I spent a while today…

I spent a while today trying to sort through the backlog of mail, dealing with a variety of small administrative things. A few notes out of that:

• I love this: learn new words and donate free rice. Have fun, learn something, do good, all in just seconds!!! Warning, it is very addictive, esp. as you watch your vocabulary level climbor drop. :-) I just donated 500 grains of rice, very satisfying! Jed, sweetie, you might want to set yourself a timer so you have to stop (Oblig. brag: I got to level 48, very briefly, out of 50. Damn tempted to keep playing to try to get to 50, but have so much work to do...) Also, their FAQ made me cry. Rare for a FAQ to manage that!

• I have my schedule for my first year at UIC (2008-2009), and it looks great! I'll tentatively be teaching two classes a semester, with no admin responsibilities, which should allow time for parenting and writing. We hope. In the fall it's Intro to Asian American Literature and Intro to Writing Fiction; in the spring it's Colonial and Postcolonial Literature and Advanced Writing Fiction. Yummy.

• Speaking of schedules, I finalized a little trip I'm taking to the East Coast in November. November 6th, Kavi and I leave for Philadelphia. Arriving very late that night (damn time change), we'll stay with Roshani's family, then on Thursday, will take the train to CT, arriving around 2 p.m. Hang out with my parents Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then on Sunday morning, take the train back to Philadelphia, arriving around 11:30, hopefully in time to attend Roshani's baby shower (she's having her third child, a boy this time). Then Monday evening, fly back to Cal. I'm a bit nervous about taking Kavi on two cross-country plane flights, esp. since evening is her cranky time -- but both flights are close enough to her bedtime that I'm hopeful that she'll only be awake for an hour or so before she conks out. Judicious use of a pacifier, bottle of milk, colorful toys, and maybe even letting her watch tv on my computer will hopefully get us through it with relative ease. I'm not as worried about the two train rides, because at least there I can easily walk her up and down the aisles, and I'm betting she'll find the motion of the train soothing.