The Kids Are Alright Even if the Librarian is Dumb

 We had an amazing weekend visiting Angus in Ithaca. We didn't get there at all last year for various reasons, so even though we knew Matt's travel schedule was going to be insane, we picked one weekend he was here and booked the hotel in late August or we knew it wouldn't happen. Also it was our anniversary, which we realized we had forgotten yet again after my old professor texted me happy anniversary completely planned for.

Happy Anniversary to this pair of dumbasses

The joke is we stay in Marriotts whenever at all possible because Matt is currently a Platinum-level customer and they practically genuflect when we show up. The tv welcomes him by name and it's all spectacularly silly. We haven't paid for a hotel room in months, but we weren't able to use points this time because it's a hotel right on Ithaca commons and I guess everybody wants to be in Ithaca. We still got the gold-star treatment and extra points for staying. The next level is Titanium (I audibly snorted when Matt told me this), and apparently it means they literally cannot deny you a room, even if they have to bump someone else. Of all the levels of privilege I feel bad about, I don't think I could actually use this one. I do like the thought of being bulletproof-nothing-to-lose with David Guetta though.

Friday night Angus was coaching in Elmira so we got settled and then wandered out looking for a place to have dinner. We found a little place a few steps away that looked nice and had a drink and ordered appetizers while waiting for Angus. While he was driving home I told him to text when he was walking down and I could order him a cheeseburger or two lobster tails. He sometimes balks at us spending money on him, so I was kind of glad he texted back "lobster". 

After dinner we walked to his apartment, which is very close by the hotel and the Commons, but pretty much straight up, which everything is in Ithaca unless it's straight down. I said if I lived there my ass would be rock-hard and then we learned about #ithacalves (Ithaca is Cornell-adjacent).

Saturday morning Angus was coaching again so we wandered the Commons, which is fun - restaurants, fun shops, weird shops, the most gorgeous little paper store I could have spent all day and hundreds of dollars in, and a super-woke (in the best way) used bookstore. I bought an Ursula LeGuin book, which seemed appropriate.

When Angus got home we had lunch and then he showed us around campus, mainly the buildings his classes are in and the motion analysis lab where he'll be doing his thesis work. He said earlier in the year he'd forgotten how much better year two is than year one at a university, and he seems to have settled in nicely. He had terrible college-assigned roommates last year who were slobs, and this year he's living with a friend who's on the basketball team and in his same program, which is much better. One of their physiology profs even called them one night saying he had Covid and asking them to show up and do his GSTs the next morning (Graded Exercise/Stress Tests). 

After campus we had a beer in a sports bar, then grabbed some dinner and Angus headed home to work on an assignment and we had an early night - Matt's been traveling a lot and I've been working extra and we were exhausted. Sunday we had breakfast with Angus and headed home. Ithaca is almost an hour closer to home than Elmira was, and a much easier drive than the southern Ontario route to see Eve, so it was a nice drive and we were home early. It was amazing to see him thriving in his current situation, and next week I go pick up Eve for her fall break, which will also be fun.

Work is going well also. My new school is busy but fun. I have four kindergarten classes and one grade one, and then a grade six class. I talked about how the kinders can be adorably clueless in my last post, but I was the less-than-intelligent element with my grade one class. For the kinders I just ask them their name and scan their barcode on the class list, but all the grades have cards that I lay out so they can find their own card and give it to me with their books. On their first library visit, one week into the school year, one little girl unerringly picked her own card. The girl beside her seemed confused so I asked the first girl if she could help her friend find her card, not really being cognizant enough of the fact that these kids are only six and it's the beginning of the year in the new class. She nodded agreeably and said "oh, except I don't know her name. And I can't read." Fair enough then.