Finals

Cat doesn't have any finals. Not where she has to go and sit and take a test. She really wishes she had. Instead she has to write a paper about linguistic stuff and make a model of her scene design.


The model is seriously cool. Cat doesn't seem to think so, she keeps swearing at it. I was sitting in it (in the pool - that's right, the set has a pool!), but Cat get muttering "Tipsy you're not to scale" and chasing me out. Whatever that means. I think calling me fat is not a nice way of saying I'm in the way.


She has to finish up the pool and the waterfall and make the last piece - a little gazebo with a dome on top. She's saving that for last. Depending on how much time she has, she'll make it more elaborate. She also has to make a little tree. She was going to use real twigs, but since they've all been encased in ice and snow since last Thursday, that's not going to happen. So she's going to buy some things. Too bad it's not supposed to be an evergreen - she could mutilate a Christmas wreath.


Cat's been alternating between listening to Rufus Wainwright and Madonna. I'm trying to wrap my head around that. I'm not sure I'll be able to.


Cat feels bad that she hasn't worked on her paper that much, but she says she's less concerned about it - she's written ten page papers from scratch the day before they were due before, so this isn't so bad she says. It's already half written and the teacher gave comments. Still, a good deal of Wednesday will be set aside for it. Cat hopes (knock on wood) to fire the waterfall (it's made from sculpy clay) either tomorrow night or the day after (ashita to asate in Japanese, if anyone cares . . . ). If she can do that, she thinks she'll be in good shape.

Look at the pictures to see how it has come along. Everyone's going to be glad to get the squares side of the battlemat back.

Holiday News

Tipsy and I spent a most uneventful break at Miss Caitlin's Parents' house. The esteemed Deirdre accompanied us on the train at the beginning of break. Miss Caitlin was sympathetic to my suggestion that it would be extremely rude to leave her alone on the desk here for Thanksgiving, and there was no opportunity for her to return to Miss Adrien while we were still at University. So we brought her with us and returned her to Miss Adrien on the day before Thanksgiving, when Miss Caitlin visited Miss Adrien and her Puppy, who were both staying at Miss Adrien's Parents' house.

We had a diverting time catching up with all of our friends at Miss Caitlin's Parents house, including Hamlet the Elder, who was visiting Miss Caitlin's room, having been long neglected by her brother. Her brother was also in attendance, though only for a few days, as he had to make sure that their lab's cellular research was not neglected.

Having returned yesterday, Miss Caitlin has commenced with Holiday preparations. Caitlin adorned the windows with snowmen and snowflakes, and Master Gabriel accompanied her in the picking out of a small Christmas Tree for the apartment. She belatedly realized that she had forgotten a star for the tree, and that it could do with some more beads. However, it is suitably charming for the time-being.

Miss Caitlin also found out today that the English Honors Committee has accepted her revised proposal for her project, so she will begin looking for sources to check out over the long winter break to begin her research. She will be examining creatures like "the Fey" in different cultures and will try to ascertain if they are connected to each other or to a common ideal. While the committee said that she had picked a large project, they approve of her enthusiasm.

Otherwise, Miss Caitlin's time will be spent between final projects for her various classes as well as keeping her sanity. She has yet to commence her scene design project, but that will be begun for certain tomorrow, as they have time to work in class. Otherwise, she will be fitting things in as she can.

The Continued Adventures of the Snowdrop

I am so sorry. There's been like two and a half Traveller games and I haven't reported on them. One was a short day where Sera Lewellan made sure that the local authorities were aware that the Snowdrop was in NO WAY involved with the bombing of a rebel base. They also made a fair profit on their speculative trade goods. It was short because Cat was really sick and couldn't focus on the game.

In the next exciting session, the ship was almost blown up by pirates. Comm and sensors officer Midnight and Pilot Chester Mannix had their hands full managing the long distance battle with a ship significantly larger than they were. With the help of the Steward's shooting as well as the engineering know how of Chad Ahron and Van Hawkins, the ship managed to stay together while taking the pirates down. Captain Gerrick Ransly kept the crew organized while the battle took place, and even managed to help hack into the enemy's computer. Drake Reed waited impatiently for a boarding that never came while Sera Lewellan stood at the back of the bridge with her fingers crossed that these fools would NOT succeed in blowing her and her ship up.

Having triumphed with a ship that was barely holding together, they limped to the spaceport in system where they received a discount for having taken out an impediment to business. While the ship was being repaired, the crew sampled "Argentinian" Pizza and gambled. Captain Gerrick ran into an old friend from the time he was in "information gathering" for a organized crime boss a few systems over. His friend, in "acquisitions," needed a loan to complete a pre-arranged transaction. Not liking the thought of what would become of his friend should his business not come through, Gerrick agreed to loan him 20,000 credits with a nice interest rate. Unfortunately for Gerrick, his friend was nailed and port security got his name. Gerrick lied his way out of charges of aiding a drug run, but he was less than thrilled with the news that his friend had gotten away and did not seem likely to pay him back. Taking the group's muscle with him (Reed), Gerrick went to confront his friend about the 20,000 credits and interest that had been promised to him. Unfortunately for them, his friend was hopped up on some highly illegal and unstable psi-drugs that sparked an immediate fight. Leaving Reed stuck under a steel crate, the criminal escaped.

Gerrick of course informed port security of the criminal's whereabouts, but they where soon proven no match for the rouge psionic's mind powers, hiding ability, or his drug-filled tranq darts. Gerrick again decided to take matters into his own hands, taking with him Reed (who was pissed because the guy "cheated" with the telekinesis thing), Chad, Chester, and Carmichael the steward. The remainder of the crew ordered pizza delivery and watched the fight on the bridge, Midnight having used her hacking ability to put the security camera feeds up onto the main screen. In the firefight that ensued, Carmichael parried the psionic's telekinesis with powers of his own, much to the surprise of the rest of the crew. The crew succeeded in taking out the dangerous drug runner but decided that they had had enough trouble in the system and kept a low profile until their repairs were finished.

In other news, Cat went to see a play at the school Kyle went to. Snibbly went, and he went on and on about the whole thing forever. They saw the other Caitlin from the Girl Scout troop and heard all about her summer research. Again, Snibbly went on and on about cell wall permeability in red blood cells because of it (I think it was for Deirdre's benefit - she's visiting again - anyway it certainly wasn't for mine). They also saw Kyle and met some of his gaming friends (wish I was there for that at least).

