...it is scary as a singleton who is aging.

Yeah.

There is a way! It is called a rubric! It is called Instructional Design. Although I would not be lying if I said that my strength as a student was figuring out which professors liked word vomit and which professors like good citations! But it is my job helping professors figure this out.

Honestly, the biggest thing I learned for College Writing was to shove my paragraphs together. I wasn't actually writing any more complex thoughts! But it looked more like College Writing, so OK.

It was an excellent movie and everyone should see it as soon as possible

Th biggest thing I learned was to use quotation marks around my colloquialisms. Remember- this was the 90’s. But I wrote a whole paper that was lauded about how Sei Shonagon who wrote The Pillow Book was a “bitch”. And then I deconstructed “bitch” and got an A. And the rest of my life has not gone that smoothly so I would like to return to writing papers.

It was an excellent movie and everyone should see it as soon as possible

Agreed!!!

There was a marketing prof at my business school that was known for grading harshly and ruining everyone’s GPA because he would mark down for every grammatical error or misspelling and I guess they added up. I went into the class thinking I would do badly because “marketing” does not seem like something I would have any natural flair for, and I don’t except that actually includes distribution and logistics which I kind if a good at but that’s neither here nor there. For the class, I was just very careful about proofreading and my whole team did very well. And now I work for a marketing arm of a global company and would also like to return to writing papers. I guess all those power point decks are kind of the same thing, but I never did them in school because I am too old for that and so are all my degrees. I really do feel kind of overdue for going back to school one more time but I can’t figure out a way to make that practical right now. I should take Jess’s experience as a reality check on that urge, maybe.

I want to talk about the movie but I also really enjoyed how much it kept taking me by surprise so I kind of don’t want to talk about it until everyone sees it

I can’t even get the professors to call them “slide decks”. They call them PPTs. And if they are Voiceover PowerPoints, they call the VOIPs.

I always feel like I’m saying “deck” in quotation marks or ironically, tbh

VOIP is making me laugh

I spoke to Todd this evening and her spirits were roughly 140% better than earlier. There is no word on release plans yet, but she was having salmon for supper and was feeling much better.

JenP has been a godsend! Honestly, this community is a gift, y'all. You know that, of course, but I never want to miss an opportunity for appreciation.

I have not been able to get to Todd in person as Cagney and I have been wandering the metaphorical desert for 43 days now. My gorgeous brand-new apartment has turned out to be a toxic waste site. VOC levels (formaldehyde, benzene and other cancer causing fumes) are dangerously high. Verified by an enormously expensive report by a city certified indoor environmentalist.

The building management staff have been very kind but the company has been very slow to respond.

So, we've been bouncing between friends, motels and an Airbnb. Bleeding money and pretty demoralized. It's been incredibly stressful. The Airbnb runs out today and I have no idea where we'll go next.

A resolution has been promised multiple times, but yesterday, I was told, "Monday, for sure." I've asked, if the environmental stuff can't be made safe, if we can be transferred to another building in the company's portfolio. Getting approved here was an actual feat. I'll even move to a new town.

This latest thing has me believing that DC is through with me, and I'm okay with that.

Anyway, I am going to try to get closer to the part of town where Todd is and will continue to report.

If you happen to know anyone looking for a house sitter/excellent tenant, please be in touch!