. Spinning .

This is probably going to be the hardest post I’m ever going to have to write. Just got back from the last Contemporary Fiction class of the semester, and in the last ten minutes of class, the question of time, space and reality that was raised by the good Professor in the very first class came to me like ten-thousand Christmas lights going on at once—Rockefeller Center when they pull the switch, or even that horribly gaudy and eye-popping house of seasonal decorations down in Torrington.

I raced home, desperately trying to keep a hold onto one thought as others came flying into my brain. The only one unrelated to the ball of yarn winding larger and larger in my mind that I allowed to entangle itself was my planned plea of Alzheimers’ regarding the three new stop signs they put up last week. I must, must, must either rip out my radio and install a voice-activated computer in my car, or become rich enough to hire a driver.

Unscrambling my scribbling is not easy. My writing is illegible. Even if I could read it, how do I interpret the three-word signal phrases that were supposed to trigger the whole paragraph of thought. And then, how do I string them together into a comprehensible whole?

WARNING: This is not one of my usual sensible, practical posts. Nor is it drug induced. It’s the flash of not the knowledge, but the question, being discovered.

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Well, tonight I get to make a complete fool of myself in Spanish. While I’ve become quite adept at it in my own native English, this will be the culmination of three semesters of practiced effort.

It’s a stand-up, face the class presentation of our own choosing, and it was difficult for me to come up with an idea that not only is covered by the Spanish vocabulary I know so far, but to match that with a subject I could speak about for at least one minute. Although that minute may indeed be taken up by attempts at pronunciation and trying to roll my r’s, nyah my ñ’s, h my j’s, and totally lose my h’s. Thank goodness there are only a handful of students to laugh and snicker back at me.

What I’ve decided to do is carry a backup handout sheet so the class has some idea of what I’m saying, as well as using props to point to so that some words can be related to their meaning, rather than leaving everyone to guess what the hell I’m saying.

Amazingly, I find I have the same problems in Spanish as in English. I write the language much more articulately than I speak it.

If you’re a regular reader of Spinning, you’ll notice that I’m getting later and later with my posts. No, I’m not sleeping in—I’ve actually been up since around 3:00 a.m. What I’ve spent the last several hours on, besides final papers, is discovery of all kinds of computer and internet stuff. Much of it is knowledge gained from reading other blogs and websites—there’s just so much good stuff out there, and eventually you come across something you’re familiar with or names you’ve run across before. Sometimes it’s a thought that confirms your own or offers new insight. It’s all just great.

Some of the technological info has probably been known for ages in the field, and while the self-taught method is slow as molasses, it does get points for effect. Just this morning I blasted a whole bunch of e-mails off to my professor (yes, I do sympathize with him as he opens his Inbox this morning) and in selecting a color font for emphasis in replies, I wondered what would happen if I selected “white.” Well, you got it: It comes up as hidden text. The e-mail message box appears blank unless you hold down the left cursor button and run the mouse across the area where a message would normally appear. If you didn’t know this already, the hypothesis and conclusion are neat to discover.

A slow method of learning, yes. But the self-satisfaction is sometimes worth it.

No, the ironing didn’t get done this morning as I’d planned, but I don’t care.

This is going to be one of those really homey, girlie posts.

So now some fool has gone and put up three more stop signs in each direction within a quarter mile stretch of road between the college and home. I think there are only three more anyway. And to add to my driving pleasure, in front of me is the idiot who feels it is his civic duty to help spread the sand from the now clean lanes by keeping two tires either on the lane divider line where the sand has accumulated or catching the right curb. In either case, he is really doing a job of dirtying and scratching up my car. And no, I’m not following too closely–the farther you stay behind him the higher the sand flies to cover more car surface.

Obviously not the best day so far, but I’ll always find that silver lining while dumping the rain on my head: Lack of time has inspired new hairdos in creative ways to cover the growing-in dark roots.

Other than that, the day could only get better. Especially if I had a nice little puppy or pussycat photo to paste in here.