Entries from February 2007 ↓

Sometimes, when it gets really bad, I contemplate just going ahead and bursting into tears. I figure that’s just the kind of namby-pamby crap they expect from a Democrat, and maybe I’ll get lucky and they’ll shake their heads and let me go home with a cold compress. But I have a reputation to uphold. I am not a crier—well, not at work, anyway. I maintain more of a Weimar-era tough-cookie image, all paper cuts and ironic hysteria and dark circles under the eyes. So instead of crying, I sigh when asked to get a box of Kleenex for a grieving widow, or bang my head wearily on my desk in the middle of phone calls from some woman who can’t walk anymore and hasn’t been out of her apartment for a week and used to be a great hoofer and was in pictures but now can’t pay her medical bills and thinks the only appropriate thing to build at Ground Zero would be a reproduction of the ’39 World’s Fair. Instead of crying, I make withering comments about little old men who send in poems with titles like “The Angels of 911.” It passes the time. But hard-bitten cynicism leaves one feeling peevish, and too much of it can do lasting damage to your heart.

Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell

Updates, updates. I always get so far behind.

Last Friday night I joined Karyn and some classmates/new friends for a fancy dinner party. Super delicious food. Very lovely people.

Last Saturday was busy. In the morning, my cousin, Brock, and one of his neighbors hosted a “progressive” house-warming—meaning that we started in Brock’s apartment, moved to the neighbor’s condo, then we ended in a party room. Brock lives in the Midtown Exchange (7th floor with a southern view over Powderhorn Park), his neighbor lives in The Chicago (12th floor with an eastern view of downtown St. Paul), and the party room is on top (14th floor with a view of downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul and Powderhorn Park). Photos are here.

Afterwards, Karyn and I ran around the southwestern suburbs looking for her and Bryan’s future home. Exhausting work! But then Karyn got us pizza from Frankie’s Pizza and we watched The Science of Sleep and it was all good.

Today I received the news that my application to the Interactive Design program was not accepted. Which makes me sad. And mad. But mostly sad. I’ve decided I’m just going to write a novel instead. I already have a title, it’s genius. Also, Rebecca and I are going to create a line of illustrated choose-your-own-adventure romance novels. We will be filthy rich, just wait for it.

Seriously, I’m going to continue to take classes and perhaps try again next year. Who knows what will happen in that time? Maybe I’ll find a different program to love. Maybe something interesting will happen at work. Maybe Karyn and Bryan will have a baby and they’ll need to hire me as a full-time nanny because they’ll be too busy playing video games.

I got a postcard from Ellipses’ vet today, reminding me that he is due for some booster shots. On the postcard, they refer to him as Ellipses 6872—which for some reason reminds me of an email address.

Which gave me the idea that maybe I should give Ellipses his own email account.

And maybe he could give advice.

“Ask Ellipses.”

Maybe he needs his own MySpace.

Have I taken cat ownership too far yet? Just thinking about these things?

Last night when I got home, I remembered that I was “teaching” a section for Game Design class (this morning) and I hadn’t prepared any hand-out. So I fired up the computer and made a nice little diagram of terms in my section. I even plugged in my printer (which I do so rarely) to make sure all was well. I thought that today I would stop by work to make copies for my classmates, and then I’d continue on my merry little way to the St. Paul campus.

Unfortunately, snow confuses everyone. So although I left my apartment really early, I had to wait a half hour for my bus to arrive. I got to work about 5 minutes before I was supposed to be at class and ran to the copier—but it jammed twice. I got fewer copies than I planned, but I had to go. I ran across campus to catch the connector bus. Luckily the driver pulled over for me, the girl who was waving frantically and trying to run through piles of snow and carrying a fully loaded book bag and couldn’t make it to the bus stop in time. But then he drove really slow (which is okay, of course, but I was so sick at the thought of being hugely late on my day to start class).

I finally reached St. Paul Campus about 15 minutes after class was set to start and ran into McNeal… only to discover that Sue Chu was stuck in traffic and would be another 15 minutes late, anyway.

Thank goodness. So I decompressed and reviewed my visual aid.

I am getting tired of crazy Tuesdays, though. Between running across campus to catch different buses, and walking across campus for visits to the periodontist, I am completely exhausted. I have to go across campus once again this afternoon for my other class… Why did I have to find a graduate program to love in St. Paul?

Anyway, Dr. Molletti says my graft is healing nicely. Next week she’ll take out my stitches!

I miss hibernation.

Do I really have to go back to the real world tomorrow? It’s so cold out there…

Anyway. I took some photos of my mouth, and this one is cool (don’t click if you don’t want to see my molars/fillings/tongue/etc.). It’s still uncomfortable to move my lips too much and I feel like I have a toothache (next to the tissue source on the roof of my mouth), but otherwise I’m fine. I don’t think I’m ready to eat pizza yet, and that’s kind of a bummer.

I took some photos (for promos and flyers) of Plastic Chord last night, too. We got some nice shots, but I think we need more time when I’m not sore/thirsty/unaccustomed to actual people. I haven’t posted them yet, but I should do that. They are a crazy bunch of kids. And so photogenic!