It didn't start well -- on Christmas Day, I caught an 11:20 p.m. flight from SFO to Philadelphia for SALA. (I have been campaigning vigorously for a change of dates for SALA, so I don't have to do this every year -- we'll see how it goes.) I survived the flight okay, thanks to computer games, but arrived very groggy. David B. kindly picked me up at the airport and dropped me at the hotel, and thankfully, one of my roommates had checked in the day before, so I was able to wave her a muzzy hello before collapsing into that lovely lovely bed and sleeping until 3.
The next few days were mostly full of fascinating panels and fun people. I gave my little talk, which was based on a paper I wrote in grad school, and thus was full of Bhabha and Spivak -- very theory-ish, which, honestly, I haven't thought so much about since grad school. But it was nice to go back to it for a bit, and I still like my paper, which is something. I read from my book, and sold a bunch of copies, which is always nice. People seemed to like it, and someone actually complimented my reading-aloud skills, which is particularly nice since I've been trying to work on that. I had good meals, including Thai food with Summer and Moumin at Reading Terminal Market; I love that place. One of my favorite places in Philly. And I survived my interviews reasonably well, I think. We'll see what they say.
Last night, we didn't do much of anything New Year's-ish -- at least, that was the plan. What actually happened was that I woke up at 1 a.m., very confused, because Elinor was insisting on going out. When I followed her into the hall, I discovered that all the lights were out, and that Kevin wasn't home. There was a lot of noise outside (unsurprisingly, since we live in a party neighborhood). I managed to pull on some clothes and find her leash, since I didn't know if she was just looking for Kev or if she desperately needed to pee. But then Kev came in just as I was putting on my coat to tell me that he'd been downstairs with neighbors trying to fix the power. We went down with him, by which point clever neighbor had found the master circuit breaker and flipped it. Apparently, some drunk folks had rampaged through our building, causing what trouble they could. It's amazing what seems clever when you're totally wasted. Anyway, all ended quietly enough, and Elinor got an extra 1 a.m. walk out of us, which was actually sort of pleasant in a totally ridiculous and random way. And then I went back to sleep.
All of which leads me to my New Year's resolutions, which are far less accomplishment-oriented than I think they've ever been before:
- Enjoy my family, even when they're being goofy. (That includes puppy.)
- Don't be afraid to make new friends.
- Take pleasure in life's good things, food and writing and reading and people.
- Do the work you're committed to doing, and do it well, but also...
- Get as much sleep as possible.
It was good to see you on the 26-th, if only briefly. I am gald you got to catch up on your sleep.