If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Angel's Fall Break

It is almost 9pm on Sunday night and Angel just left.  It has been a very very different fall break than the one I had planned.  I planned a replay of last year's fall break: me, b and Pupzilla spending a week on the beach.  I imagined it sunny but not too warm.  I imagined b cooking delicious dinners while I did a little grading.  I imagined yoga in my room, long walks (maybe a few runs) on the beach and an occasional swim.

What I got was a deluge of rain here in SouthLite, no beach, and over four days of nonstop grading. By the time grading and my official fall break was over, Angel's was just beginning.  As I mentioned recently, Angel has a very different relationship with my home this semester.  It is actually the relationship I thought he would have three years ago when he first went to college.  He not only decided to spend his entire fall break at our house but he had to bring one of his best friends (and roommate).

The friend is a great guy.  At 6'5", he is a taller version of Angel.  He is sensitive, sweet and sarcastic.  He is incredibly polite and appreciative.  He and Angel spent the entire break sitting with me at my kitchen table doing homework and talking.  They are very funny together.  Their work is constantly interrupted by media: sharing youtube and hulu videos, repeating favorite lines from favorite comedians,  naming the melody and composer of movie soundtracks, and watching videogame tournaments.  I'm not sure how they actually get any work done.

I sat with them doing my own work and answering questions about graduate school applications, research methodology, and paper writing.  They showed me all of their favorite Portlandia episodes (if you haven't seen them, they are quite funny).  When I wasn't sitting I was up cooking, baking or cleaning up.  They eat a lot those two young men.

We had a great time with them.  b had some quality time swapping comedic routines and media references with them and actually did the bulk of the cooking and baking.  They were supposed to leave early (or their version of early) this morning and I had planned a recovery day for myself.  Now it is 9 o'clock and my week starts tomorrow.  Angel's parting words included "I'll be back in two weeks."  I think I may need to rest up.

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