questions answered

I had access to a bracelet making machine the other day so I made one designed to help me navigate this perilous world. Now, whenever I am in a tricky situation of some sort (which happens several times a day), all I have to do is consult my "What would Hunter S. Thompson do?" bracelet, and the path is clear, kinda.

In other news, I am half way through my abbreviated summer vacation, and it has been great. It's short this year, but I ended school already looking forward to fall, so I'm not feeling any dread. It helps that I'm teaching great classes this year: AP Lit, Etymology, and for the first time in two years, Comp. I love that class.

Today, I think Hunter S. Thompson would water the flower boxes, build a bike-repair stand in his garage, drive his kids to the dentist, and try reading some more of David Mitchell's surprisingly funny Cloud Atlas, a book he would have read about in the three million recent reviews of Mitchell's new novel.

38th Indiana Fiddler's Gathering

The glow things were reasonably priced.

People were jamming until 4 a.m. by our tent but the kids slept through it like the champion sleepers they are. And then I had this great breakfast burrito. There were lots of trees around us.

We were on the Tippecanoe battlefield, which I think had something to do with Indians. I'm about to remind myself on Wikipedia.

My friend Dean, picking until 5, back at it at 9.

Kids were mainly into running with other kids, but sometimes they sat down.

And then we were tired. A graduate of Indiana University, it is my sworn duty to disparage West Lafayette and everything related to it, especially for its supposed ugliness. But I have to say, the drive there was so nice. There are gentle hills that have rivers fitted between them with names like "The Tippecanoe," and the rivers move with a purpose that almost suggests a consciousness on their part that they are rivers and that there is a power in that. The rivers where I live don't behave that way. They need to be reminded which way is downstream sometimes, like they would rather seep outward, creep up their soaked banks, or just wait until August to dry out completely.