She also went to Columbia one day to try and find shoes for work. No go on the shoes, but she did find an awesome hat to wear when she doesn't have time to do her hair in the morning.

Cat took the GRE while she was sick, and rocked its socks even though (because?) she was on a little too much medication, taken so she could sit up long enough to take the test.

Thanksgiving's this week. She still hasn't taken the tickets off the fridge and given them to me. She really ought to do this. HINT HINT. We'll get to see all the home people. It will be lots of fun.

My last bit of news is very sad and very solemn. After many years of faithful service, Cat's oven has given up all hope of life. It totally killed Cat's breadstick earlier tonight. And in like 4 minutes too. It was pretty sad. Cat left a phone message for her landlady about the tragedy. Hopefully the appropriate steps to dispose of the poor thing will be taken soon.

Cat's not here right not because she's at the play, "house managing." She says that means she bosses the ushers around and tells people not to bring food into the theater. It doesn't sound all that important to me. Cat doesn't really like the play, not that it's not done well, she says, she just isn't a fan of Brecht. I guess he wrote it. It's called Threepenny Opera. Anyway, tonight's the last night for that.

That's all for now folks. I'll try to stay on top of the Traveller thing better from now on. That was a lot to write!

Not on Her Way to Campagne

Miss Caitlin, as the title of this post would suggest, is not currently on her way to Champagne.

It was her hope to take advantage of the recess from classes that occurs tomorrow to visit the Library Science program at University of Illinois. Unfortunately, Miss Caitlin has been suffering from an illness that has not quite abated as of yet. While she is much improved, Miss Caitlin decided after much deliberation that she would be better served by staying home and resting tomorrow and calling and visiting the graduate program later.

Miss Caitlin is very frustrated that she had to make this choice, as she has been looking forward to leaving Kirksville and visiting her friends in Champagne. She is also frustrated that it has been gloriously fall like in weather conditions and temperature, and she has been unable to enjoy them, being stuck inside while ill. She was angry that she could not move her GRE examination from yesterday to a time when she would be healthier, but she did very well on the portions of the test that were already reported. However, the score she was most wanting to improve was her writing score, and that will not arrive for a few weeks. Miss Caitlin had to take a little more medicine than she was supposed to so that she would not cough through the entire test and prevent both herself and the unfortunate people who were in the room taking it with her from doing their best on the test. In general, Miss Caitlin is impatient with being ill and desires rapid improvement, which does not seem forthcoming.

Crafty

Cat made stuff for the Cabbage Patch Kids. Comfort is now the cutest Cabbage Patch Kid on the planet. Cat finally finished the shirt she's been working on since before school started - she had to make substantial alterations to the pattern - which annoyed Cat to no end, because it was supposed to fit the classic Cabbage Patch Kids, no problem. But all turned out well. Cat also made the cutest jumper on the planet. Comfort is now well stocked in flutterbies. Mrs. Cat's Mom will be jealous. The flash made the jumper look more blue, but really it's a plum purple. Without the flash it was blurry, so I included both.


Also pictured here is Sean-Spud in his PJs which Cat did two weeks ago. They're very warm, so Sean hasn't been wearing them much yet. But he wanted his picture taken in his new clothes with Comfort.

Adventures of the Snowdrop

Cat has been working on grad school stuff - slowly but she still has plenty of time. She was delayed by getting sick last weekend. It was a weird little thing - she was really sick for like 36 hours, and then she was fine, just a little tired. Anyway, not much got done over the weekend. Just the absolute necessities. But now her references have everything they need to reference for her, and she has most of a resume and most of a personal statement. Those things are going to get hammered out this week so she can have everything ready to put into applications in one go. She's also studying for the GRE with Sean (big Sean, not Spud - Spud wouldn't help her very much . . . ), and some on her own.

Today was a Traveller day! Almost as much fun as DnD days! Anyway, two weeks ago, the Snowdrop (a modified noble's pleasure yacht owned by Sera Richelle Llewellyn, Baroness of Umkahkuu) was employed to make use of the not-so-famous-but-very-intelligent Professor Van Hawkins's latest experiments - aka chemically enhanced weapons and explosives. The thing they were supposed to make use of this on was a base for insurgents with a free-Earth agenda (not very popular in an Imperialist setting, alas). There were grenades, and a really big fire, and the ship's hired gun was badly injured (no one was surprised) and the engineer was almost killed (everyone was not happy - engineers are important! Not that hired guns aren't . . . ), and Sera Llewellan had to bad mouth the nightside starport manager. But everyone made it out okay in the end and they retreated back to another system - one far enough away to hopefully not raise suspicion.

There they played on the fancy space station. Drake Reed (the hired gun) got in a bar fight over a not happening pool game, Chester Mannix (the pilot) and Chad Ahron (the engineer) went shopping, bought toys, guns, and candy, and saw a news report about they haven't been caught yet for blowing up buildings elsewhere in the sector, and Sera Llewellan lost her artificially intelligent robot when some navy sneaks wanted to see what kind of info he had inside of him. After paying off the port security for Reed's misdeeds, and kicking them into gear to help with Sera Llewellan's problem, Captain Gerrick Ransly and the rest of the crew (minus the delinquent Reed, who was kept on the ship by the Baroness's hand maid and her tranquillizer gun) got together to muster out the robot from possible harm.

After a bit of speculative buying, the Snowdrop is preparing to depart to deal with some pirates several systems away, hopefully for more profit this time. I know everyone will wait anxiously to hear the continuation of the Snowdrop's exploits, to be continued three weeks from now, when people are mostly done taking stupid tests and things. (Cat won't be, but that's okay - the next Traveller game is the week before she takes the GRE - which isn't a big deal since she has plenty of time to prepare for both)

Discussions of the week: New nouns in Japanese since they've learned basic sentence structure, the syntax of African American English, resumes in Theatre Seminar (convenient, eh? It's supposed to be), and measured perspective in scene design.

Onset of Fall

This week, Miss Caitlin is discussing the history of the development of African American English, Theatre Graduate Programs, Japanese Adjectivals, and circles. It is sort of a full week, but Miss Caitlin is enjoying a little more free time because she is not leading a game this week. Instead Miss Adrien is, therefore allowing Miss Caitlin to play. She has to organize the next week's space adventure, but she already has some ideas for that. Perhaps Tipsy will regale you with more information about the starship Snowdrop at another time. After all, she is far more interested in that than I am.

Miss Caitlin is enjoying her work at the library. While she mostly just shelves books, she also has the opportunity to do other things, like discussing with an eleven-year-old the pros and cons of reading Brian Jacques' Redwall books in chronological order versus in the order in which he wrote them. She hopes that they will eventually give her more involved jobs later.

