"They're just for convenience. Like hookers."

Yes, all of the blog titles are either from conversations I've had recently or are relevant to what's been happening in my life. How sad is that?
Pub Trivia started up again! And our team (Revenge of the Nerd Herd) rocked this week. We beat the next closest team by 20 points, which is especially great because usually people only win by a few points. Spencer and Hannah came with a bunch of their friends (so excited to be 21 now) to make their own team. It was a funny atmosphere, though, because we were the only one of last year's regular teams to show up, so no one else quite got our jokes. Donald was running Trivia, and we had spent an entire random evening last spring shouting, "Happy birthday, Donald!" every time we saw him, even got the band to sing "Happy Birthday" to him, and it wasn't his birthday. So one team named themselves Happy Birthday Donald, and no one else but our team got the joke. Maybe they're all too young. It's been really funny to see all the newbies, because they look so young and so excited by their new privileges. Spencer, the econ major, can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that the Pub isn't a for-profit venture but simply a safe place for people to hang out and drink if they wish to. (They had free root beer for Trivia!) All of the money they make goes to pay wages, buy more alcohol (no hard liquor), or pay for bands to play--Gangly Moose and Sweatin' Honey, hell yes!
For only the second time this summer, I missed Shane's softball game last night. Lucy and I went swimming instead, which was fun. The pool was super crowded, but Lucy reminded me, "Three weeks from now, it'll be empty. Everyone starts off strong before they get too busy." I think we're going to try to go swimming every Wednesday.
But because I missed softball, I missed Shane getting his chin split open. He called me after the second game (apparently they all played like trash and I didn't miss anything else) to tell me what had happened. It's a two inch gash right along his chin from a ball that bounced funny and just missed hitting him in the mouth. When I asked if he was going to get stitches he said, "No, we're going to the movie '9'. But if Mitch can find his stuff, he might stitch me up." Mitch is not a doctor. Mitch is going to be a doctor, but Mitch is not a doctor yet. Sometimes Shane tries my patience. And actually, having Mitch stitch him up would be better than what's happened instead, which is Shane just taping his chin closed because "you're not getting a doctor or a needle anywhere near my face". Apparently Mitch couldn't find his suture kit or whatever he was going to use. *Sigh*
I ended up mostly waiting up for Shane last night. I think I fell asleep about 20 minutes before he got home, on his side of the bed so that he'd have to wake me up and I could see the damage he'd done to himself. It doesn't look too bad, and he did have a scar there anyway. But I would feel better if he'd gotten stitched up.
Because I stayed up late, I was exhausted this morning and stopped at the Wood Center to get tea on my way to work. A friend held the bus for me, so I didn't miss my usual one, but we were later getting to my building than usual. Apparently my boss was late, too, and someone was waiting when she got there. I was only six minutes late, so she couldn't have been more than three or four minutes late, but it was enough that Katherine and I were reminded during our meeting today that we all need to be on time because otherwise we'll have patrons waiting and we don't want that. Am I allowed to be irritated by this? I'm biking further in the mornings now because the U changed the schedule of buses, making the only convenient buses run at very inconvenient times. She knows this, and also knows that I usually get to work before she does. So why am I getting scolded?
Other than that, work has just been work. I'm finding ways to stay busy, but not as busy as I'd like. I'm actually kind of worried that this job is going to put me into a pattern of doing nothing but busy work and wasting time, because there really isn't enough to do. I hope these habits don't stick, because I don't actually like wasting time. I know I should be thankful that I have a decent job (although I am starting to realize how little I get paid; it's a lot for me, but in the overall scheme of things it's not that much) but I wish we were busier. And we won't be busier until the economy recovers, which means we'll get more grant money and more donations.
The leaves are very definitely starting to fall and the air is a bit chillier today. I hope this doesn't mean that our Indian summer is over, but it probably is. In the last week the leaves have gone from slightly yellowish to falling off. Blink and you'll miss a Fairbanks autumn. They're gorgeous while they last, though. And at least the cooler weather means the bugs will be dying off soon. The gnats were horrible this year.