Live from the Elevator Lobby

I'm in sort of lovely little alcove right now.  Well, actually, it might be too grand a space to call it an alcove.  Maybe foyer?  Except foyer implies there's an entrance somewhere....  I'm at an architectural loss here.  It's just off the second-floor elevator lobby, anyway.  There is a sleek fourteen-foot long console table and two spiffy chairs, one of which I have comandeered, a large hatbox-shaped light fixture hanging from the ceiling, and lots of conference rooms off to my left.  This is the only space on the whole second floor meeting rooms suite that seems to have the magic spot for wireless for my laptop.  Go figure.

Anyhoo.

Today was good.  I think I did solid work today.  I exceeded my personal goal of five folders, completing six instead.  That means I read a total of 150 essays today.  If I do that every day from this point forward, I will leave this place having processed 900 essays.  I'd like to bump it, though, and do an even 1000.  That means I need to speed up tomorrow and get seven folders somehow.  If I can fight my afternoon lag, I might be able to do it.  I will have to push, but if I have a goal, maybe my competitive streak will kick in and I will have the motivation.

It's been tough going.  I will hit streaks of essays that are LONG but not terribly fantastic, or several essays in a row about exactly the same work.  It is a little like a pebble in the shoe, I suppose.  At first, you notice it, but it's okay.  After several miles with that SAME PEBBLE, you really feel it and want it OUT.  The same works are turning up over and over, over and over.  If I never see another Joad again, it will be too soon.  Even my beloved Danish Prince is getting on my nerves.

Perversely, though, I'm putting together a mental reading list, and some of the very works I might flinch at seeing the fiftieth time are going on it.  Sometimes it is because I realize how long it has been since I've seen that work; sometimes it is because I am discovering new things altogether.  In one case, something by Hardy, an essay reminded me that I had hated something, and that knee-jerk reaction made me put it on the list because time and maturity change our reactions to literature, and even gloomy old Thomas probably deserves another look since so much time has passed.

After the close of the the day's reading, I came upstairs and grabbed my camera.  I walked out on the 2nd street bridge over the Ohio and took some pictures of the I-65 bridge and the railroad bridge together.  I think I got the shot I was trying for.  It was a nice walk, regardless.  The weather here today was fantastic.  Coming back toward the hotel, I found several old signs that I shot, and then I went down to 4th Street Live for a burger at Hard Rock.  I am slightly addicted to the Red, White, and Blue burger.  It has blue cheese on it and some kind of spicy sauce and probably should be illegal.  It is fine in every way.

When I got back, my roomie was already in bed.  I don't know what's up with that, but she woke me up in the middle of last night yelling.  I think it was a nightmare, but I'm not sure.  I'm letting her get some rest right now.  That's why I've self-exiled down here to the foyer.  I mean lobby.  Whatever.  I've got my iPod with some Black Keys and my Kindle with some (dare I say it) Grapes of Wrath (or not) on it, so I'm good until my tired kicks in.  Maybe we'll both be so tired tonight that there will be no incidents of night terror for anybody.  I have seven folders to power through tomorrow.  I need everything to be calm.