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Thanksgiving.  What?  I'm totally stuck in school mode, and am having trouble identifying holidays when they aren't accompanied by days off (and four-hour car rides home).  Plus, I have every Thursday off, so today feels especially weird.  

But never mind that; Happy Thanksgiving!

A few things I'm grateful for:

My job.  There's nothing like a really long search for something to make you appreciate it once you find it.  And mine has the added bonus of being fun fairly often, and of putting me in proximity to a lot of fun, intelligent people.  Score!

My friends.  Whether in town or across the country, they're awesome.  'Nuff said.

Humor.  Courtesy of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement, Arrested Development, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, my crazy kitten, and my friends again.  Laughing wins, yo.

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies.  I don't even need to explain.

Lots of other things, including but not limited to my family, the fact that I'm going to see I'm Not There tomorrow night, the color pink, and coffee.

 New obsession (thanks, Tia): Flight of the Conchords.  Note the new icon.  Saw their videos on YouTube and fell in love.  It's the New Zealand accents.  And the humor.  I mean, they have a song that's "gangster-folk fusion."  I'm only human.  Must look into DVDs--thank goodness Christmas is coming soon!

Which brings us to: Holy crap, Christmas is coming soon!!!  Thanksgiving in less than a week, what? That's baffling!  Next weekend we'll probably start decorating the house for Christmas (sure to be an adventure this year, thanks to Toby the Destructo Cat).  I'm excited; I love this time of year!  And this time around, I don't have to freak out about finals!  I do have to work, but since, as of Friday, I learned I do not in fact have to work Christmas Eve, I think I can make my peace with that.  I'm excited to see lights going up around town.  I totally don't mind seeing Christmas trees in stores already--yeah, they're totally trying to make it into a consumer holiday, but let's be honest, in a lot of ways it already was.  Just because a place has a tree up doesn't mean we have to buy anything from them.

In other news, a quick NaNoWriMo update: If I can write about 5000 words today, I'll be right on target!  5000 is a lot for me under normal circumstances, but I'm finding it's not a problem if I spread it over a day off.  I did about that much yesterday and it went well.  I just need to do it again.  The writing is of course terrible, but I think I have some scenes that, with lots of polishing, will be funny.  So...hope.

 Made up with Tia today after not speaking since the unpleasantness of Sunday evening.  Turns out, in all my feeling wronged by what seemed like her gross overreaction, I forgot to tell her that, well, I simply forgot about our plans.  Oops.  I must have come off as though I didn't care, which added to her being upset.  (What the hell is the noun for "being upset"?  Could I just call it her upset?  Probably not.)  But anyway.  Air is cleared, and we are back to having fun planning for the party, ergo: relief.

I did so much shopping today.  God.  I agreed to work the museum's benefit/auction on Saturday, and it's cocktail dress required, so I needed to find something appropriate.  Found a few possibilities this morning, but nothing that really made me think YES and feel really great about, so after meeting Heather for lunch and mochas, I tried another mall, and had success in H&M.  I already had this great read top, so what I really wanted was a black skirt to go with.  For some reason, the first mall I tried was lacking in choices, but I found a wealth of them in H&M, and ended up with a fun, floaty, flattering skirt.  Worth the extra time to look, I think.

My throat is feeling sore.  This worries me, as I have to give a tour tomorrow morning, and I'm working until midnight the next day.  Please don't let me be getting sick!  

I took a bath the other night for the first time in years.  It felt so great after a long day of being on my feet!  Although I couldn't quite quell the thought that it was a real waste of water.  I'll have to keep my baths rare to appease my conscience.  But I kind of want to take one next week when I have the house to myself and do it up right with candles and music and bubble bath.  

 Ugh.  Ugh.  I was in a really good mood just, like, 5 minutes ago.  Then Tia called.  She wanted to go see Across the Universe tonight.  Oops!  When I told her I'd seen it already, she got all pissed off that I didn't ask her first, that I assumed she'd be busy.  I absolutely assumed she'd be busy, because the last time we talked she was telling me about all the stuff she had to do this weekend!  But I totally forgot we'd sort of planned to see it at the Cedar Lee on Monday night (where it's not showing anyway), so I can understand her being pissed there.  Oops again.  But seriously...I don't know.  I'm pissed at her for getting so mad, and I'm pissed at myself for not remembering, and really I just badly want to get out of this town, because I'm irked at all three of my friends here.  And it's sad that I only have the three.  Ugh.  And ugh. 

