Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Gobble, Gobble

Welcome back from Thanksgiving, everyone!

Personally, I am not so much a fan of the Turkey Day. For starters, I don't like turkey, However, my overall feelings on the holiday are best summed up by Fiance's statement that my family "just doesn't seem to enjoy spending time with each other." It's true. Everyone is just too independent and stubborn and involved for us to all get along for very long, and this Thanksgiving was no exception.

My father's parents are still both alive and in excellent health in their early eighties. They walk two miles every day and eat abstemiously. These are the people we spent the holiday with since they live between me and my dad and stepmother. Recently, my grandparents, and particularly my grandmother, have decided that their deaths are just around the corner, which I suppose is always true when you are their age, but there is no particular cause of death lingering nearby that the rest of us can see. The three days spent in their home were a minefield in which you might at any moment hear, "Well, soon we'll be dead and then you will feel so guilty that you didn't...."

For instance, when asked why we were having distant cousins over for dinner that none of us knew (including my grandmother) we were told, "Well, soon we'll be dead and then you will feel so guilty that you didn't spend more time getting closer to the rest of the family." When my father asked why my uncle didn't get included in all of this, she said, "Well, he calls more often." My father pointed out that we visit more often, to which my grandmother replied, "Well, your brother can't visit very often because he has a real job." Now, my father does, in fact, have a real job. It's nine-to-five and has only a set number of vacation days a year and everything. I think this is the point at which my stepmother (who had been trying desperately to behave herself) got involved and announced that they were booking hotel rooms for their stay at Christmas instead of staying there.

So, what did I get out of this particular Thanksgiving?

Soon, my grandparents are going to be dead, and we are all going to feel so guilty that we feel so relieved not to see each other around the holidays.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

This is Why I'm Marrying Him

First, he let's me use red as our wedding color, then last night he took me to Happy Feet, but today was the icing on my cake! We went to the zoo. Yes, the local zoo is a modest affair, but it has many very exciting exhibits just chalk full of fuzzy, adorable things. There were very tiny owls, otters, and BEARS. The bears even gave us a good show, swimming around in the the tank and fatting up against the glass most amiably. They even waggled their fat, furry bottoms at us. So exciting!

On a lesser note, if you take children to see Happy Feet, be prepared for a great deal of attempted penguinial tap dancing. It's worth it, just mind your feet and the ones of the strangers within a good five foot radius of the child in quesetion.

As a note, that's not really us. I'm rather grateful, though I shouldn't say so. There's more where that came from too.

Friday, November 17, 2006

This Could Be the Worst Decision of My Life


There is a reason I have been incommunicado. I bought a PS2. If there were any doubt before, it's all been cleared up: I have a compulsive personality. I haven't been able to put this stupid thing down. I'm going to have to unplug it and send it home with UrsaMinor.

Good Grief

Oddly enough, on the day that UrsaMinor and I get our Great American Novel idea, I discover that this piece of news. Who thought this was a good idea? Ick!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Also


PLEASE GO SEE THIS MOVIE. I LAUGHED SO HARD I CRIED.

It's been Too Long

So sorry that it has been so very, very long! Traveling and packing and schooling...phew!

The entire experience has taught me a couple of things. First, it has taught me that the hospitality industry is strikingly similar to the airline industry. Both oversell, and neither really cares just a whole of a hell lot about bringing back customers because they'll always be there. Second, it has taught me that I'm really not all that effective a law student. Monday (the first day of the quarter), I managed to convince myself that I did not have to class until 11:45 and managed to miss my 10:30 entirely. Tuesday was marked by a nap that ended about an hour into my 2:15 class. That made two classes missed on two separate days which happened to be the first two classes of the quarter. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I think my professors have already accepted my incompetence as a fact of life and have moved on. I'm sure I'll accept it soon, but I'm still fighting.

Meanwhile, I came home to an apartment that was an absolute mess (because I left it that way) and a lightbulb outage of 75%. I spent the better part of my first day home on a ladder or setting off bleach bombs. I also came home to about twenty unfinished projects, including a rather large painting.

Even though being home provides me with instance after instance of my glaring defects, it is still wonderful to be home!