Tuesday, February 20, 2018

In Lieu of Middlemarch, a Tale from My Brain

First of all, Middlemarch post is delayed a week for international travel. For those of you asking "Where should I be caught up to?", the post next Monday will cover the final chapters (28-33) of book three, "Waiting for Death."

But, since I don't have anything on that story today, I'll tell you another one, this one from my own brain. Which is a strange, strange place sometimes.

This week begins a crazy time of conferencing. This weekend, I have a weekend symposium in Frankfurt. Next weekend, it's the Medieval Academy in Atlanta. I, meanwhile, reside in a place in the Pacific time zone. So this week has required a lot of mental preparation. Over and over again, I've been repeating the litany: "Teach on Monday; Laundry/pack on Tuesday; Leave for Germany on Wednesday; Arrive on Thursday; Return home on Sunday; teach Monday-Weds; leave for Atlanta on Thursday; present on Friday; Return home on Sunday; teach on Monday..."

It's a long litany, and not an interesting one, but it's been helping me by cementing in my mind that there's a precise order to everything, and if I stick to it, I'll be more or less fine. Tired, but fine. The papers are done, anyway.

So, today (Tuesday) I had set aside as my calm-before-the-storm day off, a day to charge the batteries before two weeks of chaos. I was going to meet a friend for morning coffee, then go to yoga, do laundry, pack, etcetera. And this morning, I woke up at 4:30, because I was a little cold. As I found another blanket and resettled in, I reminded myself that I needed to remember to take my passport info to the coffee shop, because yesterday when I had tried to check in for my flight, I didn't have what I needed with me.

And then it occurred to me to wonder: Why would the airline send me a check-in notification two days before the flight, rather than the usual one day?

And then it hit me.

Oh, shit.

And at 4:30, I was suddenly wide awake, checking my e-mail. Yes indeed: I had miscalculated my departure. I'm not leaving tomorrow.

I'm leaving today.

Happy travels!

5 comments:

MS1964 said...

Oh Wow! Bon Voyage, Safe Travels, and ... good luck! See you in Atlanta.

Dame Eleanor Hull said...

I have done this! You are not alone!

I have also gone to the airport the day before my flight.

Happy trails, and good luck with everything!

Amstr said...

I'm so glad your body knew to wake you up! I hope both Frankfurt and Atlanta are fantastic and rejuvenating, rather than completely exhausting.

See you on the flip side!

Amstr said...

In other news, I'm up in the mountains for ski week, and there happens to be a 19th C scholar staying at the vacation rental (friend of a friend). Her first comment when I told her about our Middlemarch reading is that the first 200 pages are dire, but the pay off after that is so so worth it.

What Now? said...

Zoinks! Safe travels.

And since I was traveling internationally before this, I'm way behind, but am now determined to catch up.