Not to worry, everybody.

I've found some help with my Dreamweaver, and am making some nice friends in class.

My new best pal at work at school is a 20-something guy named Micah. He's an upbeat and funny person who introduced himself the first day as follows: "I'm Micah, I just did two tours of duty in Iraq, and I'm here because I think there must be a better way to make money than running around with a gun in my hand."

Turns out Micah is an experienced Flash animator who is partnering with a friend on a comic book and cast of characters. It seems he's transforming his military stories into fantasies with monsters and super heroes. Micah is interested in how things work at Hallmark, though he's made it clear he's interested in a worklife comprised of several-to-many freelance gigs, not a corporate career. Like a lot of beginning creative folks, he's nervous about how to send out his work without getting ripped off.   

So we've had some good talks.  It's been a revelation to me that generally I'm more comfortable making small talk with the young men in the classes than the women. I think it's because so many of them remind me of my sons and their friends. I'm much less intimidated by a tattoed guy smoking on the corner than I am by a willowy Scandinavian beauty applying lip gloss.

The football players are fun. Last night I overheard them tryng to get some of the lip gloss girls to hang out. I tried to pick up their conversaion on my laptop mic, but (while it sounded plenty loud to me) the Mac didn't pick it up.

it went something like this:

"What's the matter? Don't you girls like football players?"

"Hee hee hee hee"

"Come on up here."

"Hee hee hee hee,"

"Whatever, man."

On my way back from the recycling closet, I peeked into the fb players' open doorway to say hello:

Me:
"Hi neighbors."

A couple of guys:
"Hi."

Suspicious guy:
"What's she want?"

One of the friendly guys:
"Just saying hi."

Suspicious guy:
"Oh. Ok then."

So in case you're wondering, I'm trying to lay the groundwork for some bonding.

In other news, I am hoarding fruit. Technically we're not supposed to remove food from the dining hall, but I have to really move to get back here for lunch after my 1:00 class (Monday & Wednesday). My window ledge looks like the top of Carmen Miranda's head.

The food is actually good. Much better than my last residency here. Better than hospital food. Probably not as good as the Crown Room, but what do you expect for $6.50 a day?  Also I'm way too happy that the meal plan also includes about $200 of "Flex Dine" privileges around campus.  So if I'm craving a smoothie from Jamba Juice, it's as easy as a swipe of the card.   

I have no classes on Friday, so my plan for tomorrow is to drink beer all day at the Big Ten.   Not really, I'm just testing to see if anyone's actually reading this.   :-)

I need to finish my Dreamweaver homework, practice my guitar, and shoot some more video.

I was relieved to learn that residents no longer have to go out a basement door and cross a dark alley to do one's laundry.   Also, it's free!  

I do miss Steve a lot, especially starting the day with him.  I think that's an underrated benefit to marriage...beginning each morning feeling cared for and connected.  We talk a lot on the phone and have set up iChat so we can make visual contact, too.