corn shake

So OSU lost the big game to USC last week. Did I mention that it was ESPN's most-watched college game in ESPN history? Did I mention we were winning until the last 2 minutes of the game? Did I mention that I had a contest for my students to email me the correct final score and the 1st person to do so would win a prize ( a stack of gently used literary journals I subscribe to)? Did I mention that monday morning I had a bunch of emails that began, "Dear Professor, Sorry about your loss but the final score was...."

Note to self: Don't ever have that contest again. It is a depressing way to start off a monday.

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True Blood--I tried to watch the first 2 episodes of this Vampire -fang-o-rama to see what all the fuss is about and though I like the storyline of Sookie(?!!) and Beeeell, everything else was: meh. And also just a titch too violent for me. I don't like to go to bed stressed anymore. I really really wanted to like it, but I'll just stick to Mad Men for now. No crazy blood baths and kreepy undead demons there.

I don't think I mentioned it, but Villanelle is back for the rest of the semester! I forgot the weight of a dachshund leaning up against my ankles while I brush my teeth in the mornings. Her face has more white hair and she is a little more deaf (poor old girl!) but she is HERE and she just ate some turkey spaghetti.

Tomorrow I am going to be working with my new intern to set up a windfall of publicity for our visiting writers this academic year:
Ross Gay
Pat Rosal
Mike Czyniewjewski
Deb Ager
Alison Stine
Laura Van den Berg

Very excited to have them here and very excited to have an intern to help me for the 1st time in 8 yrs! :)
It's a total win-win. I need the help, being a mama and not able or willing to spend my free time hanging flyers and writing press releases, and there are awesome, responsible students just clamoring to help out and interact and meet the visiting writers up close. Why oh why did I not think of this sooner?