Ketchup

I appologize, dear readers, for being away from my blog for so long. How time has flown! Right now, my mind is drifting somewhere the first chapter of my dissertation, the introduction, and plans for my exam. So I'm writing here to appease you, my loyal readers. Here's a rundown of recent events.

Thursday the 1st? Thursday the 8th?
At some point, my dad brings the mattress from their guest bedroom to Gainesville to exchange with the less-than-perfect mattress that I bought off of Hot's friend. It takes a few nights, but I start to enjoy some good sleep.

Saturday the 3rd
Karaoke at Kenyon and Marlin's! Fun time—I got pictures, but I'm not ready to post them yet. Let's see...Andretta and I turned everyone on to Muse with "Time is Running Out," and I refrained from singing anything Janis. Saw Joe and Ayrnin, which was fantastic, and saw Hot and Daniel as well, which was equally fantastic. Someone brought blue-icing cupcakes, and those coupled had fun marking up each others mouths. Then, we had some bizarre discussion about playing spin the bottle. O, academics!

Sunday the 4th
Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! [Gift to be sent...]

Week of the 5th
Ok, I told my director I'd have another draft of my chapter one in by Monday. This...did not happen. Disgruntled, I worked and worked on it all week. Well, part of my writing was put off by the severe intestinal distress I incurred Wednesday as a result of eating a burrito and lo mein all in the same day. Mexicans warring against the Chinese. Not good. Longstoryshort: I got my chapter in on Thursday.

Friday the 9th
Missed Rue's 80th birthday lunch in Orlando. I'd RSVP'd with the understanding that the party was on the 10th. Happy Birthday, Rue! [Gift to be sent...]

Fantastic American Studies Symposium on campus. I walked out to campus in time for the first presentation at 10 which was actually pretty pertinent to my own work. Then, I joined the group of presenters for lunch, but I had to pack my food and run. We got to Cafe Gardens at 12, and my class in CBD started at 12:50. Believe me, I chowed down in the 10 or so minutes I had before class started. After class, I hurried back over to the Symposium and caught the last two presentations. Huzzah! (But exhausting as well.) Highlight of the day (asshat edition): while we were at lunch, a presenter from England indicated that the classes he teaches are relatively small because they are held in his office. Then, I chimed in that he could teach supermodels. Only Tom seemed to appreciate this idea.

Saturday the 10th
Unfortunately, I had to miss going to Jacksonville with Randle to see Kedash and her new baby. Even so, I got a bit of work done, so it kind of worked out for the best. For the second week in a row, I headed out to campus in the a.m. to get some work done at my study carrol. Then, in the p.m., I went over to Bollywood night at Amird's. His food, as usual, was great, and my chocolate bundt cake (Kash N' Karry) went pretty quick at dessert time. We played a bit of Apples to Apples, and watched a great flick Mr. and Mrs. Iyer. After that, most of the guests—which included a good number of faculty, including Kenyon—left, and I got down to business. That's right, kitchen cleanin'. After I judged the kitchen to be in an adequate state of repair, we sat around talking. I forgot how much I've missed Amird and Don.

Sunday the 11th
Eschewing day of God, I clean my apartment like a madwoman. Seriously, if cleanliness is, indeed, next to godliness, then I'm the new priestess.

Week of the 12th
Dammit. I have papers to grade. I slog slowly through papers, taking intermittent breaks to do research. I don't have papers graded by the 14th.

Wednesday the 14th
Valentine's Day! Woo-hoo! Got a few cards from co-workers, and had Wednesday lunch with Marlin and Kenyon (no Andretta or Randle this week). In the p.m., I hung out with Andretta (Jolanda was slated to join us, but apparently got ahold of some bad cake at work). Andretta and I ate early at the Top, avoiding the requisite Valentine's Day lovey-doveyness that might have made us (or me, at least) jealous at hell. I'd talked to Piper earlier in the week, and she and I are agreed on this point: anyone. Doesn't matter...it's been too long...anyone at all will do.

On a happier note, here, Jake and Kinya are celebrating 3 years together. I'm so happy for them! Kinya was so sweet to send me a Valentine's Day card. I guess I didn't really realize it, but they cemented their "relationship" status around the time of our non-Valentine's Day party three years ago. Squee! [Gift to be purchased...]

Upcoming...
Friday the 16th
Piper will be in town, and we're getting together for some food and conversation.

Saturday the 17th
Fiesta Fandango at Jolanda's! Food and The Three Amigos.

Date to be determined
Greek night chez moi. I haven't decided yet what the entertainment will be, but I'm split three ways between a party game, Strangers with Candy, or PCU. At this point, PCU is winning out. You know...Greek night?

Whew! I guess the entry gets long and messy when you don't keep up with your peeps. That'll teach me. Anyway, I love ya'll, and I'll be sure to write more soon!

My Recommendation for What to Stick in Your Ear, if, Indeed, You Have Cause to Stick Anything in Your Ear (and, Really, Who Doesn't?)

Over the past few months, I've been sleeping with earplugs so that I can drown out a bit of ambulance/fire truck noise in addition to the ever-present noisy neighbors. In general, I've been buying my earplugs based on color—I started with the flesh colored ones, changed to some purple colored ones, and just bought a bag of green ones. I did this both because it's fun to change colors but also because I end up with a lot of discarded earplug litter under the bed, and the colors give me a timeline for usage [insert "ew" here].

At any rate, I just started on the package of green earplugs, and I was horrified to find that they're shorter than my previous batch. This means that they will both a) shake out easier during my restless tumblings at night and b) increase my chances of having a foam earplug wedged irretrievably into my ear canal in perpetuity. So, it would seem that I have inadvertently become an ear-wad brand whore. That's right, folks—if you require ear-pluggage at any point, I strongly recommend Flents brand foam earplugs (in purple). In fact, I am so enamored of this Flents ear product that, if I were famous, I would endorse them. And not only would I endorse them, but I would pay for the commercial myself. You have no idea, no idea, how tight the earplug industry is...but don't take my word for it—check out Ear Plug Super Store. As a celebrity endorser, though, I daresay I would be the only celebrity earplug shill on the market, and, because I funded the adverts, you could be doubly assured of this product's worthiness.

In conclusion, I'll offer a motto: Flents—they are a little bit longer than other foam earplugs.