Skipping Town

My favorite day of our beach week is always Tuesday, when the whole week still stretches ahead. Thursday is the end, really. I am not ready for our time in Cape May to be over. We made the absolute most of the day. I didn't go bike riding in the morning, instead choosing to sit on the porch with Molly to punch-needle at 6:30am. Molly and Mom have achieved near-mastery; I'm making my way, improving my technique. (No one else is interested in this BeachKraft, to their detriment.) We'd decided to spend today at Cove Beach. Around 9:30am, Jeremy drove me, Andrew, and Molly down to the beach with all of our canopies and chairs to get set up. He and Molly then ran home, while I "stayed with the stuff" (ie, got settled with my book) and Andrew went for a run. Everyone else joined via golf cart around 11, even Greta, who was able to finish her geometry and rode her bike down. It was a beautiful beach day. Cove Beach is my favorite. I finally took a nice swim and managed t...

Wednesday morning found me taking Lucia to urgent care because of a possible case of strep. She tested negative, but the little white spots on the back of her throat flummoxed the PA who was treating her, so we'll be following up with her doctor back home. She has no fever and feels fine aside from a somewhat sore throat, so who knows. We had one other errand this morning: picking up the golf cart we've rented for the rest of the week. Another new way to get around Cape May this year.  It was a beautiful day, so we spent lots of time at the beach, though the waves were very very high and rough. Everyone is still obessed with Spike Ball, which was a focus for the day. Andrew went back to the house at luchtime to make sandwiches for everyone and brought them back to the beach. At some point in the morning Greta worked on geometry, and she was able to come out to the beach with everyone else.  Lucia left the beach a little early so she could ride her bike around the neighborhood,...

I went for my usual bike ride first thing this morning, and then walked with Greta to the beach so she could take a quick dip pre-geometry. The weather turned unpredictable and rainy after that, so we had to pivot to non-beach plans. We decided it was the perfect day to rent a surrey.  Andrew drove Molly, Jeremy, and I to our bike rental place, where we asked to rent a surrey for four hours. This was not an option. The only option was a one-hour rental. The stoic young guy working the surrey rental area was unmoved by our request to rent it for longer than one hour, dismissing it as impossible because, in the past, anyone who rented a surrey for more than one hour would bring it back early and, disillusioned, demand a refund. The surrey, he told us, was heavy and diffcult to use and would not be fun for longer than one hour, if that. Without a surrey, we called Andrew to pick us up and went back home. By that point we were all starving, so we took a car and several bikes and made o...

 A full and active day in Cape May. I went for a bike ride in the morning, from our house to Cove Beach and back. Greta went for a run then settled into some geometry. At 9:30, we got ourselves ready for the beach and set up our canopy complex. It was a beautiful day, and the kids were in the water for hours.  We headed back to the house at 3. Some people went out for a run (Andrew, Lucia, Greta, Molly, Luca), some people (Greta) returned to geometry, some people (Jeremy) rode his bike to a farm stand for corn, some people (me, Mom, Dad) read on the porch. At some point the kids rode their bikes up and down the street. Some people worked on the puzzle. Andrew grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner, which we had with the corn plus a tomato and cucumber salad.   In the evening, we rode bikes into town to go into some shops--it was incredibly crowded--while Mom and Dad stayed at home. Then we all regrouped for a few rounds of No Thanks and Code Names. It was a full ...

The 11th annual Orlando Family Beach Week begins! It's our 8th year in Cape May. We arrived Saturday afternoon and got settled into The Blue House, the same house we stayed in last year. It was pouring rain for much of the evening, which was fine because we hadn't planned to go out. Molly had brought cauliflower and carrot pasta for dinner, and then we played Code Names.  Today (Sunday), Molly and I went to the grocery store at 6:30am, our usual beach routine, to shop for the week. We spent a little time in the morning on the porch, learning some new tidbits of family history from Mom and Googling random people from childhood summers long past. Greta worked on geometry in one of the bedrooms, trying to get a little bit ahead with her work.  We set up at the beach around 11, spent a few hours swimming/wading/reading/playing paddle ball, then came home to watch the World Cup final. This was almost certainly the first time our entire family has gathered to watch a sporting event ...

