I'm thinking about going to this. Anyone want to go with me?

Title of Event: Mary Anne Mohanraj: Bodies in Motion: Stories
Location: Women and Children First
Time: Thursday, July 28, 2005 7:30 PM

Currently a visiting professor at Roosevelt University, Sri Lankan-born writer Mary Anne Mohanraj explores the loves, ambitions, and spiritual and sexual quests of two Sri Lankan-American families in this sparkling collection of short stories.

The plan is:

Saturday, July 23
9:00pm
The Irish Oak (3511 N. Clark St)

If you'd like to see Chryssi before she moves (back) overseas, be there. You could see me there too. :)

So much for thinking I was all better. After puking a few times Monday night, I decided a sick day was in order yesterday. That appears to have done the trick, as I am now back and work and (I think) healthy.

Chryssi is safely here, albeit without some of her luggage that is either in Seattle or Dallas and possibly on its way to Indianapolis. She will be here until Monday, so there's a possibility of a group outing this weekend. I'll keep you posted.

I'm back. Ohio was wonderful and restful as always. Sleeping there was no problem at all. (And no comments about Ohio being so boring that it puts everyone to sleep!) Of course, waking up way too early to fly back this morning has left me once again bleary-eyed. I'm hoping that the ability to sleep remains with me tonight. After all, I need to be well rested when Chryssi comes to town tomorrow. :)

I haven't gotten more than four or five hours of sleep a night in a week. I walk around like a zombie all day, but the minute my head hits the pillow my mind starts racing a million miles and minute, and I simply cannot fall asleep. I've tried having the air conditioning on, off, and every level in between. I've tried working out and not working out. I've totally cut out caffeine and sugar after noon. But nothing is helping. And I'm now at the point where I'm terrified I won't be able to fall asleep and thus can think of nothing else at bedtime, making me even less likely to fall asleep. And even after I fall asleep I've been waking up multiple times in a night. It's very aggravating.

But I'm off to Ohio in a few hours, so maybe being home will solve it. Or maybe I'll just finally be so tired that my body has no choice but to shut down.

According to my Nantucket Nectar's bottle cap: "Some Native Americans believed Nantucket to be their God Moshop's slippers filled with sand." Right. I knew that.

This year's Tour de France has me a little perplexed. I fully expected Lance to win the Stage One time trial, and when he passed Ullrich on the course, I figured he had it all wrapped up. Losing by two seconds is not like Lance. But I also expected that after the first day he would ease up and let others win through at least the first week and a half. Again, I was wrong. Granted, Lance didn't mean to win yesterday in the Team Time Trial. No one expected Zabriskie to crash, and I think Lance was probably viewing Zabriskie as this year's Voeckler, at least for a little while. Still, it's been odd, and I'm wondering if Lance expects to keep the yellow jersey from here on out, a definite challenge. If I were Lance I'd give it up until the mountains, where he is clearly dominant. Then again, if the peloton keeps chasing down the attackers like they did today, there might not be much position shuffling going on. The only thing that's for sure is that Hincapie is being groomed as Lance's replacement on the Discovery Channel Team.

Well, I got to see the White Sox win on my birthday. It's not surprising that they won; it was a bit surprising that they managed to finish while it was still my birthday. After a two-hour rain delay and a 3:11 game (eight and a half innings should not take that long!), Anthony, Matthew, and I stayed for approximately two seconds of fireworks before sprinting to the red line. And I made it home by 12:20 in time to spend all night listening to neighbors setting off fireworks. :(

Speaking of the White Sox, my favorite player is on the ballot for the Final Man contest to make the All Star Squad. Scotty Podsednik, major league stolen base leader and a rather good-looking man, needs your vote! :) And despite the Playmate girlfriend, he does seem to be a good guy and a someone who truly loves the game. During the rain delay yesterday, he signed autographs for what seemed like an hour. Too bad I was in the upper deck... Anyway, if you have a free moment, go to mlb.com and vote for Scotty. Apparently voting is unlimited, so vote early and often.

I appreciate that my place of employment wants me to feel loved, I really do. But perhaps there's a better way to do that than to send me a card through campus mail, addressed with an address label, signed with a label ("FROM Humanities Division Birthday Club"), and *personalized* with a label ("KELLY, See you at the big 'Birthday Bash' in September! --Details to follow--"). My dry cleaners put more effort into my Christmas card! Oh well, at least I'll get to go to a big impersonal party in September with all the other employees whose birthdays happen to fall in the summer. :)