Kristin, you should have stayed in Connecticut longer! We're heading home today, and I would have loved to see you again.

I know! No way I could have, though. I'm only home for a total of 12 days all summer, and Drew's home a lot less. The poor pets need some reminder that they have humans. Plus, it is nice to be home. I'm just filled with teh lazy.

The poor pets didn't even occur to me!

I am so fidgety today. Lewis sent in that application and I would love for him to get this job SO bad. But my method of coping with the waiting is very different from his-- I've been looking at Austin city guides and real estate, just thinking ahead because if it does pan out, then one of us has a head start, plus, I like playing the "what if?" game (I'm a writer-- it's my everyday M.O.) and if it doesn't, well, at least I've learned new things. However for Lewis, if he thinks about it too much, he starts really anticipating and wanting too much and I think he's afraid to want too much, because if it doesn't work, he'll be that much more disappointed.

ARGH

Barb, if you do end up there, I went to college at UT, and I have family in the area. I could probably answer some basic questions.

Thanks, Dana. Trust me, I will definitely be hitting up everyone who conceivably knows anything about the area for information.

Well, I just cleaned my apartment some. It's still a mess, but less of a mess than it was before.

I've also discovered, in sorting through my mail, that I now have more return address labels with picture of animals than I could ever possibly use. I donate money to one animal rights group once a year (at Thanksgiving, I send them $20 and they send me a picture of a turkey), and this has gotten me on the mailing lists for every animal rights group in the world. I've got pictures of donkeys from a group that does charity veterinary care in Morocco. Stickers with pictures of puppies, I think from the Anti-Vivisection League. Also, two sets of notecards with pictures of polar bears from the Environmental Defense Fund.

Wouldn't they expect most people who are concerned about animals to also be concerned about the environment and thus kind of not like getting all this paper junk mail?

Does your Mom have any pets, Vortex?

No, pets are messy.

OMG, Vortex. Does she often call at 2AM??? I would've killed her as soon as I realized it wasn't about SIL's giving birth RIGHT NOW. Ay. WTF???

I KNOW! she kept saying "oh, I thought that you would be out, so I was just going to leave a message" THEN WHY DID YOU CALL MY CELL PHONE?

there is really no possible justification for calling someone at 2 o'clock in the fucking morning.

Yup. And she mentioned that my aunt had just left, so I know that there were copious amounts of wine consumed, which probably contributed to her "logic"

In case I'm not the only one who loves Grape Nuts but is bothered by the difficulty of getting the proportion of milk to cereal right I feel I must share my simple yet elegant solution. Today I put a layer of Special K down first. Then, when I poured the milk, it had places to hide from the super-absorbent Grape Nuts. I'm almost done with my creal and there is still a teensy bit of free milk in the bottom of the bowl. It's a beautiful thing.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled conversation of why calling someone at 2AM is just fucking wrong.

Things Vortex won't say, because, after all, it is her mother:

"The next time you call me at 2 am, and it is not because someone related to me is dead or dying, I will automatically assume you need either bail money or a ride because you are too drunk to drive safely."

"Well, I was planning on going to the birthday party, but because of some rude phone calls at grossly inappropriate times of night, I will need to sleep tomorrow during the day."