The weather was beautiful today, with a high of 70 degrees. The whole week is projected to have highs in the low to mid 70s. It is Miss Caitlin's favorite weather. She plans to enjoy it while it lasts - keeping last winter's ice storm in mind.

Schoolness

We're back at school and Cat's been to all of her classes at least once. Cat says Japanese is pretty cool, especially since there are people who are worse at it (yes, even with only 3 days of class, she can tell). Theatre Senior Seminar is like Theatre-group-therapy- because-no-one-knows-what-they're- doing-for-the-rest-of-their-lives. Cat's glad it only meets once a week. Scene Design got taken over by the new Theatre teacher - which threw Cat. Not that this Janet person isn't nice or not a good teacher, but Cat was mentally prepared for a Ron class. African American English involves a lot of reading, so I'm glad it's Cat that's taking it and not me. Of all the classes, Cat's the least sure about that one. She thinks she'll do well, but it will be more work than she expected.

In more interesting news, Cat got her Traveller rulebook (finally) and she has some characters and a spaceship (how often do you get to say that?!). She's working on stuff for them to do with their characters and spaceship.

Some people might find this interesting - Cat dyed her hair again, so now it's all one color. It's pretty close to her original hair color. The sun-bleached part was really getting to her.

We have a new addition to our house - Shawn Samuel. He's a perky little kid - all the same, Snibbly and I have been staying away from him. He's nice to the other animals, particularly Clem, but the other animals are on a more even size with him - Snibbly and I are afraid of the damage he might inflict on us. Maybe when he's older. . . Cat's settled on the nickname Spud for him, but only when her friend Sean is around. Otherwise, things would be way confusing.

Other than that, things are pretty normal. Cat's working on homework and studying for the GRE. She has to sign up for a date still, but she's working on it. She hasn't been writing as much as she'd like - once the spaceship thing gets off the ground, that should improve.

University

I cannot say how much I regret the lack of information I have provided this summer. Miss Caitlin has been enjoying work, though it leaves her overheated and fatigued. This week she has spent preparing for our departure.

Tomorrow, we return to University, though Miss Caitlin's classes do not begin until the week following next. She is in for a busy semester, though she has only thirteen hours of credits. She will also try to write most of an essay to receive Honors in English, as well as resuming her work on her novel series. This she has promised to Miss Allison (friend of my dear friend Gip) and Miss Courtney (companion of the esteemed Hamlet the Younger). Everyone in the room, humans and pigs alike, had been disappointed to hear of Miss Caitlin's lack of diligence concerning her own writing. I remained silent, though I was secretly overjoyed when the young misses extracted the promise from Miss Caitlin - I feel it will do her much good. I only hope that Miss Caitlin's friends will remember to encourage her, remind her, and guilt her into working.

Miss Caitlin will also be working on a science fiction role-playing game with at least some of her friends. I feel this will detract time that she could otherwise be working on her novels, but Tipsy is extremely excited about it. She keeps babbling about "space cows." Like Miss Caitlin would allow something so ridiculous in her game.

In other news, the beautiful Comfort will be accompanying us on our trip to University. Miss Caitlin has greatly missed her oldest friend's company and is glad to have her traveling with us. I only hope Comfort does not get into trouble.

Happenings

Cat's busy with camp, studying for the GRE (which is this sort of test thing she's taking in August - I guess it's sort of important), and reading Harry Potter. She's also working on the final make-up design for her costume for the release of the new Harry Potter book. Most of her time is taken up by camp though.

Now on to the real news. Anyone who knows Clem will remember that he was suffering from a beanie deficiency. This deficiency was making him look thin, ill, and distinctly un-Clem-like.


There is good news however. After Cat and Mr. Cat's Dad located the tackiest beanie-pillow currently on the market, Cat and Mrs. Cat's Mom ransacked the pillow for beanies for a Beanie Transfusion into Clem. The procedure started at approximately 3:30 and took about 45 minutes to complete. It was principally performed by Mrs. Cat's Mom because of her superior knowledge and experience in stuffed-animal emergency care. Clem is now resting comfortably, under the care of his friends. Mrs. Cat's Mom has informed us that a secondary procedure might be necessary once the new beanies settle. This would be done sometime in mid-August, before our return to school.


Let us all hope and pray for a complete recovery.

Cat Stupid and More Pictures

Sorry this took so long. Cat was stupid. First she made us take baths - both of us, even though I wasn't nearly as dirty as Snibbly. It was not fair. Though she didn't put me in the dryer and she did shove Snibbly in there - heehee. I got to air dry. Anyway, after that, she started work at camp, and then the computer was off most of the time during the day and Cat was tired and crabby at night, so we didn't get to play on the computer. Grr. We're in K-town now, checking up on the apartment and paying bills. It's kind of creepy - no one's here but us (Snibbly, Cat, and I) and the My Little Ponies. Clem and the bigger animals stayed at Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's house.

So, without FURTHER ado, Greece Pictures Part 2:

Our first picture is from Mycenae - Supposedly this is where Agamemnon was buried. Not sure about that, but it was the grave circle of a very important dude. So important that later generations extended the wall to included it in the settlement - something that the Greeks usually didn't do. They liked to keep dead people out of their cities. So that they made and exception means they revered the dead here big time. They found at lot of stuff here. It's in the National Museum. I didn't see them. I'm okay with that.

This is in Nemea - near where the Nemean Games were held. They were kind of like the Olympics, or the ones held in Delphi, except they were done in honor of some dead kid. Anyway, this is the Temple to Zeus there. It was cool because you could actually walk on the Temple. We're inside the Temple in the picture, but it's hard to tell.

This is us at the Venetian Castle overlooking Nafplion. It was cool because you could climp all over it and there were murder holes and blind alleys and arrow loops and other cool things like that. There were seven separate towers that were supplied separately and had to be taken on one at a time in case of siege. It was a defender's heaven and an attacker's nightmare. Cat wanted to spend more time there, but no one else did, so she couldn't. She wanted to find how to get to all seven - instead she only could play in two. It was really hard to find how to get around - everywhere there were places you could see (and they could see you) but you couldn't see how to get there. Cat said that was part of the defensive thing.

This is at the other Venetian Castle - the one on Acrocorinth that wasn't as cool. This is part of the main keep. Behind Cat (who's taking the picture - duh) is like 10 feet and then a huge drop down to the plain below.

