It's Been a Long, Long Time

     Let's just say I've been VERY busy since my last post back in JANUARY (wow, really?). While some things have stayed the same (e.g. unresolved issues back home still ill left unresolved, with relatives I am still refusing to speak to), some things have changed...and some of it is actually good. I finished my second master's degree in June and I am now officially a PhD student (yay!). My thesis had some issues (like a last-minute cancellation of my defense in February which I have likened to the scene in Goodfellas where Joe Pesci's character is walking into the house to become a made man with the triumphant music playing only to be shot in the back of the head), but I looked at the josei manga Cappuccino as a cite for feminist critique and cyberculture study. The feminist angle was inspired by my committee chair (who has now left to go to another university, which has left me feeling a bit untethered), but it had to be modified to reflect Japanese feminism (which makes sense), and the cyberculture angle comes from the fact that the translation I read was done illegally online. It's really cool that it is available online (I'm not sure if it will ever be printed), but I'm not linking to it because of some possible copyright issues with the images I used. I believe I am protected under Fair Use, but why risk it.

     Anyway, I'm posting because I'm a bit frustrated with the way my world seems to work for me. Hubby lost his job in August (which sounds like a broken record because the same thing happened at the same time last year) and because my university doesn't deign to pay graduate students during the summer, we are broke. However, the biggest thing bothering me is that my daughter's 3rd birthday is coming up on Sunday, but we are having trouble getting anyone in her age range to the party. It's not her fault that her birthday falls on a holiday weekend this year, or that despite telling two of the parents ahead of time about this they still had other plans which were taking them out of town; it's just upsetting to me because my family has had a long history of not being able to have successfully well-attended parties. It wasn't until I was an adult (with friends I've known for more than half my life) that I have been able to have enough people show up for a party to consider it well-attended. Honestly, having a 25% attendance rate for my sweet 16th (1 of 4) was a success to me because someone for me showed up.

My standards are quite a bit low.

     Anyway, I'm upset for her because none of her friends will be there. Fortunately, she's young enough that it won't be a problem, but I'm not too keen on doing any more of these things. It's hard to have a party for a child when it's on a holiday when people want to spend time with their families (not for me, but that's because there are very few family members I still want to speak to who aren't living in my house), and if I had known that people were not going to show up, I would have given her a party on another weekend. We're competing with a holiday and the opening weekend of the Ohio Renaissance Festival (and we do attend this, but we go towards the end of the season so I can buy stuff on discount; that has more value to me than the 50% off entrance fee for the opening weekend, but I understand why people are going when they're going). It also helps that we do a little something for her at church, so she is going to be on cake overload for her birthday.

     Maybe I'd be a little less upset if this week hadn't been so stressful, but as I seem to only function if I have at least a minimum level of chaos, stress, and instability in my life, I'm somewhat used to this. I hope my baby girl has a happy birthday anyway.

     Well, it's late and despite wanting to end on a happier note, I need to be bright eyed for photos tomorrow. I'll try to make sure that I post pictures and/or video soon because my girl is TALL! She's not yet three, but she's 40 inches tall. No, that's not a typo. And she's thin, too. And she looks just like my mom. And whether you see that as a positive thing or not to end on, for me it's a good thing. Goodnight everyone. When I do get online, it's more likely my Twitter page so holler at your girl! :-)

Guess What Today Is!

It's Devi's first birthday (yay!!!)! She's turning one and I'm still trying to run around and get everything together for the party that will be starting soon. I hope it goes well.

Since I'm in a hurry (and suffering from a bad sinus infection), I will have to add photos to this post later this evening. I'll also have to fill you in on the ordeal of the whole thing.

Love you all!
~ Kay

P.S. I wanted to send a special thank you to Uncle David Dust who hooked me up with a "Peace, Bitch!" button. I only got it yesterday because I haven't been on campus since July, but I am looking forward to wearing it when I teach and waiting for my students to ask what it means. :-)

So What's It Like To Turn 30?

This was the question my older brother asked me on Saturday. Seeing as he is the older of the two of us, I said "I don't know; you tell me." I had a very nice birthday on the 19th that resulted in being spoiled at a nice restaurant and getting some nice gifts.

