Calm

I'm thankful. For the first time in a while, my apartment is habitable again without the need for my A/C, which tends to give me a headache. I'm trying to not be too cheerful about the upcoming winter, given the heat bills most of my friends will be paying. I hope for everyone's sake that the winter will be as mild as the summer was.

I'm heading home to see Mom this weekend and most of the weekend after. The first year anniversary of my father's death is months away, but the date of my parent's wedding anniversary is less than two weeks from now. Hands off sums up my mother's wishes of what she wants the mark the date (in her eyes, there's nothing to mark). I can only wait to see how everything goes down with her and my sister, who actually asked me what we should get Mom for her anniversary. I don't know, I said, a place to hide? Turns out I have good instincts.

A lot of waiting these days. I'm up for what they call an incentive award at my job, but even good news takes time when you work for the government. Currently, I'm putting together for September a newsletter for our training center on Microsoft Publish, and it actually looks pretty good. I might put up a JPEG of the first page just to brag. I've been reliving my four years of being on Framingham State College's student newspaper, and even though my tools were glue and X-acto blades (I graduated just when they were bringing in new computers with Quark Xpress programs), it's good to know that I picked up a few things regarding layout and design.

I also have my name on a research paper that's coming out in a medical journal soon. I'll link it, then you can look it over and wonder how I ever even co-wrote such a thing. In fact, I didn't, but since I gathered the data and took photos, I am listed as an "author." Having seen only one draft, I'm actually as curious as one or two of you might be as to what the article says.

I have a workshop coming up with Tom Daley after Labor Day, so I'm also waiting for inspiration so I can have a poem to bring to the group. I'm hoping the inspiration comes at least a couple of days before the class. We'll see.

Bed soon. Really.