In the Groove

I'm feeling much more in the groove and much happier about my classes. I've grieved the "break-up" and really enjoyed our class discussion on Thursday in NB's class.

We talked about these papers we wrote - basically the larger questions of what is free speech and how does it fit into a democracy - it was more specific than that, but I like being in an environment where I can talk about more heady stuff than my wonderful conversations with my kids. "Kalian, do you need to go pee pee? or poop?" or "Liam, please don't hit/knock down/push/step on/tackle your sister again."

I had a decadent day yesterday - or at least in my world. I went to stats in the morning. Then had my study group, which went well - it's a good mix of Susan and I - the old fogies - and two fresh out of college mpp1's - it's a nice group, and the bonus was that we actually finished our problem set. I then went to NB's class. I was hungry, but in lieu of lunch decided to sneak over to the Mac gym and go to a yoga class. I had found out that you have to go early to get a pass for each class, which tends to fill up. I rushed over there and made good time, but I was over 15 minutes early. 15 minutes! God forbid that I shouldn't "do" anything for 15 minutes. I decided to chat up the other women waiting for the class. What was the teacher like? Any other good yoga classes around here? Etc. Etc. I couldn't stand it any longer, so I dropped to the floor and started to do some poses. Uh, I was in my jeans and a long sweater, but I really wanted to practice and didn't care that I didn't have any yoga clothes with me.

Despite the late start of the class, the freezing weather and it barely being a Vinyasa class, I really enjoyed the teacher - an older Bostonian guy who gave some great tips and adjustments. What a treat. Oh, they're classes at the Harvard gym, so no extra money. I bought a pass card for the Back Bay studio but haven't had the time to get over there. Sigh.

Then I rushed over to pick up Liam. It is such a treat to have just Liam and me time. When we're together as a family, I tend to deal with Kalian, so it's rare to have that time....Interesting that I feel that way since I have time with him everynight after putting Kalian to bed - maybe b/c it's late, I'm tired and feel trapped with the box of legos. It was also nice to connect with Marissa, Liam's teacher and hear how things are going. We got his bike and then took off. Of course, he wanted to stop by Darwin's, a cafe around the corner and on the way home for a "treat." I gave in, the sucker that I am and bought him a fruit roll-up - I know, am I not a terrible mother? And got some treats for Chris and me...on the way home, we ran into Chris, who had been trying to reach me and he had brought Kalian out b/c he was going stir crazy since she's been sick and somewhat upset.

Anyway, we decided to walk over to the large grassy area in front of the high school and we hung out there for a few hours. It was glorious with the beautiful fall weather, and it was a nice change from a park. We could create our own games - with Liam riding his bike and Kalian playing soccer. We also discovered a way to throw the ball, so Liam could catch it. He struggles so much with those gross motor actions that it was nice that he could feel that success.

Then, I said good-bye to the family and went back to the K school to check out a few events. I first tried to stop by to see Mshl Gnz - a K school instructor/prof who had been an activist/organizer for years and got his soc PhD late in life - I wanted to get some advice from him and just also to connect with him in general. No luck. I had e-mailed him and he said to stop by during his office hours, but they were booked up for a few weeks.

One of the reasons I'm feeling better about my schedule is that the schmoozing that I want to do feels like an additional course. - and it's totally necessary for grad school or other future work.

Anyway, then I headed to the forum for my first official forum event - well, it's still september, so it's not so bad that i haven't made it to one yet. This was a nice way to do it. There are so many evening events, and I generally feel like I can't make them b/c I need to spend that time with the family, but I'm hoping to do more of what I did yesterday - sneak out to see the family in the afternoon - Chris has been a real trooper on that front. Anyway, it was a Daniel Pearl doc introduced by Christian Anampour - I only got to see half the doc - which was ok - too black and white for my tastes - DP was an amazing loving person (which it seems he was) and also tracing the evil life and work of the person who killed him - without any context. Grant it I didn't see the whole thing...

then I went to the Town Hall to meet up with folks from some campus labor support group who were then going to go hear Chomsky speak. I mainly wanted to connect with these folks and also get some help for my projects - and also to scope out the other lefties in the group. I met a MPP1 and was pleasantly surprised to se K - the member of parliament from Thailand - we had a nice chat about the coup (that sounds silly) and how hard it is for him to refuse money that has strings when he runs for office. Unfortunately, noone who had sent out the invite showed up, so we walked over together. Chomsky's talk was predictably long but he does have great things to say. The guy who introduced him from the HLS work/life program seemed interesting and thanked him for coming during such a challenging time the last few weeks - ahaha, then I remembered that Chavez had said that he had died. oops.

I left early from the event (on Aqbal Ahmad) to go study. It felt too decadent to go to the talk and even get there early. Must use every available second or......

The talk was on the law school area of campus - such a beautiful area - I was tempted to go study in the law school library but opted for the comfort of the science library - i was starving and hadn't eaten dinner but wanted to do a quick read before heading home.

I had hoped to go home, eat dinner and be a pseudo student while pretending to write up my quant homework while watching TV. It didn't work out that way b/c K woke up and I tried to soothe her for over an hour. Fortunately, she found the Daily Show quite entertaining and laughed in all of the right places. Too funny.

This morning, Chris took Liam to his new OT and ST and I went to the K school to try and meet with JC. He wasn't in, so I stopped by NP's office - the director of the shorenstein center- that was great and really helpful as I picked her brain for ideas for my reserach papers and possibly that grant by the knight foundation since JC said we could use our paper as an application for that. She talked about how Harvard doesn't have people doing cutting edge research on new media/j'm issues and that people keep submitting papers to study the same old thing - which i think meant blogs/journalism. i feel like yawning at the thought, too.

I then found a student study area there and was about to go to my quant review class when I got an e-mail from K - in my study group volunteering to babysit on my b-day - yahoo. Then, I heard a door opening and peeked around and saw it was JC, so I made a decision to see him and be late for my review class. Overall, it was a great meeting, though I feel stupid saying some things - maybe too much about Chris or shaking his hand at the end. Eeek. Anyway, when he found out I was applying to grad school, he asked me where. He suggested I talk to the dean at usc - a good friend of his (of course) and pass on his name - yep, that's what being at harvard is all about.

I caught an hour or so of my quant review and then headed over to CE for song assembly - too cute - really sweet, but i must admit that it was nicer when it was just me and Liam since of course i needed to b'fd Kalian. We went home, had lunch, hung out and then Chris dropped me off at campus. Here I am in the beautiful Harvarfd library. It feels like such an honor to be here. Is that dopey? I'm sure noone has gotten this far and is really reading this, so I don't need to worry...