My personal calendar gave me a challenge. Returned to OLLI, the senior division of our State University for the first time. By the vagaries of submitting course preferences, my schedule played out to three courses on Monday's, first, second, and third sessions. On Tuesdays I only have two classes, first and third sesssions. On Wednesday, only two, first and second sessions. Due to Holy Days falling Thursday-Fridays this season, I opted not to enroll in any courses those days. The class schedule has its quirks. My middle class on Mondays, the one I desire most, only runs the second half of the semester, and is on Zoom. My first class on Wednesdays only meets the first half of the semester. And the final course on Tuesday, for which I am presenting one class, only appears via Zoom.
Tuesday and Wednesday drive-in for the in person classes, then drive home seems straightforward. Monday proves more challenging, with a Zoom course sandwiched between two traditional classes. I opted to create a faux work day on Mondays, at least until the final class adjourns.
I got up at my usual time. Instead of dental hygiene, then coffee, I inserted dressing. The day before I made a checklist, what to wear, what to take in a small backpack. Laptop, charger, leather writing pad, the secure chest travel pouch I bought last year, a radio, a thermos of coffee, a lunch that I would make at home, the Torah portion I am preparing. Since this would be my first day on-site, I needed extra time to pick up my ID badge, so off to the car a bit early.
I arrived well in advance of my first class. While there I filled out some forms for access to the University's computer services and parking at the main campus. Sipped coffee. Then class. An excellent lecture on the history of airline safety.
Downstairs to the lobby after class to being a 2.5 hour unstructured block. Started with a stroll outside to the patio to work on the Torah reading. Minor imperfections. When I do this, I wear a kippah that I keep in my pants pocket, this time a blue suede one from a Bar Mitzvah. I opted to leave it on the rest of the day. America in general, and campuses in particular, have accumulated people who think it OK to verbally accost anyone they can identify as Jewish. We are oppressors of everyone who has not thrived in America in their minds.
But I really intended to work on some other projects. I extracted my laptop, its charger, and my good leather portfolio from my backpack. In order to have an outlet for the charger, I had to settle for a high table with high chair along one of the walls. Plugged in. Refill my insulated mug. Ready to work. The University has its own Wi-Fi. I saved it with my ID and password onto this laptop last year. Despite having forgotten both prompts, it connected me. To connect with the University library system, I will need a more sophisticated entry point which requires renewal. But once online, I could surf. Not productive surfing at all. E-mail, social media. I thought a little about things I might like to write, but didn't write them. Read a presentation from a Substack to which I have a subscription, but did not respond. Returned to my backpack to retrieve my sandwich. Too soon to proceed to the cafeteria.
Eventually I packed my electronics, took my lunch back to the patio, where I ate it. An old friend of 40+ years happened by. We each had covid in the last year, so exchanged notes. Not a lot of work got done, creating some minor guilt.
Early afternoon class, an excellent intro to the Big Bang. Kippah still on. No apparent reaction from anyone else.
Home right after class. I had two top notch sessions, OK lunch, satisfaction of planning what I wanted to do, no serious focus on doing it. A lost opportunity.
There will be a Monday of this type each week until my half-semester course begins. The 2.5 hour chunk of time needs to be allocated in a more specific, accountable way.
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