In serious news

Spotted: the actor who plays Eric Van Der Woodsen, remarkably near my office. He looks convincingly like an NYU freshman. Perhaps he is one. Stranger things have happened.

In other, equally serious, news, I've finally gotten past what was until recently an overpowering frugality when it comes to buying clothes. And this is how: I keep imagining what, say, a pair of pants would cost in Europe, not to mention in Euros, and use this knowledge to propel what would otherwise be a much more tepid back-to-school shopping spree. This sounds decadent and irresponsible of a grad student, but the fact remains that I need to teach, and that I need to wear something not stained and not preteen-esque while doing so. Flared jeans from when that was in style (am I showing my age?) are out, as are the 'new' (but new no more) 'skinny' jeans that threaten to reveal that which I don't want revealed if I so much as drop a piece of chalk. (For a while it was impossible for women to find pants anywhere in NYC that did not have this problem. It must have been a boon for the 0.5% of women who want everyone to make out the phrase "Victoria's Secret" when sitting next to them in class, and a disaster for the rest of us.) So, rationalizing complete, after printing my lesson plan I made second trip in as many days to buy pants at Uniqlo. They shorten pants there for free! I couldn't afford not to get another pair!