Writer’s block

This was my view for about 45 hours this past week.  Gorgeous scenery, right?  Ok, not really.  The drive was flat and a bit dull…can you guess what part of America we were driving through?  After this drive, I think I can now check off road trip from the summer to do list.  To be honest, the long hours in the car were not as dreadful as I expected.  But I’d be ok with not taking another road trip for a good long while.

I’m now back in my parents’ place with no legitimate excuses to postpone graduate work any longer.  I’ve been trying today to shrug off the denial that classes start in six days.  As you have probably guessed from my verbosity here, I love writing.  Most of the time I can whip out 8-10 page papers in a few hours.  Not today.  I have a measly six page paper to write on a book I read…in January.  And I just can’t seem to make the words come together.  I cannot tell you how long I have sat and stared at my computer screen and notes today.  Just waiting.  Waiting for the moment of inspiration to hit.  Typing three sentences then deleting two of them.  And so I have nothing profound to share with you.  Any profundity I possess is currently being poured into my papers.

But I will leave you with two shots of why all that driving was worth it.

The first is Sarah, a friend I met teaching in Asia.  We worked for the same company, and while she taught in Laos and I taught in China, shared graduate classes gave us the opportunity to get to know each other well.  Seeing her this time around was…well, it was simply amazing.  And totally worth driving another five hours to get to her.  There is a wonderful, intangible bond between those of us who have experienced life in Asia together.  It was refreshing to be with someone who gets me and gets my life.  The reason she looks so excited in the picture is that we were both having Indian food for the first time in months.  It was one of the several delicious meals we had together.  That’s basically all we did…ate and talked…and talked…and talked.  And I wouldn’t change a single moment!

The second is the new family dog, Jesse.  Pictured here riding in his doggie car booster seat.  I know, slightly ridiculous. I gave my mom a hard time when I saw she had purchased this accessory.  Let’s just say I viewed it as a bit excessive.  However, I ended up eating my words because it was perfect for him on the long ride.  He just curled up and slept almost the entire trip.  And my mom would also probably like you to know that she got the seat for 50% off.  This little boy is quite the blessing, and has been the perfect paper writing companion today!