Thursday is over

I made it.

I feel a little better.

Some hopeful news in faculty meeting; the state of campus finances is considerably better than it's been in years. (Part of this is the president we have now and his carefulness; part of this is that enrollment is considerably up). Apparently there's a strong chance we will start getting cost-of-living increases to keep pace with inflation (it had not been so in recent years - no pay raises at all) and that will make things easier for a lot of us. There's even a rumor that the "merit increases" for years-of-service that had been discontinued will not only start back up, but will be paid back *retroactively*. I am not sure I am enough of an optimist these days to believe that but wow, if we did....(Confession: I am already thinking, "Invest towards retirement or just fix all the deferred-maintenance stuff around your house like re-siding the garage and having the fence replaced?")

I also told my chair I didn't want to teach this coming summer and she said that was fine, there was a contingency plan if there is demand (I think she is talking with a very good recent-graduate-with-a-Masters who would want to do it, and I would even share my class materials with him and give him guidance if he wants to do that).

(It also looks increasingly unlikely I would be *expected* to go to China for seven weeks to teach; she did talk up how nice the area was but alluded to, "if that doesn't work for you we also may have some exchange students coming here some summers and we could do classes for them and also work on conversational English with them" and while I don't know any Mandarin (which I presume would be the language they spoke based on where they are from) I could learn a little and I would welcome the challenge of trying to teach conversational English - it would not be 'from scratch,' it would be people who already knew some English but wanted to acquire more. I still don't want to go, though, especially not for seven weeks.)

I did get down to the campus nurse's office and got a flu shot. I banked on an hour and a half - once before when I got it on campus, there was a huge crush of people and a long line snaking out of the office. But I walked in and it was *empty*. I got called back just moments after handing in my paperwork. They had contracted with one of the small local pharmacies, an R. Ph. gave the shot. He did a pretty good job; seems like he had a lot of experience. (Sometimes at the big-box pharmacies, it seems like some of the people contracted to give shots have *just* learned how to do it).

I asked if I needed to wait (at Walgreen's they make you wait) and he kind of shrugged and said "If you've had the flu shot before and never had a problem, not really" so I wonder if the Walgreen's thing was either excessive butt-covering or a "hey, maybe people will walk around our store and buy stuff"

I wanted to do this now because there are already isolated reports of flu in Oklahoma and while I admit the fantasy of having to stay home and lie on the sofa and watch old movies sounds fun, I know if I were genuinely sick enough to have to stay home, I would be too sick for it to be fun. 

So I ran out to Mart of Wal for milk and a few other things.

For a treat, I bought another one of those "Cutie Mark Crew" things and got a good one - Princess Cadence, who has a streak of glitter in her hair.

I had thought I had opened up the last half-gallon of milk, but I was wrong - there were two unopened ones in there so I now have two full gallons. (That's okay, I use milk a LOT - both in my morning oatmeal and to drink. Sometimes if I'm hungry and just need a small snack I'll have a glass of milk; I figure the protein in it is what helps). I could also make baked custard some time. (Maybe get a lemon Saturday and do lemon-flavored custard?)

So I've got food ahead. I can run to Pruett's on Saturday afternoon after fieldwork for the fruit I promised to get for the "back to school cookout" we are doing at church (Today was too soon, and anyway, Pruett's has better fruit)

My piano teacher called - she had forgotten she had parent conferences tonight (her main job is with one of the local Head Starts) so she's coming tomorrow and to be honest, I'm happier with that - I feel a little tired and have the barest hint of a headache and a sore arm (from the flu shot) and I'm thinking maybe I just do minimal additional practice for today, heat up some meatballs for dinner, and then maybe watch a nice movie until I decide I want to go to bed. (I could re-watch part or all of "Paddington," that seems like it would be nice).

Laundry is doing, too, and I always worry when it starts to pile up and I am busy.

I think a peaceful evening at home is what I need.

I also started reading Larry Gonick's "Cartoon Guide to Algebra" because I have half a thought of trying (once again) to re-teach myself calculus, but I think I need to review algebra (I use SOME algebra, but not a lot, in my day to day life) first. Anyway, stuff like that doesn't involved human silliness (like we see in the news) and it's just kind of educational.

I am also tracking a package from Japan. I broke down and ordered a stuffed unicorn from Tokyo Otaku Mode (and yes, I get that I will now be spammed by them forever). The unicorn's name is Cony, which is sufficiently ridiculous I think I will keep it instead of changing it. (I bought it because she resembled an old anime unicorn named "Unico").

The package has left Chiba Prefecture and (it's a little hard to tell from the Japan Post website) has either arrived in Tokyo, or has arrived and left already (I think I am to expect the package mid-October).

(Still no sign of my gachapon crate, and the company selling those claims that they can't do tracking info, which I call nonsense on, since Cony has tracking info....if it's not shown up by mid October - six weeks - I am going to request a refund.)

(I think I need to stick to the small domestic window of things to stay happy - the things going on in my life, the things I control, the things around my house like nice food and nice movies and my stuffed animals and my knitting and everything like that)