Lessons learned over the weekend

• I read a book this weekend--not a newsworthy event for an academic, I know. But this was a book I'm rereading because a student is writing on it, and it's a book I first read and reread ages ago. I liked it back then, although it's not this author's Big Novel. (Think The Rainbow or The Plumed Serpent instead of Women in Love or Sons and Lovers.) Guess what? I still liked it, even though I can see the critics' objections better now than I could then. Lesson learned: I wasn't a total doofus for liking it back then, and it didn't induce in me some of the forehead-smacking embarrassment for enjoying it that I've experienced when going back to other youthful book crushes.
  
• If in your ecstasy to be at home rather than on campus you throw yourself with extreme enthusiasm into some home activity like moving furniture, chopping vegetables, or cleaning cupboards, be prepared for (1) bruised limbs, (2) cut fingers, and (3) seeing stars after you crash your head into a cupboard door that has mysteriously opened in front of you.
  
• Sometimes (see above), the universe is trying to tell you to sit on the couch and watch a movie rather than risk more self-inflicted injuries. That's what weekends are for.
• The quality of a weekend is in direct proportion to the paucity of work-related emails that you receive.