Monday, October 01, 2007
Hello, Kenny,
April informed me that you thought I was dead. My watch stopped two weeks ago, so I was dead for a couple of weeks. I finally found time this weekend past to revive myself with a Seiko watch, purchased at JCPenney's. It has a lovely, dark face (just like me!), with Roman numerals.
I hope that you are well, living la vida loca without April or me to terrorize you. Grandmother-, mother-, and wife-hood probably keep you busy, or at the very least, entertained. At the age I am now, my mother was incubating Ashlea. Yuck! I do enough horrible things to my body, without letting some monstrous demon-spawn tear it up.
Update (novella-length):
1. I would hate to be a mother, but I wouldn't mind being an aunt, and was elated to learn in February that Ashlea was expecting. Unfortunately, the baby had some chromosomal defect and died in utero. From what I can determine, Ashlea handled the situation well. She'll take time to recover, but still wants to have children, when she and Matt are better-situated. My other siblings seem to be getting along well enough, considering that they are the stepchildren of the family. At least Terri's a better mother, in most things, than my dad is a father. Michael loves his guitar, Kailey loves her piano, and Eddie Bob loves his trombone. It's so cute. I miss getting to be around, as they mature. Ashlea, Michael, and I grew up together, and considering all the pinching we did, nobody popped.
2. At the moment, I live in a backhouse behind the street that borders campus. I live in the upper loft, with a kitchen, bathroom, living, and sleeping areas. Below me, some girl just moved into the efficiency. She took my spot the other night, so I had to maneuver around a telephone pole to get in out of the alley. The next morning, the little princess left a note on my windshield: "Next time, would you please be so kind as to not park six inches from my car. Thanks." Pssh. My back end was close to her vehicle, but it was more approximately a foot-and-a half away: she had plenty of room to get into her car and to get out of the drive, whereas I had to do some crazy turning and squeezing to get around her car, the telephone pole, and a tree. I was completely caught off-guard by the fact that there was some strange vehicle parked in my spot; she should be grateful I didn't slam into her. Naturally, when I returned from work this evening, I parked very close to her precious vehicle. This only happens to be incidental, though- there isn't quite room for the both of us. She will have to be destroyed.
3. Schoolage: I took the GRE, scoring well on the verbal, flunking the analytical, and awaiting the results of the writing. I've been looking at grad schools, especially along the east coast. The University of Pennsylvania, at the moment, is my top choice. I also liked the programs at the University of Florida and the University of Michigan. Austin has a fine enough program, prestige-wise, but it seems rather too large and a bit impersonal. Of course, those and other factors could actually be stimulating, forcing me to change my approach and suchlike. We shall see. The graduate director here encouraged me to contact program directors with my CV, areas of interest, and a reading list from all of my language courses. Already having a significant amount of German experience will be what especially distinguishes me from other candidates. One of my German professors will be offering a seminar this summer on conducting graduate research in German, which is exactly what I need. I will save up my nickels and dimes to take it, in case I don't get grants.
4. Beginning last Friday, I am an employee-in-training at Schlotzky's: "Funny Name, Serious Sandwich", which, like the dark face of my watch, describes me perfectly. I closed tonight with two young-ish (but still older than me) men, whom I genuinely like, or can at least work well with. They engaged in a lovely switch-a-roo with Domino's, with the result that I drove home with free orders of buffalo wings and cinnastix. Schweet.
5. I am currently at the library. I bought a Gateway laptop from someone who works on campus in the IT department at the end of May. However, it doesn't connect to the Internet at my house. I called out the Suddenlink guy, who didn't seem to know what he was doing. I also called out an IT guy from the campus department, and then I called the guy who sold me the computer. Last night, I made a trip to Best Buy, warranty in hand. The computer customer service guy received a wireless connection and a hook-up connection fine, verifying that my computer cannot be the problem. So tomorrow I am going to call Suddenlink and cry.
6. A terrible thunderstorm shook my backhouse a few nights ago and almost made me cry, but I cuddled the plush Kermie Muppet Baby April gave me and felt much more secure.
The end.
-The Lauree Child
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 9:43 PM]