Today

Today I finally started to get back in gear for the school year. I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there. It started in the morning. I was listening to Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise 5: Los Angeles on the way to school trying to get psyched for the day. It's one of the new CDs I bought in China and has been providing much inspiration lately. I was in the midst of JES's People Will Go and I spilled coffee on my pants. Then, as I was cleaning up the coffee (while still driving and listening to Tiesto) I spilled more coffee on my pants. Excellent. The good news is that I was wearing coffee-colored pants. Definitely in mid-season form.

Yesterday I gave a talk to incoming students. I think the talk went well, but I didn't really get to meet any of them; I just spoke to s room of around 100 students and then went on my way. But today I spent a bunch of time meeting new advisees and talking with lots of new students one-on-one about their course choices. It was fun and energizing to meet them and talk about thier past math experiences and their hopes for the future. It's a cliche, but it was a clear reminder of why I teach and why I teach at COA.

So today has been a good day. I'm still feeling behind in getting ready for the term, and I'm still just slightly in shock at being back in the US and back at COA. But I think I've turned the corner and am close to being psychologically ready for the new term.