two entries in october!

that's pathetic, isn't it?

truth is i've got a lot going on that i'll try to elaborate on in the next few weeks. more news later.

my dad and stepmother are visiting for a week. we've done the basic oxford tour--christ church, covered market, etc. etc., and today we're headed to stonehenge and maybe the cotswolds for a day trip.

wookie is recovering just fine, except for the fact that he now seems to be completely deaf. we looked it up on the Internet and found that deafness is a common result in older dogs after long periods of being under anaesthesia. poor dog!

but actually, i think the deafness might in the end be not such a terrible thing... he sleeps better, and he doesn't shoot up and run barking at the door every time he hears the mail slot rattle. and he never came when we called him anyway... so his hearing was never really any good to him except to annoy him, so I think it's no huge loss. looking on the bright side maybe, but that's how it seems to me at the moment. he seems like a very happy dog, plus he's got clean teeth and slightly fewer bumps on his fat little body to irritate him. and his hair's growing back, so he's even returned to his beautiful old self again.

teaching has died down after the summer, but i've got a regular gig at the university 4 hours a week (including a staff card that gets me discounts and benefits--yay!), and my boss is giving me a good number of hours at my day school, so that's good. i've got to try to drum up more private business. time to drop down to charging winter rates, i think. ah well.

anyway, got to jog this morning, so i'd better be off. hope to post more regularly and give a true update...

school's in

the weather is getting colder, especially at night. we've also had autumn finally arrive, after a chilly august and then several weeks of indian summer in september. it's been rainy all week, especially yesterday. but we have tried to get out during the sunny spells, and i've managed to maintain my running schedule, amazingly. aerobics starts back in a week or so, and my friend liesbeth and i will once again start dragging ourselves to the university club every sunday evening to jump up and down and punish ourselves with weights under the cruel eye of our master, toney tonnie tony (don't ask me).

in the meantime, teaching is going well. i've had steady work at my regular school, and i've got the university teaching starting on the 10th.

we had an exciting week at work... pakistani president (general) musharref (sp?) spoke at the oxford union on thursday, which is directly across the street from my school--i actually taught some of my classes in the union this past spring. the metropolitan police were swarming everywhere, and the cops on horseback clopped up and down st michaels street all morning and afternoon. very exciting to go get your lunch and bump into a fellow on the sidewalk wearing a bright yellow police jacket and toting a semi-automatic weapon.

d's brother is in china at the moment, visiting his wife's family and also traveling to a few other sights. he's talking to d right now over a computer phone--interesting...

my pop and stepmother are coming at the end of this month, the 28th of october, and staying for a week. they won't be staying with us for the whole week--carolyn has a friend who lives north of london who they'd also like to see while they're here. but that'll be good. we're hoping to go to stonehenge and maybe blenheim palace, if the weather's halfway decent.

the university students are back in town, and they're taking turns walking in front of my moving bicycle one by one as i travel down the street. time to start wearing a helmet again.