Avoiding Work

I haven't posted since Christmas, which was only two weeks ago but seems much longer. The holidays were good, but some drama and tension among Sean's family members made our escape to the milder climate of Virginia a happy thing. Yay, Charlottesville, where I can still walk to the gym in the morning in shorts in January without getting frostbite!

I was ridiculously productive last week--I cranked out slideshows and lecture notes for six weeks' worth of classes. On Saturday Anna came up from North Carolina to spend the night; she's been pretty bored and isolated in Winston-Salem and TJ had a lot of work to get done. We went bowling: Sean kicked my ass. We came home and played Scrabble: Sean kicked my ass again. Sigh.

I have plenty to get done this week, too. I started reading Anachronic Renaissance, which is the subject of the first meeting of our department's new Renaissance reading group on the 21st. It's boring and theoretical, so far. Another sigh. I also have to start working on my paper for RSA, but I've been putting it off, which means I'll get some shaming from my friends in our accountability group on Wednesday. It'll be email-based shaming, though, which is really less effective. Plus it's still vacation, so I feel less compelled to accomplish things.

Oh, an in an update to my last post, Sean was quite naturally excited to open the tickets to Turkey, though he felt the need to point out that this didn't quite count as the best-gift-ever for him, since it was also a present for me. Whatever. We had a basic itinerary sketched out within a couple of days: we'll start in Istanbul, then go to the site of ancient Troy, south to Ephesus, then fly to Cappadoccia, which is in the central region of the country, then north to Ankara, and finally take an overnight train back to Istanbul. Sean has volunteered to familiarize himself with Turkish this semester, too!

Our major disagreement now is whether we'll hit up a traditional Turkish hamam while we're in Istanbul; Sean is totally pro, but I'm not sure I want to lie on a bare floor while someone else bathes me (and apparently removes a year's worth of dead skin in the process). I can do that at home. Sean's mostly in it for the optional oil massage afterward, but so far I haven't found anywhere that lets you skip the bathing and go right for the massage. I'll keep looking.