 I just got back from Across the Universe. 

I kind of adore Sunday mornings.

I love just rolling out of bed, finding that my dad has already made a pot of coffee.  I can pour myself a big cup and retreat back to my room, where I curl up in my admittedly uncomfortable desk chair and lazily perusing all the blogs I don't have time for during the week.  I'm feeling extra happy because it's fall--not the September version that brings with it all my memories of back-to-school times both good and bad, but the fun October version with leaves changing color and falling, the anticipation of Halloween right around the corner, and the promise of even more anticipation as we get into the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.  I do admit I love the hype.  But back to October--I love that the cold is still a novelty.  Right now it's exciting, bringing the chance to wear all sorts of new warm clothes, new jackets, and old favorites.  It's still a novelty to need to bundle up in two pairs of socks and an oversized long-sleeved shirt to hang around my house on the weekend.  It's just brisk enough out to signal the changing seasons, but we haven't yet gotten into the time of snow and slush and dangerous driving (can you tell I'm already nervous?).  

Right now I'm looking forward to my Halloween party, especially as I've gotten confirmation that all the people I most wanted there will be coming.  This week I'll get together with Tia, do some shopping, pull my costume together, and let everyone know what I need them to bring.  It'll be a blast.  

I'm also excited because I've got my idea for this year's NaNoWriMo.  I didn't even bother trying last year, choosing instead to devote all of my free time to enjoying my last winter semester in college.  Junior year I gave it a go, but without much discipline or interest, as that was my insane four 300-level English classes semester.  But this year I think it'll be exactly what I need to get back to a writing schedule.  I can fit it in with work, and as I don't have a ton of friends in town, I should be able to juggle my social life without difficulty.  Heh, NaNo will give me an excuse for my hermit tendencies!  And the parents will be out of town for the first three days of November, so I plan to use them to get ahead on my word count.  I'm so excited!  Don't know how I'll wait until next month.  I guess I'll just have to read a lot and watch lots of tv.  Woe.

 Work yesterday was crazy.  Crazy!  We had a line that stretched out the door from the minute we opened, and there wasn't not a line until maybe 1:00.  Generally on busy days, the museum calms down around 2 or so, but yesterday people kept paying right until 4:00, and then we still got lots of members.  All told, we had 600 people in our tiny little children's museum.  Crazy.

I'm glad I got to be there, though, because now I've seen the worst and know I can handle it.  Even kept my good mood all day (though I'll admit that was helped by the fact that  it was glorious, glorious Friday)! So there's that.

I'm going to my grandparents' house this afternoon for my mom and favorite aunt's birthday celebration.  Before I leave, though, I'd kind of like to spend a few hours in Phoenix, writing, and trying out their spicy Mexican hot chocolate! It just sounds fantastic.  Their new barista's a pretty interesting guy, too.  He introduced himself the other day after seeing me in there so often.  He used to be a Spanish major, and we talked about traveling for awhile.  His hair kind of reminds me of Edward Scissorhands'.  I like that in a guy. Perhaps I'll go and doodle in regards to my upcoming nanowrimo project.  Still can't decide whether to start something completely new, or move on to book two of my thesis.  Right now I'm thinking the latter, because I need to discipline myself into finishing things, and because I don't have any other pressing ideas at the moment.  

And finally, Atlantis last night was woefully predictable, but that didn't stop my heart from giving a mild flutter of glee when, upon hearing gunfire from his friends in trouble, Ronon turned and rushed to their aid without a second's hesitation.  Aw.  what i'm a dork shut up.

 I think I've found a Nigel wig! Tia and I watched Return of Spinal Tap last night.  I found inspiration in such lyrics as "the majesty of rock/ the mystery of roll/ the darning of the sock/ the wailing of the soul..." Brilliant.  Think I'll check out Salvation Army for a kilt (or plaid skirt, if I can't find anything better), and then I just need a pair of white gym shoes, my rib cage t-shirt, and a borrowed guitar, and I'll be in good shape! Couldn't find a suitable hat for my Cat in the you-know museum costume idea, though.  Might need to think of a backup.

