Morning in Michigan

Ah, the joys of giving a paper on Thursday morning. You get to Michigan, wake up, give a quick talk and realize that -- you now have until Sunday to just exist in the beauty that is Kalamazoo. And this year has been good so far.

I gave my paper at 10 AM after staying up until 2 trying to decide how much of it really needed to be changed last-minute. Yeah, there were a lot of pencilled-in sentences this year. There was only one minor heart attack, when I thought -- mistakenly -- that I'd left the second page of the paper in my dorm room. Other than that, all went smoothly. I didn't even stumble over the Old English!

I missed out on the blogger gathering due to email problems, which was sad. I console myself, however, with the fabulous t-shirt of a Viking woodchuck, with "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?" in what looks like Old Icelandic (it having been a semester since I've looked at Old Icelandic I was only 99% sure). That and the "You Might Be A Medievalist If..." --when faced with a difficult situation you ask yourself "What would Beowulf do?"

Probably the least logical thing possible, so long as it involves feats of incredible strength and copious violence. Double points for dragons fought by yourself.

Off to a Friday at Kalamazoo! And a desperate attempt to avoid the book exhibit -- it's amazing how many books suddenly seem to be really, really important for my orals...