Questions Answered By My Trip To Houston

(I spent last weekend in Houston, and it was delightful. I only took about 20 pictures, though, and all of them were taken during our day trip to Galveston, so I'm just going to intersperse a few of them throughout this post. Enjoy!)

Q. How long can babies scream?
A. One and a half hours, at least, bless their shrieking hearts. Coincidentally, this is the length of a plane ride from Nashville to Houston.

Q. How are things in the Dominican Republic these days?
A. Not so good, if we are to believe the eager young lady on my plane who was delivering a monologue to her seatmate regarding her recent mission work in "The D.R."

Q. What other information can young missionaries offer us?
A. Well, this one in particular is "a strong believer in the power of prayer." She also believes that the humidity level in locations like the gulf coast keeps people looking young.



Q. Are your views on public v. private education realistic?
A. No. As a matter of fact, I have it on good authority that I become "irrational" when talking about this issue in particular, and that what I need is "another 10 years in The Real World." (As an aside, may I just add: *sigh*.)

Q. Aside from the occasional good-natured heckling directed toward budding social workers, what is Lee's uncle like?
A. He is a very friendly and generous man who knows good meats and cheeses when he sees them. Also, tall.

Q. How much cheese is too much cheese to consume in one day?
A. This is a trick question. There is no such thing.

Q. What are Lee's views on fresh mozzarella cheese?
A. Apparently, it grosses him out that it's packed in water.



Q. What's all this I keep hearing about "death panels"?
A. I believe you have come to the wrong question-and-answer session. Perhaps you were looking for this?

Q. Can you swim?
A. No. Interestingly enough, I have not somehow become a good swimmer since the last time I tried.

Q. Can you at least tread water?
A. Listen, I have a lot of other very useful skills, OK?



Q. What do oysters Rockefeller taste like?
A. Like elastic mouthfuls of briny protein marinated in the joyous tears of angels and then covered in cheese.

Q. Seriously though, these questions have very little to do with your experience in Texas.
A. That's not actually a question, but nevertheless, I shall address it. I had a great time, and it was exceedingly nice of Lee's uncle to let me come stay at his place and hang out with him and Lee for the weekend. (Lee's been working for his uncle in Houston for the past month, I don't know if I mentioned that or not.) I got to wander around the biggest mall I have ever seen ever, I ate raw oysters (and oysters Rockefeller), and I got to see all the thrilling sights and sounds of Houston and Galveston.

Also, we went to this restaurant called Ragin Cajun that serves cajun-style fried food, and it was delicious. And, to activate the drink machine, all you had to do was kind of wave your hand in front of the beverage of your choice! I swear, the things you see in the big city. I don't know how people get used to it.


(By the way, my brain-damaged gerbil wasn't dead when I got home! He's still tilting his head to the side all the time, but he doesn't seem too bothered by it, so I've resolved to stop worrying and just think of it as a new endearing quirk. Hooray!)

I Don't Even Know Where to Start

I promised my friend MB that I would post a blog today, so that is what I'm doing, even though I don't even know what to tell you guys. There have been a variety of new developments in my life, and I feel like if I tried to fill you in now I'd just get tired and confused and start drooling on myself. HOWEVER, because I love you and you're so BOSSY, I'm going to do my best to bring you up to speed. But I make no guarantees that this post will encompass everything new that has happened since 3 weeks ago when I stopped posting regularly and everyone got really disappointed in me.

Oooook... the first thing I need to tell you is kind of sad, but I just found out about it today so it's fresh on my mind: one of my gerbils has some kind of brain damage. Well, actually, I don't know for sure that it's brain damage, but he's holding his head kind of tilted to one side, and he's walking around like he's drunk or concussed or something. But I googled "gerbil leaning to one side" and wikipedia says that it's probably an inner ear problem and nothing to worry about because he'll... get used to it? They may be right, because he's still eating and digging and gerbiling around like he usually does, so I think this situation is bothering me more than him. I keep standing anxiously over the tank like "Heeey buddy. How ya doin? You wanna start walking in a straight line again, please, because mama finds it unsettling."

This issue is of particular concern to me because in about 30 minutes I'm leaving to go to the airport to fly to Houston for the weekend, and right now my roommate is also out of town, but she'll probably be back before me. So what if my gerbil isn't ok and then he DROPS DEAD while I'm gone and then my roommate comes back and has to cope with a dead gerbil and then she naturally assumes that it's my fault he's dead because I'm neglectful? Or, even if she doesn't assume I'm neglectful, it's still kind of uncool for me to saddle her with the inconvenience of a dead rodent when we've only lived together for a week. What if he's been dead for several days at that point? What if the other gerbil... like... eats him, or something?

... I'm going to stop thinking about this right now, because I don't know whether to cry or throw up.

Also of note is the fact that I moved! I'm still in North Carolina, but in a different city, where Grad School will happen, as I'm sure I've mentioned. My new apartment is pretty sweet, and includes such features as: balcony, roommate, washer/dryer hookups, and more than 2 windows. My last apartment had none of these things, so even though I am taking a serious paycut, I'm still moving up in the world. (For the record, there were windows in my last apartment, but there were only 2. It was on the bottom floor of a building built into a hill. This parenthetical is so boring.) I was really pumped about having a roommate to talk to, but then the day after we moved in, she said, "Oh hey, I'm pretty much going to be gone for the next 3 weeks, see ya!" Which was sad, but also kind of a blessing in disguise, because that means I get 3 more weeks before I have to stop indulging in my treasured pastime of walking/sitting around with no clothes on.

I'm a little embarrassed that my roommate was only here for 2 days before she left again, and all of her stuff is put away neatly, whereas I've had 4-ish days to unpack and there are STILL boxes all over my room. It's no big deal, I just have to keep moving boxes off the bed when it's time to sleep and back onto the bed when it's time to... walk... anywhere. It's alright, though, because at least I put up curtains, so it's not like I'm some kind of savage. Maybe later if I'm feeling generous I'll post some pictures of the new place. Tell me, would you prefer photos with or without boxes? Keep in mind that I lived in my last apartment for 2 years and when I moved last weekend there were 2 boxes in my bedroom that still hadn't been unpacked. So saying you want to see pictures "without boxes" may be equivalent to saying that you want to see pictures "never." Just keep that in mind.

Ok, it's almost time for me to head to the airport, so I need to wrap this up. I promise - I mean, I will try really hard - to update you on my Houston trip as soon as I get back. Also stay tuned for answers to important questions like, "Will grad school turn me into a trembling ghost of the woman I once was?" and "Do you think I should put the clothes hamper in the closet or the bathroom?"