Random bullets of October, no surprises here

• Well, there was September, and now October’s almost gone. I guess teaching takes up a lot of time—who knew?
• Despite upsetting world events, in terms of weather, it’s been a lovely fall so far.
• Despite all the “pandemic’s over—hooray” messages from the administration & the US government, students are getting sick from COVID as well as the usual ailments that in-person classes are heir to. I’ve finally caught something—not apparently COVID. It’s inevitable with in-person classes unless everyone keeps masking as we did in Fall 2021, and guess what—not happening. 
• If some public health person did a study on when students and teachers get sick, I’m guessing they’d find that mid-October is prime time for that.
• Here’s the playwright Arthur Miller’s writing house: https://www.arthurmiller.org/studio/ . It’s 14 x 22 feet long, which is quite roomy. You can see the evolution of the place from the photographs: fireplace to wood stove, Royal manual typewriter to electric typewriter to computer, etc. It also has a Soviet-era desk chair, steel with padded green leatherette, that is just like mine, so clearly our levels of genius are running in sync. 
• Goals moving ahead: write more, catch up with blog reading, and generally do better.