More from Annie

I would tell you about the paring knife I accidentally put in a carry on bag really late the night before we left for reasons I still cannot understand. Maybe it’s because it was late and the knife was lost when I was packing the other ones and I was confused about which bags we were checking and which we were carrying, or maybe it was just because I was tired. It’s always fun to talk to the head TSA guy and the cop who’s on duty. “Do you always carry a knife with you?” “What’s your phone number? How can that be your number if as you said you’re moving?” Right. Well, I don’t have a cell, I couldn’t remember the work number here and so I just lied, gave them my home number and said that I left it on to retrieve messages, despite the fact that I knew full well they turned it off early. Even with the “restrictions” that the airlines have about numbers of bags, they let us on with a banjo, a guitar, a backpack, a small personal bag and a rolling suitcase. I love the little first class closet. They, for the most part, are happy to let you put your guitar in there (but not your banjo because it’ll fit above). ps. The heaviest bag was 49.4 pounds. Using the scale from the neighbors it had come in at 48 so I was pretty sure we were safe, but when that number popped up, I was psyched and proud simultaneously. Not much for humble around the insane packing job that I did.

I have to second what Jordan said about Leo. Even with one of my ears mostly non-functional his stories and chatting kept us in good spirits and energized about what we’re undertaking. He visits his parents a bunch down here so I’ll be excited if we can find a way to meet up.

Speaking of non-functional ears, my right ear canal has now swollen mostly closed. I thought it was a wax thing earlier, so I was using some drops we have from CVS. After talking with Susan, I wonder if maybe I was using with the wrong meds because they’re peroxide based and perhaps that just irritated the ear tissues. I’d love to talk to any of you with medical experience about what I should do besides arnica around the outside and advil pretty regularly. The swelling has gotten worse over the past two days and now I have to pull on my ear significantly to get the canal to open at all, which then causes it to hurt in a different way: most of the time the pain comes in waves, more waves after I’ve been moving around for at least a half hour building with intensity to a sharp constant pain, not really throbbing, not shooting. It made a lot of noise on the plane, and some while we were coming up the mountain. I expected that and it’s only the really loud pops that hurt, but they’re a surprise every time, which is a little hard to deal with. I can sleep when it’s hurting if I’ve taken advil, but walking around for long periods of time hurts, as does opening my mouth widely and smiling too much. There’s the problem because when you’re trying to show yourself as a friendly person, the smile is a widely used tool. Fortunately, I’ve got some time today and tomorrow to take extra naps and walk slowly.

Starting on Monday I’m on pretty much full time with a trip to San Jose to get papers sorted out and meet the rest of the new teachers. I’m pretty psyched about both of those things. As we were standing in the immigration line, I heard someone speak disparagingly about San Jose and I have to say I’ve only had good experiences there so far. Maybe I’ve just been lucky. We didn’t spend that much time there last time, and none so far, so I’m looking forward to understanding the capital a little better and maybe learning my way around a bit better.

Sunset’s happening. Pretty. It sure is nice to be living up high and have a consistent view of both the sunrise and the sunset for a change. Not quite as much sunrise as sunset, but I’m not arguing. And yes, for reference, I was up for the sunrise.

We have a request. We brought with us one picture showing device that has room for three
horizontal pictures. At the moment, the only one of you represented is Hilary. We would love it if you could send us a picture of you, oriented horizontally, and yes, it will need to be on paper instead of electronic because we don’t yet know if we have access to appropriate printers. I’d like to rotate our friends and family through the picture frames so we can always have you near. We do have some excellent fridge magnets with many of the local to Montague folks, but...