isn't good news supposed to come in 3s too?

Ask me what I'm doing Monday.

Spending quality time with Bono and Billy Joe! The Superdome reopens Monday for the first Saints game there since Katrina, and the pre-game show is U2 and Green Day. I was reading about it in the papers last month, wondering wistfully how I could get there. Because these aren't just two bands I like, but they are only singing 3-4 songs each, which is about my attention span.

So a couple mornings ago I compulsively checked my email immediately upon waking, and there was an email from some guy I don't know. Long story short, I now have free tickets to the concert! Woo hoo! And some bus will drive us away BEFORE the game. That is the best - no football for me, just tunes, and I don't have to drive. Woo hoo!

The only down side is I'm missing a class of Criminal Law. That sort of freaks me out.

The other good news is that our revised gas & electric bill came and it's $140 less than the last one. In fact, when I did my little fancy math to figure out how much I THOUGHT we owed, that was almost $40 more than what we actually owe. 20 summer days of gas and electric for $54.54 - that I can live with better.

The only downside there is that they READ THE WRONG METER AGAIN. So, this amount is actually correct, but it will be messed up again next bill. Sigh. I've spent too many hours of my life dealing with this already. I just want to get out of here without any more ado.

So, what's the 3rd good thing? I'm waiting! It's 8:18 pm and I'm here madly catching up on all the work I've fallen behind in, hoping something else wonderful and fantastic will happen. Guess I'm just greedy.

And stupid. So, I'm sitting in class on Wednesday evening and this guy I don't recognize turns to me and says, "So, Friday looks pretty good for you?" "For what?" I'm thinking, do I know you? I know the two guys around him, and the two women around me, and I'm trying to think what I agreed to. "For [test prep job]." I stared.

MY NEW JOB'S SUPERVISOR IS IN ALL MY LAW CLASSES AND I DIDN'T EVEN RECOGNIZE HIM.

THAT makes me get over the stupidity I always feel when I say to Blind Woman, "See you later." But she's so nice, she says back to me, "See you." So today I just came clean with her, "Look, I don't ever know when you need help, or when you know who I am so I don't keep saying my name." She's recognizing my voice now, but we didn't get the whole help thing sorted out. She said she hates the room we're in on Fridays because it's different and she's never sure she's in the right seat - and I had seen that look on her face so that's why I went over to chat with her.

I'm so self-conscious, which is pretty stupid. The woman who sits in front of her definitely tuned into our conversation, and I wonder if she was like, "Wow, you're saying what I've been meaning to say." Or, "Oh my god, you are so stupid!"

How many blind people have I known well? Um, the crazy woman I used to do in-home care with. But she was crazy and not pleasant, and that's not because she was blind. This Blind Woman at school, she's really nice and pleasant, and that's not because she's blind. I just get all tangled up in duty and trying to figure out what's socially acceptable. Do I help her cross the street? Do I pet the dog? Do I chat it up with her? Do I ask her over for dinner? Do I suggest a study group? Do I tell her my name everytime I approach? Ok, this helps a little.

So, I said I would stay home all this weekend to STUDY, but I'll be honest with my faithful blog readers (Um, so that's who, Jenny and Gail and sometimes Tami and sometimes Michele?):

• I'm reading for fun! Bayou Farewell, which I picked up last weekend with Jenny and am really enjoying - though I can't read too much because it makes me so ANGRY AND DEPRESSED about the ecological destruction wreaked on southern Louisiana (Gail - you must read it!). Then I'm going to read Lonely Planet's The Gambia & Senegal (for obvious reasons!). Then tomorrow I'm going to the library to pick up The Bone People (suggested by the same brilliant classmate who suggested I look to fly out of NYC) and So Long a Letter by Miriama Ba (about the clash between modern and traditional values concerning polygamy - by a Senegalese woman). For those who don't know, Dayton's father had numerous wives - I think six. Many, many children. Most modern Liberian men I know have sort of a "wink-wink-shrug-shrug" attitude towards monogamy (think of Joseph propositioning me as deputy wife!). But Dayton, he's different. People tell me he'll have such culture shock when he comes here, but I think not so much - our values align in most significant ways really closely. Anyway, polygamy is alive and well in Liberia, my future home someday (and hopefully a destination for vacation this December), and it's not so simple really.
• I'm cooking a pot of black beans tomorrow. Yum. Which involves a trip to the grocery store, which involves planning shopping, which involves planning something else interesting to cook up on Sunday.
• I'm starting to pack. It will be a tight fit in the new place, and I'll have to pack and sort and plan well. Moving in a week! Woo hoo! The place is just a band-aid, but it's a step up in some ways.
• I'm calling Dayton for a long conversation and I'll finish up the immigration forms - he's given me all the information. (Including a text message exchange today while I was in Torts, ignoring the prof.) I have an immigration appointment on October 3, so I'll wait until then - until I meet with somebody there to make suggestions before I fax the forms to him to mail them back. On the one hand, this is really exciting for me - we're actually ready to file the immigration forms, the application for a fiance visa for him. On the other hand, this of course scares the hell out of me. My life will never be the same. All the kvetching I've done about him not being here - someday that will change. And in some ways I'm SO BEYOND READY FOR IT, but in others, not as much.
• Mostly, I'm going to just enjoy quiet and solitude (which is NOT to say I don't love visitors! I had a great time with Jen! All are welcome!). The Roommate moves out tomorrow, and then I'm free and alone and that's delicious. Except for the whole Crazy Landlord thing, but he's backed off a little after my last uber-bitch note.
• OK, I think I'm headed for bed with Senegal. No 3rd good news today.