My husband had to wait until he got his paycheck to buy me gifts [which I didn't want him doing anyway, but he was determined...] and he ran out that morning to go shopping. I ended up waking up early [Hey! 10a.m. is early for me on a Saturday] and watched t.v. until he brought up breakfast. We went to the mall so that I could use my 20% birthday discount at FYE where I limited my purchases to a couple of CDs and then we went home to hash out where to go for dinner. My usual birthday spot of choice (the Melting Pot) was way too expensive even with my coupon for a free chocolate fondue dessert, so I went looking up the different Cameron Mitchell restaurants in town to pick something. We ended up choosing a place called Martini's, a place we last went to for our anniversary a few years ago, and he called to make reservations. I also got to talk to my mother-in-law to wish her a happy birthday and to thank her for the gifts she sent to me [a necklace and a yarn(?) woven basket]. It's kind of weird to share a birthday with my m-i-l, but it makes it easier to remember when it is, so it's a decent trade-off.

At dinner, we discovered that Prom season starts early in these here parts, as there were a ton, and I mean a ton of prom goers at the restaurant. There were eight couples seated right behind us and another ten couples in other areas of the restaurant [not counting the couple of girls who came an hour later to be horrified at all of the "popular" kids who were already there; I'm not sure if they were dating each other or going as two friends without dates, but they were nice sized girls (read: not skinny) and very cute]. Note to Project Runway judges: That dress that Victorya won with for the prom dress episode isn't the style that prom goers are wearing this season. Sweet P's and Chris' dresses were much closer to what I saw Saturday: Every dress reached the floor and there were a number of ball-gown styled dresses were on display. By ball gown, I mean that they were Cinderella-esque in the skirt (but not too full). Some were taffeta and others were silk in the skirt. The rest of the girls wore dresses that had a split up to the thigh (usually showing the left leg) and they all looked very nice. I haven't seen many people wear short-length dresses to the prom, from high school (where I didn't miss one; dating an upperclassman had one privilege) until now, so I don't know what they were thinking on that show.

Anyway! If you are ever in Columbus and go to Martini's, ask for John Z. He is the nicest waiter you will ever meet and he gives great suggestions for substitutions for the dishes that make them better. And if you are nice to him, he'll be nice to you [We are always polite, but to get it back in spades was quite a surprise]. He was catching hell from another table because he was delayed dealing with one of the large prom tables when my husband decided that he would tell the manager how great a job John was doing even before the meal was finished. The manager, who I thought was a class-act, said that John is his best waiter and that he hears compliments for him a lot, but he appreciates hearing them every time. John gave us a little extra sauce to go with our leftovers and even packed up the little bit of dessert I had left. When he brought out the desserts, he put a pink candle in my husband's dish and a blue one in mine because he didn't know what kind of baby we'll be having, and he apologized for not singing to me because, in his words, "What little appetite you have will be gone" if he had. After dinner, he offered me some tea for the road, helped me gather everything from the table, and even put me in the car once my husband returned with it. We're the kind of people who are usually good with tips (even though people would sometimes assume we weren't going to tip when we were younger), but John went above and beyond to be the best server we have had anywhere. He did so well, we are going to return to Martini's for our anniversary this year (if we're not broke again).

So what did I get for my birthday? The Second Bathroom Reader (I own a ton of these books), a new manga, a little Charlie Brown Book called "Security Is...", and the new Gnarls Barkley CD. Oh yeah, he surprised me at home with the Dave Gahan Hourglass Remixes LP (you read that right; I wanted vinyl) that I had been trying to get for over a month. He (smartly) held onto it when he surprised me with it because he didn't want me to break it in my excitement; something that is, sadly, a possibility with me. I wanted it because it would be my first new record (I have a collection of old albums, but nothing contemporary & you'd be surprised at how many new records are put out in the market today) and it comes with a bonus CD. I just love the idea of the CD being the bonus.

I got to talk to my mom and uncle on my birthday, and my brother sang to me (which was hilarious!). It was a very nice birthday, and here I was ready to sleep through the whole thing.

So what's it like to be 30? It's not bad. I don't feel different. Am I supposed to? I don't know.

Edit: The link for the prom dresses immediately defaults to Sweet P's dress, so the link may seem a little out of place because of it, so my apologies.