January 28, 2017

Prednisone made for a remarkable class day. It must be very powerful, or I am unusually susceptible. Gout submerged, anyway. One of my students said, kindly, of the 8 AM class that I was “all over the place.” I knew as I stood there talking that I could not keep on the straight and narrow of discourse, but there was nothing to do but get to the end of class. Hope to repair the damage Monday. Crashed home and slept the oddest late morning sleep, one I didn’t think I could arise from, but did. Then to Edna’s for coffee with N, who, he reminds me, was my advisee and Telemachus nine years ago. What I remember mostly is he and I being the sole basses in the university chorus at the time. Recalled immediately how much I enjoyed his company. We caught each other up on our lives. He now runs a lawn care company, using his degree in creative writing to its fullest potential. I told him of my catastrophe with Y, and he admitted that he also knows nothing about botany, and sort of scorns the idea of learning anything. Odd, it strikes me. Offered to be his botanical consultant when I retire. Recent events having enlarged my never very large interest in Debbie Reynolds, I watched The Unsinkable Molly Brown on TV. A truly terrible movie. Not one moment of the genuine. Not her fault, I supposed. Sort of C+day at the studio. Fell asleep in Jason’s big white chair. Voice clear most of the day. Started writing music for Dinosaur Movie, after having asked M to do it. What are the ethics surrounding that, I wonder. Whoever gets there first---