How right was I...

... about Ajira Airways yesterday! I freaking love Lost.

Update on Non-Teaching Activities

Mostly what I write about on here is teaching and what that's like, but I thought it might be nice to do a quick update on the rest of my life. So here it is, in list form (because apparently lists are how I process information... who would have thunk it from a such a normally disorganized person?):

1. Cary and I are pretty well settled into our new house, which we bought in November. Most of our pictures are hung, and my mom sent us her piano (so she can turn her formal living room into a library... I want a library). We are trying to phase out our TJ Maxx art and buy real art from our friends or from the art festivals here in town. We're also gearing up for our house blessing/warming next month.

2. Atticus is growing by leaps and bounds. He is almost four months old now, and weighs five pounds. The vet says he was not properly socialized, since he was separated from his brothers and sisters so young. So basically, we have a socially awkward cat who bonds with us by mauling us. We are working hard on fixing this... and by "we," I mean Cary and me, not Atticus.

We are also getting neutered in a few weeks... and this time by "we," I mean Atticus, not Cary and me.

3. George is keeping up the hardcore hatred of Atticus. Poor guy. All he wants is some peace and quiet with Cary and me, and what he gets instead is a kitten half his size pouncing on his head. He has gone from a genial, good-natured fella to a perpetual sourpuss. He's happiest at night, when Atticus is sleeping in the laundry room.

4. I haven't had any real matron of honor duties yet for Suzanne's wedding, but she is going full steam ahead with the planning. The wedding is December 19, and she already has the church, the bishop who is going to marry them (a friend of the family), a reception hall, and a caterer. They started registering last weekend. I'm going down to Palm Bay for a few days over spring break to help shop for a dress - yay!

5. I'm in a really great Bible study at church. It's a study by Beth Moore, who is this dynamo Bible study writer out of Texas. There's a video component to the study, and I guessed that she was from Texas based solely on her hairdo in the video. Every week her hairdo gets bigger. But the study is really good, and I'm getting a lot out of it, despite the giant hair distraction.

6. My obsession with Lost gets bigger every week too. I'm really glad Cary's watching it, or I would explode with commentary at the end of every episode. My officemate Daryl watches it too, so we can discuss on Thursday mornings. Biggest questions right now: are the Oceanic Six coming back to the Island via Ajira Airways? Is Miles the Dharma video guy's baby? Is Locke really dead? Is Desmond coming back to the Island too (with Penny)? Is Sawyer going to be shirtless again? (Just kidding... but really, is he?)

So that's the rest of my life right now... nothing too exciting, but I'm enjoying it.

25 things

I saw this on a friend's blog, and since it's Christmas break and I'm just hanging out, I thought I'd put it on mine. Just 25 random things about myself. I'm supposed to tag 25 people, but I can't think of anyone who deserves to be annoyed that much, so I'm skipping that part.

1. I read all four Twilight books, plus the unfinished draft of Midnight Sun, and still can't figure out why I liked them. I mean, I did, I just don't know why.

2. I named my cat after Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, because he is the most awesome literary character ever.

3. Kitty Atticus is not much like Book Atticus, though.

4. One of the things I love about my husband is that when I say, "It's possible," he adds, "Pig," and we both know that he's not insulting me, but rather paying homage to one of the greatest movies of all time.

5. My niece and nephew call me Aunt Emily, and I'm just waiting for the day when they watch The Wizard of Oz and start calling me Auntie Em. And by waiting, I mean not looking forward to.

6. The first movie I ever just totally lost it in was Titanic. Full-out hysterics for the entire last hour of the movie.

7. That was definitely not the last movie I ever lost it in, though. Steel Magnolias gave Titanic a run for its money.

8. When my friend Debra and I worked at summer camp together, we told our campers that we were twin sisters. And they bought it, even though we look nothing alike.

9. Sometimes when I grade essays, it's all I can do to not write "WTF?" next to some of their grammar/punctuation/spelling mistakes. Like the paper that claimed that John McCain supported "tickle-down" economics.

