Maanantai 🇫🇮 Mánudagur 🇮🇸

After ruminating on my next class, the thought of simplifying the lesson struck me with the force of a cartoon anvil. (I stole this metaphor from J. K. Rowling's commencement address.) Even though my initial plan seemed bulletproof, I had to admit I was wrong. With this and the principle of "less is more" in mind, I carefully restructured the plan, took away words and rephrased instructions. The spruced-up plan seems challenging, even with these modifications. I'll need to put the finishing touches to the plan, but it only will require thirty more minutes. Fingers crossed that they'll like the class.

We had to run a few errands today, so we jumped in the car and drove off. The shops are brimming with the accessories of the commercial version of Christmas. The musac in the shops is Christmasy; they play the same tunes over and over again. The decoration is overwhelmingly Christmassy: there are little lights and candles everywhere, the manifestation of some stoned designers' funny figurines sitting on shelves, chocolate Santa Clauses in every shape and size are grinning at us, and everything is red, green, and white, just like the Hungarian flag. The abundance of goods is unbelievable. I remember, as a kid, there was hardly anything similar to what we witness nowadays. Anyway, let's not get carried away and get sentimental. It was totally different then, and there is no use dwelling on how bad those years were.

The weather is surprisingly good. However, we can feel the first signs of the seasonal change every morning. According to the weather forecast, the next few days will bring significant changes, so autumn will prevail eventually. The sun sets at 16:19 and rises at 6:35. Even though I sleep like a log, I don't like these long, dark hours. Why can't I sleep similarly well during summer???