busy week at school

It's been a busy week at school.

On Monday I had to stay really, really late at work to get a few hundred freshman contracts out. I was really cranky and ragey when I got home, but these things happen, and the next day I was perked up by the Spring Ceramic Sale:



Every semester the students have a sale to raise money for art scholarships, and usually I go over and look around without actually buying anything, but this time I saw the cutest little cup:



It matches some antique Asian ceramics I have on my bookcase, and it was only a few dollars, so I used some of my Easter money on it. (It's totally normal for people over thirty to still get Easter money from their parents. Shut up.) When I was paying, the girl who wrapped it up for me explained that she made it during her summer internship at Woodstock, and it was the only piece with that glaze that she was selling.

After I left she probably took another one just like it out from under the table and readied her story for the next rube. The cup was a few dollars, but my lack of faith in humanity is completely free.

The RA banquet on Wednesday night, though, made me smile again. Not only were there awards and clapping and hugging, but there was cake:



Delicious lemon and blueberry cake.

After the week I've had, that was enough to make everything ok.

Happy Easter!

Oh, Easter, most confusing of American Christian holidays, when we mingle pagan tradition with what's supposed to be the holiest of days. Granted, Christmas has a dash of the pagan thrown in:



But Santa is at least based on St. Nicholas, so they're trying to keep the holiday properly religious on some level.

Easter, though, is pretty much full-out pagan once you get home from church. Colored eggs, magical rabbits, the goddess Estre, sugar-related gluttony... they're not even trying to keep it clean.

I'm not judging, really. I'm just amused by the inherent contradiction in the way America generally chooses to celebrate the holiday.



How can a holiday with electric blue coconut not be amusing?

Smackdown in K-Ville!

Last Saturday, filled with great excitement, I attended roller derby again. Our girls have been on the road for the past month, playing away games (or away bouts; I'm still not clear on all the terminology), but they were finally back for a double header, so Bryan and I went and convinced our friend George to go, too.

Over our pre-bout dinner, George asked if I like to watch girls hit each other.

"I like to watch anybody hit each other."

It's true. I get bored watching baseball, tennis, golf, soccer, and any number of other non-contact sports live. I'll show up to a game if someone I know is playing, even more so if the concession stand has nachos or alcoholic beverages other than beer and someone else is driving, but for the most part I like my sports visceral and violent. I will sit through hours of hockey, boxing, and derby, although I will not make an effort to explore the psychological ramifications of this. We'll just say I like to watch people hit people and leave it at that.

Since the last time we saw our Hard Knox Roller Girls, so things have changed. For starters, we now have a mascot:



That's Sphere This, our mascot. She's really enthusiastic, and, you know, she's trying. God love her for trying, and for not being as scary as the Atlanta Sake Tuyas mascot:



She's... also trying. Really hard. I love enthusiasm, but mascots, in general, creep me out a little.

One of the the other things that's changed since last time I saw the team was that we got really aggressive. This wasn't terribly apparent during the first bout, against the Soul City Sirens:



but by the time we started the second bout, against the Atlanta Sake Tuyas, our girls in green were clearly in the grip of murderous rage.



BAM! No score for you, jammer!



BAM! BAM! Two girls down at once!



BAM! Say goodbye to winning and to pants!

We beat the hell out of them by over seventy points, and a good time was had by all, even George, who found a sign next to his chair:



Hella Kitty's sister came and took the sign later, so that she could wave it, but it was fun while it lasted.

Next home bout is in May, against TBA. I look forward to more hitting.

Hannah Montana and Entropy

Time waits for no man, not even Hannah Montana.

I saw this sticker in the parking lot, stuck to the asphalt:



I'm not sure why it was there, but I checked on it every day, just to see how long it would last. In between, I saw trucks with school spirit:



I took Jeannie to P.F. Chang's for her birthday dinner:



We met up with her husband, Brian:



I checked on Hannah:



I got excited for derby this weekend, a guaranteed good time:



The dogwood trees bloomed:



The flowers started to die:



Mavis attempted to sell me some bread:



And then I checked on Hannah again:



Time has erased her, as it will someday erase us all.