This is about as close to a high school reunion as I ever hope to be.

Thank You!

I don't know them all that well, but my neighbors rock!!! Sunday morning when I woke up, someone had cleared all of the snow off of my driveway, and today some neighbors dropped off homemade chocolate candies for Christmas.

Way to go S. Holly Drive!

So here is something that has been seen only twice ever, first at the Christian school teachers Christmas party, under the influence of much prosecco, and then last night, after a mojito and some champagne: me, doing karaoke. And it was fun!

More on Advent

Tonight was our extended family Christmas party. And since I found out last week that my sister-in-law is pregnant (yay!), I decided to ask my nephew about it. I said "So, what's in mommy's tummy?" His answer? "Baby Jesus!"

So, you heard it here folks. Christ is coming again, and is due sometime next July. We are not sure yet if it's a boy or a girl.

(If you are not familiar with the word sputton, now might be a good time to google it)

I May Need a Tutor

Here is a formula from page 2 (!) of my hearing science textbook:

d(t)=A sin [2pi square root(s/m)t + starting phase]

That's right...my computer doesn't even have symbols for some of those things so I had to write them out in words.

I may be in trouble this semester...

Be Prepared...for Broadway

The theme of yesterday's service at church was "Be Prepared," as part of Advent. During the offering, a man, I think a tenor, sang a beautiful song accapella. The only words were "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," and the tune was really pretty. And I thought I had heard it before...I was running through the places I might have heard it in my head...The Messiah? No...and then I realized it--it's from Godspell! A YouTube video when I got home confirmed it. My church is singing showtunes for the offertory. I guess that's what I get for going to the contemporary service, which I really go to more for the time than the music. Going to church at 11 AM seems much more sabbath-like to me than 8:30. I guess if you want to sleep in you just have to put up with a few showtunes here and there.

Quick reading update

I finished Unaccustomed Earth, and I highly recommend it. As I mentioned earlier, I sometimes have a hard time with short story collections, but this one was different. There are some recurring characters who show up again, but not in a cheesy way at all. It's good stuff.

A Job Well Done

So, dealing with my admissions counselor has been a royal pain in the butt. He called me last week while I was on my flight to CA to tell me that he needed transcripts from 2 classes I took one summer during college. Oh, and he needed them the following Monday, despite the fact that it was a holiday. Right, like that's going to happen. So I spent way too much energy figuring out how a plan, and then executing the plan. I faxed a request from CA, followed up by phone and e-mail, etc. etc. And still it didn't happen. His response? Oh, well, okay, you can still register. WHAT? I thought this was a necessary step before registration? He pulled the same crap with the placement test...

All this to say that my expectations of personnel at the university were extremely low when I went to register this week. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I had an advising appointment which I thought would be useless...I was planning on having to explain why I don't need to take freshman English, etc. But, the advisor was way ahead of me. Not only did she know my situation, but she went above and beyond to ask if I could take one course out of order so that I can enter the MA program next spring, and save 2 semesters overall. I had asked about this myself and was told absolutely not, but she went to bat for me (without me even asking), and made it happen. Rock on.

My admissions counselor had also said we could go and get our pictures taken for IDs. So I walked across campus to do this, and the office was closed (way to go, admissions counselor). But, again, someone who was super nice. This lady said that even though the system wouldn't work, she'd take my picture and mail me my ID. I got it in the mail today!

I love people who go above and beyond--thank you advisor and ID lady!

godmother

I've been trying to figure out how to express my thoughts on being asked to be a godmother. I really can't...at least not without sounding too sentimental or melodramatic. Saying things like it's an immense honor, or I'm filled with joy, or it makes me want to be a better person, all sound like fluff, even though I could say I believe each one.

I think some people see being a godparent as just a title, but I want to take it seriously. And the one thing that I love about how the baby's parents described it is this: they want someone who, if they were to die, could tell the baby things about her parents that other people don't know, not even their families. It's a little overwhelming, but moving to be thought of as such a person.

Another Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year in San Jose was a smashing good time. I stayed with Jen and Brian, who hosted the Thanksgiving festivities. Of course, the festivities started with a demonstration of the ever-wondrous steam mop.

Wed. night we prepared for the feast by ironing table linens and cutting bread into cubes for stuffing, along with various other food-related tasks. Jen and I also practiced our napkin folding skills, for which we were both sure we deserved a Calvinette badge.


The feast itself was delicious.

I got to meet Annabelle. I was asked to be her godmother, and I'm honored to be so. She's adorable, and smells like baby, spices, and soap.

We also had some fun outings. We spent a day at the de Young museum in San Francisco.

I got to wear Annabelle, and we bonded over the Yves Saint Laurent exhibit.

Then John borrowed the camera for his modeling session.

One event I did not get pictures of was an arrest on the light rail. Well, I guess it wasn't technically on the light rail, as the sheriff dragged the teenager off before wrestling him to the ground. There was also some light cursing, and a 2 or 3 year old asking what was going on. Her dad told her the teenage boys were bad, and probably spent a lot of time in time out.

An amazing trip.