In more important news, today is Liz's birthday!  We were such good friends in high school, but we got to see each other so rarely during college that I never really thought we'd get to be very close again.  Shows what I know!  She's the girl I got up at 5 in the morning with to unsuccessfully see the lunar eclipse on my birthday.  I wish I could be with her on hers! Called her at midnight, and then this morning, and talked to her this afternoon and online for awhile, but it's not the same as being in the same town so I can buy her a drink and some silly presents. But in any case, happy birthday to my darling, quirky friend!

Former roommate arrives in less than three hours! We shall eat pizza, watch The Office (and possibly ER), catch up on news, and tomorrow we go back to school!  I can't believe I'll be drinking gin and tonics in The West with Dr. Grove, two old roommates and a slew of ex-classmates this time tomorrow! I cannot wait.  Still need to pack, though, so I'm off. 

 I'm getting really excited for Halloween!  The Children's Museum requires really really encourages all employees to dress up, so I need something kids can identify and appreciate.  But a lot of my ideas (like the current favorite, Nigel Tufnel) probably wouldn't be so recognizable, so I may need two costumes, one for work, and one for the party I'm throwing the Saturday before Halloween.

It's going to be strange watching the seasons change in Cleveland for the first time in four years.  For as long as I can remember, fall has meant back-to-school season.  That was great in college, but not so much high and middle school.  I can hardly even remember those Halloweens.  Freshman year in college stands out because I saw Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time.  More importantly, it was the first night I hung out with Becky, Jess and the Kraken.  It kind of shaped the rest of my college experience.  But now I'm back among some old friends, and I want this year at home to have as much fun as possible.  Tia said something about Halloween-themed mixed-drink mixes at Target...seems like a good start.

 Man but I'm tired.  And therefore frustrated--I actually had to take a nap at 9:00, in the hopes that it would perk me up.  Not so much.  I really don't want to fall into the whole get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed sort of (shiver!) grown-up schedule, but sadly, that's how a lot of my days are going.  Curses!  At least this is just a three day work week that'll be followed by tons of gleeful reunions.  I shall rest up for them.

We finally got a big group together to go bowling last night.  I'd been having a fairly lazy day with the sister, and wasn't quite in the mood to go out, but thankfully I cheered up once I actually got out.  H, J and I met Shauna, Jason and Tahlia at Winking Lizard for dinner, and my 32-oz Miller Lite further improved my mood.  We spent the meal reading all the random trivia on our menus--some of which I'm still skeptical about.  If wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear by 700x, why the hell hasn't mine developed into an intelligent life-form by now and tried to take over my brain?

We were joined at the bowling alley by H's sister and her boyfriend, and later a few of Shauna's friends.  We drank two more pitchers of beer and played two games, and I was just relieved that Jason was as bad a bowler as I am.  It was pathetic enough that the computer actually felt sorry for me, and would credit me a pin or two when I hadn't actually knocked any down.  I appreciate the gesture and all, but it was a bit disheartening.

The bowling alley's bar was having karaoke, so we went there next.  It was actually my first time witnessing karaoke--the real kind, anyway, and not just my drunken friends singing along with Liz's laptop at one of her parties.  J's rendition of "Come Sail Away" was even funnier than Cartman's.

I don't know what to do with my day.  I'm torn between my desire to couch it and marathon the rest of season one of arrested development/disc three of heroes/the movie fractures, and my need to have a productive day in which I get gas, buy a new mp3 player, exercise, write, do laundry, etc.  I shall finish my coffee and think it over.

24 has eaten my brain.

I tried to resist; honestly.  But I got a little tipsy on Christmas, and when the sister called me in to ID an actor for her on the show, I somehow just never left.  She, the cousins and I watched three or four episodes that day, and it all went downhill from there.  If I'd just seen the first season, I think I'd have been fine; it's gripping (if implausible) and entertaining, but whatever, right?  But I made the mistake of watching season two over new years.  It was my undoing.  Season two introduces Tony Almeida as a good guy, and Michelle Dessler as his partner in angsty love.  How could I resist?  I never liked Nina, but Michelle was capable and inoffensive from the start, and then just worked her way up to awesome.  I love that they could make her strong and intelligent, but still feminine.  And that she and Tony developed a thing? Too fabulous.  Even in arguments, when Tony's all stern and glowering, and Michelle's all resolute and right, which he eventually sees.  And later he comforts her, and it was just too cute for anything.  And things only got more intense with season three, and at this point I don't even care about the other storylines, because they're insane and occasionally dull, and I'm occasionally just a girly girl interested in the love story.  Sue me.


