summer

Mrs. P. and I in Walden Pond last month.

Photo Friday: Relationship.

I’m ready.  You can come out now.

I should be thankful. We had a relatively mild summer, especially at the end. And, really, as far as a hot week in early September goes, this isn’t so bad. But it felt like it yesterday afternoon, as I patched my second tube in three days in the afternoon sun, on the side of the road, after a crappy day.

A lot. This was the end of the first day. But, while it was wet and while my sandals were full of grit and gook, it was cool. I wore a flannel that day, all day.  That was pretty awesome.

The morning we were leaving, this little gal/guy came out in North Quincy.  He was out further, but I scared him when I took his picture.

And I don’t stink.  I mean, I didn’t hike twenty miles or go to an outdoor festival or anything today.  But I did ride (as in on a bike, not in a car) out to Towson with my friend to run an errand.  Lots of hills.  Got very sweaty.  Smelled fresh when I returned to have cream soda and fancy cookies.

See, Mrs. P. tried baking soda under her arms last week.  She didn’t tell me until two days later, when she developed chaffing.  Turns out that she didn’t use water and instead let something akin to fine sand rub under her arms.

Mixing with water produced better results.

And I don’t stink.  The expensive so-so stuff I was using be gone.  Turns out that company is gettin sued for basically lying anyway.  (More on that later.)  That salt stuff always worked great for me.  But it took forever to put enough on, and I always broke the damned things.  Or, at least, sharpened them with my hairy pits.

Today, I made a paste of water and baking soda, rubbed that smell-less stuff under the old arms.  Didn’t stink when I sweat.  Didn’t stain my shirt.  Didn’t smell like anything at all.

And I don’t stink!

In celebration of Paps’s birthday today, NBBB is having a casual ride to Fell’s Point.  Here is the poem I will toast with:

I’m off’n wild wimmens
An cognac
An sinnin’
For I’m in loOOOOOOOve!
~ E.H.  Paris, ca. 1922.

I’m not used to getting up in the morning without having to spend hours job-hunting. I still wake up with that sour taste in my mouth, soon so be replaced with the taste of a purpose and a nice bike ride every morning to get there.  And lots of coffee.

So, my job.  I can’t say too much because I’m excessively paranoid and would prefer that anyone I know at “work” not find this here blog.  Let’s just say that I am going to be spending a year in the “domestic Peace Corps” that is VISTA.  I am assigned to a local university/college, where it’s like I’m an employee while I’m really a government employee.  Makes a lot of sense, huh?

I am going to be working with community groups and local schools to pool resources and foster a sort of service relationship between the two.  You know, schools often float in their surroundings.  I know this from the famous “Goucher Bubble” we used to live in, prior to it’s…bursting.  There’s a lot of work there to be done.  While my relationship with academic philosophy is likely over for good, my relationship with higher education might not be.  I don’t think it’s useless, not at all.  [Not that I think academic philosophy is useless.  I think I got a hell of a lot out of it.]

So I get a nice 4.something ride every morning, and another on the way home, which can be dallied on by taking a few laps around Druid Hill.  The pay is terrible, but Mrs. P. says we can afford it, and she knows.  I don’t.  I don’t know anything about money.  I just try not to waste it.

It’s a good deal.

I am going to Philly next month for  week of training, which is weird.  I don’t like time away from my other half, and I’m very shy about meeting new people.  But I think it will be productive, maybe even fun.  And I get to spend a week in downtown Philly.  Poor me.

The week before that, we are going to do a little travelling.  Hit New York, likely Washington.  Going to a sweet 90s concert in Baltimore.  Gonna be a nice summer.

I suppose I should edit that dissertation draft I wrote nearly a year ago and send that puppy in.  You know, finish my doctorate and all that.

And dude, I get business cards!