How are you doing?

I ran into a former colleague on campus today and she asked me how I was doing. Not in a general way, but in a pointed, concerned, how are you doing? I wanted to tell her the truth. I wanted to say:

"Great! I've been watching Million Dollar Decorators and Dexter and I just love it. Don't you wish real life was more like that?"

or

"Fantastic! I've been drinking more water and eating bananas and taking probiotics and I feel better than ever. Thank you so much for noticing!"

or

"Stressed. I tried to order my personalized playing cards for the wedding from The Knot wedding shop, but then I miscalculated the discount so I tried to add 10 more decks to the order and then miscalculated it again and wanted to go back down to the original order and now the original charge isn't showing up in my online banking and their customer service hours are in PST time which I think is Pacific which I can never figure out except it's really late because when we play UCLA in football the game doesn't start until 10. Y'know?"

or

"Indecisive. I'm putting together my wedding registry and can't quite picture every room in my future home so I just keep registering for different types of the same thing in different colors just in case. Also, do you think I'll ever need a ramekin?"

But instead I just said that I finished grad school. It's really the perfect response. Specific, current, academic, and a complete thought that needs no supporting details to make sense. How are you? Fine, I finished grad school. Congratulations! Good seeing you. Exit.

I can't say that I wished more people truly told me how they were. My friends, yes. Family, bring it on. Funny strangers, absolutely. Students, waiters, janitors, landlords - keep it to yourself. But it would be nice to run into these former colleagues and get a 30 second snap shot of their actual lives and thoughts and activities that day. We pass each other so formally now, in between meetings on campus or in the food court at the union. It would be so great if we could just dial back in to those times we used to work together, and pick up as if no time had passed. What's the point of building a network if they all just become awkward acquaintances?

I suppose I should really spear head this movement by acting on this impulse instead of cowardly posting about it after the fact. I guess I could say that this blog is the first attempt at leading this movement because it has become its own sort of awkward acquaintance over the past year. Let the truth stand in this blog, a symbol for what is and what should never be. (Yes, that was a reference to the Zeppelin song recently covered by Haley Reinhart on American Idol. Yes, you are correct in thinking that she is amazing and you should set up a Google Alert for her.... now).

In the spirit of saying exactly what's on my mind, here's a countdown of things I'm looking forward to. You're welcome to join me in anticipation.

20 days until the season 4 premiere of Breaking Bad on AMC
25 days until we visit the Coffindaffers in St. Louis
33 days until we leave for the cabin
68 days until kick-off
4 months and 7 days until the wedding
4 months and 9 days until the honeymoon

Oh, and I'm not sure if you caught on to this yet, but I did in fact finish grad school. I'm all done. Forever and ever and ever amen. Bring on watermelon for dinner and TV on DVD marathons. It's summer and I've earned it.