93% Guys/90% Girls who attend that church believe in God
67% Guys/50% Girls expect to remain faithful

13% Guys/25% Girls have had sex

67% Guys/50% Girls say that people in their circle drink alcohol regularly

13% Guys/20% Girls say that they have abused prescription drugs

10% of both say they have done illicit drugs

53% Guys/50% Girls think it is is very important to marry someone who is a virgin

47% Guys/40% Girls say their family rarely or never prays together

26% Guys/25% Girls say they don’t remember the last time their family prayed together

That’s stats from their church. Wish I’d taken notes after all.

It was, as R said, painful. Of course, we left and had a big fight about all kinds of things.

I’ve been dealing with very erratic moods and depression the last two or three days. I don’t know what is up but I really don’t like it.

I’m heading to California in June. I’m not sure when I am going or how long I am staying. I wish R was here so we could talk about it. Think I’ll email him so I’ll remember.

It’s supposed to be a great conference. I can stay in a dorm. It’s cheaper. But you have to share the bathroom. Do you have to share the bedroom? And do you have to share the bathroom with men? I’m thinking you probably do and I’m not too up on that.

The hotels aren’t too bad, though. Not like NO and Boston. I’ll need to talk to R about that too.

I really need to get it in gear and get stuff done. Instead I am sitting in my chair staring at the world. This new diet is not too much fun.

I don’t think I mentioned before, but I am on the 13th floor. And it’s labeled the 13th floor.

I took the trolley tour today from 11 to 4. It’s a two hour tour. I got on at Copley Park, which is where my hotel is, where Trinity Church is (which I toured yesterday), and where the Hancock building is, the tallest building in Boston. Within my hotel room is a photograph that manages to get both part of Trinity and part of Hancock, even though they are across the street from each other.

We went by the Mary Baker Eddy library/complex. They have a world globe you can walk inside. I thought of Grama Rill when I went there.

I got off to see Paul Revere’s house. It has been rebuilt, as parts of it were destroyed in a fire and when they rebuilt, they were trying to put it back to its original looks. It was originally built to replace the parish house for Cotton Mather. But the Mathers bought other land and built there. Paul Revere bought it before he was famous and/or rich, in 1770 and lived in it with his wives and his sixteen children until he sold it in 1800. There was a silversmith there today showing off how to make a spoon. It was amazing. Takes lots of time. And the man doing it is a master silversmith who still makes silverware by hand.

After that I walked around the corner to a little restaurant that could seat, at most, thirty people. It had signs outside saying it had been voted North End’s best neighborhood restaurant. That’s what I was looking for. So I went in. I was the only customer, which was a bit scary. No social proof that it was a good place to be. And the menu was fairly limited. Lots of wines, not a lot of beers. I had tap water.

I ordered the penne with meatballs. It was about the only thing on the menu that I thought I would really enjoy.

The waitress brought me a bucket of bread. Good to eat, but tough. My jaw was tired of chewing when I gave up. She also brought me a carafe of water and was good to refill my water regularly.

Another group came in who were walking the freedom trail. Then three girlfriends. Then another couple. It was about half full when I left.

I was reading my Kindle, so the waitress asked about it. We talked about the kindle and using it to replace books. One thing people have said to me a lot is, “Don’t you miss holding books?” I enjoy talking about it and showing it off.

My meal was penne and meatballs. When they brought it in, it came in parchment. She brought out a knife and fork to cut it open and peel it out.

Then I went to see Christ Church, which is called Old North Church. It’s the oldest church in Boston. It was built in 1713. The church has a crypt with 1100 bodies in it. Mostly British soldiers killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

There they told us how wrong Longfellow’s poem was. Newman and another guy hung the lights up. William Daws and Revere rode.

Then I got back on the trolley tour. I got off at Old State House, which is right near where the Boston Massacre took place. Most of it was burnt in one of Boston’s fires. So, it’s not really as old as they say it is. But it’s the oldest standing government building in the United States. I don’t remember when it was built.

Did you know that the subway in Boston is the fourth oldest in the world? Only the subways in London, Glasgow, and Budapest are older. Amazing. I didn’t know that.

Saw the relief honoring the 54th, the company the movie Glory is about. The actor they got looks very much like the actual Colonel.

I didn’t walk the Freedom Trail. It’s 2.5 miles, which is a nice walk and fairly easy, except that I only brought high heels. Not interested in going hiking in those, since the little I did yesterday and today got my feet cut up. (In different places, since I had two pairs of shoes, but still. Ouch.)

