Inessentials

Although I assumed I would later regret it, this semester I decided to lead my discussion sections immediately after the lecture on Thursday. I hoped it would help me maximize on the interest generated in class and carry over the discussion. So far, so good.

Last Thursday, I stopped to get coffee between lecture and section. The timing was tight, but workable. I was feeling frilly, so I got a large, nonfat, no-whip white mocha to go. I’m walking along the sidewalk, calculating how many seconds late I would be. This being New Haven, I plan to jaywalk across the street during a break in traffic. I’m looking over my shoulder to be sure there are no cars coming, which unfortunately meant I wasn’t looking ahead of me, which would have allowed me to see the parking meter in my path. I walk directly into the parking meter, hard enough for me to bounce back half a step to catch my balance. I had been carrying my latte in my hand in front of my chest, which is exactly the height of the parking meter. The meter and my chest crunched the cup, sending 12 of the 20 oz. up the front of my shirt, through the t-shirt underneath, and down my pants. Even the keys inside my pocket were sticky.

I had no change of clothes, so I ran to a bathroom, dabbed the worst of it, and walked to class smelling like white chocolate. I was more dressed up than usual because I was set to give comments on a paper that afternoon, and wasn’t finished drafting them, but now I would have to drive home and change clothes. First, though, I had to sit through two hours of discussion with students. I, of course, relayed the anecdote to them and used it as a prompt for that day’s discussion on the problem of evil.

I’m not too embarrassed by the whole thing, which means the worst part is that I banged my wrist pretty hard and had trouble gripping and typing for the next couple days. But it all seems better now.