V e r i t a s . S o p h i a . I u s t i t i a

Clearing out my junk, though it feels like I've been at it for months. Being ruthless. Part of the game. Back to basics, the bare necessities. Reorganized my files. Wow, that sounded so sad. Reorganized my files. No way, I definitely did not think I'd ever write that down as a milestone, no matter how minute. My sketchbook. Bought some pens. I think. It's gonna work. It's got to and therefore it will. Thinking biblical themes, along the lines of Paradise Lost, which I almost bought at Page One yesterday. Ended up with Tom McCarthy's Remainder. Why. Because I've not read a book that's not by a Pulitzer/Booker/Nobel prize winner in a long time. I need to believe other people can write as well. The Road is good, but not now. I'll pick it up again when I forget it won the Pulitzer. The only book that I ever read soon (like, a day or a week) after it won a major prize that I actually liked was Gilead. I've yet to touch The Inheritance of Loss. Listening to Savage Garden's Truly, Madly, Deeply. One of the catchiest tunes ever. I remember loving it when I was in Junior College, which is now some ten years ago. I went back to NJC a couple of weeks ago. It has aged, and not in an ivy-over-red bricks sorta way.

Paragraphs make little sense when you're making little sense in the first place. Practicum is almost over. Two more weeks and it's been to the intellectual cesspool that is the National Institute of Education. I'll attend a few lectures, share highlights of my teaching experience in a few of 'em group therapy sessions we pretend are tutorials. No, I did not get to teach text types where I was. But the kids now know the difference between a Pindaric and a Horatian ode. Not very useful in the feed-yourself sense, but definitely more impressive in cocktail conversations. Feels like I've been sleepwalking through my entire teaching practice. The last book I finished reading is still Jeanette Winterson's The Passion. I've not been to the movies since The History Boys and I've made no progress in my art practice. Though I did write down 'Silverchair' and 'John Butler Trio' on the first page. For when my next pay check comes in.

Fat paragraph. Means it's time for a new one. I need to the air-conditioner on. Afterall, it's almost ten. I bought a few shirts and khakis from the Gap. I am really random today... kind of reflective of how my mind's been working for the past seven weeks. So you vaguely have an idea what my lessons are like. I'm talking about the Civil Rights Movement and suddenly I find myself talking about Clark Gable causing an undershirt revolution in It Happened One Night. I wonder if my kids are confused. I don't like English Departments. They're full of English majors who think they are so goddamn smart just cos they've read the complete works of William Shakespeare. Lots of egos there. "I'm more sensitive to literary nuances than you are." Yes, you are. Good for you.

Time to stop being random, or at least make something happen with it.

Sunday.

The clay court season is upon us, which means the first quarter of the tennis calendar has come and gone. We've seen the world number ones show some chinks in their armor- Roger Federer, riding a 41-match unbeaten streak was finally humbled, not once, but TWICE in the same month by the same player- comeback kid, nay, veteran, Guillermo Canas, and Maria Sharapova was taken to the cleaners by a resurgent Serena Williams on two of the biggest stages in tennis. Monsieur Federer might have found a handle on arch-nemisis Rafael Nadal, winning their last two encounters after losing the previous five, but Canas appears to be his new kryptonite, and it's only gonna get harder when Canas AND Nadal get cracking on their best surface in the coming months.

Rafa, in the meantime, finally broke a title draught stretching back to Roland Garros last year by taking the Indian Wells crown in some style, nary dropping a set along the way, giving Andy Roddick a tennis lesson in the semifinal and extending his class to the final, schooling rising teen sensation Novak Djokovic. The 19 year old Djokovic obviously learned his lesson well, turning the tables a week later on Nadal at Miami in one of the best matches of the year thus far, and then providing a clinic himself for Andy Murray in a hotly anticipated semifinal turned flameout between two teens on the ascendency, reeling off the last 11 games to show the Scot the door in less than an hour. He closed the first quarter of the season by winning the title at Miami, beating Canas in the final, and establishing himself as a legitimate contender for the coming majors.

The first quarter has also seen a few significant comebacks. Guillermo Canas, back on the tour after serving a 15-month doping suspension, is playing like he never left, the only player in months to raise his arms aloft in triumph at the end of a match with Roger Federer. Or maybe leaving was a good thing, cos it coincided with the rise and rise and rise of the mighty Fed, and Canas has returned, obviously having not been reading the news... Serena Williams, meanwhile, entered the Australian Open in January ranked 89th in the world after playing a meagre 5 tournaments last year, and was derided by the press for looking rusty and overweight. Almost inevitably it seems, she won the title (she just had to, didn't she?), showing some true grit in coming back from the brink of defeat against Nadia Petrova and Shahar Peer, and then pummeling Maria Sharapova in the final for the loss of three games. She seems to be saving her best for the Russian, cos she struggled again at Miami, but gave Shazza an even worse trouncing in the semifinals.

Looking forward to the clay court season, expect to see Djokovic and Canas give Nadal, who hasn't lost on the dirt since 2004, something to think about, and get set for Justine Henin vs. Serena Williams, a brilliant rivalry that was put on hold in 2003 but dramatically revived last week when the two met in the Miami final, Serena just edging Justine in a closely contested three-set battle. James Blake and Martina Hingis, who were the breakout stars of last year and started this year blazing, will be trying to get their seasons back on track after early exits recently to players they'd normally put away in their sleep, and Roger Federer badly wants the Roland Garros crown to complete his Grand Slam collection, but it'll be interesting to see how he faces up to Rafa and the new reality- that he CAN be beaten.