the good, the bad, and the pretty

The Good
- I've developed my first ever "can-do" attitude toward my exams; in other words, I'm actually beginning to imagine that I might be able to read just about everything on time and be able to remember enough of what I've read to answer questions with a degree of coherency. I'm not exactly the Master of Confidence, but I'm no longer generally pessimistic/freaked out about my the final stretches of my exams preparation. (Don't worry--I'm definitely still scared enough to know I have a ton of reading and studying to do.)

- I received several stellar papers from my students in this first batch, and some of my students seem to genuinely like 17th and 18th century comedies. Score!

- I drank tasty cinnamon spice tea today. I need to track down where our cafeteria purchased those teabags.

The Bad
- I borrowed my friend's fancy gear (a RoadTrip) for playing an iPod through your car radio (her car's being repaired, so she let me give the gear a test drive, so to speak), and within thirty minutes I broke it by trying to pull it out of my car's outlet. I don't think it's broken beyond repair, but I saw little bits of wire sticking out of its casing, and that can't be good. So my first priority now is to replace or repair it, and then consider whether I can really trust myself with one of my own.

The Pretty
- It rained and thundered last night, and the clouds today are gorgeous. I don't have a camera with me, so you will just have to imagine grey clouds laced with white moving through a surprisingly clear blue sky.