Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

It's Wednesday! Link back in the comments and on your blog if you play along (also, the formatting might be weird... it won't be next week).

1. I am just finishing up The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra and am loving it. So much so that I posted a defense of short stories here yesterday. For years I avoided short stories, but during the last five or so years I’ve warmed up to the them considerably. I do still balk at anything more than 400 or 450 pages, though, which is part of the reason I haven’t read A Little Life, as it clocks in over 800 pages (although when checking the pages right now I almost bought it, since it was only eleven bucks…. this is why I have so many books…)

2.     I have been with my new group of students for almost three weeks (already!) and not only do I see plenty of potential, I am also basically caught up on my grading. This has to be a good omen that the class of 2020 and I will do just fine together, right? Their essays so far haven’t been horrible to read, they say smart enough things in class, and they seem like nice kids. I am still struggling to learn all of their names (I have 128 English kids, plus the small group of seniors I have for my late afternoon TOK class), which I hate about myself, but it will happen.

3.     Today is super busy- I was up at 4:50 to run, went to work, had my late afternoon IB class, picked Sawyer up from preschool, grabbed an early dinner out and killed some time at the bookstore, went back to preschool for Open House, and then finally got home at 7:30. I generally dread anything that I have to do after work, but I tried to go into this with a good attitude and we ended up having a nice night. 

4.     I have been learning to BBQ, finally. When we bought our BBQ a few years ago I thought that my husband would be using it primarily, since I didn’t have much of an interest. Unfortunately, since he works so late and we tend to each out a night or two on the weekends, that plan hasn’t exactly came to fruition. I’ve decided to throw my hat in the ring, though, and it’s so much easier than I thought.  I’ve done chicken, burgers,  foil packets with veggies and sausage, and tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at steak. 

5.     My RBG documentary arrived yesterday and I cannot wait to watch it this weekend. The Skirball Center in LA is hosting an exhibit later this year in collaboration with the authors of Notorious RGB, which should be pretty great. I have issues with the whole “having a hero” idea, but if I did she would definitely be one of mine.

6.     It’s a three-day weekend! I plan to take Sawyer to the Discovery Science Museum in Orange County, since they have dinosaur and rainforest exhibits that are both ending soon. My husband and I might sneak away to see Crazy Rich Asians if we can coordinate the babysitter’s schedule with our separate Fantasy Football drafts (ha!). Otherwise, it’s just exciting to have that extra glorious day off.