This is us and the plain of near Corinth. We're on the top and on the edge of the arch things you can see in the other picture. It gives you an idea about how high up we were, right? Cat didn't have too many problems with heights on the trip, but this was one of the times she was kinda nervous. We all got up and down fine (though Cat kept throwing us in the bag up or down. She said it was so we didn't get in her way. Hrmph.)

This is us in the Theater at Epadarus. You can sit at the back and hear things perfectly that are going on on the stage! On of the girls in the group sang "Build Me Up Buttercup," and we all heard her perfectly. One of the professors dropped a coin at the exact middle where the sound is the best and we heard it in the back row. It was pretty neat.

This is us in front of a smoking sulfur vent on the volcano place on Santorini. It was the closest thing to real volcano-ness we saw on the whole island. That and a lot of black rocks. Snibbly and Cat thought it was really cool. I thought it was kinda lame. No lava. Snibbly got really dirty here, because he kept leaping about, trying to look at things on his own.

This is us on the boat. See the volcanic island is in the middle of Snatorini's bay - Santorini is shaped like a crescent in case you didn't know. Cat says it has to do with the volcano thing. Something about the last big eruption that was a long time ago. Anyway, to go where the sulfur vents are, you have to go on a boat, since it's on a little black island in the middle of the crescent.

This is us and the little black island that the volcanic stuff is on. Far in the distance on the left, you see the southern part of the crescent. Beyond the bigger black island is a smaller one that Cat says is older, but still newer than the eruption, and an even smaller, older island that is the same age as the crescent. Cat says the little island used to connect to the crescent - so the cresent was like a big donut almost. There was still a little opening for the sea to come in the middle of the donut. Cat says they know all this because of the rocks, so I should respect them more. I still say they're boring.

This is us and Fira. It has pretty houses. They're all done in white and blue for waterproofing. Seriously. Everyone's like - oh, they're so pretty, so exotic, but really, they have to put paint on every year for water proofing and white is cheap, so they use white. They don't have a freshwater source on the island, so they collect and purify rainwater from all flat surfaces. That's why it has to be waterproof.
Here's us and the sunset in Ia. It's supposed to be really awesome. We thought it was way to crowded to be awesome. But that's alright - sunsets are pretty anyway.

That's it for our pictures. After that, we went back to Athens, shopped for the next day, and then got up really early so we could be at the Athens airport at the butt-crack of dawn. Cat was sleepy and her ears hurt on the plane ride. Then it took her a really long time to readjust to the time difference back at home. We visited with Cat's Grandparents - we'll be visiting them again soon for the 4th of July. Her Grandpa's doing well - he's doing things he's not supposed to and annoying her Grandma and everything! For the 4th, they'll be able to drink the wine Cat bought for him in Santorini.

Santorini and Pictures of Our Journey

As you can begin to see, we have found a place and opportunity to upload pictures. My profile picture features my ancient counterpart found in the Karamikos Cemetary's museum. I assume that Tipsy will also change her profile picture to the cow we found near the pig.

I shall try to present the pictures from earlier in the trip.This is us at Hadrien's arch, back on our first full day in Athens. Notice the people and cars in the picture for a sense of scale.This is us at the Theater of Dionysos, after Miss Caitlin's presentation. We are seated on one of the chairs reserved in the first few rows for officials. On site, there are chairs that are significantly more intact, however they are roped off. This is the only one that people are allowed to sit on. Miss Caitlin also got her picture taken while she was on this chair.

The picture of us at the top of the page was taken on top of "Socrates' Prison" and features a nice shot of the Acropolis in the background.This is a picture of us at the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This is the more striking view of the Temple, including most of the columns that are still standing. There are some that are standing in the corner off the picture to the left, but these are the majority of the ones that still stand.
This was taken later in the afternoon at the Roman Agora, featuring the Tower of the Winds in the background.Here we are overlooking the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. It was a very exciting site - miss Caitlin says that it may have been her favorite, though she is enjoying Santorini immensely.Here we are with the town of Delphi far below us. This was from when Miss Caitlin and several of her classmates hiked above the village in search of the Sanctuary of Pan.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to display all of our pictures. While it will be less exciting, I will present them when we return home. We leave on Wednesday, and I will be sorry to leave this place, though Tipsy and even Miss Caitlin are tiring of traveling and are looking forward to being home.

I feel I should mention what we did while staying in Ancient Corinth. We visited the sites there, including the Agora and the acropolis, which is dominated by a crumbling Venetian Castle. We also visited Nemea, Epadarus, Myceane, and Nafplion. Miss Caitlin enjoyed Nafplion extremely - she quite enjoy hauling us all through the Venetian castle there - it was considerably better preserved that the one on top of Acrocorinth.

Santorini has been intensely exciting. We have been hiking around the caldera, listening to one of the leading volcanologists talk about the geology of the island and the mechanics of the erruptions here. Not too many of Miss Caitlin's classmates are interested, and we weary of them more and more everyday. Perhaps it is for the best that we are to leave soon. However, it will still be a shame.

Almost Pictures

Cat found us a computer with a USB drive and a good connection - but she totally left the cable at the hotel!!!! This is Fira (not Akrotiri, where we're staying) so it's not that close. But Cat promised us that she'll come back tomorrow so we can put up some pictures. And we'll go into more detail and stuff. Right now, we don't have too much time because we have to meet up with the others to go to Ia, which has pretty sunsets.

Cat's back turned red and she complains about it a lot. It seems sorta impractical to me. She should grow some fur.

Cat also says her legs hurt a lot. I don't know what she's complaining about. It's been pretty easy for us - I mean we've been exploring the island, and we haven't been on the bus that much because Cat walks us around, so it's much less tedious. We went a third of the way around the cliff - caldera thing, and we walked up and down a mountain, and all over the real volcano part, and today we'll go around another third of the caldera - cliff thing, but really, I don't see what she's complaining about.

Cat and Snibbly are still on about rocks. I don't get it. I'm more excited about the museum we visited today. It was of all this stuff from a town called Akrotiri (like the town we're staying in - I guess they're not all that creative with names here). I guess you can't go to the real site because they're still working on it. Everything was preserved really well because of something that happened when the volcano exploded a long time ago. Cat and our guide guy (who's like a geologists or something) keep telling me that the volcano used to be bigger. It wasn't that impressive when we visited it yesterday. Anyway, at this museum, they had another ancient pig and cow. Well the cow was a bull (not exactly the same thing), and the pig was a boar (I think Snibbly's pretty boring, so it's almost the same thing), and they weren't a set like the ones in the museum in Athens, but they were still pretty cool.

