So midweek being over and all, I find myself up again at an inopportune time trying to will myself back into sleep, as usual. It’s been hard, this getting up at odd times, but overall I’m more than rested enough, I must say. Time, however, to update the resume given all of the things which are going on in my life now. I need to get serious about my research and I don’t think I’ve blogged before about the extent to which I’ve considered living teaching and cobbling together a life and income out of adjunctships, fellowships, and the like. I guess I should apply for this AERA minority thing, since I’m actually eligible and go from there. I should also capitalize on the days off I have in the coming weeks. Indeed, it’s probably time to get a little serious on several of the projects I’ve let wander off.

It was restful this day, that began somehow in Flushing for brunch, followed by BBB in Queens and such and then home for a remarkably bearable Two Weeks’ Notice before a rainy errand-walk to coffee, bp, and dinner, followed by some tv and passed-out Blade Runner. My netflix, at least, is doing quite well.

So yesterday was deeply relaxing, what with Mark and I going off to the Korean spa again, for what must have been over four hours, even though we didn’t quite make it into any of the novelty saunas, but did have two angry Korean men scrub several layers of dirt off of us with their scratchy mitts. The funny thing about this place is that the scrub/massage combo is done by men in swimsuits in a tiled room, so there’s much bucketing of water all around and plenty of gruff nudges. It’s clear that my kendo muscles are too tight or even overgrown (if that) and that I need to relax a great deal more in my shoulders, even though it’s my “personality” or “nature” depending on which sensei you ask.

Taiwanese food all day–who knew that Guinness is an ice cream flavor?

The Dark Knight was most satisfactory: it’s hard, meanwhile to imagine a joke which tops Rob’s, about a mixed Nash equilibrium. Hrmm… I guess that counts as a spoiler…

So today was a lazy day with Mark, including a brush with de mole and its target audience, followed by an impossibly sweaty landlord/broker out in Woodside who showed a decent apartment, with plenty of afternoon lazing, the tail end of La mala educacion, a shared pizza and some juicy fruit, plenty of barley-based hydration, a sweaty keiko, some Minca and ice cream. The weather has been largely unbearable until the late evenings when a breeze picks up.

I’ve been avoiding the A/C because of the added expense, but was just informed that I’ve been assessed around $400 for the increased energy prices, so I’m tempted to buy one, just to take advantage of the extra $80/mo bump! Damned global warming.

Other than that, lethargic and unproductive through and through. I need to set some goals for this next week–it looks like the completion date for this paper is now August…

So today should have been lazier, given that we got back from Hellboy around 2am after dodging some drunken mics on the train who trampled poor Mark’s sandal to the point where it snapped and I had to step in and walk half-barefoot all the way home, and then lingered online for a while before hitting bed, but it felt good to hit keiko and then Rob Chin up for some authentic Frisco-beer bought in USq and spicy pickles to boot, though City Bakery ought not to smell like barf-cheese, I’m just saying. I should do more planks as my glutes need a good deal more work than they’ve been getting, perhaps. And then off all the way to Flushing for the usual 359 goodness plus even red mango, though mochis distressingly bear 62.5 calories per serving, which of course is irregular given the vicissitudes of serving size.

I’m glad that Mark and I are enjoying different wines. In the past week-plus, Mark West Pinot Noir 2006, Charmee Pinot Noir 2006, Rock Rabbit (the house white). All right, I guess it’s not that many, but at least there’s variety!

So I don’t know what it is about PIXAR movies, but they always make me cry. Mark and I enjoyed WALL-E, though I was a little confused as to why so few Chinese people actually made it into space.

Today’s trip out to Brooklyn College was a success–my students are amusing, and very young–they still call me “Mister.” But my interactions with the Taco Truck guys was less successful, partly because Mark was ordering tacos with his whole arm again:

Maestro, tengo una pregunta. En tu idioma que dices cuando quieres comer.
Pues, los chinos no se dicen nada antes–solamente comenzamos a comer: los japoneses, pues, los japoneses siempre se dicen “itadaki-masu,” pero nosotros no tenemos tiempo para esto.
Y como se dice “novia”
Uhhhh… niupengyou.
Ah, chino es mi idioma, porque dos de mis amigos estan casados con chinitas

I can only look uncomfortably at Mark.

So it’s been a very lazy weekend in terms of any of the work I should actually be working on myself, wandering around Astoria and Sunnyside looking at apartments and making such plottings amid some other movies at the expense of kendo, unfortunately. At least the apartment is clean, if somewhat strongarmedly.

So the problem with this vacation is that there’s nothing to do msot days, other than watching some good old Kurosawa films on the exercise ball. “I’m smarter when I’m drinking” as Sanjuro says.

I really do need to set more and better goals for myself before the weeks just melt away.