I unfortunately may need to keep this post brief, as I have to hurry off to my office for a “painting party.”  “What is that, ” you might ask.  Well, for a Christmas present S. bought me paint for the office I share with another instructor and several graduate students, some of whom are meeting me later this morning to begin applying the new teal over the now hideous blue.  Not that there’s anything wrong with blue.  It’s just that not all of the walls are currently the same shade, so in the fall we vowed to improve the appearance of the windowless space and voted to use the color S. then purchased.  So today we actually undertake the makeover.

However, I have not told any of these women about my plans to settle in Bangkok and not return in the fall.  It will be difficult to keep this quiet, as I am bursting with the urge to tell.  S. thinks I should not share the news with anyone until the paperwork in Atlanta is complete and job is guaranteed in that ultimate sense.  This could take until the end of the month.  In the meantime I am trying to focus on the here and now and get going with a busy semester.  I simply must make myself enjoy this process–appreciate the way each detail evolves into a fuller and more substantial experience in the end.

Tomorrow morning a professor from the English Department is coming to see our  house, as she may be interested in living here next year.  We’ll see what happens, but this is a positive development at the very least.  Almost immediately then S. and I need to begin transforming what is now our “junk room” into space for our house-sitter to live.  I suspect the bulk of the work will fall to me, depending on how soon S. has to leave for Asia.  This task will involve first finding room elsewhere in the house for all of the “junk,” currently stored there–items which are in fact less junk and more household stuff used too infrequently to have yet found a more permanent place to live.  After the room is cleared, we’ll be able to paint, before finally removing the disgusting brown carpet and sanding and finishing the floors.  It’s the sanding that I suppose will take most of the time.  I expect to spend weeks down on hands and knees getting up close and personal with sawdust and other airborne particles one would probably prefer not to breath.

With that being said, I should probably close and get ready for school.  The painting party begins soon.