The Grand Plan

Plans for the year ahead, both grand and mundane, are falling into place almost eerily elegantly.  I’ll resist the superstitious urge of my Jewish heritage to kina hurra say, “I’m probably setting myself up for a fall.”  In the passive-aggressive way of my Jewish heritage, of course.

Ascertain CCNY TESOL registration dates, check.  Scope out the course catalog and drool, check (First listing: Linguistics. Yes!).  Booked flights to see the girls in Minneapolis and Portland in July, even got a great deal on a hotel in the latter in the cutesy artsy Nob Hill neighborhood.  Deep researched the feasibility of getting an apartment in Rome for January, found that even in the in-season I could land a small one-bedroom near the Colosseum for 900 Euros (a little over $1,000, which is what a typical hotel room might cost for about five nights.)  Pick up drivers manual from the DMV on E. 125^th St., no lines or sweat, done.  Line up play dates with friends who say, “Joan who?” when I call, in the bag. 

But with all of this high and pleasant drama, the deal that’s got me springing out of bed too early, like a kid on Christmas (yah, the Jewish heritage comes with a heavy dose of identity meshugas) is my new bike.  Can you hear the clenched-jawed, besotted intensity in that word?  It’s a Trek 7.1 FX, again the fruit of deep, labor-of-love research.  It’s a guy’s bike, which I get atta-girl back pats for and thrill to irrationally.  A silver hybrid, about 18 pounds, perfect for hefting around a NYC apartment building and macho zipping around potholes and pedestrians.  I’m still a little leery of battling traffic (or at least that’s what I tell Julius), but I rode 6 glorious miles on the most gorgeous day of the year along the Harlem/East River bike path.  Mmmmm.

There’s a theme emerging here, or a set of interconnected themes.  Language as life’s lens requires travel, necessitates navigation, demands license, encourages taking control of life’s wheel.  I like themes:  they’re like road maps, they direct and define, set boundaries and possibilities, provide frameworks for deepening understanding and command, free up short-term memory and let you zip along with relaxed abandon knowing there are breadcrumbs home.  And this one’s polyglot!

Brother, can you paradigm?