The weather's been strange here. Today's the only day it's been sunny all day. Otherwise it's been cloudy, which isn't so bad, and yesterday it was rainy. That was pretty bad. They had to shorten our boat trip. We only saw these little islands in the middle - one was the volcano, and one was that looked kind of like the volcano one, only it had grass and goats on it.

We'll write again tomorrow - with pictures!!! Cat's not sure how much we can put up, but we'll at least do a few! Ta 'til then!

Island Place

We're at this Island called Santorini. It's really touristy, except not the place where we are staying. So we don't have too much of a chance to use the internet. Cat got time here at this black beach place, but she used most of her time to answer her e-mail (lame), so I can't say too much because of time. Cat's walking us around a lot and the view's cool. Cat and Snibbly keep getting excited about rocks and stuff. I mean, they're kinda neat, but I don't know what all the fuss is about. Something about a volcano, but that's silly - there's no big mountain shooting lava anywhere! I think it's like the "Roman" thing.

Corinth was cool. We spent a lot of time on the bus. We met a nice animal named Bunny there. oddly enough, he/she(Bunny predates gender apparently) looked like a bunny. We'll right more about those adventures later.

So well try to write again (better) soon. Until then - bya!

Greece - Without the Silliness

Greece is quite amazing, but Tipsy is not the best at explaining its majesty. I admit, it would be easier for our readers if Tipsy had been able to make use of pictures, but alas, that is not to be. Instead, I will try and explain things in such a manner that will allow our friends and readers to look up the monuments in question, if they so desire.

The arch was Hadrian's arch, build during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrien, in approximately 131 AD. It originally separated the Ancient Greek section of the city from the Roman additions. The side facing the Greek city reads "this is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus," while the side facing the Roman expansion reads "this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus." The picture we took was on the side facing the Roman part of the city. Hadrian is better known, perhaps, for the wall he put up in Britain, to block out the Scots.

Since Tipsy made this mistake several times, I feel I need to make this clear in a separate paragraph. The Romans conquered the Greeks in 146 BC, and put up many great structures of their own. Their influence can be found all over Greece - though in general, the locals look down upon their Roman roots, and do not count as an improvement their time of occupation. They tolerate the Romans, who were respectful of Greek culture, much more than the Turks.

The Gardens were the National Gardens. We also saw the Presidential Palace, which is nearby and sports a set of guards similar to those at the Parliament Building.

Miss Caitlin presented, very well, on the topic of the Festival of Dionysus and the plays of Euripides. She made her presentation in the Theater of Dionysus, where the Festival would actually take place. It is an amazing site, and Miss Caitlin counts herself privileged to present there. I cannot believe that that cow would not pay attention to such an important moment.

The other theater was the Roman Odeon, which was restored in the 1950's and has been used for concerts and plays occasionally since then.

Then, indeed, we were most unfairly shoved into a coatroom, and not allowed onto the Acropolis. Miss Caitlin enjoyed exploring it, but she said the museum was mostly closed. This is because the Greeks are building a new museum to house the Acropolis collection. In this new museum, they will leave room for the Elgin Marbles, in an attempt to show the British that they have facilities to display and maintain the important pieces from the Parthenon.

The "big slippery hill thing" was the Areopagus, where a council of elders would meet to make judgments in cases of murder and heresy. According to legend, Orestes was tried on this hill.

The Greek Agora was the center to Athenian life, though as Tipsy said, we did not explore it satisfactorily. The temple was the Hephestion, which also displayed the story of Theseus in its freezes.

We did indeed see that which is not likely to have been Socrates's Prison, but Tipsy left out an important stop. We went to the pnyx of Athens - this is where the Assemblies of Athens would take place. This open field was the birthplace of democracy. The only major feature of this field was the speaker's platform, where any male citizen could address his peers. It was a remarkable place, though it seems unexciting to the uneducated. The cemetery was Karamikos, and it was interesting to see that the figure of a pig and cow were found among the gifts to the dead there. Only as small part of the cemetery is excavated - a large portion of modern downtown Athens is built over it.

The museum was the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Such pieces as the bronze of Zeus (or Poseidon, they are not really sure) are housed there. It was quite overwhelming, and Miss Caitlin made sure to see everything, paying the most attention to the most spectacular pieces.

The big temple was the Temple of Olympian Zeus, built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. It is located near the arch. It is very big, but Miss Caitlin and I feel that it is spectacular because of its size, but it lacks the grace of the Greek buildings. The Roman Agora was indeed an enjoyable location, especially seeing all sides of the Tower of the Winds, which is located there. The Tower was all at once a weather vane, a water clock, and a sun dial. Its sides are decorated with personifications each of the winds.

Since Tipsy wrote, we have seen the temple to Apollo at Delphi, with all the other buildings that accompanied it. There was a stadium and a theater for the competitions held in Apollo's honor, as well as a gymnasium (located at a separate site) for the athlete's to train at in preparation for the games. Also located there were the treasuries of the various city states, which would house the city's gifts to Apollo, as well as display the glory of the city-state for the rest of the Greece to see. The tour guide, who is a friend of Miss Caitlin's Professors, was very good. She explained many things beyond what an average high school student should know, unlike the Acropolis tour guide we had. Miss Caitlin's camera lost power on site, so she does not have as many pictures as she would have liked.

Today, Miss Caitlin took us on a hike. We hiked up the mountainside behind the temple, getting a great view of the town below. Miss Caitlin also skinned her left knee on the trek down, but she is healing well. Tomorrow, we depart for ancient Corinth. On the way, we will stop at Hell. The group is looking forward to this.

We have not heard yet from Miss Adrien and Deirdre, though they should have left for China. Perhaps we will hear soon.

While in ancient Corinth, it is unlikely we will have internet access. We will write next from Santorini.

No Photos

Hey everyone - we made it to Delphi! We're all a lot more awake now - though Cat still thinks there's something wrong with her ears.

We've done so much since I last wrote. Cat kept trying to find a computer that would let us play with USB ports, but we never found one. Seems we have to update without it. It means no photos though.

Cat's now really good at navigating through Athens - except we left Athens. Cat left some clothes in Athens - whoops. Good thing we're going back to the same hotel.

We saw all the must-sees in Athens. Caitlin was the first to do her presentation - and let me tell you, it was a surprise to her. Wait, let me go back, or we'll miss an important part of the story.

