Monday, August 28, 2006

Questions of orientation

Not that John has any. Or at least, none he's willing to admit. We'll just say he's secure in his manhood or whatever.

Graduate student orientation was today. The two of us went out to the Rose Hill campus this morning at an hour I'm not willing to disclose because I find it painful. Once there, we socialized, had a bit of complimentary breakfast, then went from one corner of campus to the other, running errands for the both of us. We stopped in at financial aid, human resources, graduate student office, bookstore, department offices... we had a full day on campus, to be sure. Pleasantly enough, there was plenty of visiting with folks, some old and some new (all of them new to John, though). Free lunch, too. How do you beat that? By the end of the day, John and I were loaded down with textbooks, som elight groceries, and an assortment of random baggage picked up here and there during the course of the day. We got home, worked on the apartment through the evening, and... well, here we are.

I'm ready. Enough with the 'getting ready" phase prior to school begining again. As soon as I can get into the groove of coursework, I can get on with the rest of everything... the apartment, martial arts, fencing, my CD... everything feels like it's on hold until the semester officially begins. How long do I have to sit in this limbo? It feels like months when it's only been days... and all the whle, the apartment lies in a state of work-in-progress that just barely keeps my hope alive. Ugh... somebody tell me when I can get on with it.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Counting down to class

I admit that I've been short on vacation time this summer. After all, I'm a student... one of the best perks is the vacation time. Nevertheless, I somehow found a way to cheat myself in that respect. I taught through June, took courses through July, and have been working on my apartment and getting John moved in through August. So much for my summer.

Actually, I think I'm looking forward to getting back to school. No, really. I mean, come on... how long have I been doing this school thing? Like, twenty-something years? Think about it. I must like it at least a little. To be honest, I'm just pumped about seeing John get into his groove. For starters, it's finally dawning on him that... um... I was right about moving us to New York. (Gee... who'd have thunk it.) Also, there's something really fabulous about this for him that he wasn't counting on... I'm the kind of friend who listens.

For years, he's been whining about wanting to do nothing but go to class and study martial arts. But in what world could he possibly do that an nothing else? Of course, he wouldn't mind teaching, but he would rather move on to teaching at the college level. Once again, a little impossible, as far as he could tell. So after years and years of listening to this, I decided I'd do what I could to get the ball rolling. When I made my move to New York, I told him I was doing it for both of us, and that I hoped he would understand my motivations someday, hopefully sonner than later. He supported me throughout, although he admitted he didn't quite see how this was supposed to be a beneficial move for both of us. Now that he's here, I think it's starting to set in. It's not that I'm handing him anything. I could never do that, and he hardly needs it. I just point my finger over at stuff that I think he might want to have a gander at... I'm like an extra set of eyes, one could say. So of course, I didn't get him into his doctoral program... I just gave him the application materials and threw on a little peer pressure. He's told me that some of his life dreams are being fulfilled now... he's learning praying mantis kung fu, he's studying Spanish rapier, and he's a week away from begining his doctorate work. And, if that wasn't enough, he'll also be teaching a freshman Intro to Latin course and a sophomore Intro to ancient Greek history, both at the Lincoln Center campus. And one of the courses he's taking is actually being offered at NYU, and the other two are at Lincoln Center. It doesn't get much better than that.

As for me, I'm just glad he's here. I've missed him, naturally. But more than anything, I'm just relieved that he likes his new life here so far. When school begins, things will really get interesting, I'm sure. For the next week, we have to work pretty much nonstop to get the apartment put together once and for all, and maybe get brave enough to have some friends over. I'm also going to be getting together with some other people who have agreed to serve on a pannel for Fordham GSAS orientation... we meet to talk about topics this Wednesday, then do the actual panel next Tuesday. How goofy would it be to take part in a panel for an orientation that John's attending? I'll be sure to report on my findings when it's all over.

At the moment, though, I should really get going. I promised John I'd hang up my guitars in the study/music room, and it's getting kinda late, so I don't want to run the drill into the night and keep the neighbors up. Ah, powertools. What's a girl to do without them?

Thursday, August 17, 2006

All apologies... and none

What do you want from me? John just got here, like, a week ago, and you want me blogging? Yeah... not gonna happen.

