Max: Did you eat the tuna that was in here?
Sara: What tuna?
Max: The can. It was right here.
Sara: The cat food?
Max: That wasn't cat food. That can of tuna cost four dollars.
Sara: Oh. Well... he loved it.
MTC: (licks lips)

on looking before you leap

Let me tell you about my bad ankle.

While studying abroad in Glasgow the International Society put together a trip to the Isle of Arran. It was a really lovely weekend. First of all the weather on the first day, by far, was the nicest any of us had seen since we'd arrived in Glasgow. It was February but we spent the day hiking in t-shirts. My friends and I ended up at the far side of the island when night started to fall, halfway through a hike to King's Cave. It was beautiful, it was easy to get distracted:



We finished the hike but missed the bus back to the hostel where we were to spend the night. February isn't exactly the peak of tourist season so we knew there wouldn't be another bus for awhile, if at all. We decided to walk. By the time we arrived at the hostel we were exhausted, dehydrated, and famished. Dinner was postponed one half-hour (twice). For consolation we were given a fifth of local whisky, a few bottles of Arran Ale, and a case of wine. This may have played some role in what happened next.

Like I said, it was the off-season. The hostel wasn't actually open for business at all, the International Society had stuck some deal with the owners. The town around the hostel was so still, deserted. Out the window we could see Lochranza Castle. It looked so romantic! The back wall crumbled as we watched it, the moon was full and its reflection glittered in the water around the castle.



I don't remember who started running toward the water but there must have been a dozen of us by the time we got to that crumbling wall. I do know that Harry and I reached the water first. We grinned at each other and charged full-force ahead, preparing ourselves for the icy shock.

The shock shocked us! It was not the water we experienced next but a short tumble down a jagged rock wall. Harry's thick Australian skin left him relatively unscathed but my leg looked like this:



The scrapes I could handle but by the next day my ankle was the size of a softball. It probably didn't help matters that I continued to hike on it. When I finally sought medical attention the doctor couldn't believe that nothing was broken or fractured.

Moral: I am invincible. Also I now know when it's going to rain. If this grad school thing doesn't work out, I can always market myself as a weather girl.

A few weeks ago I read a friend's blog about how she had been drinking Four Loko. I looked it up, realized it was similar to Sparks, and I may have emailed the company immediately to see where I could get it in Philadelphia. They emailed me back to ask me what area I live in. I replied that I live in the Rittenhouse Area, yada yada, I forgot about the exchange.

Well, today some Four reps showed up at Food and Friends (where Max works) to drop off some samples. HAHA. We realized tonight that one can is 24 oz of 12% alcohol. That is like three sparks, or about five bottles of beer. In one container. Also there is (FDA approved) wormwood in the US version, and ABSINTHE in the EU version. Oh and each can is 660 calories. HAHA. I have decided to abstain.

We EST-ers have a little under an hour left of November. I just read the first 31 chapters of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and now I am in bed, drinking an Anchor Steam Christmas Ale and trying to mentally prepare myself for December.

First of all, it is really important that I don't fail out of grad school this semester. By 'fail' I mean 'receive any A minuses.' I think. I think that's what I mean. Anyway, though, I'll strike you a deal: if you don't ask me in the next two weeks how my program is going (please don't), I won't tell you. Fair is fair.

As if completing the semester weren't enough, our South Philly house fell through! The inspector found a few things that need to be fixed immediately, but the ladies who own the house refused to fix them or bring the price down. Now we are scrambling to find a new place! We are looking at a few properties on Thursday. I will be channeling Annette Bening- "I will sell this find a house today."

IN ADDITION, I'll be spending the entirety of next Monday in court for that mugging trial. What a pain in the badonkadonk.

All that being said, I am in good spirits. I am excited about the papers I am writing, excited to decorate our new mystery house (ha), excited for Christmas break, and excited for my trip to Denver! I also had a really wonderful Thanksgiving in the Poconos. It is so peaceful and happy in my parents' home in the mountains, and my whole family was there, and I saw some of my oldest and dearest friends. To top it all off, Max came back to Philadelphia earlier than I did and he cleaned the apartment so I would have a nice space to do my work when I got home. Thanksgiving got a little silly. Tea cozies were worn, Scotch was consumed, we started up a little ragtime band.







I, for one, had no alcohol on Turkey day proper... you'd never know it from the photos.

...Thomas Beckett?

One of the perks of my current life path: when it's a November Saturday and you don't particularly feel like getting out of bed, you can watch the movies of the books you're reading well into the late-afternoon and still be contributing positively to your life.

Jack: Cecily and Gwendolen are perfectly certain to be extremely great friends. I'll bet you anything you like that half an hour after they have met, they will be calling each other sister.
Algernon: Women only do that when they have called each other a lot of other things first.

I am getting so excited for the holidays! I want to get a tree again but it feels kind of pointless, we pretty much need to be packed by Christmas. I guess I could get one right after Thanksgiving and have a holiday get-together at some point in early December. Anyway I have been trying to find a picture of our Christmas tree from last year but all I can find is this:



Other things I love about the holidays:

Snow!




Baking!




Making Presents!

Today I spent four hours in court, and by spent I mean wasted because they never got to my case and I need to go back in December. Oh and then I got in a fight with one of those people who stand on the corner and solicit strangers for money to end global warming, or save the gay baby whales, or something. Does every city have these or is it a Philadelphia thing? Those guys are THE WORST.

Oh SEPTA is back, thank goodness. We are free once again to criticize their service and forget how much we need them.

Play me out, Violent Femmes. This is the first result for this song. Those signs are all SEPTA signs. COINCIDENCE?



Losing my mind. Fo sho.