Moot Thoughts & Musings

My life is just kind of piddling along right now. ("Is that word?" "It is two words."--10 points to the person who can tell me what movie that's from.)

Anyway, we had a nice anniversary. We decided to go out after all to our favorite Mexican place where we can get a yummy meal for under $20. We went there for Val Day. In fact, I think that that was the last time we had been out to dinner in "date" mode. But after dinner I had to go babysit for someone. I was happy to get a babysitting job Mon and Tues evenings. Every little bit helps. Tues evening was quite late...from 10 until 1.30 phwew. And the 2 yr old screamed for quite a bit. I mean, screamed. Consoled only by her mom. Her mom said that might happen and if so I should call her, because she was only a few blocks away. It did, I called. She got the kid back to sleep and went back out. Five min later, the kid starts to scream again. I felt bad for the mom, because she was spending time with friends before they move. So I attempted magic, and got a cookie down. By that point her sister woke up. That I got the 2 yr old to stop screaming, eat a cookie, and listen to a story was a minor miracle. I read stories until their mom came home. I thought to myself, "It's 1 o'clock in the morning and i'm reading stories to a screaming 2 yrd old. How surreal does life get." They really were sweet kids, though.

It is so hot here. Heat index in the high 80s even in the middle of hte night! But that's just typical NOLA. I really hope our air conditioner doesn't die this summer. It periodically makes horrible rattling noises, to which only turning it off for several hours will provide the remedy. If it does die, I hope the landlord replaces it, but I'd rather place more on its not dying.

Our pastor came over last night for a visit. Always so refreshing. We're glad that of all people he is our pastor, because we're just that quirky.

I have to send of my application for a new passport today, one with my married name on it...it's been that long since I've traveled internationally. I'll have to pay the expedited fee now, because we kept waiting for "a better time" to get it and waited too long. Having a passport, though...it's like your card to freedom. You can go ANYWHERE with one (well, you might need a visa, too, but that sort of destroys the whole poetry of it all). I also have to pull my gumption together and call a couple hotels to make a reservation, hoping they speak English, and being prepared with meager italian if they don't. Yikes!

My big project of the week is studying Italian grammar and black mensural notation (the musical notation du jour of the 14th c) and do some readings in preparation of the seminar.