Manna from heaven

Well, work, actually...two jobs have dropped into my lap.

First, I met a guy who is blind, Jason, coming out of the library during my first week here. He's preparing for his Masters comprehensive exams in Classics, and needed a reader for the next month. I'm it. So, on Monday I started with him. We are working through the story of Hero and Leander as told by Ovid (poetry). In Latin of course. He reads it in Braille and I sit with the Latin dictionary and the commentary and look up stuff for him. Sounds boring, huh? Well, it was the first day. But the second day, he was sitting there nutting out a line that just wouldn't make sense and it came to me. I thought, What have I got to lose (except credibility)? So I said, Now this may be completely off the wall, but could it be this... I translated the line and he said, Brilliant! Hah! So now he's said that he's open to whatever suggestions I have. And we're working on it together. And it's fun.

Second job. I joined a local co-op organic food market and, for "volunteering" for 3 hours a week, I get a 20% discount on anything I buy there. I did my first shift yesterday evening - bagging groceries - and met all kinds of interesting people - and the staff were friendly and helpful. And came home with free freshly baked bread and vegies. That was fun too.

So I'm a pretty busy little beaver, what with work, and finishing (again) the blasted thesis. Oh, and still unpacking boxes.