Mountains Made Low

When I was updating regularly in the first half of this year, about my new year’s resolutions, I noted that, to my chagrin, I hadn’t been watching as many movies as I had planned and I doubted whether I’d make my resolution goal of 50. I still have my doubts, though too many nights like the last couple may well turn that around.

The last movie I wrote about here was Caprica, the direct-to-DVD Battlestar Galactica prequel film, which was released to whet viewers’ appetites for the new series on SyFy (don’t get me started). That was at the end of June, and was film #20 at about the time #25 should have been rolling in.

I haven’t written about a movie since. But I will be soon. Because I’m now six (count ‘em) movies behind on the writing. Since then Caprica (and actually much more recently than that — July was pretty much movie-free), I have watched Iron Man, V for Vendetta, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Star Trek, Hancock, and Crashing (cue the Sesame Street “One of These Things is Not Like the Others” music). A little geeky, to be sure. But I’ve enjoyed them.

So, while I know that for some of you, the movie reviews are not your favorite posts in the world, I’m going to write #21 through #26 soon. And I may well slip seven behind before I get to writing them. Who knows?

Surprisingly enough, this brief post is about work, not True Blood (which I’m watching on DVD at the moment), the Southern Vampire Mysteries books, or even my love life (or total lack thereof). Granted, it does touch on the characters of the former two, and may hint at the latter, but it’s really not about them. Really.

Call me Vampire Bill.

No, I have not taken up with a much younger, attractive, virginal blond cocktail waitress/telepath.

I’m not even saying, “I wish,” on that one.

But here’s the thing. A fact presented itself in my head the other day, a fact about my work, and the people I work with.

Since I started the new job (which, now that I mention it, I’m not sure I’ve even bothered to take the time to write about here, though the fact that I’ve been busy with it might explain at least part of my lack of having written much — if, that is, I hadn’t already stopped writing before I got the new job), I’ve noticed that though all of us basically work for someone else, the people I interact with the most in my work are — wait for it —

Eric. And Pam.

But our collective boss is not, I repeat not, Sophie-Anne. Nor is she a queen.

Like Bill Compton, though, I do work a lot with Eric and Pam.

So call me Vampire Bill.

No sweeping proclamations about being “back” today. That’s bitten me in the backside more than once this summer already. But here’s a new post for the first time in a long while.

What have I been doing since last I posted (regularly), you might find yourself asking. The most accurate answer to that question that I can come up with is, simply put: I’m not quite sure.

I’ve been teaching summer classes; that’s all over but the grading. I’ve been jumping headlong into the new lead faculty job at work (working several hours per day on staffing and scheduling beyond the summer teaching). I’ve watched a couple of movies (Iron Man and V for Vendetta — let’s hear it for comic book movies). I don’t think I’ve finished any books (I am reading Dean Koontz’s Relentless and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov — schizoid, I know). I haven’t written a thing. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a date, but I have been spending time with friends regularly. I’ve gone to Mom and Dad’s four times in the past 3½ weeks. I’ve started watching True Blood on DVD, and I do have some thoughts to share about that a later date.

So I guess that something — a number of somethings. But it feels like the past five or six weeks have really been a blur.

We’ll see where things go from here — though I’m planning, at this point, on being able to be able to take at least three days of my last week of summer off (not in a row, though, that would be too easy). Then “start-up week” starts on the 17th and fall classes start on the 24th.

And I’m still here.

Ish.