Ramble

Still...waiting...to hear from Scripps. Why? Am I such a controversial applicant that they have been arguing about this for the past month? Will they even remember my interview by the time they pull out my file to make a decision?

Ben is taking research methods and behavioral neuroscience classes this semester. He's way excited. Anybody have neuroscience lab connections in SoCal? If so, speak now.

It looks as though I may have a job, (although the situation is a little unclear) at the city's snobbiest coffee boutique as a barista's barback. Hopefully beginning next week I will begin to acquire all sorts of coffee wisdom.

I am loving Freaks and Geeks. Sooooo much better than Knocked Up, which I did enjoy a little. I am so sick of movies that bank on the shock factor to make money.
Juno was super cute, too. SUPER cute.
May have already posted about this, but I saw El Orfanato with Brock, and it was GREAT.

Oh! I almost forgot again! I forgot Eastern Promises when I made my Favorite Things of 2007 list. If you haven't seen this movie, you are missing out. I recommend listening to the NPR interview with Viggo Mortenson before you watch the movie.

Ghetia and Dru, friends of Ben's and mine from St. John's, came to visit last week. It was so nice to see and talk to them. So far, Ben and I have only a couple of friends in L.A., and it makes such a difference to be around people who understand your past. I feel the same way about family, of course. Here's a photo of Ben and Dru playing around in our little studio-

Kind of like a big Thank You note

THANKS EVERYBODY!



The photo of Moira hasn't been framed yet, but it's so nice to have it! Also, notice the cute magnets Hannah and Emma made and the new knives and knife sharpener.



Thanks for the lovely photo, Ben K! Also, Ben H made me a beautiful bird house which I have yet to mount outside, AND he gave those flowers to me. Brad, notice that the Wait Wait mug you gave me is still very much in use.



Ben H: Thank you for the print. Ben K and Julie: Thanks so much for this photo-it's beautiful.



And the map, which upon closer inspection is a really really good map. Thanks, Dad. Isn't the pup cute?

Finally, thanks to everybody who contributed to the ever-expanding library. I already finished Love is a Mix Tape (I recommend it- especially to anyone who loves the 90s or music or love or good writing) and the Kite Runner and Musicophilia. Sam, thanks so much for the absolutely gorgeous Stephen Jay Gould collection-it's so beautiful! Also, I've rediscovered the Jo Malone cologne you got for me a couple of Christmases ago and I love it! I think I needed to grow into it.

Back to real life?

I wanted to post some pictures of the apartment because it looks so great with all of the pictures everyone gave me! For some reason, however, the picture uploader thing isn't working. Weird.

So I'll just post about what has happened since I left Ohio. Ben H and I had a great New Years Eve dinner with a couple of Ben's close friends from high school and then a fantastic New Years Day with Ben's family and close family friends. Our friend Ghetia came up from Santa Fe for a couple of weeks wearing a suit as his only luggage. We bummed around for a couple days and then Ghetia flew up to San Francisco to visit a few of our other St. John's friends. Then Brock came to Los Angeles on a business trip, which involved inspecting a private collection of 25,000 bottles of wine (this was actually only the Los Angeles part of his collection) and then having two extra days all expenses paid to hang out with me. We came up to Ojai to watch the New Hampshire debate, which was very entertaining, and then drove down to L.A. again the next morning because I had choir rehearsal. Then we went out to dinner at Cha Cha Cha's, an amazing Cuban restaurant only a couple of blocks from my house (Brad, I must take you here) and had the most delicious jerked pork, coconut shrimp, and goat cheese and guava quesadillas. Then we went to the Arclight to see El Orfanato, which was good/scary/sad. Definitely worth seeing.

I have been working on Rosetta Stone Spanish (thanks Jaime!) and have new resolve about getting a full-time job. Oh! And I found out on New Years Day that I got into Bennington in Vermont, but am still waiting to hear from Scripps. Still, I feel a tremendous relief at having been accepted by Bennington, and I emailed a St. John's alumna who did the Bennington post-bac program and is now in the middle of the psychiatry residency program at Johns Hopkins, and she was very enthusiastic about it.

So, today Ben drove up to San Francisco to meet our friends (I can't go because of work) and I am in Ojai with Grushka getting ready to drive down to L.A. and get a real job and take care of other real life sorts of things. Sad. It's been such a nice holiday. Oh, and that game last night was devastating. I hate the South and I hate the BCS.