Back to campus tomorrow

Now that With-a-Why is in college, everyone in the family except my husband is on an academic schedule. So for the last three weeks, we’ve been mostly hanging out at home, eating and talking by the fire. My daughter, her boyfriend Sailor Boy, and Boy-in-Black have been living here, mostly, and extras like Quick and Film Guy have been coming over every night.

Grad school hasn’t changed the gang too much. Quick still always gets everyone to play games: the latest is an app which involves holding the smartphone to your forehead while everyone in room tries to make you guess what’s on it. Film Guy always makes brownies, which makes the whole house smell like chocolate.

When Shaggy Hair Boy was home last weekend, the kids had a Starcraft tournament, complete with brackets that matched up players and a viewing area in an upstairs bedroom. I don’t know much about how the game is played, but as we watched each pair battle on a screen, the kids provided commentary, which was often hilarious. With-a-Why is by far the best player, and everyone who had to face him was resigned about losing.

“Oh, come on," my husband said. "He must have a weakness."

“When it comes to Starcraft, his only weakness is that his parents are always telling him to get off the computer,” said Quick. “There’s really no way to turn that against him in this tournament.”

The last couple of days, we’ve been shifting back into working mode. Boy-in-Black has been doing research on his computer, I’ve been writing syllabi, and my daughter has been writing something that she refers to as her “quals.” Tomorrow, I need to actually go into campus for an afternoon-long colloquium. I guess that means I need to change out of my sweatpants and put on some real clothes.