Thursday afternoon things

 * I have been using the "Discovery" option on my Pandora "some rock, some R and B, some pop" mix because what the regular channel had been giving me had got a bit stale (consider I listen to this nearly every day for 30-35 minutes while working out, it needs to be interesting enough to keep me ignoring how long the workout drags on)

I heard two songs, one by someone I knew well but didn't know he did this song, and another by someone whose name I didn't know, and had never heard the song before but instantly loved it:

It's Len Barry's "It's a Cryin' Shame":

(Embarrassing admission - I didn't recognize he was with the Dovells and when I looked him up on Wikipedia I was like "wait Len Barry was WHITE?" I guess that's "blue-eyed soul" for you. But this song is, as the kids say, a bop, and it's amusing to me that there's this fantastic upbeat hook and great beat, and these sort of sad lyrics. But that opening - I could see this being used as background music in a Wes Anderson movie). 

At any rate: wow, much Motown, so soul. 

Though I guess actually it was "The Philly Sound" more than Motown? 

Huh, and his real surname was "Borisoff."

The second "surprise" was Jeff Lynne (who I knew well, from ELO, and I've become quite a fan these past couple years when a lot of their songs play in my Pandora channel). But here he's singing "Stormy Weather," a standard I most closely associate with Billie Holliday

I like it though, when artists attempt styles outside their usual wheelhouse. It's not always successful, but it's always interesting. I think this one works reasonably well

I also learned he's an OBE. 

* Found out yesterday - when a student asked me about exam scheduling - that we are getting a "mid fall break day" on the 14th. Apparently the announcement was buried in an e-mail from the university president. Ah well. I moved the exam and the article-discussion in another class to the following Monday

And I have tentative plans - depending on her schedule remaining free, and the main destination being open - to meet up with Laura in Longview. Just like in old times! Just like in the before-times! 

I hope it works out. Even if we have to eat lunch outside, even if some of the shops are either crowded enough to necessitate masks, or still have mask policies (though right now, it seems like we're maybe in a lull, though I'm nervously eyeing the winter, based on what I've seen some epidemiologists writing about)

No I do not need more yarn or books. But I do need a day out, and I need to be able to hang out with a friend. 

If it doesn't work out (her family situation is such that sometimes she is needed to help on short notice) I plan to go up to Chickasaw unless it's raining too hard to. (I NEED to have an alternate plan in case of disappointment, so it won't be so bitter if it doesn't work out)

* I graded an exam from one class today, and I had done a review session with the students before this exam and while I've not totted up the grades yet I have a distinct feeling the scores on this exam (which has more challenging material) are a good bit better. Of course I don't know for sure that the first exam didn't just scare the students into studying harder, but maybe my review helped some? So maybe I try to build those in more.

Of course the real test is if they remember the stuff at the end of the semester and beyond, and our assessment testing has suggested that many students do not, but....I feel like that maybe is a bit on them?

* I'm considering going antiquing this weekend. Another "first time in a long time" thing - I might have quick nipped into a store for a few minutes, but certainly not extended browsing, and I haven't been back to the "big" antique mall in Sherman since before the pandemic. 

I also want to go to the natural-foods store for some stuff. I miss having a nice big grocery store nearby (Wal-mart is the big one in town, Pruett's is the nicer one, but neither one of those is as good as either the Kroger or the natural-foods store, or any number of the supermarkets in my mom's town)

Just getting out. I used to do that all the time; thought nothing of driving to Sherman for a few hours and as I said before, now it feels like going to the end of the Earth. Part of that is not having done it for so long in the pandemic, but part of it IS that there's been some particularly horrific construction on 75 since early 2020. Most of that is done now and I can avoid some of it with a different route, but....I need to get comfortable driving around again, I can't be a hermit forever, it's not good for me. 

* I don't know if I either ate something that set off one of my many (some not yet figured out what causes them) food intolerances, or if I had a little GI virus - was unbelievably tired yesterday, and had abdominal cramping, and then yesterday evening I felt chilled. And I have a few hives today. Of course, that could either be "fighting off a small virus" or "body having a food intolerance reaction" as I've learned from experience. I looked at some of the stuff I bought Tuesday and ate Tuesday night but couldn't see celery or carrots as an ingredient in any of them, though one thing did have Red 40, which I wonder....it might bother me? In the past I thought maybe it did. 

Man, bodies are stupid. I wish I could just hook up to a computer like they do with your car when it throws a code and then get a print out of "okay these are the things that will upset you if you eat them"