Plato who?

First day back at school today. Or, college as you americans call it. This semester I have philosophy and writer's workshop: biography/essay/feature/travel. The second part is fine. Even wonderful, because we have the same professor as last year's workshop. But philosophy? Philosophy first thing monday morning, still coffee-craving and not back in study mode? Plato and truth? I started to get the hang of things after the second break, but before that? The lady could have talked gibberish for all I knew.
Another thing that only made matters worse... We were told to meet there today. But the class started last week. So everyone had had their introductions last week, and instructions on what to read for this week. Sooo... Nice surprise, getting there and finding out I should have read an article on Plato and one of his dialogues. ARRGH!
I was fighting the urge to sing "Bruces' philosophers song" (Monty Python) the entire time.

On Saturday I finally had the chance to see The Ark live. I've absolutely loved them for five years, and missed every opportunity to see them live because of work or because of life in general. But I'm glad I did saturday... Whoah! They're one of the best live bands I've ever seen, and I've been to a lot of concerts (although not all of them have been with quality bands...).
I'm not even sure I have the words to describe it, it was just wonderful! They're actually doing a US tour in October, so if they're playing somewhere near you, go see them! Why...? Because their music rocks and because they have a presence on stage that's unlike anything else I've ever seen. The mood was so... happy in the audience, and it sounds silly, but you felt loved. Everyone were friends. And they're not even a tree-hugging hippie band!

On another note, personal life has been very hectic this last week. Grandparents in Germany have both been hospitalized, grandpa is out now, but only because mum went there yesterday to take care of him. Grandma had to undergo surgery, and it is still uncertain if she'll recover. It looked very bleak on saturday, but when I talked to mum today grandma was awake and aware of her surroundings again and that's a good thing.
So... My week has very much consisted of waiting by the phone. Not recommendable. Which is another reason that concert was very welcome. Of course, if I hadn't bought the tickets so far in advance, I wouldn't have gone at all, but I'm glad I did. It was a real cheer up in a really tough week.