Department Picnic 2023

 

Yesterday I went to the doctor's office because they thought I might have a precancerous lesion, but it seems to have vanished, so there was nothing to remove. Instead, they gave me shots, one for the flu and one for shingles, and today I felt under the weather. I went outside to walk with my neighbor, but I confessed to not feeling very well, and she said she didn't either because she had had the exact same shots yesterday, plus one for pneumonia. They had mentioned giving me that one too but said three in one day would be too many. Also, aren't I way too young to need it? Anyway, we both felt like taking a nap - I didn't sleep well because both my arms were so sore all night - so we went home and lay down.

Eventually Travalon and I took a relaxed walk on Governor's Island, then we went to check out the North Side Festival, which had seemed like such a dud last year. This year there was even less to it, and we wondered why they had even bothered. However, I did get a ring and a bracelet with evil eye protectors on them - the bracelet one looks like a tiny Niko - and we had a pass from the co-op to get half-priced food, so we got delicious lamb kebabs from an Uyghur stand for a really great price. We sat in the dugout, where it was shady, and another couple started talking to us, so that was fun. On the way out I got a gift bag from the co-op, and we got some cookies for half price. The gift bag reminds me that a couple of weeks ago I went to Community Pharmacy and didn't realize it was their birthday. There were balloons everywhere, and they gave me cake and tea and a little gift bag. So fun!

In the evening we had our department picnic. I sort of consider this unpaid work time, since I feel like I have to be there early to help set up and stay to the bitter end to help clean up. Also, at first nobody was talking to us because the faculty hung out with each other and the grad students hung out with each other, and my fellow staff members all had excuses to miss the picnic except for our boss. So after enjoying some food from the Banzo Bar and a Leinie's Peach beer, Travalon and I took a walk along Brittingham Bay. To my surprise, when we came back, people did come over to talk to us, so then I was a little happier. We talked to a grad student and the chair's husband the most. When almost everyone had left and I was helping clean up, my boss's wife wondered what happened to all the boxes of wine. I said no idea, I'd had beer, but maybe they were drunk up. She said, "No way, that was the equivalent of twelve bottles of wine! I'll bet one of the grad students took them. I was really looking forward to having one..." There was no leftover baklava either, but plenty of hummus and pita bread and chicken and falafel. We brought home a bunch of food, and so did a lot of other people, and some is going back to the office. This seems to happen every year - we order food for five hundred or something. There were some really cute kids and a very cute dog at the picnic, so that was fun, and the Turkish instructor loved all my evil eye protector jewelry, so I showed her Niko. She gave him a squeeze and said, "It's so cute! Where did you get it?" I told her, "Galena. You should go there." Then again, I think everyone should go to Galena. All the answers to life seem to be contained in those fun, funky boutiques.

Famous Hat