I was huddled up with a woman named Eileen, comparing schedules to make sure we had some classes together. I always get along better with people about 20 years older than me, for some reason, but there was a young woman from Oregon that I liked. Skinny, with jerky hand gestures, hunched posture, and bucket hat pulled down to her eyebrows, she was sharp and clever. I think this year is going to be great.

In the end, we were very late coming home, and had to pick up Gavin from the theater. I was so excited to see him after such a long day apart, but he seemed perfectly fine without me. My baby is growing up. All the same, he hugged me and cuddled up to nurse immediately. 

Part of me is sad about my wasted drawing potential, and I couldn't stop myself from staring at the art building as I walked by yesterday, but I feel this is the right path. Sometimes I have to tell myself that more than once, but I'm beginning to believe it more and more.