What I've Been Up To

1. Snow came along a couple of days after New Year's. It fell all in one afternoon, and melted completely by that night. Better for Filo--she hates the wet.

2. Went to the Sun Bowl with my best buds. M. is from Missouri, so we cheered for the Mizzou Tigers. The Oregon State band was awesome, how else can I describe a band that played such a variety of songs like Green Day (Holiday), Twist and Shout, AND the El Paso song?? (You know which one, Out in the old west Texas town of El Paso, I fell in love with a Mexican girl...) I mean, really, What a way to win over the home crowd! The Tigers lost in the final seconds of the game. Super game, even if our nearest concession stand was run by bored ROTC guys who never had enough hot dogs.

3. Oh, aren't we cute? For all the grumbling and mini-pity parties (and I'm just speaking for myself), Christmas was perfect with everybody committing themselves to getting along and being nice and thankful. Part of 'getting along' includes playing a couple of bingo rounds with my professional bingo set (complete with ball cage!). It took some prodding among my family, but they had fun (even if my bro-in-law won each time). I tried to be all modest and I-don't-need-a-gift-from-G., but he was astute enough to see through that bullshit and got me a beautiful necklace which I adore. If wanting a gift from G. makes me shallow, then fine I'll accept that. Christmas is a special time, dammit.

4. I spent most of last week watching VH1's non-stop marathon of America's Next Top Model. Crazy thing is by cycle 7, I actually started liking Tyra Banks. Sure, she looked like a drag queen by #7 and she's got an ego the size of Texas and there were plenty of cringe-inducing moments (ESPECIALLY when Miss J joined the panel--let's limit his/her's screen time, ok?!) and the show doesn't really produce top models HOWEVER...hmm, well, the show's redeemable qualities escape me now that I have some distance from Ms. Banks and her crew. I know there was something that reeled me in beside cheap dramatics/hysterics. Hmm...

5. Cleaning the apartment here and there and trying to get myself together before the semester starts next week. I attended a couple of workshops today about encouraging active learners and public speaking. Those tend to motivate--tomorrow is the big department meeting where we hear how registration numbers are up, up, up--unfortunately, our paychecks remain the same. Poo.

All in all, a great break, just the right length, just the right amount of nap, Filo, and G. time. Now let's have a fabulous 2007!!!