The semester began three weeks ago today, and it’s been a busy three weeks.

For starters, there’s the teaching, the research, and all the fun administrative stuff that comes at the beginning of the school year.

Add to that the beginning of the fall TV season.  Not that I’m complaining, but I’m invested in too many TV shows.  There’s The Amazing Race on Sunday night, as I’ve already mentioned (my Bluegrass roots demand that I root for Team Kentucky, though they make me a bit self-conscious).  Then America’s Next Top Model on Wednesday night (I know I said that TAR was the only reality TV show that I watched, but I lied; yes, I’m ashamed).  Then three in a row on Thursday night: My Name Is Earl, The Office (I liked how the premiere handled the Jim/Pam situation), and CSI.  And Lost hasn’t even started back up yet.  I’m lucky that the first episode of Heroes didn’t particularly captivate me.       

I also had the ten-year check up on the heart valves that I had replaced.  Everything looked fine, but now I’m a just little worried about whether my having had the surgery will hurt our application to adopt from China (this discussion at Rumor Queen has both reassuring and disquieting—but mostly reassuring—information on that score).

On a less serious note, I did a one-monkey media blitz: two television appearances, one radio show, and a newspaper interview (that’s all I can say, however, because I’m Clark Kenting it here).

Last, but not least, I’ve done a lot of reading for fun.  Specifically, I’ve been reading books and short stories by Manly Wade Wellman, who mixes horror and occultism with Southern folklore and folk music.  Manly gets bonus points with me for living in Chapel Hill, NC for more than three decades (I spent a few years there myself).  I checked out five of his books from the local library; four of them hadn’t been checked out for the past year.    

In other news, happy belated birthday to SBird.  It’s nice that she had fun in Vegas (I recommend the New York-New York hotel and RumJungle; I would diss the Tropicana, but I hear that they finally blew it up).

While I’m at it, I’d like to give a shout-out to Monkeyhead, who is not only a fellow monkey but also someone who knows the secret sign.

Edited to add: Oh, yeah, my parents went to Paris (a change of pace from their last destination, Hawai’i).  I would like to go there someday.  Sure, I’ve been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but that was when we were staying at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas.