2002-04-08
Post vacation apathy, posted at 8:52 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I�m back at school, feeling exhausted and decidedly not ready for the day. Luckily, I have given my kids some writing assignments that are taking up much of the class period, so I�ve had time to get my bearings.I�m just not ready to get back to the grind yet. I woke up at 4:45am today � right on time � and had a good workout at the gym before rushing in here at 7:40. I cut the cardio portion of my workout short, since I had no lesson plans yet. I do now, even though they�re nothing special. Today is going to be a long day, with a baseball game after school.
I spent yesterday doing housework, spending $120 on groceries that hopefully will last me two weeks, and taking care of my things from vacation. They were arduous tasks that didn�t finish until 10pm, which was later than I wanted to stay up.
Our landlord called last night, and apparently Jeremy hasn�t paid his rent yet for the month. That pissed me off. He left a day earlier than Mike or I did for vacation, and knew that he needed to pay it. He was looking for his checks last that I knew (they were right on the counter). He said he wanted me to e-mail her address to him before he left, and I told him to just write it down off the phone list on the wall. He said he would, and that was the last we talked about it. When Mike and I sent off our checks on Thursday, I wrote a nice note for the landlady telling her that Jeremy would be sending his from Michigan. Apparently he didn�t, as she called last night. Luckily she�s a nice woman.
I called Jeremy�s parents� house, and surprisingly he was still there. He hadn�t forgotten about the rent, he was going to call me that night. Whatever. He then proceeded to tell me that he had a biopsy over the weekend, and gets the results tomorrow, and that this had taken his mind off of other things. I�m still feeling like this is something of an excuse � after all, he was feeling fine enough to go out to the bars while he was home, fine enough to work construction for some extra money as well. But the sympathy elicited by the biopsy prevented me from laying into him about rent � something that primarily makes me look bad, not him (especially since he�s probably moving in a couple of months, something I haven�t talked about on here but eventually will.)
The biopsy thing is a concern for me, but I�m optimistic that it�ll be nothing. My fingers are crossed, though.
The other major event this week will be getting ready for my house concert this Sunday. I�m expecting 20 people or so to come � some that I know, some that just saw it advertised � to fill up my house and watch one of my favorite musicians perform. The guy (one of my all-time favorite musicians, someone who first got me to start loving live music. I bought four of his CDs from him the first time I saw him live over six years ago) is then going to sleep on my couch, something that still blows my mind even after all the interactions with him back here. I�m a bit concerned that the audience will be smaller than I hope for, so I�ve got to spend some time this week printing and distributing fliers. If anyone is in the Baltimore area and would like to come, e-mail me and I�ll get you the info. It�s only $5, and all the money goes to him (he�s coming from Michigan after all, and is on his way to open up for Sophie B. Hawkins in Virginia). I don�t really want to say who it is right here, but he�s best described �the quintessential every man who uses humor to pull the listener in and irony and sincerity to provoke thought and warm the heart. His live shows are like escaping to a planet where everyone is nice. And it's well worth the trip!�
Holding house concerts may well be my new hobby, as I�ve got one scheduled for May and another for June. Hopefully this first one will go well. I�m making it a potluck, and am optimistic it�ll be a fun event.
In fact, music and concert-going is making quite a comeback in my life. I�m scheduled to go to four concerts in the next month � Wilco on April 28 at the Recher Theater, Patty Griffin on April 29 at the Ram�s Head, Melissa Ferrick on May 10 at Fletcher�s, and Dan Bern on May 12 at Fletcher�s. That doesn�t include the one I�m holding this Sunday (April 14) or the house concert next month on May 19. With my six Orioles games (I got the tickets to my 6-game package in the mail over the weekend; the first one is this Thursday), my social events calendar is coming into full-bloom.
Well, wish me luck surviving the rest of this day. At least the kids don�t seem to be suffering any post-vacation apathy like their teacher is enduring.