Random encounters

Seems I am in the mood for some random thoughts on this lovely Friday afternoon. It is not hot yet in Phoenix which is reason to celebrate alone!
I just heard Gob doing "Paint it Black" weird version. I heard Eight Seconds today on BOB FM and I happened to check the Seattle station at Udub. They had a live performance from Sloan on today. I listened live at noon, they sounded fantastic, were witty as usual and really made my day to actually remember to listen to something! I really could see me living my 90's over again only as a Sloan fan instead of Posies fan. Some of their band past history is very similar. I guess I would have gone to Canada more than Seattle to see Sloan! Sloan never ended up coming here, only as close as Indio for Coachella. A student of mine was so nice, he got me a shirt fromt he show-autographed!!!!! I will see them again. I found it interesting in the interview that they talked about how different they are live and how that doesn't tranlate to record. It is funny on two fronts, that is exactly what The Posies always said also. Plus it is seeing Sloan live that changed me from a casual fan to a megafan. Needless to say The Posies were always incredible live also.
It is final exam time at ASU. We had our end of year party for the station. While I will greatly miss some of the students, I was relieved to end this school year, this semester particularly. The stress it created was once again beyond any amont of money I am paid for my job. I can only now hope for the future and learn from my mistakes with this group. I know have the summer to get fully prepared for the 30 students who will fill the first year of Cronkite Village. I will also spend much of the summer getting the Blaze operations manual complete to present to the future staffs. I will miss my 394 class, I njoyed many of them this semester.
I have been realizing that I have taken on many of my mom's interests since she has been gone. I love reading cookbooks now, something I would have never imagined or ever done while she was alive. I also enjoyed my time in the desert while Dan was returning that girl. I walked around checking out different cactus and all the blooms on them. She would have been proud that I recognize the beauty in cooking and desert life now.
Dan surprised me and visited me at work yesterday. We are really enjoying doing various things together again. The time spent on building Big Red took it's toll on our time spent together.
Things I am excited for: Seeing Revenge of the Sith, a few months without teaching/blaze problems, maybe a vacation?, racing again(I have still only tested so far), getting Dan to put my new shelves up, getting an enclosed trailer, peaceful time in my heart....