Time Warp

If life were Girl Scout camp, this wouldn't be a triumphal return at all. Instead you would yawn and turn towards me and say "Oh, hi, there you are" or, rather you would Squeeeeeeel in delight and loose control of your limbs and jump for joy for at least two minutes before the yawning part. Because that's a time warp. Whatever happened in between, whatever the space and the distance and the events don't matter. Only that we're all here together again. And it's always the same.

Here I am. My dog Granite, a.k.a. Concrete, a.k.a. Pee-Machine, is snoozing on my leg. Laura is playing on the facebook talking with her biking friends about their latest drama which involves a 72 mile race and 25 mile an hour head winds. We're watching a movie called the Brothers Bloom, which is pretty good. I would recommend that you Netflix it.

Miami is taking it's damn sweet time cooling off for the year. We had record temperatures last week and this week it may be cooler but that is only because of the ridiculously strong winds I've already mentioned. If it isn't one weather phenomenon making me miserable it's another around here. How's the weather in all those lovely places with Seasons? huh?

My friend Ruthie is coming to visit next week. We're going on a cruise, which I suppose is a positive thing about Miami. We can practically walk to the port. We'd have to walk, because naturally Miami doesn't have public transportation that serves the port. Except for in the early morning or late afternoon. I guess they get some points for trying to make life a little bit better for the people who work at the port. But still: I think the message is that tourists have money and they can damn well call a cab. Which is what we'll do.

I've turned in my thesis proposal, next I must defend it and take some qualifying exams. That means a lot of studying and worrying and being bored, on top of being busy up to my eyeballs with a Girl Scout service project I foolishly became mastermind of. It's a ton of work, but it's the kind of work that we all know is going to work out in the end, no matter how tenuous it feels at this point. In a nutshell, we're collecting Christmas presents and throwing a party for 150 people served by a community organization that helps low income families, especially victims of domestic violence.

Wanna donate a gift? This is exactly like those commercials, you know the ones, except there really is a kid that really does get something out of it. Let me know.

In other news: I'm starting to love O'Douls. I know it's a little embarassing to admit, but I do love it and I'm not entirely ashamed. It tastes good. It doesn't make me sleepy, and it doesn't make my nose run. And it's cheaper. So don't even try to talk me out of it.

Oh, and Laura came in 2nd in that big bike race. 150 people started, only 66 finished and Laura was the second woman across the line. Probably only the second one that actually finished the race too. Apparently there was a lot of willy-nilly course making going on during those 72 miles in the gale, thus shortening a lot of peoples' race and thus sparking the drama that has been keeping her quite busy for the past two days. But, Laura finished her race.

Hope you've enjoyed my return. I'll try not to be so long anymore: but remember, everyone always loves you when you're on your way out the door.