I don't know why, when I could be rollicking in the delight of constructing my ontology of German Cinema - um could be and should be as it is due today - I'm popping in to write here. Last-few-weeks-of-classes-hard. Little sleep. Much formatting. I handed in a 40 page group paper today and somehow I got stuck with the copy editing and formatting of said paper. A copy editor I am not. You may be able to tell from my punctuation. And is there anything more frustrating than trying to get Word to do what you want when it doesn't want to - like drop the sudden mysterious line spacing issues or not have the WHOLE block of text move when you just want to tab one line. I can tell I am not a Team Player for sure because my heart burned with the injustice of doing this work as my other Team Players doubtlessly lolled by a pool or at least got on a plane to go somewhere fun and interesting for Thanksgiving - what's that? would I like some pumpkin pie? No thank you, I have about 1000 more citations to make look pretty. You know what I want? Iron-clad, no fucking around RULES that are sensible about citing internet sources - it is 2007. The "world wide web" is here to stay, people. Let's reach a usable standard that does not necessarily have to involve 3 lines of html code or determining who the author of the Library's collection policy happened to be. The end. As you may guess, I am ready for my 4 day break now. Break with homework and cooking up a full-on feast, of course, but nonetheless, I mostly relish the thought of Not Having to Look Nice everyday. Remember when I felt pretty and/or cute, not so long ago? Ha. With the colder weather (and might I add spectacular leaves) dressing has become a major challenge. I would like to wear skirts but my tights aren't making it above my belly. Also- wool and nylon and cotton and spandex and just about any other fabric you could name sends me into frenzies of itching. Particularly in the chestal and belly regions. I am itchy 24 hours a day, no matter how I slather on the moisturizer. Itchy boobs=social good times. I fondly remember the days when itching never crossed my mind. Those carefree days. Anyway, my sister sent me some maternity pants but she is 2 inches taller than me (and not to brag or anything) but her pregnancy stomach was considerable so these pants are always in need of being hitched up. My other alternative is a weird on me pair of maternity jeans with kind of tapered legs from my SIL that are barely passable. And my shoes need some serious rejuvenation. Long story short - I feel less than cute. And itchy. I would like to be in the world in a loosely flowing caftan a la Mrs. Roper but those maternity days are over my friend. Actually, I'm just kind of longing for the days of confinement. Cloistered stifling Victorian era confinement with good books and soothing foods. And no bibliographies.

In other randomosity I just got the RIP call from my stereo repair guy - en route to NC my beautiful NAD amplifier up and quit working. I loved this object. Solid, simple, hard working with pre-wired FM antenna and importantly, phono jacks and pre-ampage. It was my live-in boyfriend's about 100 years ago (maybe 13 years ago). He bought it with inheritance money from his Grandma and prized it dearly. In my first and only palimony demand, I asked for it when I moved out because he was a pretty awful boyfriend and was 17 years older than me and really should have known better. Such was his guilt that he said yes and threw in his nice speakers. Good-bye old boyfriend, I've been carrying around your vestige in hardware for long enough now I guess. But dang, I'll miss that amp. I miss playing my records.

And I half dread/ half look forward to the return of NPR to my living room. I wake up to NPR, drive to NPR and have NPR in my kitchen on a little clock radio. With one long year to go before elections, I'm not sure I can handle anymore build-up. And I'm going to confess something I've been holding inside - except for AH, he knows and could recite well all the reasons I feel this way as I rant about it most days - I am not a Hillary supporter. At all. I like her, I respect her, I want a woman candidate, but I was extremely disappointed that she chose to run this election. Very very disappointed. She is not an elderly lady. This was not her last shot. She should have bided her time. It's too soon. She is too reminiscent to me of the whole Clinton / Bush dynamic and old ways - when I want something new this time. I think everyone could use a little shot in the arm, not the same old crap and scandals and "dynasties". Plus, does Obama have literally shelves of books written about his true hideous evil self that millions of people in this country accept as gospel truth? No. Is that someone I want to see as a Democratic candidate, someone out of the gate with a huge hating population rubbing their hands with glee over the chance to vote against her? No. Let me say again that I like Hillary "as a person" but I think if she was savvy at all and was thinking of the USA and not her own career, she could have waited 4 years to run. That's all. End of confession.

I suspect I'll be posting again knee-deep in stuffing and pumpkin pie. I hope you do too.