orcs bearing the white mark of saruman

so i was going to the beach yesterady - putting on the sun tan lotion - recreating the scene from fellowship when they put the white mark of saruman on the urukai.
(these are no mere rabble of orcs)

As evidenced

I drank 75 litres of soymilk this year.

summer in Philly

Well, I've started teaching finally. I have a class of twelve undergrads who I am initiating into the mysteries of creative writing. So far it's been pretty fucking awesome; certainly it'll be better than when I start teaching English 50 in the fall and suddenly come under the thumb of bureaucratic authority. The class is on Temple University's Center City "campus" which is this big glass office building like right next to City Hall. If any of you are familiar with Philadelphia, this is where all the cool stuff is, conveniently near all the skyscrapers, bars, and restaurants. The class includes photocopies of all my favorite stories, my own sermons on things like plot structure, and a lot of writing exercises; I actually managed to get a lot of kids really into discussion last time and hope I can keep that up. Actually, a bunch of my exercises are cribbed directly from Mark Trainer's class at Gilman (by the way, he's teaching at Goucher these days). Alice is living with me in this tiny two-room grad school apartment and has to wake up at 4:30 to take the train to her new job at the motherfuckin airport; she works at a sandwich shop there. Her trying to find a job was a complete shit show because she's only here for two months and everyone assumed there was something wrong with her because she went to a "yuppy college" and didn't have a whole lot of experience in service industry. One guy said, "I don't think you can handle these dishes." And generally she said she felt like everyone was treating her like a piece of shit who should be so fucking grateful that they were even considering her. Anyway, so now congradulations! you get to wake up at ass-dawn to go make sandwiches for bitch-ass travelers.

so raw South Island 2006

Just got back from a two week drive around the South Island with Nikki. It definitely paled all previous outdoor experiences of my life. I have like 3000 photos. I will try to send some out after a culling. Man shit. I saw penguins and a god damn sea lion came out of the water and tried to eat me and seals and kiwis and glaciers. it was the proverbial bomb. I am glad the Mr. Irgens has been tree planting. I am also glad that Mr. Flan bestows upon us a glow of divinity. I leave New Zealand in ca. two weeks. Will be in Baltimore, haven't figured out a possible california layover yet. then off to teh Yale. Man guys, shit. You all should have been road trippin with me.