Last day in NH. Greta spent part of the morning taking a geometry test. Andrew and Lucia did some practice driving, and I worked. Once we were all at a stopping point, we took a final trip to Books-A-Million and TJ Maxx, and then had a very eclectic lunch of foods we're trying to finish up. It was a beautiful day, and after lunch the girls spent a long time playing in the pond one last time, screaming and jumping off the floating dock again and again. I sat pondside, reading, taking in the freedom of it. Sadly, they eventually pulled all the floats out of the pond. Greta and I got into one of the boats so she could give me a tour of the pond, steering us around with one oar and narrating what we were seeing; and then that float, too, left the water. The girls and Andrew went for a run, and then we continued our leaving preparations. Andrew took down the pond rope; we deflated everything; we took down the swing and hammocks and put all the lawn furniture in the barn; we did laundry;...

Last night, the entire house was plagued by small flying insects that covered the walls wherever there was a light source, mostly upstairs. Hallway, bathroom, bedrooms. Swarming, sticking to things, sticking to us. They were on our pillows, on our sheets. It was truly awful. They weren't as big as flies but were bigger than gnats; they were not mosquitos. Greta was absolutely losing her mind. Who could blame her?  By morning, they were gone. And tonight, as I write this upstairs, there are no signs of them yet. But it's just this sort of country-life invasion that means it might be time for us to go. We had a fun day today doing a few last things. We hiked to the top of Mount Ascutney as we do every year, and took pictures from the firetower. The girls bought Vermont State Park t-shirts on the way out of the park. We had ice cream at Frazer's and then headed home. It was very hot this afternoon and the girls got some good pond time in. I did a quick float on the boat. Andre...

We are determined to fit as much as possible into these last few days. Today, Greta worked on geometry while Andrew and I worked. The girls spent some time in the pond, at one point screaming so intensely I could hear them upstairs from my bedroom where I was working and had to go down to the pond to make sure they were alright (they were). It was just the usual shenanigans with the floats, two of which they named "Duck-a-lu-lu" and "Cheetah-lar-lar."  In the afternoon, Andrew and the girls navigated the meadow to reach the far back area of the property, a place Andrew calls the "back forty." They brought their metal detectors and found a few metal vessels. I, who did not traverse the meadow, found a tick on my stomach. We found some time for hammock reading in the late afternoon, Lucia had an online tutoring session, and then the girls and Andrew went for a run. When they got back, we journeyed through another field to a very pretty part of the woods, pas...

It's awful, but we're winding down our stay. How did it go so fast? We have just three more days until departure day, and there is so much we still want to do. Today Andrew and I had to work; Greta did geometry; Lucia read and studied for the SAT. It rained a lot for much of the day, and late in the afternoon, when it stopped, Greta and I took Farrah for a walk and saw two red efts. We all played Rummikub. Lucia and Andrew went for a run. Andrew took a quick dip in the pond. We finally got maple creamees from Frazer's, which had been closed all of last week. The girls got dinner there too. While we ate, we planned out the next three days, making sure we get all of our favorite things in. Back home, we played Scrabble.  Usually, by the end of our two-week stay we are all ready to leave. There have been years when the physical discomfort of no AC, a tiny, hard-to-use shower, insects, and just general roughing-it have made us ready to go home midway through that second week. T...

Andrew and I both had to work today, so the pace of our NH day was a little different. Greta did geometry. Lucia read a lot. She and Andrew went for a long run in the late afternoon; Greta did a shorter run. Then we all went to our cousins' house for a swim and dinner. Back home, we played Scrabble while watching the US/Belgium World Cup match.  What We're Reading: Andrew: finished My First New York; dove back into the volume of Proust he's been working on for multiple summers Margo: The Book Thief Lucia: An Arcane Study of Stars by Sidney J. Shields Greta: The One that Got Away with Murder by Trish Lundy

It was a fully packed NH Sunday. In the morning, we all drove to West Lebanon for some shopping. We passed through Plainfield en route and were excited to see that the rummage sales we'd gone to yesterday had become EVERYTHING IS FREE sales. Of course we pulled over. Andrew picked up a bushel basket, and we found a plastic bench that, once cleaned up, will be perfect for sitting by the pond. I also chose a swan-shaped vessel (pen holder?) that I'd eyed yesterday but hadn't purchased.  Then we went to Books-a-Million (books for Greta), Newbury Comics (Tokidoki blind boxes for both girls), TJ Maxx (clothes for the kids, kitchen stuff for me and Andrew), and Walmart (random uninteresting things like cleaning spray and hairbands). Andrew made us all egg sandwiches for lunch, and then the kids headed for the pond. I read pondside. Then we all read in our hammocks for an hour and a half, until Lucia herded us inside for a game of Scrabble. She has become immediately obsessed with...

