crazy thing

Some things are worth fighting for, some things are worth laughing about, and then there are some things that are just too crazy to know what to do with.... I wonder what type of "competition" this chap is really worried about!?!

back home again

I'm home. I'm still catching up on rest, but at least it is in my own bed, and not in a res room. I have around three months of summer (or winter, in South Africa) ahead, and minimal work. I am so looking forward to reading for its own sake. And to doing some of the other fun things I haven't done enough of this year. I've already enjoyed playing my piano a fair amount, though it is rather out of tune after so long without being played.
Anyway, updates are likely to be sporadic and short, for the next while, at least. Have a great vacation!

end part 1

I'm heading back to South Africa today. The semester is over, the summer has started (it is actually colder in Johannesburg than in New York at present), and my first year as a graduate student has passed. I am tired, but very happy. And I really had the perfect last day, yesterday. Church in the morning, a visit to St Patrick's Cathedral on 5th avenue in the afternoon, lunch at the Rockefeller center, a super piano recital in a down town art gallery in the evening, dinner in china town, and several hours hearing friends of mine play Irish music really splendidly in a pub, to round out the evening. I really have been having the best weekend. I have been staying with a friend, as the university housing closed on Friday, and she and I have had a really relaxing time, which, after the intensely busy past few weeks, was exactly what I needed. She has been so warm and hospitable, even to the point of baking fresh orange buns for breakfast this morning....
I am just generally feeling particularly warm and fuzzy toward all of my colleagues, at the moment, though it is not without very good reason.
Oh, and before I forget, NYU commencement was last week, and I was highly amused to note that, among other things, the Empire State Building was in NYU colours for the event. I wonder what strings had to be pulled to make that happen!
Anyway, tonight I fly to Zurich, tomorrow I spend the day in the city, and then tomorrow night I head back to Johannesburg. And next week I am flying to Durban to visit my parents, and for the real start of my vacation. It will be good to get home.

Finals time

I am having no luck blogging this weekend. I can't seem to pick out the important bits well enough to summarize it, and I don't have time to blog the whole thing. Suffice it to say that Saturday was spent at the Access to Knowledge conference in Yale, and was very productive and exciting. And now I'm plowing through the last official week of the semester, and finals. One paper down, two to go. I'm sure I'll be back on full blogging form by this time next week.