State of Life

Life has eased into a gentle rhythm; work isn't very strenuous and the living is pretty fine, too. Cassie, Ryan and I are welcoming into the house a third roommate, fellow graduate Sarah McCann, sometime this August. Until then, Laura Allen--yet another W&M presence in our home--is our guest for three weeks or so.

Weeks pass by relatively quickly, and recent weekends have seemed like brief pauses between what have been enjoyable weeks at the News-Press--I'm at home there.

In other news, Taylor Rubin and I have spoken about heading to the Northern City sometime, which will be a relief from the D.C. area humidity and low-rise buildings. I will enjoy losing myself among skyscrapers and traffic grids--hell, anything is better than D.C.'s roads.

So my brief update must be a relatively mundane one: I can't be much more descriptive about my life. Perhaps more will come here when I've done more at work--speaking of which, there is a public mixer tomorrow open to anyone in Falls Church; plenty of wine to boot. I'll be able to schmooze with the Chamber of Commerce and some odd guests that have been described to me as large bearded men wearing garish white fur coats, who never talk but eat everything at the annual gig--good times! I can't wait for the White House Correspondents & Press Dinner; that should be good fun, too, meeting the big wigs.

I learned a lot about the em and en dashes today, too. Apparently the em dash is considered "Victorian" and outmoded. Alackaday! And the AP Style Book removed "Milquetoast" as a preferred word. O tempores, o mores!

Fin.

P.S. Went to the Botanic Gardens this past weekend. I was able to see the plant that gives us precious quinine--once known, of course, as "Jesuit's Bark," per the first European contacts with the plant material. Also, Microsoft Words suggests that "of course" is haughty. I agree.