We've been coming to NH for the Fourth of July for over twenty years. The girls have never not been here for the Fourth. It is always the same, and the sameness is what we love.  Andrew made pancakes in the morning, and then we headed into Plainfield for the Fourth of July festivities, starting with the rummage sales. For many years there was just one, inside one of the buildings; last year another, outdoor one was added across the street. We made some quirky and maybe questionable purchases, including a house address sign (Greta), a purse (Lucia), a large quantity of buttons (me), an old Dartmouth bleacher seat (me), two small glass Anchor Hocking bowls (me), a box of watch faces (the girls), and an antique dresser (Andrew). Refinishing the dresser will be a NH project for Andrew. We will likely never be able to bring it home. Then we watched the parade, and were given bottles of chocolate milk by the local dairy. We had lunch at the firemen's bbq. We listened as former Suprem...

It was another brutally hot day. We're all feeling it. There was hammock reading, pond swimming, pond floating, geometry, inside reading. Andrew and the kids went on a sweltering run in the late afternoon while I went into town to pick up pizzas for dinner and some groceries. The grocery store parking lot felt like the surface of the sun. We are all ready for this heat wave to end. But tonight we had fun going to see the fireworks in Claremont, where we've gone for the past few years. Many years? It's hard to keep count. It's always a good show. The kids adorned themselves with glowsticks as they've been doing on fireworks night since they were toddlers. 

Today was river rafting day--one of our favorite days of the summer. We headed to Great River Outfitters after lunch, and after the usual safety presentation and distribution of life jackets, we were taken to the put-in area and our float down the river began. It was in the nineties today, absolutely sweltering, so it was the perfect day to just spend on and in the water. We made our first stop very quickly so we could all take a swim before getting the journey underway. As we always do, we stopped at our favorite rocky outcropping for a long spell of swimming, floating in the current, lying in the shallow water, and searching for rocks and riverglass. It was delightful. We scattered around the rocky area, enjoying the complete silence and isolation. Not another soul was in sight. What a beautiful place. We continued on, making one more stop by Hart Island for another dip in the water, and then continued on to the takout point. Along the way, over to our left, was a floating object tha...

It was just the kind of day we like up here: a day at home, not leaving the house once. Greta, of course, worked on geometry in the morning and Andrew did a bit of work while Lucia and I read in our hammocks. Late morning brought a long spell of pond time, and it was so hot out I even got in to float in my inflatable boat. It was exceptionally relaxing. The kids jumped off the dock and sprayed each other with water guns.  After lunch, Greta finished her geometry and Lucia did some SAT studying while Andrew and I read in our hammocks. Then the girls came out and we all read in our hammocks. There is nothing better than that, all four of us reading quietly in the woods. Just the best. Then the two new inflatable boats I ordered arrived, and we blew them up and went back to the pond. I once again floated around. Andrew got in for a swim too.  We ate dinner outside, and made s'mores at the fire pit. Then we watched the US/Bosnia World Cup game on Andrew's iPad (no TV up here, of c...

It was another delightful day in NH. Greta worked on geometry, and we went to the library in Plainfield because she needed to print out a worksheet. Andrew had a full workday, sadly, but he has the rest of the week off. Lucia and I spent most of the day reading in our hammocks. After geometry, Greta and Lucia swam in the pond. Andrew, Lucia, and Greta went for a run in the late afternoon. By the time they got back, it was raining, so we decided to run some errands so we could fully enjoy a nicer day tomorrow without having to leave the house. We made our first visit to Books-A-Million, the girls creating huge stacks of books from which they then made their selections; and I bought a book for myself, since I've already read two of the four books I brought with me. I bought hay for Nutmeg at the exotic pet store, and Andrew picked up a birthday gift for Farrah at TJ Maxx. We bought random things at Walmart.  We had dinner at the Weathervane, causing a small domestic scene as each of ...

