The Perky Prawn

December 30th, 2005

Linus and Mia received Christmas gifts from my mother in the form of “The Crinkly Crab” and “The Perky Prawn” toys. Now, as you know, these cats prefer the toy brand “Eeks,” and indeed had received new “Eeks” toys from their loving owners: an “Eeks” worm for Linus, and an “Eeks” cocktail weiner for Mia, both of which went from lovely, new fabric to brown-saliva-gross in under twenty minutes. But for the first day after receiving the toys from my mother, Mia switched loyalties and devoted herself heart and soul to the Perky Prawn. Fickle as she is, though, the prawn now lies discarded and heartbroken on the floor, while Mia dedicates herself to one new beau after another. Yesterday it was the bag of trash that waited to be taken out. She just loves to rip a leak-hole into the bottom of a full bag of trash. Sweet kitty. Last night she moved on to an empty box, until Linus cut in on the dance. This morning she went back to her ex, an obsession she can’t seem to kick in which she licks the computer-shoe. Those of you who have visited know the shoe I mean, and the leather-licking she cannot quit.

I’m supposedly working on my thesis right now.

The Procrastination Diet

December 22nd, 2005

It’s 8 a.m. on Thursday, and grades are due in by 5 p.m. I still have a few essays left to grade today, but only a few. Two-thirds of my students’ grades are tallied as well, so I’m actually, by my own standards, ahead of schedule. I should have grades in by noon. The too-bad thing is that I’ve had MORE than enough time to get it all done long before today. Things I’ve done instead:

- Law & Order daily TiVo marathons
- Trip to the GAP to buy not Christmas presents for others, but a sweatshirt for myself, because I was craving a light-blue clothing item
- I actually made myself lunch the past two days, and not out of the box in the freezer labeled “Trader Joe’s brand Cookie Dough”
- Went to Las Vegas for the weekend with Steve, where we mostly pigged out and watched the pilot of the 80′s TV show “The Greatest American Hero”
- Spent several days sorting out a last-minute credential issue related to the long-term sub high-school teaching assignment I’ll start in January
- Took Linus to the vet for an extensive check-up
- Cuddled and played with Linus in an extensive effort to make it up to him that he had to go to the vet
- Bought flowers to put the gifts “under” since we don’t have a tree (it’s shorts weather here; flowers seemed appropriate)
- Went to the Container Store
- Spent an hour making an extensive list of additional items I want to get at the Container Store WHEN my grades are in
- Planned my closet reorganization, which will follow aforementioned trip to the Container Store
- Made signs about Christmas tree recycling to put up by the trash cans in the alley (this was pure procrastination; no one asked me to do this)
- Went to Kinko’s to laminate aforementioned signs (hey, this is a nice place; signs should be laminated)
- Shopped online for a Christmas gift for myself: an automatic, self-scooping cat box (in case you haven’t noticed, I really don’t have time to scoop)
- Blogged

Randoms

December 8th, 2005

Overheard on campus today:

Teacher: Just study for the test. Stop talking to me about your grade; you’ve talked to me about your grade a hundred times this semester.

Student: No, not a hundred times. Just ten times.

(Ten times??!! That’s almost once a WEEK! Stop stalking your teacher.)

Seen today from the bus window:

A delivery truck for Yosemite Water with the first of three side-panels rolled up so that the side of the truck actually read “SEMITE WATER.”

Recent events:

Hectic for me as the semester winds down. Steve had a birthday but has been really sick. Awful. Congestion, sore throat … in bed three whole days. He’s back at work today, hopefully not pushing himself too much. In case I don’t get what he has, I seem bent on insuring a state of illness via the box of cookie dough I’m polishing off here in the TA office. But this is not my fault, because my friends each only had one dough-ball (yes, Sarah, what kind of friend are you). In other news, I’m traveling to Atlanta tomorrow night for a weekend early Christmas celebration with my dad and Pauline AND with Cheri, Erica and Dani. I packed my suitcase yesterday, and it is in the car already. Is it obvious I’m excited or what?