Intellectual day

I had a very intellectual day today. Ok, well, it felt like one anyhow.

I actually got up on time and had coffee with Julie (roommate) and had a good chat, then went to work.

My boss didn't show up today (I think he was feeling sick) so I didn't have much to do... hm. That's not an intellectual part. I probably could've left that out. But I didn't.

I ran a bunch of errands (and felt oh so productive) then had an appointment with my religions prof to talk about my term paper. For some reason (self torture most likely. maybe my inner being feels the need to do penance for some unknown wrong I committed at the age of 2), I chose to write a term paper on the Ayatollah Khomeini instead of writing 2 simple 5 page papers on the books we're reading. It's just another of those many things I do that I cannot explain. Anyways....

He is a great professor, everyone I've met who's had him loves the classes. He is a christian so we got to talk a little bit about that, and about the demoralization and strength-sapping trends in our country. I left feeling all sorts of thoughtful and reflective. It lasted about 10 minutes. (After which amount of time I had gotten into my car and begun driving. Driving in Flagstaff is demoralizing (yes, I just used that word twice. and, yes, I am using a parenthesis inside of a parenthesis. My hero is the author of the Princess Bride. I believe I've said that before. shoot... back to driving) and if you've ever driven here you must already know this. If you have driven here and you don't know what I'm talking about, you are most likely part of the problem. I have a couple of suggestions for you:
1. At least drive the speed limit. Please.
2. When turning left, get into the turn lane before slowing to a nearly complete stop. Please.
3. If you are a semi truck driver, there is no help for you. You are doomed to be part of the problem. I am sorry.
4. Should you feel the need to drive faster than other cars in a lane that is ending, do not expect those cars to slow down even more than they have been in order to let you over. This causes much frustration for those of us trying to get somewhere.
5. When the light turns green, that means GO.
I hope these have been beneficial. I know I feel better.)

Tonight we went downtown for the art walk. They have one on the first Friday of every month. They'r emore fun in the summer cause the people come out in droves, and the live music drifts out into the street and mixes (I almost said mingles, but I thought it sounded too cliche. If you would like to insert mingles into the sentence though, I must say it sounds rather nice) with people talking and laughing. A friend of mine commented that all of the true Flagstaff-ian people show up for the art walk. The artsy, organic, and of course intellectual people. It is so fun.

If you've never been to an art walk (I don't even know if they have those in other cities), basically some of the stores and a few studios/apartments downtown host artists' works and there is free food. There is free wine too, if you're interested. It adds to the intellectual air, lol.. (well, figuratively speaking. actually, I don't like the smell of alcohol, so don't take it literally, mom.) I think that all of the artists are locals. There's pottery, photography, painting, sculptures, music (actually, most of the live musicians I recognized from the open mic nights at the tea house). One of the venues was a fundraiser to help end genocide. Another place hosted only women artists, and all of the proceeds were being donated to the local women's shelter.

I'm off to Phoenix in the morning, so good night all, and good Easter! (random thought, does anyone know why it's called Easter? I've never thought about that before... hmm..)