Sarcastic Wednesday meets Optimistic Thursday

Every so often we have these shockingly clear days. This morning when I opened my curtains, I stopped and stared outside in amazement. I’m not quite sure, but it seems like the transformation that might occur when you put on glasses. Or what the character saw in The Great Divorce when he stepped onto the painfully real grass of heaven and realized he was just a shadow. The leaves are startlingly, sharp and even the laundry, flapping in the wind, seems crisper than usual. The yellow flowers bending over Stinky River seem iridescent, and for once I don’t think it is caused by radioactive waste. Colors are brighter, and the sky is blue – really, truly blue.

I read a cool verse which I’ve read before but makes perfect sense now, in light of this clarity. “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” That will be a sight even better than the transformation in Beauty and the Beast, and I feel like today is a tiny glimpse of what it will look like.

In honor of this day, and because of my recent paranoia of being a negative person, I have decided to spend the day thinking of every possible positive thing. I will even try not to be sarcastic. We’ll see how that goes. And I will try to not be annoying like Pollyanna. Oh goodness. If I am ever like Pollyanna, please, please, please berate me.

1. I drank coffee. Every day that begins with coffee, though it be the worst day of your life, is redeemable, eh?
2. I already noted that the weather was amazing, and weather totally affects my mood. So, imagine, I was in a great mood yesterday.
3. Since the weather is warmer, students have shed coats and pulled back out their Chinglish shirts. In my class I saw the following shirts:
1. Funk for Real
2. Georgia Childe
3. Fine Shaper
4. It’s not nice to be so sarcastic.

I almost screamed when I saw (d), it was so hilarious. And then I got suspicious. God, are you trying to tell me something?

4. My students gave some impressive dialogues in class. I was pretty proud of them, seeing as they are just freshmen.
5. The class, which is usually crazy-quiet and unresponsive, actually talked and interacted and laughed at me. It’s hard to perform without an audience, and really I don’t teach: I perform. I dance and twirl and tell jokes and flop around in my clown shoes and impress them with my funny clothes. Anyway, that’s what it feels like sometimes.
6. I taught a lesson on stress, which was oh-so-appropriate to us all. They related to it a lot. Some of them are freakishly stressed, and they were glad to talk about ways to relieve stress.
7. Kevin sent me a “Sarcastic Wednesday” hallmark e-card. It was funny. He knows me well.
8. I bought plants. No, that was actually the day before, but it is still a good thing. I love having happy little green things around and trying to keep them alive. I have a hanging ivy named Desi and some other kind of plant named Fera. They are currently sitting happily under my window and OH NO! Starting to droop! Quick with the water! Emergency rescue! I’m still working off my black thumb.
9. Two of my students came over and we had a great time learning together. We have a deep enough relationship that we can be really open and honest with one another, which I find so refreshing. They both seem to be as thirsty as my little plants. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week.
10. Corrine started a first in what will hopefully be a series of purity lectures for the junior English major girls. She talked about maturity and how our decisions affect us, and it seemed to go really well. They listened! They even responded and laughed some! We are hoping we’ll be able to open it up to more students, and continue on with topics like morals, self-respect, sex, AIDS, and love. We are really excited.
11. Get this: I made the paper! Not only that, I made a huge picture on the front page of the Yangzhou Times. A big, colorful picture of me and Katrina walking down the street the day before. We are both scowling nicely. When Corrine and I went to a little restaurant outside of campus to buy dinner, the owner came running over and shoved the newspaper in our face. I drew back in surprise and then doubled over with laughter. That’s what you get for being a foreigner. Instant celebrity.
12. Neither Kevin nor I had any activities going on last night so we got to talk for a long time. We laughed, which is always enjoyable, since we tend to be too serious. He laughed at me, which is always enjoyable, since sometimes I live to be laughed at. We worked on figuring out a) honeymoon, b) reception food, and c) photographers. Probably some other things that I no longer remember as well. It was good. It was as close to being able to just hang out as we can get without actually being together.
13. It is now just 33 days until I see Kevin again.
14. All of these good things were actually from yesterday and there were probably more. But I ended the day by kind of collapsing in tiredness, and when I stopped being able to form sentences or even say words correctly, I decided I should probably go straight to bed and avoid doing anything that involved a) contact with other people, b) trying to carry items, c) getting anywhere near stairs, and d) Definitely avoid writing anything that other people would have to read.

So here we go. I tried not to be sarcastic but, well, my talent as a writer is highly limited. Without randomness and sarcasm, I am paralyzed. I would turn into Pollyanna or a cheesy Christian romance writer, which would probably be my worst personal nightmare. So my new resolve: I will try to be more positive in my sarcasm, how is that? I do like life. I like it a lot. I like it even better when I can make fun of myself. Off to drink some more coffee and start another beautiful day in the neighborhood.