Sorry that I haven't blogged in several days. It has been a very busy time. Friday morning Travalon and I got going and went to the pre-investiture breakfast, then I had to get ready to join the academic procession. I was shocked that they invited me, and I said, "I only have a bachelor's degree," but they said, "We can get you the robe." I didn't figure they would also get a mortar board for me, but I never get rid of anything, so I had mine from thirty years ago. Sorry, no photos tonight - Boethius is really misbehaving. It turned out I couldn't sit with Travalon because he had to sit down in the general audience, while I had to sit up in the choir loft, behind the speakers. That meant that after the first of two hours, when I knew my bladder wouldn't hold out for another hour so I had to sneak out "discretely," everyone must have seen me, because Travalon and our department chair sure did. The program was a lot of speeches: previous chancellors, the student class president, some guy who had been the new chancellor's boss at UCLA, and of course the chancellor herself. She did bring me to tears when she talked about our late previous chancellor, and also how she donated a kidney to her father. There were also some musical interludes, and a poem. Afterwards there was a campus picnic to celebrate the investiture, and to unveil the new chancellor's ice cream flavor. However, the planning was a bit weak, so we had to wait in line for an hour in the hot sun for our free food and ice cream. At least someone thought to bring us bottles of water about half an hour into it. I practically became best friends with the guy next to me in line, but then I lost track of him and sat at a table with some custodians... and when I got up to leave, my new buddy was sitting at the next table. Sigh. In case you are wondering, the chancellor's new ice cream flavor is Mnookie Dough, since her name is Jennifer Mnookin. It's basically cookie dough ice cream. I prefer Chancellor Blank's special flavor, Bec-Key Lime Pie.
After that, I went to work at the office, and my boss kept asking me stuff. By the end of the day, I was so exhausted that I went to bed early and slept for nine and a half hours. Whew! Normally I sleep right around seven hours, so for me that was unusual. Being around important people is exhausting!
Saturday morning Travalon and I went to find the pasqueflowers that were blooming in Hauser Prairie. Hauser Road is very short, maybe a mile or so long, but we couldn't find the prairie at first because the signs are very small. There is no parking lot, and there are barely trails. Prairie Man had told us the flowers were there, so I was texting him to find out where they were when we suddenly saw hundreds of them. They were so lovely! This inspired me to write a song, but of course I have already forgotten the melody (should have recorded it), and it only has one verse so far:
Travalon's wife doesn't make him buy her diamonds,
Travalon's wife doesn't make him buy her pearls,
Travalon's wife makes him walk through the wilderness,
She's one of those crazy nature girls.
Travalon took off to hang out with his high school buddy, watch a movie about John Lennon, and go to a Bobby Darin tribute concert. Meanwhile, I went on a rosary walk, but it was hot, so I wanted to be in the shade. There's only one really shady place in our neighborhood, and of course the cranes were there, so I walked around in circles in the little bits of shade I could find. They were doing a mating dance, and a crow in a tree right above me was trying to copy their calls. When I was almost done with the rosary, I heard a slight drone behind me, then something flew right over my head. It was the two cranes buzzing me! Why would they be so hostile? We've always lived in peace together before this.
Later I met Tiffy downtown, and we went somewhere different for lunch. She ordered pad see ew and got hers right away, while I ordered curry squash and never got mine. I had to ask the waitress about it three times, and finally she asked the kitchen and found out they didn't have any squash, so they just never made it and didn't bother to tell me. I always order pad see ew, so I should have just done it that day too. Anyway, they could clearly make it, so I said that's what I'll have instead, and they made it right away. Didn't give me a discount either, and the woman at the next table was also waiting forever because they forgot to make her order.
It was a very hot day, like a day in July, and there were approximately three million people on State Street, so we went up to the roof of Tiffy's sister's apartment building until heading to Rich's place to have some leftover Easter desserts. The three of us went to the Mexican restaurant near his house, and we said we wanted separate checks, but they put Rich and me on the same check. Before I could say, "They can split it up at the register," he said, "Looks like I'm treating you today!" Then he was so kind that he dropped us off at the Baroque concert so we didn't have to worry about parking. Tiffy noted that there were both well-known composers like Handel, Monteverdi, and Corelli on the program and also ones we had not heard of before, and that there definitely was a reason we still know the well-known ones today. It's true, these obscure composers are rarely unknown gems. They fell into obscurity for a reason. Then Rich picked us back up, and we went through the light show at the airport. I made a video of it when Travalon and I went through it, so I'll try to post it at some point.
Today Travalon and I couldn't get going fast enough to go downtown at nine for Mass, so we went to the nearby one at ten. They had a social hour afterwards, and the other Famous hoped we would hang around, but we apologized and said we had to get going. We were going to go to Crema Cafe for brunch, but now they are closed on Sundays, so we went to the Daisy Cafe instead. It was a rainy, miserable day, and Tiffy wanted to head home before the weather got worse. Travalon and I went to Olbrich Gardens and hung out in the conservatory, then I took a long walk in the driving snow before Irish class. I kept hearing a train in the distance, but it never passed by. Only four of us made it to band practice, and they wanted to see photos of the investiture, so I went to pull out my phone... and it was gone! I texted Rich using Hardingfele's phone, since he can track me, and he said the phone was at the same house I was at, so I hadn't forgotten it in the car. We went outside and found it face-down and soaking wet in the grass, but it seems to be no worse for wear. I guess it fell out of my coat pocket...? Good thing my bandmates wanted to see photos, or I might not have realized it was gone until I got home! Of course, by then we had forgotten about the photos, so I never did show them any. I will try to show you, my readers, tomorrow. Hopefully Boethius is more cooperative then.
Famous Hat
