Friday Night Rites

It feels as though almost every minute of this week came with its very own epiphany, not unlike a gift with purchase. I helped Alex make a breakthrough in the studio last night, which was highly satisfying. The night was clear, the moon was bright, and I actually clicked my heels on a run to the cold shop. Call it what you will, joie de vivre, lust for life, I felt damn good. When the slots were done for the evening, I followed the commotion from housing (since Thursday is the new Friday)to a rousing game of stump. Some of you have witnessed the isolation in which we live here, for those who haven't you probably don't understand why a game involving a hammer, nails, and a stump would be such weekend fun for us. The object is to hit the other players' nails down into the stump before your nail meets the same fate. The hammer goes around the circle, each player has to flip the hammer, catch it, and bring it down on a nail, then pass to the next player, who does the same. So fun. Anna and I had a sleepover and stayed up way too late. When she passed out, I sobbed through the last few chapters of The Secret Life of Bees. Sobbed, I tell you. Good fucking book.
My professor returned from his lecture tour, and brought me a gigantic evil eye from Turkey as a thank you gift for running (and not ruining) his life while he was gone. I am so teacher's pet.
I hope everyone's week ended on some version of up. I close with something I heard on of our outreach sixth graders exclaim as they were led back to their bus this afternoon:
"Yay! We get to go home! Them people's is crazy!"