These postcards from tiny islands mean more than you know

I've been at this university so long, and taught so many labs, that I can rarely go to any sort of event without encountering someone who knows me. This was the case last weekend when I went to a football game.

We arrived early, so that we could get the best seats in the student section. As kickoff neared, more and more students trickled into the stadium. A couple of guys came to our row to meet up with some of their friends. I recognized one of them. He had taken a lab from me a few semesters ago. He saw me, said hi and shook my hand as he walked past.

His friend, who I had never seen before in my life, looked at me and said, "What are you doing here?"

"Uh. I just came to watch the game."

"But I thought you were on sabbatical right now."

"Sabbatical? No*."

"Weird**. Somebody told me you were on sabbatical in Fiji, doing fish research there."

"I wish***."

Sometimes it really is too bad that you don't get to live the life that others have envisioned for you.








*Grad students don't generally get to go on sabbatical.

**No, what's weird is that you're talking to me like you know me when I've never seen you before in my life.

***It occurred to me later that I should have gone along with it, motioned to the girl I was with, and said I'd brought her back with me. She's Mexican, but he might have bought it.