Last night was the…

Last night was the English department party, at our head's place, which is in the heart of the city, with truly spectacular views from the roof deck. Made me miss our city condo a bit, though I also did note that the balcony rails in various places were far too easy for a child to climb and topple over. We're better where we are. :-) When the kids grow up and abandon us, we may sell this house and move back to a city condo; we'll see. At the moment, I'm very attached to this house, but in fourteen years, all the stairs and yard maintenance and such may seem more trouble than they're worth.

It was a lovely party, and I had some great conversations. I'm finding that I really like my department, which is such a blessing. For the first few years I was at UIC, I was mostly head down with the kids, trying to survive their infant years without strangling anyone or just crying 24/7, and it's only now that they're a bit older that I'm finally able to make to as many optional department events as I would like. But my colleagues have been unfailingly polite and friendly to me throughout that time (even if they only vaguely knew who I was), and now that I'm getting to know more of them better, I'm just happy. They're so nice.

And they're interesting and smart and all that too -- it's a terrific department academically-speaking, which is, of course, good. But at the end of the day, it may be more important that your colleagues actually be nice. That's what makes it a pleasure to go into work.

I love my students, but students come and students go -- it's engraved in the very nature of students. Faculty meetings are forever. :-)