After all of the events of the weekend and the constant company of my house guest it seemed very strange, yesterday morning, to go back to class. Hard to get into school mode. And I kept thinking about the killings at Virginia Tech and about Eli, away at school. Funny, I didn’t think about myself, also at school. Tomorrow will be my last classes for this semester. Then we have a break until the beginning of May. The summer term runs through the first week in August and I’ve signed up for classes four days a week. Unfortunately no more Japanese art classes for a while. The more I learn about Japanese art and culture the more I realize there is to learn. There seems to be no end to it. I’ll be taking classes about Chinese history, Asian art, Pittsburgh history and continuing with Tai Chi. Keeping busy keeps me out of the kitchen; better for my health.

My blog talk was OK. I had a great turnout; standing room only. But I was disappointed by the small number of questions. Somehow I don’t think I inspired anyone to start a blog.

I began the presentation by asking questions: first if anyone had a blog; if they knew what a blog was; where the name came from. After answering questions I referred them to Wikipedia for more info. I talked about privacy issues, which seems to be a big concern; several blog hosts (only those I had some experience with); and finished by showing them features of this blog and a how-to:

Decide what your blog is about.
Create a name for it.
Decide on the name you will use. Do you want to be anonymous, or not?
Select the host, and follow directions.

I also created a handout with some basic information and a few blogs they might find interesting. I’d like to start a group blog. I made the suggestion; now I have to wait and see what happens.

Tomorrow noon I am giving a talk about blogging for the Osher program at the University of Pittsburgh. My talk is one of a series of casual, brown bag lunch talks given by Osher participants. I really enjoy keeping this blog, so I decided I wanted to promote it and get more of my peers into blogging. We need to make our voices heard and let the young people know they aren’t the only ones who use computers.

I’ve been very busy the last few days, preparing my presentation for the Japanese art seminar. Although I am only auditing the class, the professor has encouraged me to participate, and I find I get more out of it if I do. This one was tough. I don’t know whether it was my topic, or me. Probably both. I actually spent most of my time doing work avoidance. I wrote a line or two, then made some tea. Came back for another two lines, then got something to eat. Back to work, then you know what tea does. So it went for almost three days. I probably gained three pounds. On Monday, I was really wiped out, probably from the trip to Cincinnati on Saturday, then a visit to an open house for the Nationality Rooms at Pitt on Sunday. Both very tiring. So I suppose it’s no mystery that I wasn’t functioning on Monday. Tuesday was better, but I was still marching back and forth. I was very happy to finally give the presentation, turn in the paper and be finished. Of course, I’ll miss all those classes now that I have a month’s vacation.

Working on a paper for my Japanese art class I realized my vocabulary has diminished. I still understand most of the words I ever learned, but accessing them as I write something is another matter. I attribute this only partly to aging. I think most of my problem stems from my previous employment. I was training people to use computer publishing programs and writing documentation for the training. Good documentation uses simple language, along with those technical terms, and never uses synonyms or nuance. You never call a black box a widget; it’s always a black box. Otherwise you are talking about two different things. I began writing this blog so I could forget those technical writing rules. Now I’ve added a thesaurus to my Google homepage. I hope it’s better than the one that comes with Microsoft Word. That was obviously compiled by technical writers.

After I deposited Eli and his belongings at his dorm I went to an alumni function at International House. I was active with the alumni association in New York, but I haven’t done anything in Pittsburgh. This was a kind of pep rally, urging us to become more active. The first session was all about the University of Chicago Magazine and the website, and specifically, how they were going to improve the website. The second session was about extra or co-curricular activities available to new students. The internships and opportunities for community service really sounded terrific. For one of the few times in my life, I wanted to go back in time. I was jealous of all those young people. When I went to the University of Chicago it was a great school. I learned a lot. But I was discouraged from following any real career path. Women were expected to get married, be housekeepers, and/or, maybe teachers, secretaries, nurses, social workers. There were no internships or other opportunities to test your abilities. I am grateful my daughter and my granddaughter do not have such limited choices.

My class in the geology of Pittsburgh took a field trip today to the top of the Cathredral of Learning, 40 stories up. The view was terrific, or would have been if the weather had been better. After many glorious, sunny days it was cold and gray today. At least it wasn’t raining while we were up there, so we did enjoy the view. But the big treat was the peregrine falcon sitting on the ledge watching us as we watched him. I took this quick shot of him.
As I was preparing to get a better one, someone else used a flash. The bird scolded us for almost half a minute and then flew off.

Two of my new classes began yesterday–both about things Japanese. One is a small undergraduate course about Japanese culture. It should be fun. The other is a seminar about the state of the field of Japanese Art History. It’s possibly a little esoteric, but I think I will enjoy it. In any case I don’t have to do any work if I don’t want to. And both professors allow me to be an integral part of the class even though I am only auditing. Next week my Osher classes begin. (That’s the senior citizen stuff.)

I spent a good part of the last few weeks looking for things to do. I did a lot of volunteering, or trying to volunteer. It isn’t always easy. But today my efforts began to pay off. I am now a member of an advisory committee for the Osher program. My obligation is two or three meetings a year. I don’t know how much input I’ll have, but I get some inside dope about the program, which I love.

On Wednesday, I’ll start going to classes again. I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be taking more classes about Japanese culture, and I plan to take a drawing class. Maybe that will inspire me to do some artwork again.