Return to normalcies

The chez is back to normal. The Captain, my daughter’s cat, was installed in the family room, with Tik (pronounced teek) often installed at the closed door thereto, howling like a banshee. The Captain had been billed as a moderate, relaxed sort of feline, perhaps a result of his having only one eye, but I’d be sitting at the computer doing whatever it is I do and he’d be lounging on my comfy chair and the next thing I knew he’d be bouncing off the walls for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Weird cat. He managed to lose my computer mouse and an Ernie Kovacs disk in his rampages. He also, unlike Mr. Toad, doesn’t like motorcars, if one can judge my his desire to defecate in them. He seemed happy as all get-out to be back in Brooklyn, when he arrived there Saturday, as did Kate, who is much more well behaved than her pet. She is recovering well, her next step being the commitment to therapy to get her arm back over her head (whcn she lifts it, not as a regular thing). Tik (pronounced teek) also seems to be his old vicious self again. All is well with the world.

I’m pretty happy with the way Academy is coming together at Byram Hills. I do wish we were able to come up with the odd PF star for a How-I-Do-It session, but instead I’ll be interviewing Gazzola about the practices of the Bronx Science team, which is almost as good, considering their results overall. The problem is that a lot of people are going down to sunny Florida for the Schappaughtational. (I’m not sure why, given that it’s going to be—seriously—about 60 degrees in sunny Byram Hills.) Of course, the point is to provide debate for people who don’t/can’t travel, or aren’t at the level yet where travel makes sense. We’re still not booked for anything Academic on the Policy side, unfortunately, so that may have to wait till next time. Still, a pretty good start, all things considered, and the numbers remain good at the tournament. If we pull it off well, it could be the beginning of a nice new brand of service tournament.

And then there’s the Gem of Harlem. They’re battling room issues even as we speak, including the likelihood of not having the auditorium on Saturday, thus requiring folks to venture far afield for their lounging about. Not much we can do about it. I’m more worried about event rooms and clearing as much as we can of the rest of the waitlist. There’s too many people who aren’t in yet for my taste. Most of them are of the Speecho-American persuasion; I’ll be passing the remaining WL duties there to JV as soon as it’s feasible, hopefully in a day or two.

And, after a ridiculously long hiatus, I meet with the Sailors again tomorrow night, barring any unforeseen passing of gas/typhoon/volcano/rift in the fabric of time and space. What were the topics again?