I'll do it now, though. I've gotten to spend some good time with him and the hundreds of friggin' boxes he brought up with him from Dallas. Ah, yes... and the cat. Let's not forget the cat. Anyway, they all got ehre ont he evening of the 4th... John, Kidden, Chuck, Jay, and Nate. We unloaded the truck and the car (with the help of some moving people I hired... that was definitely a good call), and then Chuck, Jay, and Nate said their goodbyes and headed back to Texas. Chuck had to be back to work in two days, so there wasn't much time to hang out in New York for them. From then on, it's just been me and John. And the cat.

The cat... who won't eat anything but 9 Lives puree. It can't be chunky, hard, or another brand. It has to be the mushy stuff. Even if you grind up the chunky bits yourself (and how would I know) to te point where it's identical to the pre-mashed, he won't touch it. If anyone is interested in some cans of chunky cat food, be my guest. Apparently, they're not good enough for the great Radames.

As for John, he's acclamating better than any of us had hoped. He goes out on the roof of the building and looks out at the skyline a lot, and comments that he can't believe he lives here... in a good way, that is. He's also started kung fu with me, which has ben nice, and he's also taken up historical fencing with our college buddy, Russ. Two days a week of the fencing, two days a week of the kung fu... the other day, while we were on our way to kung fu, right after coming back from doing laundry, he turned to me and asked, "Are we always going to be this busy?" Oh, man... has he even been reading my blog? I laughed for a good while at that one.

The apartment, as I suppose is to be expected, is a complete disaster area. I guess you could say we're making progress in getting the place put together, but I'd have a hard time proving it. We work on it a little every day, though, so we hope to be a good way along by the end of this week. At the very least, we have the bedroom, closet, and sitting room pretty well put together, or at least no longer entirely filled with boxes. The rest of the apartment, as far as I'm concerned, can just hold on a second. We'll get to it in time, I'm sure. Right now, I'm just having a really good time with John here.

We haven't done much, but we haven't been homebodies, either. His birthday was last weekend, so I took him out for shopping and a movie, and we had a great time. In our tradition of extending birthday celebrations by a few days, we continued to do things that were birthday related, such as gettng an ice cream cake one night on our way home, and making nearly every food decision in the week up to his whim (this, of course, meant a couple of pizza nights). He's settling in nicely, and we fully intend to spend the rest of the summer break doing as little as we can that doesn't include having a great time with each other. Oh, yes. That means a lot of goofy, holding-hands-and skipping-around-in-central-park ind of crap. At some point, we're going to make a trip to the zoo, so I'll hopefully have pictures to share of that particular excursion.

Today is a little busier than some. We have a lunch date with Russ, then a dinner date with Miraj. If anyone's been wondering what we've been up to, that' about it. So yes, sorry for being negligent. Still, I hope it's understood I'm not that sorry.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

One year down, two boys up

No, no... it really does feel like a year has passed.

It's been a good enough year, too. Not perfect, but certainly not without it's highlights. What's the line out of that Ani DiFranco song that Jane pointed out to me a while ago... "I had a year of New York City under my belt..." Oh, but it makes an incredible difference. One year of the city, and you really are changed. I'd like to think I've changed for the better, too. At least, I haven't seen or heard proof of the contrary. So I've knocked out a year of being here, and I have to say it was better than I hoped. Now, if John would just hurry up and get here, I could get on with the fun already.

John is on his way up to New York at this very moment, actually. He's got Chuck, Jay, and Nate with him. Oh, and the cat. Anyway, they're in a two-vehicle caravan driving from Dallas to NYC. They left yesterday evening, so they expect to be here by some point on Friday. A group of my good friends are delivering my two boys to me, at long last... I've no doubt they've got their work cut out for them. As for me, I've got to get this apartment ready. I mean, I have a couple of papers due for my summer courses, but that can wait a moment... I have a wreck of an apartment to attend to.

I hired some painters to help me finish the job I started. Frankly, I ran out of time and steam, and I needed some professional help to get it done. Also, the bathroom was scary enough to be deemed far beyond the reach of my home improvement expertise. They had to scrape, replaster, sand, and repaint, which has taken two days... it should be done by this evening, thankfully. My work includes getting everything put away somewhere before John gets here with his giant moving truck that's full of our house. Off I go, then.