But Call Me Betsy

I will be a staffer for Homecoming Weekend! I already know what I'm wearing--a University-affiliated shirt and a skirt. And a smile! Maybe I'll add a little blood or a draw some scars on my face to make it scary. It's kind of a relief not to worry about a costume. I always have the problem of wanting to combine cuteness with cleverness and just a little gruesome. Like, one year I was the tooth fairy and had a necklace made of fake teeth and carried around some pliers. And another year, I was a mermaid caught in a net. What else? No one's costume will be better than my long distance friend, Jodie. She does the best costumes ever. One year, she was Gus, the Rotarian--a fat bald man with an ill-fitting suit and a mustache. Another year, she was Joan of Arc at the stake. You know what Halloween costumes SUCK? The following: dressing as a baby or a little kid, dressing as a cat or a dog (even though I kind of want to be a cat every single year), dressing as anything that y...

Jodie came into town last week for the MLA English interviews and so we got to hang out a couple of times. Here we are in a restaurant. She would not give me her hat to keep, not matter how much I begged and pleaded. After dinner, we went back to the Sofitel , where Jodie bought me a chocolate martini for about $35 and we listened to someone go on about how life is the same for everyone around the world. At one point, he even said, "What is life?" We were not amused nor impressed. I took this picture of the matching cats b/c they remind me of Paul Skoles and Piper. Same cat family. My mother stayed to help me when I first broke my arm. Mainly, she just served as a place for the cats to sleep on. Not a job she took to with gusto. The blob on her stomach in the below photo is Emma Carol, in typical slug-shape. She attaches herself to anyone and everyone who walks through the door. I took this picture while exiting the Snyder subway stop earlier this fall. How many dogs do you...

Here's my state of mind for the last several days: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Z!Z!Z !Z!Z!Z!Z! What that represents is me being freaked out and running in five different directions for hours at a time and then falling into a coma-like sleep. My bff and former roommate/co-building manager/confidante/substitute sister, Jodie, came into town on Monday night from way far away in Idaho and we stayed up laughing until maybe 2 or 3 in the morning and then my alarm jerked me awake at 6:15 a.m. so I could begin a new phase of my professional life. Worked all day, returned home to see Jodie, went to dinner at this authentic Italian restaurant where all the waitresses called us "honey" and brought huge plates of pasta followed by a cannoli. Jodie paid, despite the fact that she had already brought me a birthday gift, an artfull...

This is Jodie's cat, Junebug, devouring an iconic image that is meant to represent peace among humankind. Cats don't care about that sort of thing. I sat near a guy on the subway today who looked like he was on the nod, though I didn't see any track marks on his arms. He wore a stained white t-shirt, blue jogging pants with pockets and yellow construction boots. Can you get a creeped out vibe from someone for no real reason? Is it a valid vibe or invalid b/c you're making certain judgments and assessments that might not be rooted in fact at all. Okay, so he was sitting there staring off into space with his eyes half open like an addict. In his hand, he held a crinkled subpoena to appear in court and it said something like, "Bail is set at $XXX." Does that mean he's appearing in court to either make bail or not make bail and will be going to jail? They don't go over this kind of detail in Law & Order . He just seemed off in some way; not necessaril...

Jodie's visit was too brief--I feel like she was only here for about 35 seconds and then had to go. Maybe that's because we spent 3 hours of our time in Target, but that was fun. We tried on clothes and fondled sparkly things and looked at digital cameras and basically, it was just good to be with her, even though she's peer pressuring me to join facebook. She even helped me take care of my ant problem in the kitchen. The ants were basically taking over the cat food dishes and building an entire fortress in my house. Jodie sprayed them and then mopped up the floor afterwards. I think she should come live with me forever. And then Padhraig left for Notre Dame yesterday and will be gone for a month, studying whatever it is that he studies; something to do with Irish people. Went to yoga class tonight and was proud of myself for being able to (sort of) do the sideways handstand. For some reason, I can do it better with my left arm than my right. You would think it would be th...