10. I take it a little personally when my students skip class. I wonder if my professors ever felt the same way.

11. I could eat at Leonardo's Pizza three times a week and never get tired of it. My body might rebel, though.

12. Sometimes I do eat at Leonardo's Pizza three times a week, and more often than not, I run into my sister there, because she also eats there three times a week. Usually these meetings aren't planned at all - we just have a serious addiction to Leonardo's.

13. I wore a tiara on my wedding day, because seriously, what other day could I get away with that?

14. I also kept my veil on through the whole reception, because when else would I get to wear a veil? That's right, never.

15. My favorite TV show is The Office. I have a mini-crush on Jim. Not John Krasinski. Jim.

16. When I went back to England this summer, six years after my first trip there, one of my top priorities was to eat a scone with clotted cream. That stuff is freaking amazing.

17. I got a huge kick out of English place names while I was there. You know, names like Lower Piddle. And I'm pretty sure I actually saw a town called Lower Piddle.

18. One of my aunts gave another aunt a book called "The Shoes of Salvation" for Christmas. I think I might believe in the Shoes of Salvation.

19. My mom also got a book called "Feng Shoe." I think my family might have an addiction.

20. I do not like Wal-Mart. Not just because of corporate greed run amok, but really because I can't stand the way the aisles feel like they're closing in on me, and the way people bring their two-year-olds there at 11:00 at night so the rest of us have to listen to them screaming.

21. I really can't handle scary movies. I have a hard time with The Others on Lost. Suspense is not really for me.

22. I love Florida football, and I always feel a little star-struck when I see Tim Tebow on campus.

23. Red polish on my toenails always makes me feel good.

24. My freshman year in college, I took a salsa-dancing class.

25. I love the beach.

I love Christmas

I love all Christmases, but I'd say this one has been pretty high on my list of all-time awesome Christmases. We left Gainesville on the 20th to go to my parents' house in Palm Bay, cats in tow, and got to spend time with Suzanne and Mike, plus my aunt Margaret and uncle Bill from Nebraska, and my aunt Melissa and cousin Wil from Alabama, and both of my grandmothers, and my traveling buddy Debra. I know so many people dread spending extended amounts of time with their families during the holidays, but I seriously think my family is fantastic. I love spending time with them. Everyone gets along, and we all have a good time. I think even my dad, who is a hardcore introvert, has fun, because he can retreat to his music studio when he needs to recharge. On the 23rd, we went with Suzanne, Mike, Debra, Melissa and Wil to the Magic Kingdom, which was part of Wil's Christmas present (he's 13, so spending two days at Disney is still cool for him - hell, I think it would still be cool for me. I love Disney). On Christmas Eve we all ate barbecue, and on Christmas morning we opened presents together, and my amazing husband got me a MacBook! Yay! It is so pretty and user-friendly and I love it. I got him a hiking GPS, so we can go geocaching. He was really excited about it, so I think this is one of our more successful gift-giving Christmases. Now that I have a job, we can actually afford to buy each other something nice.

We came up to Live Oak, FL (about 45 minutes south of the Georgia border) the day after Christmas to see Cary's family, who are also great. We overlapped one night with Cary's brother Jamey and his family, which was just enough time to enjoy each other's company, but not so much time that we all felt cramped together in the house. Yesterday we mostly watched back episodes of Lost - all the seasons are online, and people keep telling us we need to watch them, so we watched one and got totally hooked. Now we're trying to watch all four seasons before season 5 starts at the end of next month. We love it - we watch and watch and watch, and then discuss where we think they really are. At the end of season 1, which is how far we've watched, I think they're in purgatory. But please, no one leave me any comments telling me if I'm right or not. I'd rather watch and learn.

So all in all, great Christmas. We're heading back to Gainesville later this week, and back to real life, but for now, I am going to stay in my pajamas for another hour or so, play with my MacBook, and watch 18 billion episodes of Lost. Then we might geocache. Or just watch more Lost. Or geocache while discussing Lost. I'm really up for anything.