Latest from all sides

Quinn and roommates in common kitchen
(...which one of these is not like the others?)

The not terribly exciting but nonetheless important part of sailing!

Quinn Saint Amand, Able-bodied Seaman (seaperson?)

What archeology looks like.

Quinn has been tres busy! Unfortunately, the projects and presentations she has been hyperventilating over (with great success, Ms. A-B student) are not terribly interesting. Her classes have been ranging from historiography -- the philosophy of history -- which is poke-out-eyes boring to her, or computer graphing skills , or Nordic and neolithic archaeology. Some cool things have come of them, like the powerpoint with maps that she drew, but it doesn't make her more excited about her field. There has been an, "Is this it?" moment.

Snow and cold rain. Southampton Starbucks. 'Nough said.

She is spending her rather brief vacation in London with her aunt Ana and uncle Adrian and cousin Evan and more-or-less-family Camilla, plus Denis and Noel are coming out around New Years. Fun times for all!

I have been putting in the hours at purgator...er... Brennans, where I am officially an 'egg slinger', working breakfast serving a dozen variations on Eggs Benedict for $50 per person. What is left of my soul goes to organizing a remarkably successful weekly Vespers at Loyola's Ignatius Chapel, with the help of Buddy Noel (private eye) and my new friend Ken Webber, who is the liturgical director/cantor/pianist there. I dig it, they dig it, about 20 people/week dig it. I'll see if I can attach the file for the program this week. I also have some prospects - a DRE job in Mississippi that I won't find out about until January, and possibly pushing into a last-minute opening in New Orleans schools that is last minute, ie, not known yet. So the usual wait-and-see for me.

I am spending Christmas here, but a number of days beforehand in Monroe, where Jessie and James will be resting all the way from Singapore! I will be very thankful and in the Christmas spirit to see them, and Mom and family. Then, after Christmas I am going to DC to see Dad, Kathy, and Patrick, who has grown into a handsome, tall, blond lady-killer (sound like anyone you know?). They are traveling up from San Salvador, and Dad will be doing a tour in Afghanistan soon, so I am extremely happy to see them.

Sorry we have been so remiss with this blog! My life is boring, and Quinn's life is also routine, which means lots of writing, so writing some more isn't fun. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Blog!

-Andy

The new XI shirt - Saints colors!

Eray and Iain on the Fly.

Fall in New Orleans

My daily costume, complete with crumber (the best part of the job).

Hayden (as Madame Dizzle) and Stevadore (as a time-traveling Raconteur).
I have good friends.

My favorite costumes - Dr. Who and Abbey from NCIS (James McManus and Megan Vonk)

Frenchman Street. Steampunk cell phone. Happy Halloween!

Fall is setting in here. New Orleans experiences weather strangely, like a bouncing ball, and we are getting fewer warm, muggy days and more frequent frigid mornings and cool evenings. But just as I put on a coat predicting a chilly walk - bam, short sleeve weather.

Mary McCay has joined our little family at 931 Nashville these past weeks while on vacation from her teaching in the Netherlands. I was surprised by how little I welcomed this change in routine, but we have quickly become better friends.

Otherwise, my routine is unbroken: Early morning bus or streetcar to Canal St., at Brennans around 7:30, hustle until 2 or so, return home to edit or chores or relax, Rachel Maddow at 8, days end at 10. Tuesday and Thursday I have enjoyed off, with a visit to Monroe or picnics on the Fly.

Halloween is huge in New Orleans, and we observed from the sidelines. Stephen came from Raleigh and slept on the floor (which is surprisingly comfortable). Good adventures were had by all, ending with Ricky Oh! and drinks in Buddig. We picked up our old habits of conversation, his relative conservatism a tonic to my social liberalism, his love of data (tempered and muted) still rubbing against my love of fiction and storytelling. His steampunk, my falling asleep muttering the last incoherent trail of thoughts on life and death.

Gaming so good

Worth the $15, if even to support good games. Beautiful, well-crafted playing, lovely soundtrack (forwards and backwards), and even a little philosophical. Just watch the video.

http://braid-game.com/
(thanks Elliot)
-Andy

Andy's promised pictures

Hello Everyone! I have the pictures I promised. My transition here has been full of friends and food and fun, although all of that is greatly reduced since I started work last week. So for me these are like good memories, too!

The brats and kraut and Kostriker at Oktoberfest - and Mia!

That's right, Deutsches Haus, we love you.

Return to normlacy via friends, the Fly, and the blue cooler.
That blue cooler is like another friend, itself, sticking with us in good times and bad.

My kitchen! Huge and disorganized.

My bedroom, with Morris print, tea stuff, and Baron Munchausen dvd I just picked up from Big Lots for $3. And that big black thing is my waiter's jacket.

The staircase. The prints decorating the wall are Jazz Fest posters.

