Tales from the Second City. Episode 2: Ted Lilly and the Unenviable Workload

Cubs fans will not like what I'm about to say, but I saw Ted Lilly's performance last night coming a mile away. He's been an ok pitcher this year, but when he was with Oakland and Toronto, I would never have let him start a post-season game. The guy can't pitch...or rather he can't pitch consistently. He wound up on my fantasy team this spring (which eventually became Bethany's team) and I didn't really want him, but was willing to let him pitch since he was doing well. Bethany sold him at about the time that I would have: mid-May. Cubs fans, meet the REAL Ted Lilly.

My life is not so much of a vicious cycle as a dibilitating muck. I go to class and when I'm not in class, I'm likely reading. Reading. Reading. Always reading. That's not to say that I don't enjoy reading. The nice thing is that most of what I'm reading is actually quite interesting. It's just that I do so much of it that it's hard to take at times. I break up the monotony of it when I can (too frequently, actually), but there's no avoiding that I have roughly 700 pages of reading per week...as a conservative guess. The problem is compounded when I realize I have to try to read academic Russian this week. Never done THAT before.

This week has also brought a new challenge: thesis research. I have to start thinking about what I want to write my thesis on and see if it's possible. The beginning process is probably the most difficult because you're basically throwing suction-cup darts at a real dart board...you have no idea what is going to stick. Once you feel like you've got some materials you can work with, it gets easier. Right now I'm looking at post-revolutionary theatre, but that may change.

Happy 50th Anniversary, Sputnik! WGN interviewed Sergei Nikitovich Krushchev yesterday. They asked him what his father thought of President Kennedy and he said that his father admired and respected Kennedy and thought he was a good leader. I have a VERY difficult time believing that.