good things:

ahhh! time to celebrate:

• we found a good person (we think) to sublease the apartment for the summer. this will save me about $1300 or so.
• i finally bit the bullet and bought tickets to go to peru for a month...it's so freaking hard to optimize, given so many different variables: price, but also airports, times, duration of stay, # stops, whether the flight includes sitting in mexico city airport for 5 hours in the middle of the night. the ticket i bought was a little more but it's non stop, and from newark, not jfk. i'm content.
• i finished grading ALL the exams. amazing! also--
• had lunch with a great kid who i met on the new orleans trip. it was very good to chat with him and compare notes about how life develops and what we want.
• while the students were testing i was reading this book--which is really good. well the writing could be a little tighter, but the ideas in it make me so happy--about finding purpose in our life, and letting that purpose fill each small daily event with meaning and joy--if we can be mindful--and live deliberately. this requires discipline, focus. it requires us to edit out distractions, time-wasters, and meaningless 'noise'. i like that idea. i will blog more about it--i was underlining all over.
• i filled up the tank with gas, and came home to stella's wonderful supper. italian meatballs, mashed potatoes, delicious bread, and merlot (don't know what nationality--if any--merlot is supposed to be). top it off with conversation...
• i am really tired. i think we are going to go see a movie....perhaps spike lee's inside man.

p.s. i just opened my inbox and there was an email from Matt Damon!!!! bewilder-bafflement? is this a prank from a sibling who knows of my weakness for only this particular movie star? no, it's actually real. well...it's because M.D. is using his celebrity (like others do) to support The ONE Campaign. but still.....an email from Matt Damon... wow.