Thursday, they got orientation lessons (north, south, east, west). They had some free time, so Cat and her friend Regina went to see this really big arch made by this Emperor dude. Cat took our picture with it - isn't it very impressive? They also wandered in these gardens. We got our picture taken on a random piece of marble there.

Later, they went out to dinner. Pigs and Cows were not invited. Discrimination. Anyway, there was lots of wine. Cat had a little, but Cat's not stupid, so she nursed her two glasses and stopped. Other people were stupid. A few were terminally stupid. They didn't get back until way late, unlike Cat, who was asleep by 11:45.

So a huge bunch of the group hauls themselves out of bed with hangovers on the day we're supposed to see all the awesome stuff on the Acropolis. Stupids. They complained a lot. Like, more than me, and that's hard to do.

Anyway, back to Cat and her presentation. She thought she was going later in the trip but Friday morning the Professor-types were like "And we have two presentations today, first Bob, then Caitlin!" So Cat was like, oh no, and dragged out her paper and started aggressively underlining. Then we got our tour guide, and she was like, you have to check backpacks on the Acropolis, which meant we couldn't go to the top. This distracted me so much, that next thing I knew, we were in this big theater thing at the bottom of the big hill thing that the Acropolis is on, and Cat was talking. I kept asking Snibbly what was going on, but he kept telling me to shut up. Anyway, it was about theater and this really dead guy, so I checked out the view instead. They had one of the crummier throne-seats open to be sat on, and Cat took our picture there. Pretend you can see it.

Then they walked up the hill, and saw another theater thing (Snibbly was muttering something about "Romans," but that's stupid, we're in Greece). It had scaffolding and stuff around it, which meant no climbing on it, and it was a really busy area, so no pictures.

Next, we got checked and had to stick around the cloak room while Cat went to see the Acropolis. LAME!!! We could see the Acropolis from EVERYWHERE, but we couldn't go up because we were in a backpack. Total discrimination.

We got picked up in time to see this big slippery hill thing where old dead guys would meet to make decisions like a jury or something. Anyway, it had a nice view of the city, so Cat took our picture. Pretend you can see it. Isn't it pretty? Athens is a pretty city.

Then we saw the marketplace thing - it was a bunch of piles of rocks. Cat wished she wasn't so hot and tired, cos she would have explored more, but as it was, she stuck to the shade. Then we went up to this really awesome temple that still had its roof. It was like for the god of fire or something - it didn't matter - the point was it was mostly still complete. We got our picture taken with that too. See?!?!

That was the end of the day - thankfully. Saturday, they saw what might have been this annoying philosopher's prison cell, but probably wasn't, but there was a great view of the Acropolis from the top of it. So Cat took our picture with the Acropolis in the background, which isn't the same thing as having your picture taken ON the Acropolis, but it still is a really cool picture. That's why I changed our main photo to it - RIGHT?!

Then they went to a really old cemetery. Cat liked it a lot. So did Snibbly and I. Well, Snibbly likes everything here. Anyway, they had a museum with a lot of pottery and stuff in it. I thought it was lame, Cat thought it was cool. But in the last room, there was a bunch of figurines. And among them was no other than an ancient version of pig and cow! It rocked my little cow socks. Even Snibbly was amused. And that's like nearly impossible. So Cat took pictures of them to prove that we saw them. Aren't they awesome?

That afternoon, Cat was going to do stuff, but she fell asleep instead. That evening, they walked up a really big hill to see the sunset, except they missed the sunset, Cat's asthma was bad, she was still real tired, and it was really crowded. It made Cat not happy. Plus, it was too dark to take good pictures. Lame.

Yesterday, Cat went to this massive museum. Only Snibbly went, since I think museums are boring. You'll have to ask him what they saw. She came back and took us both to see a big temple (Snibbly said something about Romans again - what an idiot) and then we saw the changing of the guard at the parliament building. We didn't take pictures with them like a bunch of the tourists. Cat said she felt bad for the guards and that she was "trying to strive for some class." Whatever that means. They had funny pompoms on their shoes, and pretty embroidery on their tunics. Then we went to this Roman (apparently everyone's stupid) forum. That was cool because we could climb over it. Cat took a few pictures of us there. Cat took a nap again and then had a really nice dinner. Then she packed (except for the stuff she forgot).

Today, they got up early and left in a bus. They stopped at another place, a big field outside of Athens where there was a battle or something, but we couldn't get in 'cos all the tourist traps are closed on Mondays in Greece. So we piled on the bus and came here. Cat did some laundry and she scoped out this computer place for me.

Phew! So that's Greece so far. I'm sure Snibbly would have something to say, if he wasn't napping. He'll just have to say it later. I said all the important things anyway. I'm glad you all liked our photos.

SOMEPLACE DIFFERENT!!!

WE MADE IT!!!

Cat's really tired, but she's not sick like she thought she might be. She just doesn't like staying awake for over 24 hrs.

The plane was really noisy. There was a kid across the aisle that kept running into Cat during his escape attempts. Behind him was a loud drunk guy. Mostly, people couldn't sleep, Cat included.

Greece is really pretty! There are all these old things laying around, and they have good yogurt. Cat didn't get to take too many pictures (she was on the wrong side of the bus), plus her battery just died. Now we can check to see if her charger will work here with the converter.

We'll talk more later!

Departure

Everything is prepared and the next time one of us writes, it will be from Greece. Whether or not loading pictures will work, we cannot promise you.

I am glad to report that Miss Caitlin's esteemed grandfather is doing well. He is breathing on his own and has even been up since the successful surgery yesterday. The doctors are hopeful that he will leave intensive care tonight or tomorrow.

I bid a fond farewell to these shores, and to our companions and friends here. I look forward to our reunion at the end of the month.

Preparations

Miss Caitlin has finished her finals and returned to her parents' house. Miss Caitlin's Father is ill, and both Miss Caitlin and her Mother hope to avoid catching his illness.

Preparations for our departure are now being made in earnest, as we depart for Greece on Tuesday. Miss Caitlin is doing laundry and figuring what to pack. She has set aside some books for reading while there, including the first few Harry Potter books. Caitlin claims it is necessary for her job as a camp counselor to read them (again) in preparation for the new book's release. In addition, she feels the need to come up with a costume design for the release date, with her eye on winning the costume contest. This does not excite me as much as you would suppose.

In any event, a few items remain to be purchased, but they will be seen to in the next few days. Miss Caitlin also has to secure a set of traveler's checks so that she can purchase gifts while on her trip.

