Memories of SIL

For SIL folks: Just for the fun of it, here's a snapshot of yesterday afternoon in the office.
For the rest of you: Don't worry if this doesn't make much sense to you...that means you're normal!

I'm sitting at the table in the sociolinguistics office cubicle, looking out the window. The phonetics department are practicing back velar tonal vowels behind me, low, high, low high. The survey class and their prof and TA are having a meeting to my right, quietly discussing something I don't understand. :) Morph and Syn over my left shoulder is laughing about something, well at least MaryAnne is. LACL is up to something too--actually I just checked and it's James, the TA, talking with a student. He caught me smiling and lowered his voice. I'm a pretty pathetic observer, disturbing my subjects like that. Paul (Academic Coordinator) and Kevin (Anthropology) are working quietly (as usual - which is surprising to me given Kevin's dramatic outbursts at times). And the Business Office is running at it's typical low hum. By the front doors, the staff mailboxes are overflowing a bit. Some of us haven't checked them for days and they're brimming with reminders. I'll finish packing up the cards, notes, and CD's people have been handing me to mail to our staff member Bekah, who had to go home sick last week. We miss her!

Thank you to everyone who is making it possible for me to be here. It's a privilege and a joy!