We're in NH! We drove up yesterday, a daylong drive, but we arrived by 5:30pm and had time to clean the house, unpack, inflate all the pond things, and hang the swing. We also made a late-night run to the grocery store when we realized we hadn't packed lettuce for Nutmeg. (Yes, she's here too.) The kids got into the pond as soon as their swimsuits were unpacked, venturing across the pond to pull the floating dock out of the cattails, the part of the pond they call "no man's land." The snapping turtle made his first appearance, rising up once again from the deep. Today had a rocky start--the wifi Andrew had been assured was on was not working, and the calls and emails he'd sent last night still hadn't gotten a response. But by late morning it was in working order.  Greta spent some of the day on geometry, her online class; and Andrew had to work. But Lucia and I spent most of today in our hammocks, reading. I read an entire book. Lucia finished the one ...

Playing catch-up with life in general. A lot has happened this month. Andrew's Birthday Andrew turned 50 this month, and we celebrated the milestone in multiple ways. Half a century! It deserves all the celebrations. His sister/family and aunt and uncle came for the birthday weekend, and we went out to dinner and to a Pirates game. His aunt joined me and Greta at the Mexican War Streets community yard sale (Lucia missed it because of an SAT practice test). It was so nice having everyone here, especially since the kitchen was (mostly) ready for unveiling.  Among other things, I made Andrew a book called "50 Years / 50 Things We Love," featuring, yes, fifty things the girls and I love about Andrew. The girls each designed a few pages and I did the rest. It was fun to put together even though there are, of course, many more than 50 we could have included.  We also got to celebrate with a few friends that weekend, once again at our house, the kitchen easily handling the crowd...

Sometimes I feel like the kids get me--my weird humor, my inside jokes. Other times, like last night, they look at me like I am an absolute raving lunatic, and a veil drops from my eyes, and I see that I am, yes, actually a little crazy, but I absolutely won't apologize for it because I am nearly half a century old and have been through, and continue to be going through, A Lot. Anyway. Andrew is in Peru, and the girls and I were in the basement (yes, we're still in the basement; more on that in a sec), getting ready to watch a show. Lucia was offering me and Greta an excited, extended explanation of her recent 'discovery' that she has aphantasia--she cannot form images of things in her mind. She claimed she cannot picture an apple. Etc. In response to my skepticism about a) the scientific details of this disorder and b) whether she actually has it, she just kept saying, "Do your research! Do your research!" "You can't say that," I said. " Do...

The school year is finally, finally over. Grades (precalc) have been wrestled out of the ashes; final quizzes and retakes are done; last-minute teacher gifts and notes are given.  Andrew and I went to Greta's eighth-grade Moving Up Day ceremony in the morning. There are a few awards given, and then the eighth-graders receive their Middle School completion certificates. We'd been told that Greta would be receiving an award, but we weren't told which one. We were very surprised when her name was announced as the winner of the eighth-grade award given to a student who "has been consistently outstanding in demonstrating friendliness, loyalty, and sincerity." This is a peer-voted award--truly an award for character. So proud! (Not to brag, but Greta also won the seventh-grade character award, which was faculty-voted.) Her name was called again, as faculty had chosen her (and three other students), for the Middle School Growth Award, given to students who have shown ...

We had a nice family weekend. Saw a lot of both kids, which is unusual in this crazy time of Maycember. It's now June, so Maycember is technically over; and indeed, this week already feels a little less chaotic. Saturday, Greta went to a going-away party for a friend for most of the day; Lucia studied; and Andrew and I did more yardwork. Then Lucia took a break to power-wash the porch and stone walkways in the backyard, a massive and much-needed task. Between last weekend and this weekend, we (well, Andrew) have distributed 60 bags of mulch around the front and back of our house. We've planted flowers. We planted three saplings against the new fence by the retaining wall. We've weeded. Andrew set up a hammock. We are pleased to have reclaimed our yard for the summer--a spectacular yard. It needed to be wrangled back into submission, but now it is glowing. Even Andrew, who spent much of the winter threatening to put the house on the market every time there was some kind of w...

