today was busy

I thought I had a test at noon; in fact my professor told me exactly a week ago that there would be a test today. So I stayed up late last night cramming as much more of the reading as I could into my head (if anyone's interested, it was two chapters from John Lynch's Latin America: Between Colony and Nation) and then waking up early to make sure I was on time and wide awake for the test. Turns out she decided the test will be the 16th, so today was just a painfully boring lecture about population growth in Montevideo, Buenos Aires and Mexico in the latter half of the 19th century. I like that class a lot in general, I'm learning a lot from it, but sometimes, well, let's just say that today's lecture was bad for my state of alert readiness. So we got out of class, got our tests from Monday back (fast! I did well, too...) and I hauled ass on over to COPA, where I did the corrections for the essay that was due last week and then the homework for class today, went to class, got out of class, finished the stupid assignment for Chile chilenos class, printed it, then waited in blissful laziness for Rosie to show up. I forgot to mention lunch: I ran to the panadería a couple of blocks from COPA, got a pair of empanadas and a Coke, and downed them in record time. More on that later. Rosie got there, finished HER version of the stupid assignment and we walked to class. It was a nice day today, if a little cooler than it has been, but super clear and the air was great. The cordillera was practically clear two days after being almost completely obscured by smog. Not a bad turnaround, Santiago. In any case, class was boring as usual, we turned in our thingies and left. I came home, talked to Luz María, ate dinner, was unbelieveably tired, watched the last half of "George A. Romero's Land of the Dead" or whatever that movie was called and part of "Black Hawk Down," came back in here and started working again on that stupid essay due tomorrow in cinema class. Death to papers, this weekend can't come fast enough. Funny how I said that last week, too. Oh well, next week will be just as bad (midterm in Spanish, among other things) and then I'll be home free for a little while.

Back to lunch for a minute: Today I spent 1770 pesos on lunch and no other money, which means I turned a profit on the day because the COPA families are required to give us 2000 pesos if they don't make us a lunch. This might not be the first day I've come up in the black on a day here, but it doesn't have much company. I felt oddly good about that. Especially because this weekend Laura and them (apparently not Mara) are coming and it probably won't end up being a particularly frugal weekend, showing them about town and so on. At least we'll have gorgeous weather and a good jazz show. NEWSFLASH: I just got distracted and it turns out Valentín Trujillo is playing on Friday at the Club de Jazz. I got reservations for four automatically, just sent an email out to COPA people asking if anyone was interested. Trujillo is a great Chilean pianist; David is a big fan and gave me a recording of a concert he gave of Gershwin, David did the lights for another show of his and got an autographed copy of this album out of it. I really like the album, so I'm pretty psyched for the show. I hope it's not already booked, but I think I'm probably overreacting and he's not as famous as I think. I just imagine that he's famous because I know about him, and if I know about him, then a lot of other people must, too. It's not like I've got my ear to the Chilean jazz underground in search of hidden talent, plus he's a grandfather, so he's not exactly an up-and-comer. Anyhow I hope there's a table and I hope it's a great show. Now I've got to do some more essay writing. Wish me luck. 'Night.