Every time I think about getting organized to work downtown � the assembly of materials, the sheer muscle required for moving them, the childcare arrangements, etc. - I get tired and it seems like so much work that I can�t stand it. But the second I get on the train and plug into iTunes (I�m still tied to the laptop � an iPod is the carrot at the end of the stick for finishing the dissertation) I�m positively exhilarated. I�m actually looking forward to doing this twice a week each spring.

It�s funny, actually, because the rush hour commute thoroughly depressed me when I first started working. I was 21 and just out of college, living in Somerville, Massachusetts. Getting on the T every day to my job in downtown Boston with the same people every day, the sheer repetition used to make me want to slit my wrists. Now there�s something about the process that makes me feel competent. Also I love the people watching.

It was nice to be on campus specifically to do research, for a change. Usually I�m just trying to squeeze it in between appointments. But the paper I�m giving next month is on music in a film, something I�ve never written about before. Although I camped out in my usual section of the library, I got to wander around a whole new neighborhood of the stacks � film criticism. It�s nice to venture out of yoru field every now and then to see what you�re missing. I�m working on an early sound film, pre-Hays code, so there�s been a lot of fun reading about 1920s and 30s Hollywood.

Seen on campus today:

A woman wearing a hijab in Burberry plaid with color-coordinated, fringed ankle length tweed skirt. Definitely the most stylish Islamic dress I�ve ever seen here. Of course, it�s not very hard to look stylish on my campus, where fashion is about the only word not in your average student�s vocabulary. I remember when I first got the average, �Congratulations on being admitted, here�s what our campus is like� propaganda, I was amused to find they were using the same publicity photos they�d been using in the 1970s. When I arrived on campus, I discovered that in fact the photos were probably current. It was just that the mode of dress had not changed in decades.

Also seen on campus, most enigmatically in the atrium of the Business School building where I had lunch today, a man on stilts bent double to check his email on a laptop on a table at about the level of his ankles and two overly perky gentlemen in oversized silver sequined bow ties. Apparently there was a circus taking place that I failed to notice. saucy, can you explain this? But I will say that the food at the B-school cafeteria is outstanding, suited for the most multicultural of palates. I dined sumptuously on a plate of fresh sushi and a bowl of insalate caprese.

After chaperoning AJ through the library, where he read three books about the Solar System, we checked them out and brought them home and read them again. And just for good measure, we read them again. I am now reduced to lying on the sofa in front of the TV which is totally letting me down tonight. Even TVland is letting me down. A Highway to Heaven marathon? Really, is that necessary? Damn, I suppose I have to go read a book, possibly about the solar system. Or maybe I�ll just doze off while humming �The sun is a mass of incandescent gas��.

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