What is even happening. I have been so busy this blog has been sadly ignored. That's unlike me and I blame it 100% on the kitchen chaos. It is still not done. It is close, but it is not done. And it is hard, very hard, to feel like I am organized and have a handle on things when I have nowhere to lay out my planner, collect important documents, leave notes to myself, find a pen, grab a box cutter, etc etc etc. I'm talking, of course, about a kitchen desk, one of my non-negotiable pieces of this kitchen renovation. I miss my kitchen desk desperately. Mournfully. I never had a kitchen desk until moving into this house, and I couldn't give it up when we planned the renovation. I rely on it. Where even is my planner right now? Attic? Basement? Bench by the front door? It's anyone's guess.  The other thing on my kitchen desk is my home, non-work Chromebook. This has been where I type up my blog each morning or evening. It's right there in the kitchen, easy to just fl...

On Saturday, I flew to Orange County alone, on a spontaneous trip to see an art exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art. I'd learned only a couple of weeks ago--thanks to an idle Google search--that the museum was currently showing the first-ever North American retrospective of one of my very favorite artists, Sophie Calle, and that it was closing on May 24. It had been in Minneapolis but would not be traveling elsewhere in the U.S. I've seen a few of her exhibitions in New York and Paris, but not for a long long time, so I decided to go.  And it was so great! I arrived around noon on Saturday 5/16, checked into my hotel, which was right across the street from the museum, and then spent the next four hours with Sophie Calle's work. Some of it I was familiar with, some I'd seen in galleries in the past, and some was new to me as well as brand-new and never shown before. What a treat to wander the rooms, reading all the text, sitting with it. I took a little lunch b...

You'll notice a gap of days. May 8 - 12 are missing from this blog, but rest assured they are all pretty much the same as what I'm about to describe. The blog as well as everything else has gotten away from me, and I blame it 100% on the fact that we are still living in the basement. The feeling of being disorganized and displaced has only gotten worse as these months have worn on. And the project now feels like it's at a standstill as we await the countertops--a step that needs to be completed before additional, final (?) steps can take place. Things have been appearing incrementally, and it is very hard to judge how they actually look when they are out of context with the rest of the kitchen. Every time I come home from work and see something new, something that looks out of scale and out of place in all the unfinishedness of the spaces around it, I decide I hate it and lament to Andrew that we've made a huge, huge mistake in choosing it, and Andrew tries to make me f...

We're deep into Maycember now, the frantic rush to the end of the school year when there are five million things to do in addition to all the usual things. Andrew was, once again, out of town, this time on a last-minute trip to a farm demonstration somewhere in Florida; but fortunately it was only two days. In the meantime, the kids had track and crew; I partnered with friendly frozen foods from Costco to keep us all alive; I forgot to take out the garbage on garbage night; and had my monthly labs and checkup. (Another decrease in my CA-125, plus an acceptable level of absolute neutrophils--good news!) By Thursday, a few things had been achieved. I got Greta and her friend tickets to Olivia Rodrigo by waiting in the ticket queue and then refreshing the seat options one thousand times. Andrew, also in the queue, grabbed two more for Lucia and her friend. It felt like an achievement.  Lucia ran the 1600 and 3200 at her "last chance" track meet--the last meet where the kids ...

Andrew got home from CA on Thursday; Greta got home from DC on Friday. So the family unit is back together.  The title of this post is "Marathon Weekend" both because it was, indeed, the Pittsburgh Marathon and because it felt like a marathon to have this weekend happen when we are still without a kitchen. Andrew's college friend as well as Molly came in for the weekend to run the half and the full, respectively. We can easily provide comfortable sleeping arrangements for two guests but it is far harder to figure out meals. So we just went out or ordered in all weekend. Friday: Molly, Lucia, and I went out to Diners n+1 for sushi (and got a crunchy roll to go for when Greta got home). Saturday: late lunch at Cafe del Taquila; takeout dinner from Pastoli's. Sunday: Pigeon bagels for lunch; takout Mineo's for dinner.  The marathon was a success for all. Andrew and Jon ran the half. Molly ran the full. Mom, Dad, the kids, and I saw Andrew once around mile 11 but miss...

This week has been very quiet at home. Andrew left for California Monday morning, and Greta left for the eighth-grade trip to DC on Tuesday. So it's been just me, Lucia, Farrah, and Nutmeg, and since Lucia has school and then track and then homework, while I have work, "dinner prep" (ie selecting a frozen item from Trader Joe's to microwave), and petcare, we have just gone about our quiet routines. The only real chaos is the construction work, still ongoing. I had a call with our designer about wallpaper; almost all of the cabinetry is installed. There is a lot of work but things still kind of look...the same. Someday this kitchen will be done. Someday!

