Yeeee Haw!

I'm leaving today for a trip to El Paso to visit my brother, sister-in-law and niece. I have been already instructed that I will not in fact be allowed to cross the border to visit the motherland, but I will settle for throwing something into the Rio Grande. I'm thinking about throwing my Ichiro bobblehead. The trip is bittersweet; I'm thrilled to visit and spend time with family, but there is a shadow because it is an opportunity to spend time with them before my brother deploys in January. I know, I know, enough with the heavy shit, but there it is, staring me in the face. *Le sigh.* The day after I get back I will commence with my classes and/or hitting on members of the new cohort. Eewww. I just grossed myself out. (But seriously, fingers crossed.) I went to the store to buy school supplies the other day and came home with a pencil sharpener shaped like a wiener dog and some post-its. I feel prepared.

Happy anniversary, darling!

Sometime around now is my one year anniversary with the fair city of Seattle. It has been a hard year for both of us, but I can safely say that we fight WAYYYY less than when we first got together. It also means that instead of falling flat on my face and flunking out of my PhD program (as planned), I actually have to begin my second year of it. Maybe nothing has changed in one year and maybe everything has changed, I'm not really sure. Here are the tangible signs I have lived her for one year: I am out of coffee filters, I know which side of the street to stand on to take the bus in the direction that I want to go, I have no fanciful notions about paying less than $4 for a pint of ANYTHING, and I also have no fanciful notions about strangers being nice/ talking to me (although I am more accustomed to being indiscriminately yelled at if I happen to be downtown at night). I love the Mariners even though no one else does, I still hate Pete Carroll, I am lukewarm about the Huskies (but that is mostly because I don't think I look good in purple), and Capitol Hill can take its hipster and pretension laden chaos and shove it...except for the hotdog stands. I love those things. Also, Pike Place is only bearable from Tuesday to Thursday during the morning when kids are at school. I really love it here and I hope Seattle and I can stay together for a long time.