Miss Adrien and the esteemed Deirdre remain at University for a week before departing for China. I have offered to put up pictures from their journey on our blog, but I am not sure that it will be possible for us to do that until after we return home.

Tipsy has spent all of the last few days complaining that Sauinkoku has been licensed and is no longer available. Miss Caitlin promised Tipsy that she would buy the second season if it comes out next year. Depending on how much it costs, she might even buy the first season when it is released in the fall. And yet, Tipsy still continues to complain. I hope this does not continue through our trip to Greece. It is too long of a plane ride to put up with that.

Finals Stuff

Cat's working on finals stuff. That means papers and a website project. Next week she'll have a few tests, too. The website sounds very yummy. It's for a local bakery - they'll actually use it and put it on the web after the semester is over! It's very exciting. But it makes me want cake from reading all of the descriptions!

It's rainy and has been for a while. It made the ceiling leak. Cat had to get up in the middle of the night last night (because it can't leak during the day, when it'd be less inconvenient) and put a bucket under the leaks. She wasn't happy. The Landlady said they'd be out to try to fix it as soon as the weather's not drippy. Theoretically, that should be soon.

Mr. Cat's Grandpa has to have heart surgery. It's going to be on the 7th of Mayl. Everyone should pray for him. Oh yeah, and Cat's Bother is getting his gall bladder removed on the 15th. No one really cares (including Cat's Bother) because it's not very serious, especially compared to Mr. Cat's Grandpa's surgery. But you can pray for him, too, if you want.

We leave for Greece the day after Mr. Cat's Grandpa's surgery. It's finally going to happen! Mr. Cat's Dad is going to take us to the airport. And he's going to take Cat to get some stuff before we go (like a passport pocket), but I don't know if he knows that yet. We'll try to put up pictures while we're in Greece.

Deirdre is going to China! She gets to go someplace DIFFERENT too! Maybe we'll put up some of her pictures after she comes back.

Boring

Cat's got Finals coming up. It means she's really boring. She and Snibbly have been reading these plays by a dead guy called Euripides and some other ones making fun of this dead guy called Euripides. She has to write a paper about it for Monday or something . . .

In unrelated news, we're going to Greece! Soon! She's started making lists and stuff of what to buy and what to bring (we're at the top of the list). I'm really excited! I get to see some place that's not school, home, or Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Grandparents' house. Not that those places aren't nice - but Greece is DIFFERENT! Cat says that Adrien is going to China - I wonder if she's taking Deirdre. That'd be awesome! She'd get to go somewhere DIFFERENT too!

Before I forget, Snibbly and I both want to say sorry to Wolfgang von Bear (also known as Cat's soul) and Eeyore, because they weren't in the picture but we made it sound like they guys in the picture were our only friends at Cat's home house and that's not true. We have a lot of friends that didn't make it into the picture. So sorry guys, we love you too.

Sauinkoku's second seasons started, but it hasn't been translated yet. It makes me sad.

Easter

Cat took us home for Easter. The train was not very fun because no one she knows came home on the same day. She listened to a lot of music. When we got home, Caitlin gave the dress she had been working on to Comfort, one of her oldest friends (Comfort is old enough to vote if it wasn't for the unfair discrimination against Cabbage Patch Dolls). The jumper and hat Cat made for her are the first new clothes that Comfort has gotten since before Clinton was President. Comfort is especially excited about the hat - the boys had hats, but Comfort never did. Here's a picture of her in her pretty new clothes. Cat made a shirt for herself out of the fabric and she used the scraps for the dress and hat.


Here's a picture of most of our friends at Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's House. There's (from left to rightish) Baby, Panya, Sully (the dog), Sheepy, Percy, Lord King Reggie, Me, Snibbly, and Dog.

We're having a pretty good time. Cat got new shoes (so she can walk us around in Greece) and she's going to go for a walk with Mr. Cat's Dad later to start breaking them in. I guess breaking shoes in is pretty important. She's also going to have to do her taxes, which sounds like a mystical activity.

Saiunkoku Monogatari is over and I'm sad . . . Until Season Two starts! If they didn't have a second season, I would be really sad because there was still a lot of lose ends. In fact, there was no real conclusion. I guess the second season starts really soon.

Punctuation is a Good Thing

I like punctuation. I use punctuation, unlike some stupids out on the internet. I don't know all the fancy names for things, (like some stupids I know that sit all day on a certain speaker reading facts about Egyptian art so he can impress a certain sow . . .) but I do know punctuation is important. Cat had to explain why these two paragraphs say exactly the opposite of each other, even though they use the same words in the same order. Read it and learn to appreciate periods and commas. Is funny.

Dear Jack,
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy – will you let me be yours?
Jill

Dear Jack,
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?
Yours,
Jill

Apologies, again

I apologize, I had not realized what idiocy Tipsy had been putting up on our blog, or I would have stopped her. As it stands, I have been pulled from my fascinating reading about the artifacts of Tutankhamen's tomb that Deirdre and Miss Adrien have provided for me so that I might address this twaddle. Tipsy should have mentioned that Miss Caitlin was obliged to point out the grammar errors and ambiguities for her grammar class.

In the case of "Services for man who refused to hate Thursday in Atlanta," the mistake is that commonly, native speakers expect "hate" to have an object. "Thursday" and the prepositional phrase "in Atlanta" are actually being used adverbially to describe when the services are, and "to hate" is being used intransitively, but because of the expectation for an object, the noun phrase "Thursdays in Atlanta" appears to be filling that role.

"British Left Waffles on Falklands" This instance is purely lexical in ambiguity. The world "left" can be the past tense of the verb "to leave," or it can be a noun that means "liberal." Likewise, "waffles" might be the present tense for "to waffle," which means to be indecisive, or it can be a breakfast food that is tasty with fruit or ice cream. What the reader views to be the meaning of the sentence depends on which word the reader takes to be the verb.

"Prison warden says inmates may have 3 guns" The confusion of this sentence derives from the epistemic versus the deontic uses of the modal "may." "Might" causes similar problems, but "may" is more common in headlines as it is shorter. The epistemic meaning expresses possibility - the inmates could possible have gotten a hold of three guns. The deontic meaning is the one Tipsy latched on to - that an inmate is allowed to have three guns.

"Babies are What the Mother Eats" I must reluctantly agree with Tipsy on this one. The author seems to have been trying to play with the old adage "You are what you eat," but what results is pretty twisted.

