a beautiful weekend!
Guess what wonderful thing I've had in my lap for the last two days? A beautiful cat called Little Meow Meow!
Here are two pictures:
I've decided that a lap cat is an absolute study necessity: I haven't been able to sit still for so long since...I don't remember when! When we were girls, my parents always marveled at my sister's and my self-motivated study habits -- but at some point, I became extremely susceptible to the call of every temptation. I need another cup of tea. I need something crunchy to go with the tea. Wait -- was that a knock on the door? Let me start dinner. I'm thirsty again. Now a bathroom break! What's in this week's New Yorker?
But with Little Meow Meow purring bonelessly on my thighs, I simply don't have the heart to move. And so I say to myself -- there's this other thing you needed to do, remember? Without her company, I definitely would not have completed a day's worth of online traffic school (speeding ticket now dealt with completely! Yay!), watched an Ang Lee movie that's long overdue on my queue (Pushing Hands -- I recommend it -- not as highly as The Ice Storm, but a good companion piece to The Wedding Banquet), and finished 1/5th of my grading ahead of schedule. There's still a lot left to do, but as long as I am making progress, I'm not as panicked as I was during the previous weeks when I felt too heartsick to do much.
Oh -- she's kneading me! She loves to do that! She's a massaging machine AND and a tummy warmer! How much perfection can coexist in one creature!
Actually, all three of Uncle George's cats have been sleeping with AS and me. 5 in a bed -- crowded but wonderful. Pang Pang -- which means Fat Fat -- is AS's favorite. That cat is so big I can't lift him up. I'm small but strong, so that cat deserves his name. Gray-and-white Little Mimi is the prettiest and friendliest (Little Meow Meow actually plays favorites a lot -- I don't know why she likes me, because she is downright rude to AS and hostile to the other cats), but since Little Mimi seems so capable of finding her own happiness (that cat will purr like the engine of a muscle car for 15 minutes if you stroke her twice!) that we've been indulging the other two more.
Uncle George's house is really a mansion, especially to little Asian girls who grew up in densely populated areas. Another great study tool: a leather full-body multi-function massage chair. Strange how my students' persistent poor grammar seemed less provoking when my neck and calves were being squeezed JUST so...AS has been taking morning jogs, since the neighborhood streets and air are so much clearer here, and I've been practicing the piano in the mornings. We're not going to try to jacuzzi, even though Uncle George offered, because we're already overwhelmed with luxuries...
Even before our arrival at house-sitting late Thursday night, AS and I were enjoying a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. The delicious and plentiful dinner included a Chinese-restaurant-roasted turkey, which all agreed was the juiciest turkey we've ever had. There was also gravy, veggie and non-veggie stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, green bean casserole, salad, stewed squash, mulled wine, wines, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, hand-whipped cream, and warmed snifters of brandy -- the table was truly laden. The six of us played a few rousing rounds of "Egyptian Rat-screw" before dinner (JB remained, as ever, the undefeated champion), ate, played Cranium while digesting and laughing, ate dessert, cleaned up, and said happy goodbyes. I am so glad that my final LA Thanksgiving filled my heart with thanks. Oh -- and Ernestine and Joe provided further great company, except poor Joe found Ernestine terrifying, so I had to keep my humble but adventurous turtle on my lap much of the time, until Joe got over his trauma and embarrassment so that he could join us again.
The earlier part of Thursday was uneventful, except I washed, dried, folded, and put away 5 loads of laundry -- I failed to do laundry since September, I think...Now I can stop wearing fancy back-of-the-closet clothes!
Five major tasks left for November, two of which I hope to put a good dent in tomorrow. And then, alas, back to a mundane life without Little Meow Meow!
Here are two pictures:
I've decided that a lap cat is an absolute study necessity: I haven't been able to sit still for so long since...I don't remember when! When we were girls, my parents always marveled at my sister's and my self-motivated study habits -- but at some point, I became extremely susceptible to the call of every temptation. I need another cup of tea. I need something crunchy to go with the tea. Wait -- was that a knock on the door? Let me start dinner. I'm thirsty again. Now a bathroom break! What's in this week's New Yorker?
But with Little Meow Meow purring bonelessly on my thighs, I simply don't have the heart to move. And so I say to myself -- there's this other thing you needed to do, remember? Without her company, I definitely would not have completed a day's worth of online traffic school (speeding ticket now dealt with completely! Yay!), watched an Ang Lee movie that's long overdue on my queue (Pushing Hands -- I recommend it -- not as highly as The Ice Storm, but a good companion piece to The Wedding Banquet), and finished 1/5th of my grading ahead of schedule. There's still a lot left to do, but as long as I am making progress, I'm not as panicked as I was during the previous weeks when I felt too heartsick to do much.
Oh -- she's kneading me! She loves to do that! She's a massaging machine AND and a tummy warmer! How much perfection can coexist in one creature!
Actually, all three of Uncle George's cats have been sleeping with AS and me. 5 in a bed -- crowded but wonderful. Pang Pang -- which means Fat Fat -- is AS's favorite. That cat is so big I can't lift him up. I'm small but strong, so that cat deserves his name. Gray-and-white Little Mimi is the prettiest and friendliest (Little Meow Meow actually plays favorites a lot -- I don't know why she likes me, because she is downright rude to AS and hostile to the other cats), but since Little Mimi seems so capable of finding her own happiness (that cat will purr like the engine of a muscle car for 15 minutes if you stroke her twice!) that we've been indulging the other two more.
Uncle George's house is really a mansion, especially to little Asian girls who grew up in densely populated areas. Another great study tool: a leather full-body multi-function massage chair. Strange how my students' persistent poor grammar seemed less provoking when my neck and calves were being squeezed JUST so...AS has been taking morning jogs, since the neighborhood streets and air are so much clearer here, and I've been practicing the piano in the mornings. We're not going to try to jacuzzi, even though Uncle George offered, because we're already overwhelmed with luxuries...
Even before our arrival at house-sitting late Thursday night, AS and I were enjoying a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. The delicious and plentiful dinner included a Chinese-restaurant-roasted turkey, which all agreed was the juiciest turkey we've ever had. There was also gravy, veggie and non-veggie stuffing, mashed potatoes, peas, green bean casserole, salad, stewed squash, mulled wine, wines, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, hand-whipped cream, and warmed snifters of brandy -- the table was truly laden. The six of us played a few rousing rounds of "Egyptian Rat-screw" before dinner (JB remained, as ever, the undefeated champion), ate, played Cranium while digesting and laughing, ate dessert, cleaned up, and said happy goodbyes. I am so glad that my final LA Thanksgiving filled my heart with thanks. Oh -- and Ernestine and Joe provided further great company, except poor Joe found Ernestine terrifying, so I had to keep my humble but adventurous turtle on my lap much of the time, until Joe got over his trauma and embarrassment so that he could join us again.
The earlier part of Thursday was uneventful, except I washed, dried, folded, and put away 5 loads of laundry -- I failed to do laundry since September, I think...Now I can stop wearing fancy back-of-the-closet clothes!
Five major tasks left for November, two of which I hope to put a good dent in tomorrow. And then, alas, back to a mundane life without Little Meow Meow!