Frontal view. Lots of shrubbery. Skelly and Joanna live on the right with their cats.

What a handsome license plate!

We know what my life looks like, now help me pressure Q into posting hers! Best to everyone, and we'll continue to keep you abreast of coolness, even if it is more subdued and routine.

-Andy

My field, in a nutshell

This quote is from the first chapter of my "tutor's" book. It's weird reading the book of your professor, and realizing that he is like a celebrity and you're hanging out in his office. School is hard - 600 pages of reading for tomorrow, and a whole 700 page book by next Tuesday - but it is still interesting, and my classmates are fantastic.

The quote is about how maritime archaeology is still not taken seriously, by critics or some divers/archaeologists/treasure hunters.

Quinn

PS:Also:
"The result was that to much of the European and
American academic community, ‘underwater
archaeology’ was variously seen as synonymous
with treasure hunting, the lunatic fringe or at
best, a somewhat esoteric pursuit of little interest
to central archaeological research agendas. "
Adams, 2008

And:
"The point has already been made that recording
complex structures and recovering thousands of
objects can appear to be an orgy of particularistic
data collection. But in such circumstances it’s a
little difficult to focus on generalist approaches
if you are up to your neck in the ‘particulars’ of
history. "

Congratulations

to Kat and Cody in Leuven for getting all engaged and stuff. Now we have a few couple-y friends, so as soon as we get in the same hemisphere as each other and them, we could go on double-dates. If nothing else they are a type of support for our unusual decision to be young and betrothed.

People we or I know who are roughly our age and are/will probably soon be married:

Kat and Cody (Q doesn't know them well, if at all) (Leuven)
Elliot and Audrey (neither of us are as close to Audrey as we want) (Kansas City)
Megan and Gary (again, Q doesn't know them well) (Massachusetts)
Emily and Grant (does this count?) (St. Louis)
Brian and Rebekah (duh, how lame of me not to put them here for so long) (Ruston?)

So I think it's fair to say that this size and quality of this list (small and low) say a lot about the uniqueness of what we're doing. And that's cool. Have I missed anyone?

Well, congratulations again, Kat and Cody! Rock rock on!
-Andy

Andy's latest

Hello everyone. The dust has settled in Andyland, temporarily at least. I am renting a room in the McCay house on Nashville near Magazine, which is a very lovely and desirable neighborhood. Since I have also been frequently dressed-up for interviews, I feel like more than an unemployed twenty-something, so if nothing else it is good for mental health. I play Scrabble with Douglas, her aged husband, and I just won my first game with help from the words Quail, Qi, and Ir, two of which I was challenged on, didn't know existed, and still don't know the meaning. So it's a mixed victory, I think. My other house-mate, Alex, is a former Loyola student who I had worked with in the library and media center, and is very good company. Also the basset hounds, Murray and Henrietta, who are stinky but playful.

I have a job now! I am an under-waiter at Brennan's restaurant in the quarter. It is a very popular high-end restaurant, with a rather touristy reputation, which is good news for the wait-staff. My supervisors are competent and genuinely enjoyable people. I start on Tuesday at noon. I am also doing some tutoring, in writing with our old friend Isabelle, Melanie's daughter, who is precocious and imaginative, but rather unrestrained in punctuation and paragraph structure. And I may have just scored a few more gigs via craigslist. I also got my Brennan's interview through CL, so count me as a believer!

It is rather disappointing to not be working in my field. I gave it a good fight, and I am still moving the water, but good opportunities aren't coming until Christmas. I may help Holy Cross College on the Westbank start a new Theology across the Curriculum program as an adjunct professor (and maybe assistant director?). That is a position worth patience. And I might use whatever quiet time I have to write, which has been a goal these last few months, so I can stay in practice that way.

I have found that the Ignatius Chapel on campus is a good place for Mass. I like the small size, the democratic nature, the obvious appreciation and understanding of everyone there, the quality of the leadership from the Jesuit community, and especially the liturgical music from Ken, who provides another entry on my very short list of times I have benefited from liturgical music. It reminds me of the UPIC community at Leuven, where I first discovered the Mass again.

Loyola has been like a warm blanket for me these days. My friends there look up to me, if only because they know me as an older-brother figure. It is an unchallenging environment in place and person, but perhaps that makes it a place where I can be dishonest with myself, so I am afraid to stay around much longer. I am grateful for me friends there, especially those who can kick my butt (Buddy, Alex, Diane, Kathleen, Shea, Judith, I think of all of you especially).

I am off to do some laundry, and maybe some tutoring, but certainly the laundry. Pictures will be forthcoming.

-Andy

PS - Quinn is well, with printer, and convincing her flat-mates that she's not a vegetarian. First day of class is tomorrow, and she is anxious, so please think of her or pray or whatever it is you do to communicate your cosmic energy in a positive way to Soton.