I am not really talking about work, just celebrating finishing a huge old grant proposal. Still need to put the footnotes in but that's just mechanical. Yippee yippee yippee. I had a professor in grad school who advised me never to get mixed up in writing grants; it would "infect" my writing--I suppose make it all schmarmy and PR-ish. Well, wish I had the luxury. Welcome to the modern large public university. You nave to do this to survive nowadays.
I'll offer a counter-theory here: writing blogs and ST trip reports and such dis-infects one's writing. Maybe. At the very least, it's a pleasurable change. On the worst days it's a procrastinating diversion.
It's warmed back up again but the evenings are cool. I am paying attention to football. Just to LSU football. I enjoyed being #1 for a few weeks and bought myself a bragging rights t-shirt. So tomorrow is the big Alabama showdown. Prayer to the pigskin gods, it would be good to say "nanner nanner boo-boo" to Mr. Saban. Also if we win a bunch the legislature likes that and is more prone to think of higher education when it's time to do the budget. That our state does not guarantee funds for public education or health makes me crazy--it IS crazy! But in the face of that craziness, we root for the football team. It's pragmatic. Geaux, tigers.
A friend of ours is going to take an art class in Umbria in June. So we got out the map to find the little town she'll be in, and then one thing led to another and we started talking about going again, in June, and I realized how badly I wanted to do that.
I hope I don't jinx it but if I get this grant, definitely, Italy in June. And THAT will be celebrating.
Meanwhile, I am in 225 magazine. what with Gary in Country Roads last month, we are joking about needing a press agent. I am horribly wierdly shamefully proud of getting to do the little movie sidebar this month, even if they only give you 100 words. You get to choose a film or scene or director you like, and to explain why in 100 words or less. I chose Preston Sturges, of course. I thought about doing Grey Gardens, but I couldn't begin to explain it in 100 words.
In the photo I'm soaking my feet in the spring outside of Saturnia on the last Italy trip.