Heading back to school Monday.  Can't believe it's been a month already.  I'm actually really looking forward to classes starting again, and definitely to seeing everyone.  I will finally have to deal with the guy situation, though.  We've been playing phone tag over the last few weeks, but I know we'll be making plans to see each other soon.  Bit intimidating, that.  We'll see how it goes.

Aunt, uncle and cousins arrive today for a brief one-night visit.  It will either be relaxing and fun, or awkward and horrible, nothing in between.  Much of this depends on N's mood; whether he's starting fights with everyone or not.  The kid has been in the rebellious, sullen teenage stage since he was about seven, I think.  We're all hoping he outgrows it soon.

Book update: Finally finished Great Expectations.  Was excellent, although the ending felt a bit abrupt.  Love Herbert, though.  I've moved on to King's Lisey's Story, which Oma gave me for Christmas.  I've been wanting to read it for months now, so it's a relief to finally have the time (well, and the book)!  It's got some of the old King tricks, which bugged a bit at first, but less and less as the story goes on.  Reminds me a bit of "Secret Window, Secret Garden" with the whole stalker thing, but on the plus side, it's inspiring me to work on my thesis, as it deals with some similar ideas about the line between creativity and madness.  Interestingly, I just noticed the the mood icons for crazy and creative are the same.  How too, too appropriate.

The sister got me into 24, damn her!  Watched season one so far.  Have great love for Tony, and am pleased that my dislike of Nina throughout the season wasn't exactly unwarranted.  I'm debating whether I should have Sister bring over season two, or if I should wait and concentrate on writing my thesis.  I want to do the former, but will probably settle with the latter.  I've got much to do.

Fresh mango and shrimp salad rocks my world, y'all.

The Raconteurs were this weekend!  It was a long, hot day of waiting outside House of Blues.  J was truly not feeling the glee that the situation called for, but he wasn't feeling well, so I can forgive his grumpiness.  Plus, the show was absolutely worth every stifling moment, every ache in my feet, every dull moment.  We caught their last show on this tour, so they were really at their peak in their performance.  Now, I've got a number of bootlegs, and I love love love Jack White's voice live, but there's a world of difference between singing alone when anything goes, and singing with a group that uses harmonies as well as the Raconteurs.  But Jack White sounded fantastic alone and with the other guys on Sunday night.  They all had such great energy, and were so obviously having a fantastic time playing together.  It was over too fast!  I've got the bug, though; I can't wait to see them perform live again.  Someday.

In other news, everything summer is drawing to a close!  Only two more days for the workshop--that one's got me sort of blue.  I'm so happy with all of our kids; Peter and Potter have improved so much since last year, and I feel like I've gotten to know them so much better.  Oliver's a joy, Veronica's a trip, and Dinnie's a sweetheart.  We even had the special visitor Homer, one of our favorites from last summer!  So insane, that one.  I can't believe it's almost over again.  Then I've got my driver's test scheduled for a week from today--holy crap!  Very nervous about the maneuvering bit.  And then there's not much time until school starts, and I still want to finish the rough draft of my book, and time's grown regrettably short and it's all I can do not to FLAIL about it.

Hmm.  Just writing about it freaks me out more than I had been, so I'd better stop.  Let's just say I'm happy to be busy, and looking forward to seeing my friends back at school.  In the meantime, maybe I'll go take a walk to calm my nerves.  Yes.

I'm so pleased!  It was one of those days where so much got done.  The workshop remains a lovely way to start the day--but more on that in a minute.  After class, grabbed a light lunch, and got straight to cleaning.  Then there was some prep for workshop tomorrow, and then writing 2000+ words.  And then Dad called with the delightful suggestion that we go out for a late dinner, so I didn't have to cook.  While I was waiting for him to get home, Thea called, and we got to have a long talk about all our kids.  I don't know if I could ever teach a class by myself, just because when I leave, I think about all the kids so much--how they're doing, how their writing is progressing (or not), and their behavior--and if I taught alone, I'd have no one to talk about it with!  No one who cares as much, I mean.  With Thea and Erika, I've got two friends who know the kids as well as I do, and see the same things I do, and care as much!  It's easy to get carried away and talk about them for hours.

