It's my Friday (?)

 Technically campus is closed on Fridays and generally no one is in. 

I admit, the "almost no one being in" thing gets on my nerves; it's not fun working in an empty or nearly-empty building. It's a little creepy. Some days my colleague the anatomist is in - he's teaching partly online but is present to teach the labs, of course. And a couple days a week (her husband's work schedule permitting - someone to mind the kids) my newest colleague is in, because she's doing advisement work and redoing a class that she had to teach on short notice last fall. And the secretary is in most days; but she's on another floor from me.

So it does get a little lonely. Some buildings that are built to serve a purpose, and when they don't do that - classroom buildings in the summer, church buildings when they're empty of a congregation - they seem a little lonely and sad. 

So I might not go in tomorrow. I'm prepped for next week - re-taught myself multiple regression this week and managed to figure out how SPSS does it. I do have an article to read - one of my students is doing his article presentation this coming week but I could do that Saturday. 

The days do get long when all you're working on is stuff that has kind of a long-term project and don't have any short term goals. Or at least it's that way for me. Pretty much all I do is the prep for this one class, and reading for EPL in the fall, and research reading.

And it's been *extremely* hot. And that  makes it all worse - I would like to work in the yard, that helps, but it's so hot it's dangerous to when I get home. (Saturday morning I think I will try to mow my lawn, at least the front yard). 

This just isn't a good time of year for me - it's very hot, there's not a lot going on in town, I don't have the regular round of things to do (even though classes are busy, it's nice having a couple different classes: if one doesn't go well on a particular day, there's always another). And there is just distressing news of the world: a guy burst into a class at University of Waterloo, and stabbed the prof and two students because it was a class about gender studies. (So: I presume the charges of "stochastic terrorism" people are talking about are correct). Any time there's violence on a college campus it makes me sad and nervous. And still the fall out from the imploding sub - yes, I would never have gone on such a thing (not just because of the expense) and I didn't know the people but still it's a sad and numinous thing and it did kind of occupy a lot of people's thoughts last week. And the fires in Canada and the extreme heat here and people calling this the "new normal" with climate change and I've been through at least four bad things in the past five years that have been dubbed the "new normal" and I don't like it. 

So it's hard. I keep going, I keep telling myself things will get better, I keep eating my vegetables and doing 30 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a day and doing my Duolingo lessons and piano practice but it's kind of hard some times. 

And next week is Independence Day. I do not like the "homebrew" fireworks that are everywhere here (though I will say I have not seen any stands up yet - maybe, dare I hope, they're not doing them this year?) At least it seems the teenagers have moved out of my neighborhood; they were the ones who would shoot them off all night for several nights in a row.

I will probably watch "1776" if TCM is showing it this year.

Anyway, maybe tomorrow is for running errands; being out and around and seeing people will help.