Hope and cheese

I hesitate to jinx myself, but the semester has started off pretty well. My boss at work is none too pleased that I still have to teach, but at least I'm able to be available there every day now, instead of my previous schedule of 3 days per week. The class I'm TAing is incredibly interesting (Introduction to Chinese and Taiwanese Music), and I am finding it much easier to be productive at my dissertation research than I found it last year. My non-teaching, non-working hours are fewer, but arranged more conveniently for research; working from home on Thursdays is particularly helpful along those lines. I still have to do job-related stuff in the afternoons, but I have the morning reserved to crank through articles and scores, and it's a blessing not to have to commute (which has been taking 3-4 hours out of my day each time I am obliged to go to town). It all feels manageable now, and the panic that crept upon me in late summer has mercifully subsided. Granted, I'd be getting through the dissertation *much* faster if I didn't have as many obligations outside my research, but as it stands, I have high hopes of a very productive fall.

In other news, Patrick and I finally got off our lazy duffs and started an exercise regime that has shown great results in the past month or so. We've both dropped significant amounts of weight, gotten noticeably stronger and more energetic, and have been eating in a much healthier manner than had been our habit. Not that we were inclined to gorge ourselves on grease before, but even consciously balanced diets can be too much food when you sit on your butt in an office chair all day. We must give credit to the Wii Fit for "waking us up" to our condition, and with keeping us on track toward our goals. I'm not sure the Fit is interesting enough to hold our attention in the long-term, but it was certainly good as a kick start.

The garden has given us more tomatoes than we can eat, so I've been roasting and chopping them in preparation for canning. There is nothing so tasty as freshly roasted tomatoes from one's own garden, and I look forward to being able to partake of them long past the first frost.

Patrick has started his new semester at URI, and is feeling the pinch of full-time work and part-time school. I think he's really enjoying it, though, and I am certainly tickled with our weekday-evening and weekend-afternoon study dates. We seem to be keeping each other on track with a lot of things right now - exercise, school-work, house-work, etc. Thank heaven for that support system, and for the fun that comes along with it.