After Chicago.

DIARY

The last two weeks of blogging have been mostly dominated by our Chicago trip and the Hunt, but they've actually been relatively eventful in-and-of-themselves. Jess has continued to prepare for her new job, which begins a week from Monday. I have started working four days a week (of from three, during the school year). I've also been compiling a list of things to do over the course of the summer, although as usual, there's too much on it, and I'm already falling behind.

On Wednesday, two days after we got back, I interviewed for a TA position opening at the New School, but I did not get it. On Friday, I cleaned our apartment from top to bottom, or at least gave it a solid once-over. Very soon, it might even be vaguely habitable.

That Saturday, Jess and I rented a car (we'd angled for an econobox for gas mileage, but they gave us a Jeep Liberty with Michigan plates) and drove out to Rochester. We got in after eight and met up with my parents, my brother and sister, and my grandmother and aunt.

We'd gone to celebrate my brother's graduation from Eastman School of Music. He received his Bachelors of Music Performance and Performer's Certificate. We sat up late in the Microtel and ate pizza. Caitlin and Jess and I shared a room, and we stayed up to watch Saturday Night Live.

Sadly, it was not followed up by Showtime at the Apollo.

The next morning we went into the city and saw the ceremony, which in some ways more formal and in others, noticeably less than others I've attended. Students were more open and eager to cheer for each other. One actually shed his gown to reveal a kimono beneath which he wore to accept his diploma. Afterwards, a reception was held in the lobby. A huge lobby, but not huge enough for the hundreds of parents and students. They served sherbet punch and cookies.

Dad and I went to Cody's dorm and helped him pack up his room to return to Michigan. Cody, however, had been scheduled for a different destination. We went out to a wonderful restaurant east of the city center, drank some wine and ate more food than we could handle. Then we returned to the Microtel, finished loading our vehicles, said goodbye, and started out.

Cody was riding with Jess and I. He has been visiting for the last week, and heads back to Michigan on Monday evening. He has probably packed more New York sights into the last week than I have seen ni the last nine months.

Back in New York (again) I went to work on Monday. I'd finished Sam's zombie book and decided one of my writing projects will be a short novel about zombies. I've been researching them. Jess and I signed up for NetFlix, and I got a Blockbuster Card. On Wednesday night, the three of us sat up and watched Night of the Living Dead. On Thursday, we'd been out of Chicago for the same amount of time as we'd been in Chicago. Cody and I watched Day of the Dead. I spent a lot of time blogging the Hunt. I've been learning about James Brown and Jimi Hendrix just as fast as I can. Yesterday, work got out early and I headed down to a Barnes and Noble to read about funk and zombies. I met Cody at Moma and we explored for several hours. I have pictures that I'll post soon. We walked down 3rd Avenue looking for a diner Lisa had taken me to. We did not find it. We ate at the Giant Bagel instead. We met Jess, Matt, Peter, Maria, and several other friends from Peter's program at NYU, and together the three of us saw the opening of the X-Men movie. I was soundly disappointed, althought the specially effects were pretty sweet. We went out to a bar afterwards, and drank several pitchers.

And now... I'm pretty much caught up on blogging.

END OF POST.