a pounding rain a few days back has sent rivers shooting their banks, and made everything pretty soggy. now that i'm keeping close track of the weather, through this blog, i've begun to notice how bizarre it's been, at least since the beginning of february. it's not that we've never seen pounding spring rains in march...it's more that this is maybe the third hundred-year-flood we've had here in the midwest, in 15 years. what's up? i feel like i might wash away, down the big muddy, in a sea of floodwater.

life goes on- soggy ground and all- and i was asked for my sylvester stallone story (i may have told this before)- but, thinking of it again, wanted to write it down (below). am gearing up for tesol presentation (finishing the writing part), but running out of time, and running into, head first, a new term of two full writing classes. it's ok. it's what i do. good work is coming out of it...more about that later.

perhaps the most rewarding part is, my students do learn the language- they go off and do their thing- and more come to take their place. i've seen a lot. i've lived through a few changes. and i'm beginning to feel like i can breathe a little, enjoy the big apple. i'll be representing illinois, land of obama. no basketball teams to go for- siuc, & iowa, not in the tournament- but i'm a kansas fan now, and kansas actually has a chance. that's a twist, pulling for a team with a chance.

pounding rains, rising rivers, soggy ground, kind of reminds me of quaker campouts, which we stopped trying to pull of on easter weekends. we'd got rained out maybe eight or nine years in a row...last year, we'd given up, and it was sunny- finally. this year, the water comes into your shoes as you slog across the mud, in what looks like the high spots. the cold remains of the ice storms stays down there, dormant, icy, ready for the real thaw. who knows what the season holds. excuse the ramble- got the bicycle out earlier- i'm on an early schedule now- and that leaves me a little lightheaded- scattered. Really, i've got memories, lots of them, and i need to get a little more organized, get them on paper. it'll all start here, i'm sure. at least you'll be in on it.