Turkey weekend

Thanksgiving with my family was nice... with my cousins. My father went out of his way to ignore me. At least I didn't have to make polite conversation with him. I spent a lot of time worrying about Morty and Eli, since I've never left them alone for so long. I worried about ridiculous stuff, like "what if the sitter doesn't show up?" I was so guilty about leaving them for Thanksgiving that I fed them this super gourmet cat food the morning I left. (They were fine though, and happy to see me when I came home)

Ron and Katie's wedding was beautiful and perfect in every way. It made me a little sad too because Josh's family is so anti-wedding, and I was seeing things that I'd never have, mainly the white dress and a big party. It's still far down the road, so maybe things will change. For now, I'll be satisfied with my memory of Ron brushing a tear from Katie's cheek while they stood at the altar together.

Yes, Kristen and I started crying at that point in the ceremony.

Here and Now

I was back at Rutgers tonight for the first time in a long time. While walking up the hill to Somerset Street, I saw an L bus, and it was strange seeing one again. I guess being back on the Rutgers campus made me see how much has changed since I left that school.

I guess I've hit a really low point in my first semester. I've been having doubts that I've made the correct decision. The problem is, I've made an investment already in going to law school, and it's not a small one, even for one semester. Sometimes I think that I would've been happier finding a job in New York instead. If I did that, I don't think I'd be dealing with 4-5 hours of sleep a night, or be humiliated during contracts two classes in a row. I feel really lost, no matter how much work I put into it. Aren't I supposed to be better at this stuff now that I'm not a newbie anymore?

The school has a policy to remove the bottom 25% of each section after the first semester and put them in a "remedial" lecture to go over those basics that we obviously didn't grasp. That's 40 students from my section alone! A lot of students feel as though the school is trying to make students feel as stupid as possible, such as assigning a paper and then teaching a lesson that was critical to the completion of that assignment right after it was due. I guess hearing about the possibility of being placed into that class right before finals season didn't make any of us feel that good.

I'm scared.

Happy One Month!

They love their donut!

Morty (gray) and Eli (black) have been with us for one month as of today. In case you don't know, Josh got them for me as an early Christmas present. It was a present for himself as well. I was willing to wait until Christmas to get them, but Josh couldn't stand the pressure anymore of those cute furballs at the Petco in Union Square.

I was busy with my midterms when they came into my life, so I didn't get to say much about their first days in the apartment. We adopted them from KittyKind, a no-kill, nonprofit, all volunteer cat rescue and adoption group. You "Apprentice" viewers out there might remember KittyKind's mention in the dog washing episode where Andy thought he triumphed by "closing a deal" with KittyKind to accept the percentage of profits they were offering. I don't need to be a national debate champion to convince a charity to accept money.

In just one month, we've learned so much about Morty and Eli. For example, they like to watch TV and "type" on the laptop. They like swatting their toy mice under the stove and watching me lay down on the dirty floor that I should clean and squint at the unknown wilderness that is the underside of the stove. They have cat toys galore, but they find joy in cardboard boxes and kibble. Really, kibble. They reach into the bowl, pick out one special piece, and bat it around for hours until they lose it under the stove.

Last night, Eli climbed onto the couch where I was reading, curled up next to me, and fell asleep, purring. It was the best. Josh thinks that Eli likes me more. He wakes me up in the morning now, laying on my chest, purring like crazy, and staring at me about an inch away from my face. He's learned that when he does that, I wake up and feed him and Morty. The first morning, he did it at 9:30. The next morning, 8:30, and on the third morning, 7:30. At that point, I said, "No way, it's not time to get out of bed yet!" and refused to get up. Eli proceeded to climb onto my pillow and chew on my hair.

I love them!

Dumplings, anyone?

I love dumplings. I'm fascinated by them. Because of that fascination, I decided to make my own dumplings, or rather, pot stickers. I followed Alton Brown's tip of using wonton wrappers to make pot stickers.

It would've helped if the wrappers that I bought were square and not rectangle. I had to fold them in half so they looked like funny little ravioli.

My other problem was the filling. There was a lot of it, since I used a recipe from somewhere else. I had 52 wrappers and had half my filling left by the time I finished using them. After buying more wrappers this morning (ones that were actually square!), I wound up with 96 pot stickers. I'm trying to figure out if I saved any money by making them myself, but I think I'll tell myself that I did, so I don't feel like a tool.

Last night, I cooked some of the pot stickers to "test them." It was 2:00 a.m., but they still tasted good anyways, especially with the dumpling sauce I made to go with them!

Show me the Fassel!!!

The Baltimore Ravens played the Cleveland Brown tonight. This might be confusing to some of you (of the three readers I have), since I'm not a football fan. The reason I was interested in the game can be summed up in two words.

Jim Fassel.

He was the head coach of the Giants, but got fired at the end of the 2003 season. He's the reason I watched the Giants. At first, it was a joke to play on Josh. I'd annoy him by saying, "Oh, Jim Fassel is so hot. He's the hottest coach in the NFL." He's not bad looking for an older gentleman! The joke reached its high point when I wrote to Jim Fassel and got an autographed picture in return. A lot of Josh's friends can't believe I did that.

Well, I don't get to see much of Jim anymore, since I usually only pay attention to Giants games. Tonight, Josh spotted him on the Ravens sideline, so I watched the last quarter. Yes, I got to see Jim for a brief moment.

And it was good.

Sheep

Take that, Michael Moore. I can't stand you.

Take that, all you actors and music artists, using your celebrity status to sway young people who aren't educated enough to realize that your word isn't the bottom line.

In the end, no matter who won, the entire country would not be happy. Die-hard Kerry or Bush supporters seem to have this mindset that the rest of the country will fall in when they realize how great their man is. Face it! The other side is just as stubborn as the other.

At least the whole process wasn't drawn out like the last election. I felt that if any of the parties wanted to pursue repeated re-counts, the candidates should pay for them.

Well, in Kerry's case, he'd have to ask his wife to pay for him.

Giant douche

This year's election was summed up most eloquently by last week's episode of South Park.

We have a choice between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.

Go turd sandwich!