"Trees and flowers await your love."

Do you love engrish.com? If not, you should. I'm not a big fan of the mocking part of it that sometimes crops up (ie, in the title), but the gathering of hilarious English makes me smile.

So, it's been pouring like water is going out of style today, and my Service Engine Soon light was on for the first time ever. The second question in my Saturn book regarding this problem is "Have you just driven through a big puddle?" Since the whole town has been a giant puddle, I've decided not to worry about this unless it stays on after I've driven the car a couple of times. Probably, the electrical system is just damp. Like everything else.

The secondary problem is that, while it has for the time being stopped raining, we are now under a tornado watch with potential storms moving in. Y'all know how unfond of stormy situations I am. If you aren't familiar, have we met? The work I have to do today is essentially finished, but I do have a reading to get to tonight, and some socializing out on the town later. Fingers crossed that whatever is going to happen is out of its system before I need to actually be outside. Otherwise, you know where I'll be: On my bed, where nothing bad can get me, under a blankie. That's right, I said blankie.

in which I waste time before I teach at 11:30

I just had (part of) the most disappointing cup of chai ever. I got it at Panera, and I drank some of it with no trouble, but then, I felt something I shouldn't...the milk, it transpires, had separated out. GROSS!
Now, I don't know exactly how chai is made, but I have never had a cuppa do this, and I have no idea what happened.
Happily, this is the only thing that has marred a morning that is beautiful outside, when I'm wearing a nice outfit and had a lovely and blemish-free Fresh Apple Pastry, also from Panera.
Guess I'll stick to Hazelnut coffee from now on, with five sugars and cream.
So. How you been? Things have been pretty hectic here, but I'm finally getting some free time for a couple of important projects, and of course treating myself to a bubble bath here or a nice breakfast there. I'm wearing my sweet red heels today, which almost cover the sunburn I got at the ballgames this weekend. Yeah...who ever puts sunscreen on their feet? Not me. I also appear to have missed that part of my back where my shirt rides up and my pants ride down. That's going to leave some interesting lines. No matter what I do, I can't ever seem to color, whether tan or burn, without odd streaks or spots. And April-May is the worst...the sunshine is so deceptive. I heard someone talking about not wanting weird lines because they were going to a wedding; I laughed out loud. Because really, who cares? Who cares, two weird girls at the game who were an absurd color of brown (as in, a strange color no human, no matter what race, should be) and then were checking their lines, which honest-to-goodness looked orange, or like that raw sienna crayon color? Guess what? Your skin will look like your leather shoes in about ten years. Have fun at your reunion.
Speaking of which, I have one coming up. Scary! Okay, I'm lying about that, it's not scary, except that the last ten years seem to have gone awfully quickly. I'm actually looking forward to seeing people and what they've been up to all this time. While I've been so busy becoming a published poet. Which is the spin I'll give it.
Well, it's birthday o'clock, which means it's time to get ready to go.

Wednesday. For no reason.

Right, so I know it's been a while, but I wanted to leave my Spartans up top for as long as possible.
In personal news, since talking about real news is a very mixed bag indeed, I bought some shoes yesterday. These and these.
This morning, I tried to drive to school, but I was running late and there were no spots in either lot I park in, which is nuts, and so I drove back home and walked to school. In my Skechers. So far, things are looking pretty good.
It's all just as well because I when I was driving I saw two people basically run stop signs and two people grossly ignore the stop line at intersections.

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

NCAA HOCKEY CHAMPIONS 2007!

If you don't think that's unbelievably awesome, I can't help you.

The game was crazy. And by crazy I mean super-close. No one expected State to get that far, except us faithful Spartans who know the grit the team embodies. ESPN always calls them a "lunchbucket" team, which I love, because it exactly captures the patience and hard work they were throwing around last night. At one point, they were talking about one of Jeff Lerg's saves, and one announcer said, "It wasn't pretty to look at; it's not an oil painting. But he got the job done." A lot of what the Spartans threw down was pretty, some of it wasn't, but they also just played the game. It was physical (some of the pics on State's website show the loft after a few of the hits), it was tense, and if I shed a little tear as the last seconds ticked down, it was in appreciation of my all-time favorite hockey team looking like a National Championship team...

which they are.

Ladies, Insects, Requiems, and Emcees

Things I did that were not grading this weekend:

Baby shower! Much fun was had with a house full of girls and not a few babies. There's actually a picture of the mothers, babies, and pregnant lady that is too adorable for words.

Requiem! My church's choir sang Faure's Requiem during the 11 o'clock service Sunday. It was awesome fun. I really enjoyed hearing it, even if there was a little child on the opposite side of the congregation who we could hear talking through the whole thing. If your child is a chatterbox, there is a nursery, people! This Requiem is a big undertaking, and I'm pretty sure they were trying to record it.

Cabaret! While it seemed odd to attend Cabaret on a Sunday, I went ahead and did it anyway; after all, it's not really about the debauchery so much as it is the social clime and scary trends that were being largely ignored at the time. Highlights: former student as the emcee (a little weird to see his naked butt towards the end, but eh...it's the theater), a very lively Frenchie with the best sassy smile of the crowd, a rather dynamic lift that reminded me of the good old days, and the really interesting set choices. Drawbacks: I forget how loooooong the first act it (it is nearly two hours, and the second act, about 30-45 minutes. Ouch.)

Had a close brush with an indoor centipede!
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate them? I'm not ascared of much, but whenever I even look at one of these, it gives me a creepy feeling inside and makes me shudder. Even if it's in a picture. And if they're running, that's one hundred times worse. Bleh! So, when I was grading on Sunday night and looked down at my leg briefly, imagine my horror to find one ON ME! AHHHHH! I had a blanket on my lap, and there it was crawling up me. EW EW EW! I flicked it off me and then had to move my bag because it was probably going to crawl in there. Shudder. I feel so sorry for the three papers I was reading immediately following this incident because I'm pretty sure my comments will make no sense. Such was my distress.

Today, there are storms evidently rolling in, which will do no good for my centipede-jangled nerves.