I have, once again, bitten off a larger task than I intended. I’ll figure it out, it’ll probably be fine, but man do I wish things could be easy once or twice.

Once again, I am focused on showing up for my students in ways I wish more faculty had showed up for me. Once again, I am realizing that it's not that hard or particularly time-consuming. You just have to try a little. Or like ... at all. It's a low bar, friends.

I give myself a lot of sh*t for being awkward and/or abrasive, but I just endured a 20 minute conversation in which someone complained about the bad hire they’d made for a job where i’d been the other finalist. I smiled and nodded politely and now I want a cocktail.

One of my favorite things remaining on this platform: Jeremy, his salads, and his shenanigans.

Sometimes Higher Ed feels like everyone else is playing Settlers of Catan but I'm still plugging away at Chutes and Ladders.

Moving Don to a locale where he's not making music has been hard on our marriage in a lot of ways ... except now that he's not conducting, when I grumble about unhelpful B.S. from the podium he doesn't argue anymore. He AGREES. #Vindicated

I want …. so many things … that require meetings after meeting after meeting … that makes me not want the thing anymore.

I accidentally charbroiled some cookies exactly one time three years ago and our dogs still do not trust me with the oven. Don is gone, I am roasting beets, and Olive is beside herself.

My husband has been gone for maybe four hours and I’ve sent him three memes. Two were about farts and one was a CreepyDave video that started with the phrase, “Oh look at my fancy butthole …” So classy.

Part of me wants to get one of these. Part of me knows my doofuses would find a way to spill it all over the floor and kill the fish anyway.

…. I … uh ….

Upon explaining to Dad that I was auditioning in an orchestra I’ve belonged to for a decade, he paused and said, “It sounds to me like they’re making you apply for a job you already do half the time, and if they were considering you at all, they’d probably make it comfortable.”

This audition is tonight and the personnel manager still hasn’t confirmed that it’s ok for me to play after 6 rather than at 5 when I physically can’t be there. The uncertainty has not been great for my headspace, and I called Dad expecting his usual (brutal) suck it up talk.

Orch: You signed up for a 2nd flute audition which means you should play principal excerpts and also piccolo! It will be Thursday from 6-11 pm! We will specify when one week before! *four days before the audition* Orch: Your audition time is 5pm. Check in no later than 4:30.

Orch: Our 2nd flute audition will consist entirely of principal flute excerpts! Me: Weird, but ok. Orch: Upon reflection, we would like to add piccolo excerpts. Other candidates: … but on flute, right? Pic is a totally different instrument and it’s in like a week …?

Orch: We will hold 2nd flute auditions on either Thursday or Saturday in Sept! You will be notified of your time one week before the audition. Me: So is that one week before Thursday or one week before Saturday? Orch: ….. auditions will Thursday from 6-11 pm.

Switch to entirely online materials, they said. Using electronic resources is cheaper AND more convenient, they said. You’ll love it ease, they said. The LMS will totally go down the first time and assignment is due, they neglected to mention.

Spirit of this: yes. But my syllabus being a million pages is absolutely, aaaaaaabsolutely not a situation I chose or endorse. There are 427 legal boilerplate statements that need to be there if I wanna stay employed. My dogs gotta eat.

…. Go Jacks?

"That was a really brave thing to say," gets said to me sometimes in tone that suggests it's a compliment. In reality, the remark is when I realize my behavior was risky and am subsequently paralyzed with anxiety. Memoir Title: Brave or Just Oblivious? The E. Robinson Story