The Post for Livia

Ok. The secret is out. The friend I refer to as L in my blog is actually Livia. She is the coolest thing that ever happened to the Texas Panhandle. And she asked me to update my blog so here I am.

I have been swamped with my second Master's. That degree takes up all my free time and I'm ready for it to be over with. I kinda just want my normal life back. It seems that this grad school schedule makes me kinda grumpy.

For example, last month I found my temper flaring and I almost barked at a girl that made me mad. Typically I keep my cool or just blow things off. But that girl crossed paths with me on the wrong day - just before a big assignment was due. And I nearly went into attack mode.

It's weird for me not to like somebody. I mean, there are people I really don't like (I'm looking at you Jessica Alba, Latina Magazine and Nicholas Cage) but it's not as if I know them personally. This girl is someone I know personally and I was ready to poke her eyes out with a fork. That's a very odd and unusual feeling for me.

But it's ok. I'm in the early part of class #11 and I have to complete 12 classes. I really am close to being done. And I have a notepad full of things I want to blog about when I have my life back. But in the meantime, I hope this post for Livia will make her happy enough to share that Taco Villa burrito with me.

What April Showers Brought Me

Things that are ticking me off:

1. The person in my office who keeps warming up some sort of stinky tuna concoction, allows it to overflow in the microwave, then refuses to clean up the spill.

2. My current grad school class that has not been like any of the others. This one has 3 professors in charge of it and that was just the first of many red flags.

3. The squirrels and raccoons who are in a full-blown turf war for the creek in my backyard.

Things that are helping me forget about being ticked off:

1. Discount Easter candy at the grocery store. And at CVS. And the ones stuck to the bottom of my nephew's Easter basket.

2. My friends who are rounding out the first month of spring with pictures of their babies in sunglasses.

3. The upcoming Flight of the Conchords concert. It's on May 5 - Cinco de Mayo!! Should I dress accordingly?

What's That Smell?

One of my favorite things to do is read the newspaper on a slow, weekend afternoon. A while back, I walked out of my front door on a Saturday morning to get the newspaper (which is always at the very end of the driveway) and saw this:











Nice, huh? Well, last weekend, I stepped out of the front door to go get the paper and I got a whiff of something awful. It honestly smelled like someone had pooped on my front porch. I thought it might be a gift from one of the neighborhood dogs - or kids. But I couldn't find anything. As I walked to the end of the driveway, the odor got even more pungent.

Then I realized my neighbor across the street had a rake in his hand and was turning the soil in his compost pile! In his FRONT yard! The smell was so bad I actually gagged.

I have seen the circular shaped thing in his yard before but I thought it was the remnants of an old tree that had been removed. At times, there are faint odors circling the neighborhood but I thought it was coming from one of the neighborhood trash bins. But no. It's the compost pile. The stinkiest, grossest compost pile this side of Rio Grande. I actually feel even more sorry for the guy who lives right next door to him. Check it:















Don't get me wrong. I understand composting and why it's important. I am pro-compost piles. But I am anti-stinky ones in the front yard. Icky.

To Walk Or Not To Walk

Things here in nerdville are moving right along. This idea for a second Master's degree is a little nuts but, as you know, I'm the eternal nerd so I would not have it any other way.

I am close to the end of grad school class #8 and it's hard to believe that I did all of that in just 11 months! It takes 5 weeks to get through one class so they are rigorous and fast-paced. But the good thing is that all of my classes are really interesting. So even though I complain sometimes, I do enjoy what I am learning and I even enjoy the assignments. (Mostly, my complaints are that I don't have any free time. And I have to take my school work with me everywhere I go... like a true geek.)

Here's the kicker... once I complete 12 classes, I'm done. I have the sinking suspicion that my parents want me to walk at the graduation ceremony and I don't want to do it. I did participate in the full swing of graduation ceremonies twice! (When I finished college and grad school.) But a third time might do me in. So I did a pros and cons list - which would look totally different if my mom had done it.

Pros:

• My nephews and nieces can be there and actually remember it.
• I have family in the town where the university is located.
  

Cons:

• I have to buy invitations, a cap, gown and graduate sash.
• The town where the university is located is 5 hours away.
• We have to sit through a long ceremony.
  

What do you think? Should I walk again?

Spoiled Milk

I'm in the closet right now. I literally am sitting in my closet with M because there is a tornado nearby. The sirens went off, we grabbed Pedro the parakeet and ran to the closet. While I'm in here, I thought it would be a good time to tell the story about Milk. 

M and I went to see the movie Milk. I've been eager to see it and we finally got tickets over the weekend to a 10:15 p.m. showing. We bought our tickets early and went to have some cocktails. At 9:50 we went back to the theater and handed over our tickets. The Angelika theater employee said, "Theater 3 on the left." We went straight into the theater and realized that the previous showing was not yet over. And we happened to walk in right at THE pivotal point of the movie!!  I was so pissed at that girl for taking our tickets and telling us to go right on in. Ugh!! Sigh. Groan.

Don't get me wrong, most people know the history of Harvey Milk and how his story ends. But to see it happening on film right as we walked in was such a bummer. It spoiled Milk for me. However, the movie was still awesome. Go see it. And recruit a friend to go with you. 

Update: Sirens went off so I'm off. I have homework. 

Spotted: Rocky the Raccoon

If you will recall, it was about a year ago that I found raccoons in my attic. I was mortified because those little things are known to cause all kinds of electrical and structural damage. Anyhoo... my dad and M worked very hard to close up all the vents so that the raccoons would not use my attic as their honeymoon suite.

However, I recently spotted Rocky (as M has named him) trying to get into one of the eave vents. Obviously, it didn’t work and only his body was able to cram into that tight space. He is clearly embarrassed and allowed me to snap this quick picture before he fell right out of there.

Kennedy and Me

I must admit I was really ready for this birthday to be over with. You see, Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. More than ten years later, I was born on that same date. Over the years it has been a bummer to wake up on my birthday with newspaper headlines that read, “Today America Mourns.”

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Kennedy’s death and lots of people (by that I mean the media) in DFW can’t stop talking about it. Our local news discussed all the tourist traffic in Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum which were suddenly hot spots. Also, one news station interviewed the police officer who was handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald at the time of his shooting. Suddenly, it seemed as if JFK’s ghost was all over town.

The whole idea of someone being killed that way is creepy and to have video of it played over and over on your birthday is no fun. I do understand how Dallas and its people were changed after November 22, 1963. It happened here so here is where they will talk about it a lot. But JFK’s ghost was creeping me the hell out.

It was a good thing that I made plans to stay out of Dallas during the weekend of my birthday. And just so you know, people in other cities don't make a fuss over the 45th anniversary of JFK’s death. Maybe they just have a different way of reflecting on it or perhaps they aren't particularly interested. Either way, it was a nice to celebrate without a Jack Ruby-tini on the cocktail menu.