Singapore/KL Bangkok Stuttgart Washington DC Toronto Colorado Springs San Francisco

This is about the laziest day I've had in a while (well, except for getting up at 7:30 to prep the house, then watching the clock nervously as the plumber finished up a valve replacement 15 minutes before people came to look at the house). We've got 3 viewings of the house scheduled so far today, so it's not like we'll be doing any work around there. In fact, we need to be out of it. And while I doubt the house will sell on the first day, we can always hope.

I do have some stuff to work on for classes on Monday, but I think I can wait until tomorrow to do that. Today, I'm getting a massage and body scrub. Much more fun, and something I usually can't do in the classroom. Usually.

Thursday afternoon I got a real surprise. In the middle of the afternoon I got a call from one of my best friends from university, who lives on the east coast but who was in town for a day for meetings. I haven't seen him in seven years -- we often end up in the same places but just miss each other by a couple weeks. So Thursday night we went out for a few hours (by the time I got him back to the hotel he had 3 hours before he had to get up to go to the airport...I, on the other hand, got at least 5 hours of sleep). He's married with two kids, and I've known his wife exactly one week less than I've known him (they were college sweethearts) so there was lots of catching up to do. We've known each other more than 20 years and he's a good guy, but it's interesting to see that even though we've gone into similar lines of work (we actually worked together for 5 years after university) our lives have taken different paths and we've grown in different ways. For example, he, as a parent, has different views on education than me, a professor who deals with students who've come through that education process. He sees younger people ("this generation," as he calls them) with a suspicious eye, whereas I, who am lucky enough to have a number of younger friends, see their potential. His political views are more conservative than mine, and more conservative than they were befoe, which shouldn't be too surprising given that I'm more liberal now than I used to be (coming out has that effect on some people). But it's all good. A surprise indeed, and a good time was had.

This morning the local weekly paper had a big article on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for people coming back from Iraq. It was interesting (though reading it brought up some memories) and it also let me see that there are some folks in WAY worse shape than me. I feel bad for them as I have an idea what they went through and how they feel, but from what I read they're having a much harder time of it than I did. Then again, some of them were out there shooting people, which of course I didn't have to do. I mostly smiled and waved at kids.

Reading it made me think more about the therapist I talked with the other day. He spent more time talking than I did, which is unfortunate since the only reason I went to him was I felt I needed to talk with someone. He focused on one particular incident, almost as if he was trying to find a reason to diagnose me with PTSD, whereas I think my issues were a result of some other stuff. Oh, well, I'll do his little exercises and see what comes of it.

Tonight we're going out to dinner (gotta get out so folks can come look at the house) and then tomorrow morning we're having brunch with friends (I'm making Crab Cakes Benedict, because they are so yummy). And then I have dance class. And then I will do my work for Monday's classes. And then, and then, and then...and then I'm likely to have a martini. Because they, too, are yummy.