"to hazard all our lives in one small boat!" king henry vi, part i: iv, vi

Auuugh I just find it hard to get on here and write much lately. There's always some kind of skullduggery going on at the bus stop or on the bus that I could write about, but after awhile, it just gets dull. Blah blah blah, agressive driver. Blah blah blah, disruptive passenger. All right, all right, we get it, there's wackos on the bus!!

What else is new. I've been taking a rowing class, which has been a lot of fun. The class is a gift I got from V. for my birthday. It's been a great experience and something I've wanted to try for quite a while. If you live in a town with a river where you can learn to row, I recommend it!! V. and I can't seem to help talking about "Oxford Blues" more these days though; that's an unexpected side effect of the activity. Go figure.

Oh, I don't want to forget to give a big shoutout to my sis down in ABQ who had a birthday and got engaged all in a 2 day span! Congratulations!!!

So, I've got class tomorrow so that's pretty awesome. Surprisingly, I've actually been keeping up with my work so far. It's like I'm a different person. I don't even know mySELF anymore. So it's 9:30 on a Saturday and my big plans for the evening involve 1) getting ready to go to bed and then 2) going to bed. Let's hope the scoundrels down on the street engaging in WaterFire revelry will cooperate and not be too boistrous as I attempt to sleep fitfully. Based on what I hear outside right now, things are not looking up for The Kid.


Meanwhile there is a giant fish-death happening here in Providence, I guess due to the drought we've been having. Apparently there's not enough oxygen in the water and so the fish are all just kicking the bucket left and right. This afternoon I watched probably 5 or 6 fish depart this world right before my eyes in the span of about 15 minutes, and there were dozens more floating belly-up all around them. It was a pretty depressing side note to an otherwise pleasant walk along the river. Oh, also, the super-creepy hot October weather (mid 80s!) put a bit of a damper on things. I don't think I've ever been uncomfortably warm wearing only a tank top and jeans in October before this year. Just FYI, if I see any birds flying North instead of South in the next week, I'm going to be packing a bag and heading for the hills.

"sweet sister" measure for measure: iii, i

It's my younger sister's birthday today, and in honor of that, I'd like to share this Top 10 List of Why My Sister is the Best:

10. She has a stunning sense of fashion.
9. She has the kind of willpower and self-discipline it takes to begin a homework assigment when it is assigned, not the day before it is due (unlike certain writers of this blog who I might know ... or, er, be).
8. She's good at learning languages.
7. Growing up, she had the good sense to request pumpkin pie for breakfast on her birthday, which meant that I got to have pumpkin pie on her birthday too!
6. She forgives me for not calling her as often as I think of her (well, she says she does, anyway).
5. She can ascertain (correctly!) from a crappy cell phone photo whether a pair of shoes will go with a dress that has only been described to her.
4. She put up with all my hairbrained ideas when we were growing up.
3. She makes a mean spaghetti sauce.
2. She's funny as hell.
1. She's got a heart as big as the Moon.

Happy birthday, Skeet!