Ron asked if I’ve even gone to my conference. I have. Twice. I’m going again tonight and to two meetings in the morning. There just wasn’t much that I was interested in here and I didn’t want to stress myself out going to things that weren’t interesting.

So I’m going to what I think are the best panels and that’s all. (I’d have gone to more if there had been more that caught my attention. One of the ones I went to I was only interested in one of the discussions.)

It’s a nice hotel, but actually the one we stayed at in Albuquerque is fancier.

Linda said I would love the bed and I was hoping for the Atlanta hotel bed experience, but it’s just a regular bed.

When we get rich, I want to get the Atlanta bed. Maybe we could splurge for an anniversary present one of these days.

I am enjoying being in Boston.

I slept twelve hours last night. I was exhausted. Zonked entirely. I went to sleep around 12:30 Thursday night/Friday morning and got up at 5:15. That’s not too terrible, but I was already shorting myself on sleep the two nights before. I think I made up for it.

By the way, don’t leave the curtains open in a hotel if you don’t know what time the sun comes up. I had to put a pillow over my head at 5 am because the sun was already shining. I had no trouble going back to sleep for another two hours though, so I guess it wasn’t terrible.

I went to a really good conference session last night and came away with all these ideas about things I should study. It was very interesting. All five panelists talked about newspaper poetry. And, believe it or not, it was closely related to the first chapter of my dissertation.

Maybe what I am most interested in is genre. Which I already knew. But how does that translate into papers in other places?

I did not review my paper today. But I need to in order to be ready for tomorrow. I’ll have to work on it today.

But I have four hours off today (because there wasn’t anything I wanted to hear) and I am going to go on a trolley tour of Boston. It’s a bit steep in price, $36, but it’s a two hour tour. (Why am I hearing the Gilligan’s Island theme song in my head?) If I see something I must get off for, I can get off, tour it, and then get back on the next trolley. And the trolleys run every 15 minutes. So that’s very nice.

I went to breakfast at Burger King.

It was cooler today. I’d have said about 68, but according to the net it is 57 degrees right now. So… I guess I like it a little cooler than I thought. But it was nice. It might rain today, though, so I’ll need to bring my umbrella. Those open air trolleys might not be too much fun in the rain. Maybe I should have brought my mustard coat. That would have been enough to cut the chill and to keep my important clothes dry. I’ll have to remember that next time.

I’m in Boston.

I agreed to be bumped from my flight, but apparently the two-too-many people they had on the flight didn’t show.

I took a cab to the hotel. $32.50 by the end. The taxi drove down Beacon St, which I vaguely recall as being important. Most of the drive seemed to be in tunnels.

I checked in, went to my room and left my stuff, and then went back down to check in to the conference.

There’s nothing I want to see until 5, so I went outside and walked around. I went to the farmer’s market. They have cherry pies. I bought a hot dog from a vendor– very good. I went on a tour of Trinity Church, which looks old and very majestic, but wasn’t built until 1877. In another hundred years it will be old, but now it is still young. After that I bought an Italian ice. It was good at the beginning, but not by the end. And I only had a little one, so it wasn’t that I was overdone on sugar.

I have a four-hour block tomorrow that I don’t want to attend anything, so I’m going to see about taking a trolley tour of Boston. I didn’t bring any walking shoes. All I have are high heels, so I don’t think I’ll be hiking the city.

I’m a bit hungry, but not enough to pay $14 for a sandwich and not enough to walk across the street and around the park to get to Burger King. I may go there tomorrow for breakfast though.

I am very stressed.

I haven’t finished a paper that I thought would be very simple.

I have the interview tomorrow that I have to give a presentation on. It’s a presentation I haven’t given in ages, because I haven’t been teaching argument. Not nice.

I need to prepare a bibliography and a handout for the paper on Sunday.

I have grading to do. A quiz, 26 analysis questions, and an essay.

Busy bee. So what am I doing? I’m on my blog.

I went to Dad’s Saturday, to give Chris a break. I picked the folks up at Grace’s recital and then took them home. Mom was nauseated from the chemo.

Dad and I went to Cafe Adobo for supper. I didn’t have a handicapped sticker, so Dad had to walk in. On the way out he said that about half the time he wished he were dead. Then he said if he didn’t get better it would switch to all the time.

It’s pretty depressing when your folks are sick/dying and wish they could die faster.

So today at church I was listening to the music and thought I should have that played at my funeral.

“Even through the tears”… something about continuing to serve God.

Of course, if I had a funeral, not many people would come. That would suck. So I hope I don’t have one soon.