It was a Mamma Mia! weekend, with performances Friday and Saturday night plus Sunday afternoon. Andrew sold concessions; I sold tickets; Mom and Dad came on Sunday. Though attending four performances of Mamma Mia! in four days may seem like a lot, it is truly a joy to get to see the shows, the slight differences from one to the next, the excitement of the cast, the clear sadness after the final performance. I love every minute of the musical. (I am also so, so, so, so, so glad that musical is over. It has added a layer of chaos to the entire family.) On Sunday, a boy from another school who was attending the musical for the third time brought flowers for Lucia. I saw him come into the theater. I gave Andrew a head's up. When Lucia came out to say hello after the show, I nudged her so she noticed the kid waiting a few rows back. You may think this is an exaggeration--or an embellishment--but let me assure you that I physically felt the brisk and sudden turning of a page in this pare...

It was finally opening night for Lucia's musical, Mamma Mia. It was a long week for her of 9:30pm rehearsals, on top of homework. Monday night she came home at 9:45pm and announced she was going to go to Schenley for a run. "Absolutely not," I managed to say. "Then I'm going to run all around the house," she said. I don't think she actually did this. Where would she run in this construction zone? But maybe she did; I was asleep about five minutes after bringing her home. I did find a syrupy plate in the sink the next morning from what were, apparently, some very late-night Eggos. I mean--the week has been totally out of hand.  But tonight was opening night, and of course the show was wonderful, as all WT musicals are. It is always a joy to see how many kids participate--both boys and girls--and how excited they are about being on stage. Their friends come, and their teachers and the school admins. (I always take careful note of who shows up; most do. Don...

I'm delinquent with this blog for the first time in ages. I can't possible catch up day by day, but I'll capture a few details of the past eight days here: We barely see Lucia. Between musical rehearsal followed by runs and then meets on weekends, she is an invisible presence in our household, visible only for a second at a time if we're lucky enough to make it to a track meet and see her careen by. It is time, past time, for these all-consuming activites to come to an end. She has no time for anything, and by "anything" I mean schoolwork, and by "schoolwork" I mean precalc, in which, at the midpoint of this semester, she currently has a C. We have met with her teacher and advisor. We have a plan in place. The biggest part of that plan is THE END OF MUSICAL AND TRACK. Fortunately, the musical is this weekend. Then she will reclaim some of her time. (This weekend, with Andrew getting ready for a work trip to Italy, I was faced with a track meet an hou...

The weekend went too fast. Friday, Andrew and I went out to dinner at Morton's and then to the symphony. It was a lovely evening. We ordered way too much food (Andrew had gotten a gift card from a consulting gig), and we were pleasantly surprised when our waitress offered to keep our leftovers in the restaurant cooler so we could pick them up after the symphony (which was fabulous).  Saturday was focused on Lucia's track meet in West Mifflin. Andrew, Greta, and I went to watch her run her two events, the 4x800 relay and, her favorite, the 1600. She PR'd in both and ran a 5:48 mile. She was pleased. It was sunny but freezing and windy, and though the three of us left after her events were over, she stayed the rest of the meet, not getting home until 8:30pm. It was over a twelve-hour day for her. Sunday, Andrew and I had brunch with the Clarks. Lucia focused on studying chemistry. Greta and I sewed a few mini scrap monsters (something I saw on Instagram) and then did a big sp...

As part of my personal archiving project, I recently came across a cache of old files from my time in grad school in NYC. Among these files were documents from a temp job I held at an investment bank in 2000, which became, briefly, a full-time job. There were stories I’d jotted down, artifacts, pilfered printouts, articles, even photographs. I collected them all, scanned them, and wrote an introduction to what has become a hardcover volume in my archive, titled A Temp Remembers . I thought it might be of interest to share that introduction here, a reflection on this sliver of my past life. Names and identifying details have been changed. *** A Temp Remembers From 2000 to 2003, I worked off and on as a temp for the CEO of Global Investment Bank and his wife: Bill and Trixie Donner. I got the temp job in the ordinary way, through a temp agency, and worked there for a few months one summer and then on Fridays during graduate school (July 2000 - May 2001). After I finished my coursework, t...