Cool your heels, Bruce Willis, this one ain't hitting earth

Yahoo! News - Huge Asteroid to Fly Past Earth Wednesday

I wish I knew more about astronomy. It excites me.

Study: Living in the Suburbs Can Make You Sick

Yahoo! News - Study: Living in the Suburbs Can Make You Sick

This study "defined sprawling suburban areas as those with poorly connected streets such as cul-de-sacs, separated areas for schools, housing and shops and a lower population density." Wow, does that sound familiar. It found (surprise!) that people in those areas had poorer overall health because of greater rates of obesity. Lack of exercise, don'cha know.

Would that it were easy to just "build cities where people feel comfortable walking and are not so dependent on cars." Makes me want to go into civil engineering. Or somehow convince all the civil engineering programs in American universities to teach this philosophy to their incoming students, so maybe in 50 or a hundred years...

Fleeing, Reece's Pieces

Yesterday I went out to run in the evening, like I usually do. When I cross the road from my apartment, I'm still up the hill from the hospital complex, and I have a good view of the entire south-southeast perimeter. Last night I looked down, and the sidewalk on the south edge just looked like it was swarming with people out walking and jogging. I felt like I'd never seen so many. I just couldn't handle people, especially that many. I turned around and ran the other way, up the long hill, past the firehouse, to the corner with the tobacco shop and liquor store and the two gas stations. Not as scenic, not as long a route, but no people either.

The secluded cul-de-sac where I found passion flowers earlier in the season is still heavy, almost syruppy, with honeysuckle scent.

Today was a little better in general. I was unusually tired all morning, almost like my body was telling me it was getting sick. Maybe it was really just saying I need more sleep. I don't know. But the afternoon was nice. I have a graduate student practice teaching with me, and she usually takes one of my classes during the afternoon. It's nice, but it also results in my feeling like I can't get everything done I want to. This week, she switched a class with me, so I had the students for both periods today. The afternoon period was so much fun. We were all playful, the students were involved, I felt like things were clicking more than they usually do in the morning. Maybe it was the Reece's Pieces I threw at them, maybe it was phrasal verbs, which are a pretty fun grammar item. Maybe they were just awake. Anyway, it was nice.

Laundry list of whine

I've been really off my game. Yesterday, teach, plan lessons, teach, home, eat, grade papers, fall asleep, wake up, grade papers, lock self out of apartment at night, exercise, grade papers. Check email, eat crappy cookie, go to bed. Today, change that up by completely forgetting to teach my hour in the language lab. And letting myself run out of clean underwear. Also I can't seem to put anything down on a surface without it falling off. I got out of the shower and turned on the TV in time for Reno 911. Apparently I thought today was Wednesday.

It was like the day was poorly mixed, tasteless, hard, didn't bake right. I felt the same. Disappointing. Much like the oatmeal cookies I made last weekend.

Yesterday, in a shining moment, Truman and I hunted and killed a Giant Flying Cockroach using only paws, whiskers, a towel, a squirt bottle with bleach solution, a flashlight, my right sandle (The Mighty Thumper) and our wits and determination. Today I was collecting laundry, and a cockroach ran down my body to the floor, where I killed it with my work shoe. And then I killed it again with the Mighty Thumper. Dial antibacterial and 10 minutes of loofahing was required.

I just drank a long draught of what turned out to be slightly turned milk. Wonderful.

On the bright side, I found an old tape of a great, cancelled show, Greg the Bunny, with commercials for another great cancelled show, Andy Richter Controls the Universe. And promos for The X-Files: "Only eight episodes left!" Ah, time capsules.

The candle in the window (September 11)

If three years is a pattern, then I use September 11 to mark time. Two years ago, I was thinking about the ritual I'd started that day a year before. Emotionally shellshocked, reeling with everyone, all I could think to do was light a candle in my windowsill before bed and gaze into it for a few minutes, sending out thoughts to wherever they go. It became something I did every night for more than a year. It was my bedtime prayer.

Last year, I was vaguely aware that there were memorial events for the terrorist attacks, off somewhere; three days earlier, Grampa had died. Then Daddy, Andy and I were travelling north, and it was a beautiful, beautiful day with flags popping at half-staff. John Ritter died. Grammy had a birthday and Grampa had a memorable visitation. Johnny Cash died. We arrived in time for the funeral. The cousins hung around the farm in the car listening to Nine Inch Nails.

I really can't wrap my mind around the fact that it's been a year, or that it's been three. But it feels right: we're not a year and forever out. We've made three journeys and come home every time. We remind ourselves to drop pebbles so we can find our way. We look for the candle in the window.

Marauders and the Little Rock Hilton

There are nine Red Cross disaster recovery vehicles parked at the Hilton on University. When I first saw them this evening, pre-logic, they were just a fleet of emergency vehicles and I thought something horrible must have happened in the hotel. But when I realized they were identical and simply parked, my best guess was that they were caravanning to Florida, camped out here while they wait for Hurricane Ivan to blow in like a marauding invader. I was right, as it turns out.

KUAR: Red Cross Using Little Rock as Staging Area for Florida Hurricane Relief (2004-09-09)

Charley was something; I was home that weekend, on holiday between the summer and fall sessions. We kept the TV on and tried to get ahold of Aunt Lin or one of the kids or Aaron. Charley was small and fast. A couple of weeks later, Labor Day weekend, I was home again, and Frances was set to hit right at the town where I'd spent a few days with some friends this May. I lit a candle and checked my email a lot. Frances was huge and slow.

Now they're waiting for Ivan, who sounds like the most ferocious monster of them all.

It's got to be exhausting. You can handle anything, I've always thought, as long as you know when it's going to be over. You just pace yourself and think about tomorrow. But this is like being bone-tired nearing home, concentrating all your energy on staying awake and alive for the next mile, and then finding out you have to drive a hundred more.