This Is The Scariest Thing Ever...

I 've recently realized what I think maybe one of the scariest things in my life. Even more terrifying than when I was grabbed by the Wicked Witch of the West at a haunted house when I was five, and that my friends was life traumatizing-scary. So what is it that frightens me so much? I agree with George W. Bush on two issues. Two! Which is one more than too many! It frightens me so much that I'm a little stunned. I find myself having to sit down and wonder what happened. Why God? Why?!?!

The first issue happened a few weeks ago when the Dubai company bought the rights to the company that scanned cargo coming into the US. I felt that the reason why people don't want them to own the company quite frankly is fueled mostly by a distrust and moderate to blatant racism towards Arabs and others from the Middle East. I'm sure everyone's saying "Nuh Unh!" I have a hard time coming up with another reason why some other foreign entity should not be able to continue the terrible job the present company is doing? Can you come up with any reasons? Maybe people out there could enlighten me.

The second issue is that of immigration. I believe in it. My mother is an immigrant. Your grandparents or great-grandparents probably are or were! Why does everyone hate immigrants? This is a country founded by immigrants. When I read about the immigration reform that Congress is trying to pass it just makes me sad that people would rather jail Hispanics than allow them the opportunity to work hard and suceed in this country. It's ridiculous! I hate it, but dubyah has a guest worker program idea that would allow current illegal aliens amnesty and become honest members of the American workforce. I agree with him. It hurts me to say, but I side with dubyah on immigration(It hurt so much to say that. I threw up in my mouth a little too). It does great things and reenergizes America. You probably don't agree and I look for enlightenment from those who have it to give.

It's a sad day I tell you. I never thought this would happen, but it did. I'm not certain I will ever be the same and I need some help.

Spring (Snow) Storm

We had snow all day yesterday, the first day of spring. I didn't mind it too much, as I had the day off of work and school anyway, and Dominic got a snow day from work. So we sat around all day in our pajamas, and I stuck to my well (by now) established habit of becoming furiously interested in my own personal reading projects just when the critical part of reading and writing for school begins to pick up. I suppose Dominic was a bit bored with my choosing to read most of the day, so he started up with the whole "baby" thing again. I expect him to start laying out pie charts and graphs and statistics for me pretty soon. I'm also fairly certain he's got a ticker hidden somewhere that's counting down the days to when he expects we should begin the conception process. I've got a good two years of M.A. program left to barter with him, but after I graduate I'll be left vulnerable again. Dominic can be very dogged and persuasive, and the man's biological clock is ticking! Why am I so insensitive to his biological clock when it's ticking? Why?

Anyway, here's a picture I took of myself (and Dominic) yesterday after I painstakingly did my makeup. And still you can barely tell!


I was going to write more about how I feel like I need to write more and read more and also watch more of the kinds of movies I like, but I suppose I should really get to my schoolwork. That's what's inspiring me to be inspired in other things instead. Oh, school. You are so predictable in that you make me want to be doing anything else at all.

Serious stuff about my future and then a jam session.

Today, I had a meeting at UNO about my new teaching assistant position. Apparently, I will be teaching my own Composition I class.

Me. Alone. All by myself. As in my name will be listed with the class when people go to register. This is very, very exciting and scary all at once.

This job is good, good news. It will pay my tuition. It's a substantial (as in more than double, though that isn't too difficult to accomplish) monthly pay raise from what I make working at the bookstore. And it will provide me finally, finally with job experience relevant to my career as a teacher if that's the road I choose to continue to follow.

So, wow. I have a lot of work ahead of me, but this is good news. And finally I have valid proof that I'm not as much of a slacker as I try to portray to the internet. See, internet? I have a JOB. That Dominic basically guilted me into applying for. BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER. My new job shall now serve to validate my existence. I think I learned that from the feminist movement.

Anyway, Dominic and I are having house guests tomorrow. We have dubious plans to feed them lots of good food, including some Brie we picked up at the grocery store just now. Say you: What if your house guests don't like Brie, Kate? I say, the more for me then! Oh, delicious, delicious Brie.

Also, Dominic cleaned out the truck today and salvaged a bunch of CD's that were just rolling around in the back of it. So I've been playing DJ today with all the newly discovered goods. So far I've made him listen to Rufus Wainwright, Justin Timberlake (JT!!!) and I gave a special shout out to him with some 50 Cent.

I'm Sick and Kate Won't Share Her Peanut Butter Cups With Me.

I'm sick and Kate won't share her peanut butter cups with me. Everyone begin feeling sorry for me starting...now. Just kidding. Seriously though, Kate is not good at sharing.

I've started school which means I'm no longer a secretary which is kind of scary because it means I'm starting my "grown-up" job. If you consider a bunch of boys dressing up and playing war full-time "grown-up." I did go out to my jet and I found out that they smell like giant flying porta-potties. That's going to be a lot of fun. So far though everything is going ok and I'm sure in a few weeks I'll be ranting about how dificult school is and that I hate my job, but for now everything has been cake.

