Clenching my teeth

What a boring week! No trips to Flagstaff! First, I kept putting it off, then when I was rarin' to go, rainy weather. We even got rain in Phoenix. I can't remember when it last rained, it was so long ago. In Flag, of course, thunderstorms expected early morning, late morning, and afternoon. I was set to go Sunday but overslept in a big way. Okay, Monday I'm taking off. I'll even set the alarm. I won't spend the night so I don't get caught up in the whole packing neurosis. I'll load up my cameras and binocs and all the books I could possibly need, and then I won't actually carry them but they'll be there just in case.

Just when I'd decided that, I got a call from somebody interested in buying my dive computer, which I'd advertised on craigslist so I can buy a macro lens without feeling like a spendthrift. Of course he wants to come by on Monday! Oh, man! Wait, no, Grumpy can handle it. Yes, he says he will. Then I turn around and pay $1745 for a 3-credit poetry workshop at ASU. Right, I'm really worried about spending. I bit my lip and paid, ignoring Grumpy's grumping and my own misgivings. This is for me, payback for all the years grading papers (while deflecting flack) and pouring $$$ into the parental launching pad. It's my time (and my money).

I just watched Persepolis. Excellent. Odd how this animated film communicated more deeply about what it's like to live through political turmoil and repression in general, to live through it in Iran, and to live through it female in Iran than all the individual news bits and personal stories I've heard and watched for the last 30 years. Odd, the power of art.