7:20 a.m.—D. pulls shade to wake me up. I have not had to wake up this early since last semester, so not feeling it. Cats prefer me to stay in bed with them; I have one on each side of me, and a third on my chest. One hand petting Maya’s head, the other on Nando’s. Sasha gets no love. I only have two hands.
7:40 a.m.—D. has turned on the espresso robot; it grinds and pulls lovely smooth shots of Stumptown while the Nespresso heats and twirls my milk. Shout out to the hip Professor [Vance] Byrd, [German] for introducing me to this stylish appliance.
8:00 a.m.—Peek at newly redecorated back room; see two cats sitting on top of new sofa. Grrrr…
8:30 a.m.—Pull CDs for drive. Regret not buying Future Islands yet. Grab Phoenix, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, and Vampire Weekend.
9:00 a.m.—Hit the road; opt for Phoenix, then Talking Heads. Wonder if Thomas Mars is still married to Sophia Coppola (he is). Try to quell first day jitters with yogic breathing, lose track of counting my breaths when guy in next lane starts veering into mine and freaks me out.
10:00 a.m.—Teach first class of the day. Prattle on nervously. Seems like a great group of students.
12:00 p.m.—Get to my office. Run into Prof. Byrd and visiting instructor Javier Samper Vendrell, [History]—so happy for “Queer Global Histories” being offered this semester; we chat about queer settler colonialism and Sam Smith’s and Naughty Boy’s video for “La la la,” which is based on a Bolivian legend, and possible reworking of The Wizard of Oz. I am obsessed with it.
1:00 p.m.—MAP students arrive. We discuss the interviews with artists Trinh T. Minh-ha and Hito Steyerl. The Interval, Carnal Aesthetics, haptics … all very heady stuff; thankfully, we end by talking about how it can relate to American Horror Story.
2:10 p.m.—Head up to ENG 274. We talk sex, gender, second-wave feminism and, of course, sadism and the leather communities. This is what happens when you teach Foucault. Such is my life.
4:35 p.m.—Arrive at Writing Mentor Orientation and dinner, with writing mentors Ian Byrd [’16] and Anna Banker [’15] in tow. Step into the Bear for the very first time ever. Jealous that this gym seems so much better than Core Fitness. Sit down to orientation; is that a rock-climbing wall I see out the window in that other building? Wow.
6:15 p.m.—Ruin my perfectly healthy lunch with dining services pasta and chocolate mousse. Make a promise to myself to work only at my treadmill desk the rest of the week. Anna Banker comes up with a hysterical retort to the sample questions; I totally lose it.
7:00 p.m.—Head back home playing radio roulette, in which I put the dial on scan until I find a song I like. Hoping for that sappy “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran. Yes, I am a Sheerio; what’s not to love about a ginger-headed Brit in an Annie dress? But no luck. Arrive at home to some Doors, so that’s a win.
8:30 p.m.—Find my way to the loveseat, all three cats in hot pursuit to settle in next to me. Rework MAP syllabus, again. Reply to emails I didn’t get to earlier.
11:30 p.m.—Finally shut down laptop. Watch silly episode of Cougar Town, furious that repeats of Parks and Rec don’t start until midnight. At least I get to watch it on my new plasma TV. Yay for Ebay, and Nick in Davenport who sold his for a quarter of the price.
12:00 a.m.—Decide I am too tired to watch Parks. Go to bed, where D. is keeping my side warm. Maya immediately spoons with me, and order in my universe is restored once again.
