the jig is up, the news is out, they finally found me

The insanity of what I'm doing-- driving 500+ miles per week, at almost 50 years old, to take classes with a bunch of kids many of whom are less than half my age, so that I *might* be able to get a job that I'm not even sure I will like-- is always apparent to me.  But more so at some moments than others, and never more so than today, when I raced around (as usual) getting ready to go this morning, popped a couple of advil and a magnesium to ward off a headache and a couple of zinc to head off yet another cold, dropped my son off at school and drove two+ hours to UTown, walked the mile from the free parking lot to the building where my class is, sat down at an empty table to finish reading the last three pages of our reading assignment that I just could not hold my eyes open for at 12:30 last night, and then walked up the stairs for class only to find out it was cancelled. 

And oddly, I'm back into the student mindset enough that I couldn't help but feel a leap of happiness-- even more strongly than the frustration.  Woot!  No class!  So here I am, in the student center, writing a blog post, because I cannot get right back in the car and drive home.  On Thursdays I only have one class, and that was it.  Even on the days when I actually have the class, I can't make myself drive straight home.  I usually hang out in the student center or the bookstore for an hour or so, then go to the bagel place (no good bagels in our town), then head home around 2:00 or so.

So let's see if I can think of something interesting to say.  Hmmmmm... the long-stewing half-written post with further thoughts on feminism?  a summing up of why some people think Ulysses is the greatest novel of the twentieth century?  (which I never felt I could write before because I hadn't actually read it)(but NOW I HAVE!! yay!).  an update on the plans to visit our daughter in Prague in June? (we bought the tickets!! woo-hoo! but there's a long complicated story involved, including an explanation of the Schengen area, which might just bore you to tears).  An update on the audiobooks I've been listening to? (to which I've listened?)  a rant about how as soon as the temperature rises above 40 degrees around here, they start working on the roads? (with no warning, suddenly there was a five minute construction stop about halfway here). 

Oh, I know-- I never told you about DH's 50th birthday party.  It was a couple of weeks ago.  His best friend--whom we met in 1984, and who went through many years of professional training with dh, then spent a few years living in the Southwest, and now lives across the street from us with his wife and three kids--was born exactly one day before DH.  So his wife (the subject of this post) and I usually plan something together for their birthdays, and since this year was the big five-oh, we had been pondering the occasion for quite awhile.  At one point we were going to take a trip.  then we were going to rent a condo up on the ski slopes and have an après-ski party.  But shortage of funds nixed both those plans, so we ended up deciding to just have a party.  We invited about 80 people and I'm pretty sure there were at least 65 people there. 

It was a lot of fun, even for me, the anti-social one.  DH had a ball.  The party wasn't a surprise, but I bought a plane ticket home for dear daughter, and that was a surprise, which was fun.  We had it at their house, which made my life much simpler.  If you aren't a party person yourself, DH's BFF's wife is the perfect person to give a party with, because she is amazingly awesome and did about 75% of the work.  My contributions were a) the invitations, which were way cool if I do say so myself; b) to clean up our house and provide kid-friendly food so all the kids could hang out at our place while the adults were across the street; and c) to come up with an iPod playlist for the party music.  b) ended up being something of a bust because the kids didn't want to be across the street, they wanted to be at the party.  So we ended up with a clean house and a bunch of kid food out of that one.  And c) the iPod playlist was useless because it was so noisy I never even plugged my iPod in.  So a) the invitations were pretty much my only contribution.

But putting the playlist together was like a trip right back to high school.  DH and I had pretty different taste in music back then (we didn't know each other yet, we met our jr year in college)-- he liked Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Journey; I liked... oh, dear, am I going to admit to this in public?  all the pop stuff-- Elton John, Chicago, Earth Wind & Fire, Ohio Players (Rollercoaster! of Love!), and.... Barry Manilow.  I can still sing all the way through on "Weekend in New England" (although now I crack up when I get to "with YOU there's a HEAVEN, so earth AIN'T SO BAAAAD!!")  When I was in college I retroactively changed my taste in 70s music to Led Zeppelin, the Stones, and Clapton, but at the time I even liked Olivia Newton-John.  It shames me to remember, and I can't believe I just told you.

So anyway.  I listen to the Stones and LedZep and Clapton all the time, but I hadn't listened to all that other stuff in a very long time.  So my new 70s playlist has been on near constant rotation while I'm driving.  Lorelei let's live together, and can't smile without you, and if you leave me now and so HERE I AM with OPEN ARMS hoping you'll see what your love means to me.... Ah, the good old days.  Just kind of makes you want to grab somebody and sway gently under a disco light while plastered to each other's sweaty bodies , doesn't it?  (Those weren't on the party playlist, of course, because they aren't exactly party music, not like *ahem*  YMCA and Sisters Sledge.)