These past few months I haven't been writing much as everything for me has really slowed down. I mean in the past three years so much has happened, and I had what seemed to be insurmountable goals and tasks in front of me. Now, those things have passed and I have like everything I want and need. I talked with Kate about this some and we decided I should set some new goals for myself but I can't seem to think of any. I've also tried to think of a new hobby for myself with no luck(I have excluded exercise from the list of potential hobbies). I thought maybe furniture making or stained glass windows, but those ideas don't seem very lofty. I was watching Rudy the other day and thought that unless I have some grand goal no one will ever chant my name in a stadium. That kind of depressed me a little. It made me think that maybe after my military service is up I should run for political office. Kate tells me that I should, and I think it would be something that I could get excited about. I've looked up my party here in Nebraska, but they seem somewhat inaccessible to me. Their website is broken. How sad is that. Anyways, I don't need to harp on the disorganization of my own party. Was that out loud? Sorry. I need to find a new hobby. Any suggestions?

Oh yeah, speaking of parties. June 10th. Rager...Like college, frat-boy,crazy, barbequing a whole pig rager happening in Omaha. Promotion party. Everyone's invited.

News! News! News!

Hey, I got the teaching assistantship I applied for! I actually got it!

This means I will be teaching a class in the fall!

Oh my!

Oh...

That's scary! (But my tuition will be paid for in full from now on, and I get a stipend!)

You Know You Want to Hang Out with Us

Dominic and I invited a few friends over on Saturday night for, as Dominic termed it, cocktails. Nearly a half an hour after show time, we sat alone in our study reassuring ourselves that we're fun. You think we're fun, right? Yeah, we're fun! I think we're fun too! We're fun! And then we sat there and blinked at each other until people finally started showing up, and after that we gave out a collective exhale because it's difficult to justify your self-anointed state of being fun if no one will come to your house for free booze.

At some point, not too long after everyone showed up, the conversation veered toward luxury cars (which more than a few of us own or have just bought) and insurance premiums, not to mention all the talk about housing developments and house buying. Then Dominic said something about he couldn't believe we were talking about insurance premiums instead of concentrating soley on gettin' drunk. And then someone else said, "Yeah, this is a totally yuppie party." Then everyone left all at once at 10:30, and something inside of me died.

I looked at Dominic and I said, "We're fun, right?" And he said, "Heck, yeah we're fun!" "Let's walk to the bar, then!" "Let's walk to the bar!" And then we gave each other a high five, and walked to the bar and sat down and ordered a vodka tonic, and Dominic said, "I'm drunk and sleepy." So we stayed just a little bit longer, as tonic for being such yuppies. Then we walked home and passed out.

But we are so fun! We promise we are.

New York, New York...and Jerz

Today I ate two lunches. Apparently, I still think I'm on vacation because when Dominic and I are on vacation we always eat approximately six meals a day. So far today I've had four and a half, plus a box of girl scout cookies.

Stop judging me.

Some of you already know that Dominic and I went gallivanting around New York City and New Jersey this past weekend. Here is what I have to say about everyone we met or reunioned with during our trip: You guys are all awesome. You Jersey guys, especially, have a certain aura of awesomeness, and now Dominic has a permanent catch phrase that he will always use when we are in your part of the country, and it has something to do with him being a living legend and giving me a high five and then telling strangers stories about our kitty cat.

Anyway, we flew into Newark on Thursday night, and on Friday we caught the New Jersey transit into the city. Brooke took us to Chinatown first, and I began a behavioral pattern that would become my default mode for the crowded streets and subways and buildings and restaurants of New York, which I will henceforth dub, the Quiet Internal Panic. About 94 percent of the time I was able to keep the Quiet Internal Panic under some amount of restraint, but once I almost lost it in a young designers' market in SOHO, though I scored a cool new hat from that experience so all was not lost.

After a fair amount of walking around on Friday we met up with a friend of mine from high school, John, at his place of work. Inside there were a lot of pet birds in cages. And a lot of pretty paintings. And a man who poured us drinks with mostly vodka in them. And also, I'm pretty sure for a moment we were all unwitting pawns in a Woody Allen movie, because that's how funny and quirky and unexpectedly "New York" the whole experience was. Anyway, John is awesome and still quite photogenic though I failed to get a picture of him, which is too bad because now you guys will never know how photogenic he is. And let me assure you he is quite photogenic. Oh yes he is. And now you will never know. How photogenic his is. ...Right.

Immediately after we left the Arts Club, Julia Roberts walked by Dominic, and then Dominic spazzed out and developed turret's for the rest of our trip, only instead of spewing random profanities at inopportune moments he would randomly yell out, "I saw Julia Roberts!" at people.

For dinner we ate at a Cuban restaurant in Chelsea. My meal was so good I made best friends with it, and before we parted there were tearful goodbyes on behalf of us both, and then I ate it, and I think my eyes misted over a bit. After dinner, we saw this play, which was the best play I've ever seen in all my life. I never even realized that a piece of me had been missing, and I would have never found that missing piece, nor even known to look, but now I can finally say I am a whole person because I have seen the Lieutenant of Inishmore. Oh, woe is you (anyone reading this now who is not Brooke or Dominic) for you have never seen the Lieutenant of Inishmore, and I assure you that a piece of you is missing as well. Good luck with that.

Saturday, we met up with John again (still incredibly photogenic) and he was kind enough to take us to brunch and show us around Greenwich Village and SOHO. Sunday, we met Dominic's friend, Candida, for brunch and she showed us around a bit of the Upper West Side and some of Central Park. Candida was very petite and cute and softspoken and polite and nice. She was also very photogenic, and Dominic managed to score some pictures of her as proof.
Monday we flew home. On our flight bound to Omaha, I tried to order a Bloody Mary, and the flight attendant scoffed at me and told me I looked like I was twelve. I'm not sure how this anecdote rounds out this post enough to end it, but I feel like it's appropriate anyway. So there you go.