Returning to Normal

I'm slowly returning to some semblance of normality.  I actually worked a bit harder than I should have on Friday (albeit while lying in bed), since I really wanted to finish with some files that others needed next week.  I found that I was able to be far more productive with fewer distractions from office mates.  This is hardly a new finding (people that have to dig deep into data are uniquely disadvantaged by open office schemes), but I am responsible for keeping the intern busy, so it is actually a challenge for me to telecommute.  (There are definitely some downsides to taking on some management responsibilities!)

I took a fairly long nap today.  I probably wouldn't have gone anyway, but that meant I couldn't go to the Word on the Street festival at Harbourfront.  The main point of interest was hearing Kerri Sakamoto read from Floating City (she actually had two slots).  I kind of go back and forth whether I will read this (it seems slightly in the vein of Doctorow's World's Fair (blending fiction and real people) though here the historical figure is Buckminster Fuller); my guess is I will read it some day, though probably not for years and years (perhaps going to the reading would have tipped me one way or the other).  I'm slightly more likely to read Dionne Brand's Theory before that, even though I didn't really care for What We All Long For.  Interestingly, Brand gave a reading a week or two ago, but wasn't at the festival today.  Another interesting reading today (which I also obviously missed) was Adjacentland by Rabindranath Maharaj (the author of The Amazing Absorbing Boy).  This is quite different from most of his novels (as he himself notes in this interview), as it has a SF angle, so I think I'll try to check it out.

The only thing I am going to do today (and I wouldn't if there was a Sunday matinee) is to catch Caryl Churchill's A Number at Solar Stage.  If you happen to be in Toronto and leave in about 30 minutes (as I plan to do), then you can still catch this.  (While Lynn Sotkin thinks they should not have added an intermission, otherwise it is a solid production of a rarely produced play.)  If you can't make this, the Canadian premiere of Churchill's Escaped Alone will be at Soulpepper in November.  I'll definitely be going to this, though I just don't see enough of interest at Soulpepper this season, so I'll just try to do rush tickets for a couple of shows.  I'll write a bit more on the season later.

I have a bit more work I'd like to do tomorrow, plus grocery shopping.  I may stop by the library in the afternoon.  I haven't entirely decided if I will make the trek downtown, though I am tempted by the Victoria Library book sale, and just possibly seeing an actor in his show.  But more rest is probably really what I need.  I think I'll hold off one more day from going to the gym, so I don't spread any more germs around than I absolutely have to.

Bye for now.