Discontents, Declarations, Toasts

Today was not the easiest of days. It's advising/registration time here at Curmudgeon Central, and in addition to all the usual bumps, we've hit some snags today.

It would seem that - in spite of all the ridiculous ways in which the university tracks, measures and spews reports about student numbers - a giant throng of students is about to hit their final year, and that means they've got to go through one of my courses. Only there are more of them than my current course load will allow. We do not, as yet, have a coherent plan to deal with this. My task for tonight will no doubt be finding a way to say this to students politely and in a way that doesn't make them break out their torches and pitchforks.

And with all the recent oddness - that I don't actually know how to address or what to say about (and so, thanks for the support and the good wishes, but I likely won't be talking a lot about it until I'm sure what it is, exactly, that's going on) - there was only one thing to do.

I declare today Spring.

I know, I know. In some parts of the world, it's long been Spring. The day officially happened way back when, probably. But declaring Spring on the calendar is like declaring war in a dream: it's not real till the rites actually happen.

Some people declare it Spring with baseball. Others by when wildflowers appear. The ritual here is simpler: sunshine enough to support shorts and a beer.

And so, dear readers, my dog and I are writing this from a sunbeam on the patio. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, even if the wind is making that a little tougher than I might like. We're drinking the first beer of the Spring - a Magic Hat #9, which is good but is no Mirror Pond, no Full Sail Pilsner, no Shiner Bock. The stereo is up a little louder than it probably should be. I'm staring warily at my bike, trying to decide where and whether I dare ride anywhere here.

It's days like today that I truly miss grad school. Back in the day, there'd be a troop of us on the patio - probably starting at some unseemly hour like 1:30 pm (maybe earlier if I had my way) - at one of our preferred establishments. And if it rained, it was incidental. So it will be today. Spring has been declared, and here's to all of you.