happy endings

ok. here's the thing about cats. and actually, most pets. and children.
ok. here's the thing about living creatures.
if they need more attention than they are getting, they become increasingly annoying and no one wants to give them attention. which is obviously the path toward more annoying behavior.
generally, george and i snuggle kind of a lot. we get a little in each morning and sometimes he falls asleep with me at night. when i get home from work we chill.
well apparently i have been slacking in my playing/petting duties lately in his eyes because he was a complete dick this morning.
first he knocks a bunch of shit over, and then he keeps meowing as soon as i close my eyes to go back to sleep after being woken by either him or the alarm.
then when i do get up, the first thing i do every day is feed him. seriously. out of bed, glasses on, food for george. sometimes not even glasses on first. apparently this is not good enough because he jumps up on the bookshelf where his food bowl is (acceptable) then immediately jumps down to where i am getting some food (annoying but acceptable) and starts pawing at the can of food i've filled ( annoying and unacceptable). so this morning, i try to push him away so he learns not to do this, and he freaking spills all the food i was trying to give him all over.
i know i just need to sit down and give him a few hours of loving, but man. why does he have to knock stuff over all the time.
wow that was a lot of energy devoted to bitching about a cat. i am probably a jerk.

in other news, i have been knitting which is nice. in the summers, when it makes the most sense to knit (cause then projects are done in time for cold weather), i cannot bring myself to do so because it is way too hot. somehow even handling the yarn seems to make me hotter. but now i am making a scarf for mike that i hope he will like (i hope you like it mike!). it is blue and ribbed. thin, but will be long so it can be wrapped and wrapped around his ohio neck.
last night i watched a movie called happy endings. it is brian's and i have seen it on the shelf many times but never chose it until yesterday. it was wonderful. it told about several people who all ended up being related (family-wise and symbolically) and maggie gyllenhaal is apparently a)good at playing a conniving b and b)a wonderful singer. lisa kudrow was excellent, and so was that guy whose name i don't know. anyway, see it if you can. instead of voice-over narrations, there are charming on-screen notes (pan the screen over so half is black and it says: This is Mamie. Don't worry if you don't like her at first. Her ex-husband was a gambling addict so that probably accounts for a lot. haha! and: This is _____. He is gay now, who isn't? hah. very charming.)

this weekend we're going to stephenville for early christmas. i think it's going to mostly be a family gathering rather than a christmas to-do.. but i am excited nonetheless. maybe we shouldn't call it christmas, since that puts a lot of pressure on.. meh.
then after sville sean and i are going to austin. he is moving there, which is very surreal for me. i have known he is moving for a long time but at the same time it came kind of suddenly, and now it's like a step toward moving very very far away, so i don't know how sad to be. i am sad he won't be in nac still, and won't still work with me. i will miss seeing him often, and i have never lived in nac without sean. but also he will be in austin which isn't that far, and he will definitely have fun! mostly i know this is hard for him so i'm trying to be supportive and also fun. hopefully that is being accomplished?
i am going there to see mom and then, on christmas day, i'm going to pick up alison at the airport! i am so excited that she's coming. whoa. then we get to drive to dallas to pick up arum, who i am equally excited to see! we may get to see a few of my friends - julianne, aubrey (and her fiance!), erin perhaps. and then we will go eat something with dad, who has never met al or rum. get excited. we will go back to austin that night and spend the week there. we'll have shabbat dinner and take walks and hopefully clem will come with chris and it will be an extravaganza!
but now i am going to go to work, for the last time in 2008. yessssss.

success!

i know you all were pretty worried about it, but don't worry anymore. i finally got into the internship classes for next semester! yesssss. a little perseverance and a whole lot of frustration can get you places sometimes.
ahhh i am excited. going to be interning at the charter school on campus.. don't know what grade yet or anything.. or really anything about it. but i'm excited.
now to make more excel sheets about what's in folders and files.

thanks giving

everyone just left and now it's just me and george.
sean suggested that we have dinner together because he wanted to make the delicious vegan mushroom dressing and mashed potatoes that he had in milwaukee with shea. what turned out happening was a vegetarian (and almost all vegan!) potluck with lots of people at my house. unfortunately, brian was at work and chris was at home but other than that it was amazing.
i made black bean soup and avocado salsa from chrissy's vegan cookbook, which was amazing (and i think a hit of the party), sean made the mushroom gravy (it was unclear for a while whether it was going to be gravy or "mushroom stuff" but i had faith and it was really good gravy) and mashed taytoes, chrissy brought homemade from scratch vegan cornbread, ashley and rabbit brought mashed sweet potatoes, salad, and baked zucchini, jillian brought green beans, and lots of people brought beer. i had franzia, and chrissy, who came over first besides me and sean who were cooking in my kitchen, told me this funny joke: i always cook with wine. sometimes i even put it in the food. ha ha!
anyway, i had a great time with sean, then a great time with sean and chrissy, then a great time with sean, chrissy, aaron, brad, mike, beth, rabbit, ashley, and jillian. oh and who could forget the ice cold pomegranate appetizer? man. who knew? really cold is the way to go with pomegranate. and then, put some in your white wine. yes, please. then people gradually left and sean helped with dishes (ok, did the dishes).
and why don't we do that all the time? i feel so lucky to have so many friends in town, and in my life!

i'll post pics whenever i get them from sean.


oh look! pictures from sean.

Books and Boots

Well. Today it sure was hard to get up and get out of bed. Not that I slept in much over the break. But then I was getting up to go shopping and do other fun things. Today it was -blah- to go to school! But it has turned out to be a pretty good day so far anyway!
But the good news is that I am one step closer to interning next semester. I turned in my application for teacher ed and soon hopefully I can sign up for a school and an advisor! So excited.

These are the purple boots I got. Um, can we talk about how great that is? PURPLE.

Last night I finished reading Middlesex. I was really sad that it was over, but loved the ending. And the whole thing. The best part about it, I think, is that it was a fictional autobiography, but it told one person's story through three generations. Also, I went back to the first page and reread it when I was almost done, and it completely told so many of the huge events right there on page 1, and it was kind of cool to say oh yeah! I forgot this was going to happen. Now it did. I'm not sure why that was cool, but I really liked the way the author (Jefferey Eugenides) gave away things before they happened -- more than just foreshadowing.. Often he would tell what was about to happen, and then spend a few pages getting there. It was like I was being braced. So that way, I didn't have to try hard not to read the end of the page I was on for fear that I would find out something big.. Most of the big stuff had been alluded to, or even flat-out said. Example: Talking about character's adjustment to a move, then says: "but it didn't last long. Three weeks in fact" or something to that extent. I would have thought that would bug me, but it was actually really great. Made the narrator more real too. Basically, it is a wonderful book and I recommend it. Highly.

Hmmm. I didn't really have enough pie this weekend. (Not much at all, for Thanksgiving! But some awesome raspberry/blackberry marie calendar's for breakfast.) Maybe I will have to make some? Who's got fruit?