the Dalaverse

This is just one of those days that makes it all worthwhile. All the doubt, all the indecision, all the self-pity, all the 'why am I here?'ing, is cancelled out by one perfect day.

The campus is like a big cheesy hippie lovefest. Flipflops, tank tops, sunglasses, board shorts, skirts varying from mini to long and floaty, those slutty shirts that tie with string and have no back. Everyone smiles at you when you walk by, with just the glimmer of a grimace beneath it -- commiseration that we're walking to class, preparing to sequester ourselves indoors when it's so beautiful outdoors. Unless you're lucky enough to have one of the professors who'll lead class outside, or you have sailing, or you have a class that's so interesting, you completely ignore the world passing by on the other side of the window (I fall into that last category today, because Katharina is awesome beyond words). As for those lucky enough to be between classes, they're making room for themselves. There's not a single free seat on the patio outside the campus center, the benches above the riverbank, the grass at the riverbank. The Sparrington ducks are quacking imperiously at everybody who walks by because so many people are feeding them.

Every window in the quad is thrown open. Our left-side neighbors dragged their whole couch out on the grass, amongst all the girls propping textbooks on their bellies, sunbathing while they study. One of the boys' suites on the first floor put its TV on the windowsill, facing outside, and are gathered around it on the path, watching ESPN.

Between work and class, I went on a photo safari. Slightly down Route 5 to the Freedom of Conscience memorial, across the road to the boathouse, up the hill to the Garden of Remembrance. I stood beneath the arbors -- the benches were full -- watching a group of guys on the grass below skipping rocks across the water with a slingshot. The 2:00 sailing class was rigging the FJs. On the other side of Kent, I wandered around the cemetary, found the tombstone with my name, the Lord Calvert memorial, the stone bench with the Ark and the Dove carved on it. I took the wide path down to Church Point, where a bunch of people in bathing suits were hanging out. I stood calf-deep in the river, took pictures of the Dove and the view and some interesting trees.

Vanessa and I are headed off to walk around campus, skipping aerobics because we can't stand being inside on a day like today.

Don't worry, I'll be sick of the warm weather in a week and you won't have to deal with happy bouncy Dala every day :)