transition time...

what a day.

it's not like i had anything profoundly exciting to do either... it's just odd.

i had problems with this day last year too. at the end of a semester of teaching, i go through a phase of "student withdrawal"... i miss the routine of working with them and know that most of them won't ever be in touch again. same goes for REU. somehow, the sudden transtion from "go go go!" to "chill out and take a vacation", and the sudden farewell to most of the students is tricky for me. i like helping solve their problems and being generally helpful, but post-farewell dinner, now my job is mostly done.

this summer's been especially weird since there are two things that generally keep me grounded: (a) having lots of work to do, and (b) being able to track down my friends.... now that (a) is done for a month, i'd normally rely on (b) to help keep me ok.... but (b) has been tricky this year since most of my usual NJ people have been out of town for the summer,... lately, but today especially, i've felt like i'm drifting, and i don't like that at all. hopefully i'll feel less like that when i get to prague. even if i know it's a false perception, i don't like feeling lost and useless.

since no one's around and i'm a little melancholy today (and thus don't feel like packing yet), tonight is movie night. i rented 2 that i've meant to see for a bit: "high fidelity" and "airplane!"

"airplane!" was... ok. i know it's a "classic", and since i'd never seen it, but heard references to it many times, i figured it was worth a chance. i didn't dislike it per se, but i didn't find it quite as hilarious as i expected to. cute, but not knocking anything off my favorite movies of all time list.

"high fidelity" was another story. i've been meaning to read the book and watch the movie for quite some time, but which order i'd do it was ambiguous. i plan to start the book on my flight to prague this weekend, but i thoroughly enjoyed the movie. i expected to like it, but it far exceeded expectation. the tone was perfect for my mood tonight, and i really liked john cusack's character. definitely worth the rental. :)

one more day in america (to be filled with errands and packing) before a month in central europe. i'll be happy when i'm safely there and my brain is on the right time zone. ;)

night y'all!