Wednesdays in Santa Cruz

I must admit that since we've decided on a "date of departure," I'm starting to feel a little warm and fuzzy about Santa Cruz, a town I had declared my mortal enemy a little over a year ago. It's early spring, the flowers are so pretty, we had a helluva a hot weekend, and I really can't imagine living without Shopper's Corner -- which is kinda reminiscent of Met Foods in Greenpoint, except with an awesome butcher department and not-kidding fresh produce.
So, I'm fine with Santa Cruz and my forced exile. What I cannot quite swallow, though, is the distant sound of drummers circled together under a tree celebrating the weekly Farmer's Market that takes place a block from my apt. Not that it hasn't been educational. I never really spent much time around drum circles, so I don't know a lot about them. Now I realize that the point of drum circles is not so much to make music with your buddies, having fun with the different sounds you can create with percussion instruments. It seems to be purely about zoning out (or zen-ing out?) to a beat that does not alter, at all, for four hours straight. The same, ritualistic beat, over and over.

Vraiment?!

Why is French radio playing Barbara Streisand? There better be more than one radio station over there!

Map This

In preparation for my little stay in Paris, I'm listening to French news on-line. I only understand the words I understand, which doesn't seem to help with the acquisition of new words. I'll keep at it though.

So this weekend, I went to a dissertation writing workshop. Here's what I learned:
1) Don't psychologize the writing process. I'm not not-writing (or writing slowly) cause "I suck," but because of external factors: like time-managment issues. I guess my poor time-management skills aren't supposed to reflect poorly on me personally. It's probably time's fault. He's an asshole. Don't question it.
2) Work in 45-minutes "sessions" for better productivity. I worked a total of 6 sessions today (not on writing, but on stuff like grading papers and reading for lecture), which may sound impressive until I admit it was a 4.5 hour work day. But it's mentally stressful, so suck it.
3) Try a cognitive map, which I wish were a graphic representation of my brain, but it's not.
4) Actually, the best thing she said was that when a person bitches constantly and complains about how slowly her writing is going, this most likely means she is getting really productive work done. Since I've been bitching non-stop for the past month and getting depressed about the 1-paragraph a day writing feat, that made me feel like a genius! Of course, now I'm going to moan and whine continuously, whether I'm writing or not. Better to feel like a genius than actually be one. Geniuses are boring, admit it.

What the near future looks like

Drinking champagne under a tent amid a crowd of white-haired women in pantsuits and sweater sets then stumbling over the green, through the humidity, toward more drinks -- it's a Vassar reunion.
Lecturing through a shaking voice and an upset tummy at a group of drowsy-eyed summer students -- it's Lit80.
Packing up books and dishes, trying to dump unwanted furniture on the nearest passerby -- we're out of here by Aug. 1.
Headed for Sacramento, then off to Paris.
The picture gets fuzzy after that.