Weekend Update

Miss Emmo is now gone away, and today I came home from work to an empty house, sesame wonton triangles still lingering on the kitchen counter, conjuring the sights and smells of happier times just a few days past, now looking sad and stale and oh-so lonely. It's as though you're still here, Em - not a thing has moved; not a dish washed, not an RTNU-turned-candy-thermometor removed from its vat of used cooking oil. Like a testament to your presence, an homage to what things have been, these objects sit untouched in sacred fashion. They amplify your absence and remind us what sad, sad people we are.

In other news, I went over to my friend's house last night for a girl's night. We had white wine and cooked up some frozen pizza and sprinkled a bunch of feta on top and watched "Margot at the Wedding", which is among the most bizarrely compelling films I've ever seen, and afterwards stared at each other in stunned silence for a few minutes. Was she completely batty, we asked ourselves? Furthermore, is Nicole Kidman's face actually paralzyed? How can her eyes be so expressive when her forehead is frozen in place?

Work is work - we are working hard on several extremely major initiatives to improve the quality of the print collection and to develop (from scratch) an information literacy program. I haven't been doing much teaching lately and am focused mainly on the hard intellectual work of professionally executing large team-based projects. After a long day of brain-concentration, I am in the mood for nothing more than a chirpy kid's film and some top ramen. That's next on the agenda.

The most exciting news of all is how the bank has lost $4400 of my dollars somewhere over (or under) the Atlantic Ocean en route from UAE to USA. This is a major bummer. But, I have resolved to remain steadfastly optimistic about its eventual recovery. I tell myself there is no way to lose in this situation: either the $4400 will be found and credited to my account, or I will take deep deep pleasure and satisfaction in the slow drawn out murder of the bank manager. I could almost flip a coin over which outcome I'd prefer.