May might be almost as bad as April this year

Or maybe I’m just having a bad week.

Monday I put the first scratches on my car.

I was pulling into a parking spot at my campus ramp, like I’ve done a million times, and there was this terrible scratching noise, and voilà. The true horror of it is look how many different pieces of expensive plastic I’ve scuffed up here – must be at least 4, including the headlight cover which is probably not replaceable; you probably have to replace the whole lamp. Ugh.

I was in a hurry, because I’d been out at Goodman, prepping for the Tuesday pantry breakfast, and I was rushing back to get to a reception for the departing Provost. Which was at the Museum, and there was nice looking food, which I didn’t get any of, nor did I get to hear the speeches – more on that in a minute.

And I was tired because I’d had two beers at the WORT Block Party on Sunday afternoon, and an old fashioned for watching Game of Thrones finale, which meant I woke up at 2:00 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep until like 4:30, and it was only spotty after that. Getting old means no alcohol tolerance any more, one of those partially good, partially bad things.

The reason I didn’t get food or words at the reception is because I left early to drive out to Waunakee to get to Anna’s last soccer game. I circumnavigated the high school, and didn’t find the game, the baseball fields were full, but soccer empty. I pulled into a parking spot and checked the Big 8 online schedule and that showed it’d been cancelled. No messages from the coach or other supposedly responsible adults. I texted Anna, and she said she’d found out the game was cancelled because she went to school to get the bus to the game and there was no bus, and there was a snap chat from the other kids. This was at about 3:30, so soon enough to save me from my 24-mile round trip for nothing, but unfortunately, she didn’t think to text me.

I drove back from Waunakee and made egg sangwiches on bagels for dinner, and re-watched GoT.

So that was Monday. Kinda sucky.

Tuesday didn’t start off so bad. I made it to the community center by 7:15ish to set up for breakfast. It was kind of a simpler meal – no hot main dish – because I had to leave as soon as the servers got there, instead of helping to serve, because I had to get home to listen online to a presentation by the second of the iSchool Associate Director candidates. I watched online because I was trying to get changed out of my grubs and make the 12:30 bus to Chicago.

Breakfast was blueberry muffins that I’d baked Monday (and a few rhubarb from home), pork patties, hard boiled eggs, oatmeal with cooked apples, cold cereal, fruit cups, and some Quinoa salad the big kitchen wanted used up. The pantry always has these big bags of frozen blueberries, and there are a bunch of cases of these pre-grilled pork patties that for some reason come in bags of 11. “This one goes to 11.” – Spinal Tap

I listened to the candidate and made it to the bus OK, but as I got settled and checked my email I found that I had completely spaced an orientation for student interns that I was supposed to attend. It’s a larger program and and four students participating are using it for their iSchool practicum and so are in my practicum class this summer. My 43-student class, another thorn in my side. I also had four students in the same program last summer, so I know the ropes a bit, making the workshop a bit optional. But I’d said I would be there, and it would’ve been nice for me to be there. Shit.

I set up a Doodle poll to do an online debrief meeting next week, to hear from the students.

I went to Chicago to see Hilary Hahn with CSO. She wore a pretty amazing dress.

We had dinner at this place we’d walked past about a million times, because it’s on W. Madison near LaSalle, on the walking route from the train to the apartment, Roanoke. I had catch of the day, seared scallops, with asparagus and their special potatoes, and Mark had rotisserie chicken with kale, that I ate for him, and their special potatoes, which were mashed red potatoes with nice bits of skin mashed in and tasted like probably sour cream or cream cheese as well. We split a Caesar to start, which was OK, but I’ve had better.

Wednesday for once I was able to stay in Chicago and work at the apartment and then take the train back to Harvard and drive to Madison with Mark, our master plan for buying Tuesday symphony tickets that hardly ever works out. I usually arrive in Chicago at like 4:30, see the concert, and then have to catch the 8:45 bus back, or sometimes take the Blue Line up to O’Hare and get the 8:00 one, to get back to Madison for a meeting or a class.

I knocked off at 1:30, and went to the Art Institute. Saw the Rembrandt portraits – there are only four.

This young woman:

And these fellows:

There was a guy taking a selfie with Rembrandt. I liked that, but didn’t take a picture of the two of them.

Then I wandered into the folk art collection – Wisconsin represent with this whirligig.

And over to the modern wing where they moved the Joseph Cornell boxes and put them behind glass. I don’t really like it much; they’re too closed off. But I can see how fragile they’re getting, so I guess it had to be done.

Then I wandered the modern wing. A room/alcove full of Richard Prince and one of Cindy Sherman; Kerry James Marshall, a kind of unusual work; David Hockney.

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There was also one of Faith Ringgold’s black light paintings, but I didn’t even know it was her until I saw it in the New Yorker or the NYT, a few days later.

Thursday started great – in the morning it was so beautiful and sunny that everyone I passed on my walk was smiling, even high school kids on their way to school. In the afternoon, I put in to be chair of an executive committee that I’m on, but didn’t get elected. I biked over to get my first CSA box, always a treat, although I had bought some of the same things that were in the box at the Saturday market: aspaargus, argula, and rhubarb. And I somehow left my keys there – I thought I slipped them into one of my panniers but even though I shook out all the bunches of greens, the keys did not appear, so I drove back and retrieved them. Success, but kinda negated the value of the bike ride. We had pasta with argula pesto for dinner, with asparagus and mushrooms sautéed together on top. Argula pesto uses up a LOT of argula, but I think I might need to make another batch.

On Friday it got cloudy and rainy again, but sunny later. I don’t think I got quite enough exercise, and probably ate a bit too much, although I had a really nice salad for lunch: argula topped with the sautéed asparagus and mushrooms, almonds, cheddar cheese, raisons, and home made raspberry vinaigrette.

When I got home with dinner plans (sausages, broccoli cheese, roasted potatoes), we decided to go see Olivia Wilde’s movie, Booksmart, which was a lot of fun, and shot beautifully, but meant dinner after, and not cooked by me (Anna’s favorite and probably Mark’s too truth be told). I had an iced coffee with half & half and vanilla syrup, and some teddy grahams, added up my calories for the day and realized no way was there enough for dinner, so  decided to blow it all and have some cinnamon grahams with Nutella – the last two from a box. When everyone else had pizza after the movie, I had a handful of nuts and one of veggie straws (also finishing the bag – it’s a theme), and a handful of Swedish Fish because why not. So now I’m sitting at the kitchen counter at my laptop, headache-y, too thirsty, sucking the remains of Swedish Fish off my teeth.

Still I guess it’s not too bad for a day that started with the dentist. And it’s the beginning of the holiday weekend, too.