Anyway.  Dad and I got dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen, which was yummy if not spectacular.  And we told stories and talked and it was all good.  And then I got much-needed new batteries for my camera, and film, so I can get reacquainted with my camera before photo class starts in less than a month.  Excellent.

Last night I found videos of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry on YouTube.  I'm smitten.

Tomorrow after class (we're doing drama day!  The kids are going to love it), I'm going out to lunch with the girls, and H&J's housewarming party is later.  And Sunday is the Raconteurs!  This weekend will win.

The parents return today.  It was good to have the house to myself for a week, to not feel obligated to cook dinner every night or have to account for all my time.  Still, I'm sure it'll be nice to have them back.  I got up this morning to mow the lawn for my dad, only to find it's pouring.  I should have done it yesterday, but after cleaning the house for three hours, I just wanted a shower.  Ugh, but now I sort of feel like a jerk.  Silly; I can just do it later, after he's home.  He'll still appreciate it.

Thea and I had a good time Wednesday night.  It was a very House-centered night, with a few episodes watched, and then fanfic read.  We found a brilliantly painful House/Harry Potter fic, and didn't get to sleep until around 5:30.  We got up at 11 and had coffee, and sat talking in the kitchen until 1:30.  It's been so long since we could just have a spontaneous, long talk, and it was wonderful.  Not so wonderful was when she went outside to go home only to find her car battery had died.  She ended up staying until 5:30 that evening.  AAA came before that and fixed the problem, but by then we were in the middle of a two-part ep of House and could hardly just stop.  Foreman's life was in danger!  Good episode.  That show can be awfully formulaic, and this one was a good change of pace.

Went out that night with H&J.  We just got coffee (well, iced mochas) at Starbucks and then headed back to their new place, which J proceeded to clean manically while H and I talked.  We touched on music, The Raconteurs in particular (the concert day is fast approaching!  V. excited), and moved on to our families, and ended up talking about the latest generation of kids, which had us feeling very old.  But seriously, we've noted some worrisome behavior.  Those stupid Bratz dolls for little girls, for instance.  I know Barbies have gotten a lot of criticism with their unnatural body types and whatnot, but at least they smile, yeah?  Those Bratz look so bitchy.  Heh, okay, you can't really tell from this, but we had a very coherent conversation on the subject, so I'll just leave it at that.

Yesterday was the massive cleaning day while I looked forward to new Stargates.  Got some excellent phone calls in the evening, first.  Biz!  It's been so long since we spoke.  I came to count on her so much this year and I think I may miss her the most.  I'm so happy she's going to visit around my birthday.  About an hour after I talked to her, Heather called, and we talked for an hour and a half, and talked about lots of silly things, which felt more like us. Things can get so strained on that end with her involvement with E, but this talk was fine.

So.  Television for the week.
Project Runway:  What?  Malan?  Really?  It seems to be popular opinion that this elimination sucked balls, and I heartily agree.  Angela was worthless on this challenge, and bitchy to boot.  She didn't even come up with sketches.  And Vincent was obviously a bad team leader, forcing her to step back three feet.  I thought the final decision should have come down to the two of them.  Malan showed class, taking responsibility for his design (as well he should).  I'd expected more asshole behavior, but he completely turned me around, and not because of the story about his mother, either (though it didn't really hurt).  He seemed to really want to teach Katherine something, and just seemed very decent.  Bad form, judges.

SG1:  Sort of like episodes of old; the team visiting a new planet and all.  Some nice team moments in there.  I'm glad Vala's staying.  General Landry still sort of grates on me.  The ending was a classic Stargate ending, rushed and awfully neatly wrapped up offscreen.  But I've made my peace with that, because otherwise I'd just go nuts (insane, bonzo, no longer in possession of one's faculties...etc).

SGA:  The pacing on this was ridiculous.  Last week's "cliffhanger" was wrapped up before the credits, Weir and Woolsey got to Atlantis at some unspecified point...meh.  And then the main meat of the episode.  These people just do not learn from their mistakes.  It wasn't made clear whether Michael actually asked to be given the drug thing--and I suspect he didn't, in which case, he was spot on with his anger.  Ugh.  It was just a retarded episode, the sort that makes me hate these characters, except for Carson, who still has my heart.

Haven't watched Psych yet, but it's taped, so--soon.