Oneidine 27, 29.

DIARY

- Approximately two weeks until Blue Skies falling is "back to normal."

- It's amazing how big a week can seem. I took the day off work today, on account of feeling sick and exhausted, and needing to not feel sick and exhausted as I attend weddings/fly to Chicago/fly to Ohio/finish my thesis.

- During the Octave of Easter I always try to attend a different church each day, but churches change their schedules a lot at this time of year, and so there's inevitably some doubling up. I also had this week to meet with my peer group to discuss some seven hundred pages of text (of which I am responsible for more than a third), and to finish attending colloquium events to make the eight-event minimum. I'm just building the case for it being a big and crazy week.

On Sunday night I only got four hours of sleep.

On Monday, I went to work, tried to go to St. Francis of Assisi which is across the street, but they had canceled their evening mass. I went down to New School for a colloquium event, and almost everyone was there: Marco, Meredith, Hosanna and Stephen, Daniel and Bernie, and so on. I went home and did reading for my peer group, but I only got four hours of sleep.

On Tuesday, I went to work, successfully went to St. Francis, and went to the New School for another colloquium event - poetry this time, and got to talk to Amy and Liesel. Then I went home. More reading. We watched American Idol, and voted for LaKisha. Again, I only got four hours of sleep.

By Wednesday, I was seriously exhausted, but I had finished almost all of my peer group readings. I went to work, then took the B to the 7 and crossed a big bridge and met with the others at Hosanna's. We had good, solid discussion, at Thai food, and took the bus home and went almost immediately to bed. But not until learning that Haley was voted off - yes!

On Thursday, I went to St. Patrick's cathedral and St. Francis Xavier church in the Village. I let myself relax enough to take a walk along Bleeker. There are also some last minutes texts I needed for my Literature Project, and I spent two hours at Bobst and the New School's library, but only managed to track down two. I finally managed to get three more, but only after dropping sixty bucks at a Barnes and Noble. It's all lit. crit. stuff I'm not thrilled about, but I am struck at how much Foucault really looks like Michael Stipe. Finally, I went to my final colloquium event to make my requirement, and I, quite by accident, made an excellent choice. It's from a series called "The Constitution in Crisis" and while it only seemed to be writing-specific by the barest thread, I didn't really care. Bryan Stevenson, chair of the Equal Justice Initiative, was the speaker, and he gave some of the most persuasive arguments against the death penalty I've heard to date. (I'll write about them when I have only a little more time). I went home, hung out with Jess, blah blah, goodnight.

On Friday, I went to St. James cathedral - lovely, but definitely the most dressed-down cathedral I've ever gone to - in the morning. In the afternoon I tried to go to St. Edwards, but it was all locked up, the gates padlocked, and no posting for when they'd be holding mass. These are both churches in my neighborhood, approximately. Between, I did work on a lot of small projects associated with my thesis. I might have spent too much time on them, but they needed to get done, so no regrets.

On Saturday, it was more of the same. A very cloistered weekend. I tried to go to Sacred Heart in the morning - just down the block past the BQE - but same story: dark and padlocked. This is the fate of many parishes in this neck of Brooklyn. A lot of reading and writing. Jess went out with friends, and I stayed home and did some cleaning. (But this was all stuff I'd meant to do a month ago.)

On Sunday, I went to St. Boniface again, was just about destroyed by the wind and the rain that's been turning over New York for the last day. I came home, went to Tillie's, read, cleaned, did the taxes. It took me until five in the morning.

Which is why I'm off work today. I have a headache and the beginning of a head cold, and I'm going to be very annoyed if it's still around this weekend when Jess and I fly to Chicago.

Incidentally, in focusing my schedule and making it as tight and practical as possible, I've broken up the next half-year into ten segments. Half are "action" (or acting on plans) and half are "calibration" (or making plans). Actually, I think most of life is like this, and it isn't neat - there are epicycles, so to speak. But by having a clear picture of what needs to be done by when and what cannot be done when, it's possible to have more realistic expectation. (This is, for example, why I'm scaling back on my blogging this month). Anyway, the current "action" lasts through Saturday, May 19th, when I graduated, and there are five parts. This past week represented the first part, the Octave of Easter, and while I didn't do everything I needed to do, I came more close than I usually do. Names: I went to church each day (or tried to), did the taxes and a lot of spring cleaning, and all without compromising my peer group or thesis. This week will be "Power Week" meaning basically that I have to plug into the very end of my thesis and reading for and writing up my literature project. Which means I should finally finish this post and get to it.

- ALMANAC SAYS -
Take calculated risks.
- George S. Patton Jr.

- HAPPY BIRTHDAY -
Charlie Chaplin

- NEWS OF THE WEEK -
New York Times: Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, is Dead at 84.

- QUESTION OF THE DAY -
Are you in a time of "action" or "calibration," and when do you think that will change, and why?

END OF POST.