And not-resentments

There are some things going well:

* I think I'm breaking the stall on the piano. I do notice I am getting better at playing without mistakes, at least in pieces I've practiced a fair amount.

* The weekend is almost here. Not that I get a *lot* of time off (I have a list written out of what needs to be done between now and Monday, and there probably isn't enough time to go to Sherman in all of that, and there won't be enough next weekend....)

* The best thing? Turns out the $175 added to last paycheck was NOT the award; apparently it was reimbursement for overload work that I forgot about. I got an e-mail this morning indicating that a bit over $400 (I am assuming because it's not a round number that taxes are being taken out) will be deposited on the 12th.

That surprises me because I didn't think Faculty Senate had that kind of dough - and there are like 10 people at least getting these awards (I assume all of them - Research, Teaching, AND Service - get the same amount, as do all the different schools*)

(*I can only IMAGINE the resentment if they did different amounts for the different schools....)

But anyway. It's a nice surprise. (And interesting that once again, earlier this week - I sent a small donation to Mercy Corps for Puerto Rico relief. It really does seem in a lot of cases that more comes back to me than I send out....)

* This also means I have cash for a Longview trip in a couple weeks - in fact, two weeks from tomorrow I have a meet-up planned with Laura, and we are going to the yarn store. I have been on a "yarn fast" since the summer (I think the yarn for Great Horn-Rimmed was the last yarn I bought) and it will be nice to break it for a day. (And then go back on it, because I really do have a lot of yarn to knit up)

I also think I may try to do a bit of Christmas shopping (yes, I know, but I'm busy and the shopping in my town stinks, so shut up) that day - would be nice if I could knock out at least a few of the gifts I need to get.

* I also don't feel NEARLY so bad now about ordering the Gabby Douglas doll and....a shocking amount of additional Barbie clothes for her to wear. (Lots of dresses. Again, I don't know the REAL Gabby Douglas' style but the doll certainly looks cute in dresses, and I like dresses myself, so....it's fun to put the kind of dresses I won't wear (strappy, sleeveless, short, youthful) on a doll). And yes, it IS just fun to dress up a doll and admire her in different clothing, and to pose her - dancing, or waving with her other hand on her hip, or holding one of the bags that came with the outfits, or....

And anyway, maybe that's a pre-fluster for getting my flu shot tomorrow. (I briefly toyed with going to the on-campus clinic today, but (a) I have a slight headache and (b) I have piano and AAUW later today and I don't want to risk feeling crummy, and sometimes I feel low-level crummy (immune system cranking to life) after a flu shot.

* I AM finding that The Greenwitch is more suitable as bedtime reading right now. I do plan to go back to Moby-Dick eventually, but I may want to finish this first - and maybe the rest of the "Dark is Rising" sequence. I dunno. Fantasy-evil seems to go down better right now than real-world-human-madness-variety-evil. (Also, I have every faith that good will beat evil in the end in Cooper's books. And I need right now a reminder that good beats evil every time, and that love is stronger than hate every time)

Just getting in to bed at night with a book that doesn't feel quite like "legume literature" (which is what Moby-Dick has become at this point: I'm reading it because it's good for me. And darnit, I have the equivalent of "only three bites" left (about 200 pages) so I feel duty bound to finish it, but right now it's not fun, given that the outside world seems too often to be run by the Ahabs....)

And I'm still thinking about the "next big book." Maybe I do finish the Dark is Rising series first, but I also want to start another Jane Austen novel some time, or maybe another Trollope. (Planning ahead for holiday travel - the Trollope makes more sense as most of his novels I have are smallish paperbacks, and the Austen novels are in one big omnibus hardbound). But yeah - when the outside world gets strange and strained, what I really want are stories where the biggest worry is using the right fork at a meal or knowing the correct way to address a would-be suitor.