Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday to Alexis and Katya!

we're out!

There's a scene in A Hard Day's Night when the Beatles escape the building that's full of the demands of their helter-skelter jam-packed life in the entertainment industry, their agents, their producers, their family, and they shout "We're out!" and start singing the joyful "Can't Buy Me Love." Despite not being in the entertainment business, I feel like that right now. If just for the next hour.

Me: Does it have a spin-aroundy thing?
Microwave Salesman: Yes, it has a turntable.

boy's name?

My friend's boyfriend's name is Lauren. is that weird? It's not like Leslie, is it?

another quote

I had this conversation multiple times while in India:

Indian who speaks poor English: When will you come back to India?
Me: Oneday.
Indian: One day??
Me: ....someday.
Indian: Ohhh.

weather

Mom left today. Among other things, she got me some plants, which I hope to not kill. Plus, she and my aunt and my grandparents got me a GPS!! It's going to be great. I get lost so often in Austin. And it really was a surprise, even though I did kind of expect one around Christmas-time. It was too perfect a gift for anyone to pass up.

Everyone who wrote, I really appreciate it. It really made it one of the best birthdays in years, to hear from so many people. I love emails and comments and Facebook and text messages!

There was a cold snap the day of my birthday, which was great. So here's the quote of the day:

Mom: Yep, this is the perfect weather for you: gloomy and cool.

we're gonna have a good time!

After playing Scrabble with my mom, aunt and boyfriend (Andy went out on the first round, with LEANING), I spent the evening performing surgery on my Roomba. It felt weird and wrong, like performing surgery on my own pet. With a screwdriver. But it seems to be feeling better now.

I had a perfectly lovely weekend, finally hosting my chai party. Dear people came, and praised me and my samosas. Some even brought gifts (today is my birthay, technically). Some brought notes so nice I thought I'd well up then and there (luckily, I have diagnosed dry-eye syndrome, which prevents sappiness). But it wasn't even a birthday party! I just have really sweet friends.

And a whole lot of chai and chocolate cakes* leftover.

Which. Is. Awesome.

*Cakes plural! And two of them are homemade!!

But now I have a lot of homework to do. I mean a lot.

shoe shopping

Me: according to the side of the box, these sandals are "leather-metal" colored.

Andy: those are like the two best materials!

my first lesson driving stick shift

chad: [cowering in passenger seat, arms over head] It's just that...there are a lot of pedals down there for you to deal with. And only one of them works the brakes!

[jar of water falls out of tabby's bag]

me: what's that?
tabby: oh, that's my jar of water [smiles sheepishly]

[politics] they said palin's background was thoroughly checked, and that gave me a clue as to why she was selected--of all the republican candidates whose backgrounds were thoroughly checked, was she the best option? wow. it really makes a lot of sense, but is a bit scary.[/politics]

in other news, i'm back in school. my statistics class has completely thrown me for a loop. being a TA has gone OK so far (one face-to-face, and a few emails). other classes are so so. i'll survive, and i'll reallllly try not to make myself crazy. there's too much cool stuff that i'll be doing this semester to be freaked out all the time. still. wish i had not had so much coffee this morning.

spent the weekend in the hill country (o' texas). that was delightful. went tubing, got a tan (for real!). andy read paradise lost, and i worked on problem sets when we weren't tubing or petting debbie and phil's animals (2 dogs, 3 cats).

spent about 5 hours straight working in the library today, and that felt good, but i did all the mindless tedious stuff, not the stuff that actually needs to get done. so i should maybe work on that now.