Wednesday, February 22, 2006

The Southern Accent Strikes Again, or All These Midwesterners Think I'm a Hick

Today in my Native American nonfiction class, we were workshopping the very rough draft of my project (which basically comprises my entire grade, oh scary) and I mentioned how I was actually really nervous about this workshop because, heck, I've been in creative writing workshops before, but I'm more accountable for the work I write for this class.

Suddenly everyone in my class got very quiet and looked at me, aghast. My teacher said, "Did you just say you were a cannibal?"

I said, "No, accountable."

Friday, February 17, 2006

Manly Men Fix Stuff

Hey, guess what? I had another anxiety dream about prom again! This time I forgot to buy my jewelry ahead of time (so I had no jewelry, oh no!) and my hair was frizzy, and I had to get ready in a department store bathroom (what the crap?)! It was awful!

It's four degrees in Omaha today. A friend at work asked me how I was dealing with the weather. I said, "It's like the weather and I, we're two dogs, you see? And we're not sure about each other yet. We're wary of each other. So we're circling around and sniffing at each other. And we haven't made our minds up yet." Oh, how descriptive am I.

Today, I got home from work and there was an electrician in the house. An electrician who charges 65 dollars an hour! He was in our home because Dominic invited him here to fix some stuff that needed fixing after Dominic cut a hole in our bathroom ceiling and then put a ventilation fan in it and then wasn't sure what to do next. Actually, Dominic's been doing a great job with a couple remodeling and maintenance projects these past few days. Even now he's crawling around somewhere in the abyss of our attic doing god knows what, but I'm sure it entails the manly art of fixing something. My idea of "fixing something" is plugging in the printer, so Dominic is handy to have around these days.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Valentine

So yesterday, I got up super early, went to work, shelved frantically, came home and rushed to finish my essay due for my 1:00 class and also complete my application for a T.A. I'm applying for, and then the printer broke, and I freaked out and called Dominic, and he didn't answer, so I just moronically pushed the power button on the printer over and over again, and then I saved my essay and my sample paper (for my T.A. application) on a floppy and tried to think if I could use a library printer to print these papers off at the school because I didn't know where any computer labs were located on campus, and then I called Dominic again, and this time he answered, and he said, "Is the printer hooked up to the computer?" and I said, "I don't knoooowwww," and he said, "Have you checked?" and because I'm a moron I hadn't, so I checked and the printer was actually unplugged so I plugged it in, and then the printer started printing, but I swear to god it was printing in tongues because those were not words; those were devilish, archaic symbols or black magic or something, but then the printer started printing recognizable words again, so I grabbed my papers and went to class and afterward when I was trying to find the English department so I could hand in my T.A. application packet, I got lost and wandered around the Arts and Sciences building for 20 minutes, and I cried a little and the whole time I was incredibly hot, and then I finally found the English department and then I drove home...

And Dominic had a dozen red roses on the kitchen counter for me and dinner reservations at an Indian restaurant downtown. And then he said he loved me, and he went running with me.

Because he is awesome, and I love him.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Flood and Loathing

A List

1. I need a haircut. Badly. Dominic cannot understand why I just won't go get one. Only my sister can understand that salons are scary places of doom, frightening second only to having to speak to hostesses in restaurants or talk on the phone to a stranger. Plus there's the thing with tipping, and how do you do that without being awkward, and all like, "Do you mind if I add the tip onto the check?" or, worse, clumsily pulling a fistful of dollar bills out of your purse and having your stylist be all, like, "Excuse me," and run away, avoiding your eyes.

2. Yesterday, on my afternoon run, I realized I had to go number two when I was about a block away from the house. So I doubled back, you know, to take care of it, and then when I went back outside and had gotten less than ten minutes into my run, it started snowing.

3. Dang, I need a haircut.

4. I had a dream last night that I was going to Prom. Only my dress didn't fit me right anymore. And I got my hair did the day before, so that when I slept on it I got it all messed up. And I hadn't found an evening bag to go with my ensemble yet. And shoes! My shoes were all wrong. And then nobody would dance with me all night.

5. Dominic and I are going to Jersey to visit Brooke at the end of the month. Yay!

6. Mia tried to kill herself yesterday by going on the other side of the iron railing that lines the upstairs part of our stairwell and trying to lay down. There's, like, an inch of space on the other side of the railing, and I totally thought she was going to fall off the second story of our house and die. But she didn't.

7. Right now I'm absentmindedly twirling my hair. This is annoying. I need a haircut.

8. I've got a lot of writing and reading to do for various classes this weekend. ...And I'm back in school.

9. There was a gas leak in the employee area of my work this morning. I'm pretty sure that's bad. I'm glad I'm not there anymore.

10. This weekend won't involve shots of tequila like last weekend did. I'm pretty bummed about that, it turns out.