"Sisters Reunited After 18 Years in Checkout Line at Supermarket" The confusion here (which should not be confusing, as the real meaning is transparent - no one spends 18 years in a checkout lane) is what are the prepositional phrases "in Checkout Line" and "at Supermarket" are a part of. The correct interpretation is that those to phrases, as well as "After 18 Years" are part of the verb phrase with "Reunited" at its head. The incorrect interpretation comes from making the prepositional phrases "in Checkout Line" and "at Supermarket" subordinate to "18 Years," creating a rediculously long noun phrase to be the object of the preposition "after."

"Ancestors of Apes, Humans May Have Originated in Asia" This is caused superficially by the deletion of the word "and" and instead inserting a comma between "Apes" and "Humans." This makes "Ancestors of Apes" seem like an appositive for humans. But even with the reinsertion of "and," there is still a confusion. (Ancestors of Apes) and (humans) is one interpretation, while Ancestors of (Apes and Humans), presumably the correct interpretation, is not readily obvious. The best solution is to insert "both" as well, to read, "Ancestors of Both Apes and Humans May Have Originated in Asia"

"Large Church Plans Collapse" This is the same error as the Falklands example - how you interpret "plans" and "collapse" as nouns or verbs. I refuse to go into it again.

"Crowds Rushing to See Pope Trample 6 to Death" I first want to point out that creating amusement at the expense of pious old men is a deplorable past time. The crux of the matter here is where the end of the prepositional phrase is. The answer is that it ends with "Pope" and "Trample" is the present tense main verb for the sentence. The incorrect answer is that "Trample 6 to Death" is a modified infinitive phrase with the subject "Pope," and that whole phrase is serving as the object of the preposition. Rushing, however, is not in the position to be the verb of the sentence; anyone should be able to see that it is introducing the participial phrase, "Rushing to See Pope."

I hope Tipsy does not waste anyone's time with something this silly again. I am going back to my research about Tutankhamen's tomb.

Tipsy Cow Eats Up Funny Headlines

Tee Hee. Cat has homework full of funny headlines. I thought I'd share.

"Services for man who refused to hate Thursday in Atlanta" Very noble of him, since I CANNOT STAND Thursdays in Atlanta.

"British Left Waffles on Falklands" Man! I want the British to leave me some waffles!

"Prison warden says inmates may have 3 guns" Well, that's nice of him. 3 a piece seems a little to generous to me but who am I to say anything? (We are free roving bovines, we roam free today!)

"Babies are What the Mother Eats" . . . Alright, whoever wrote this just needs to be shot.

"Sisters Reunited After 18 Years in Checkout Line at Supermarket" Is that a long time to stand looking at tabloids and candy displays or what?!

"Ancestors of Apes, Humans May Have Originated in Asia" Wait, I thought humans came from apes . . . Silly science people . . .

"Large Church Plans Collapse" I didn't know you could decide things like that in advance . . .

And you can never go wrong with Pope headlines: "Crowds Rushing to See Pope Trample 6 to Death" Aggressive Pope, I guess.

Soundtrack to the Movie of Cat's Life

I was scared that Seiran was going to die in Sauinkoku, but Stupidhead died instead so it's all good.

Clem got the play the DnD group's baby silver dragon. He has this to say: "I like game. My friends come to play. I like to be with friends. I helped my friends to play the game. I like game."

. . . So I guess while he fluently speaks pig (obviously), cow, sheep, and dog, Clem's English is a little rusty. Anyway, you can tell that Clem enjoyed socializing with Cat's friends - it always makes him happy.

So Adrien's rommy Kitty gave Cat a thing to figure out the "soundtrack to the movie of your life." You stick all the music on your comp on a playlist, hit the randomizer, and write the songs down in order into these categories. Cat did it three times and took the best, because she kept getting things that were totally wrong for a spot. Here's what it looked like.

Opening Credits: "Hey, That's no Way to Say Goodbye" by the Johnstons - a Leonard Cohen song not sung by Leonard Cohen - always appropriate for movie openings, but a little weak.
Waking up: "Raise the Roof" by Carbon Leaf - not the best Carbon Leaf song to wake up to, but a nice, peppy, solid one
First Day at School: "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" by Cat Stevens - Theme song of Harold and Maude, and an appropriate choice.
Falling in Love: This one came up with three good choices, so they all make it here: "New Horizons" by the Moody Blues, "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, and "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Fight Song: "Story in Your Eyes" by the Moody Blues - possibly the best Moody Blues song for a fight scene, and an all around good choice: Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Who Loves the Sun" by Velvet Underground - this is a song Cat didn't even know she had on her computer. Apparently it comes from the Soundtrack of High Fidelity - I don't remember hearing the song in the movie . . . hmm . . . anyway, it sounds really light and cheery, but has really sad lyrics. It'd make a real contrast between happy sound and sad action - make the audience feel uncomfortable - not a bad effect overall.
LIFE: "Stay Home" by Self - yeah Cat's lazy and introverted so this song makes pretty good sense here.
Mental Breakdown: "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor - not perfect for this category, but a lot better than the other choices.
Driving: "Losing my Religion" by REM - not the best driving tune by REM, but much better than the two traditional ballads that fell in this spot on the other lists - Cat reads to those; she'd fall asleep if she tried to drive to them!
Flashback: "I Don't Know Where I Stand" by Fairport Convention - this is a tricky spot, because it depends on what the flashback is off. This was the least weird choice for it . . .
Getting Back Together: "Coming Back to You" by Martin L. Gore - 'Nother Leonard-Cohen-Song-Not-Sung-By-Leonard-Cohen.
Wedding: "For My Lady" by the Moody Blues - third and last time they make it onto this list.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - apparently Mr. Cat's Dad sang this to her when she was a baby, so she was happy. Wonder if she'd be equally happy with a Christmas Carol, since he also sang those to her . . .
Final Battle: "Life" by Yui - This was an ending song for Bleach in the third season. It's not really rocking enough to really be a fight song (which made it lame as a end song for Bleach) but it's a cool song and all the other songs were worse.
Death: "Gaudete" by the Medieaval Baebes - this is actually a Christmas song in Latin about how we should rejoice that Jesus is born the the Virgin, but it's done a capella and with all sorts of harmony and it's real serious, so it makes a pretty sweet song to die to.
Funeral Song: "Let Your Troubles Role By" by Carbon Leaf - A pretty sweet song to have your funeral to.
End Credits: "Dover, Delaware" by the Duhks - It's soft and pretty, kinda thoughtful. It was the most appropriate for a movie that ends with a death (since apparently it does . . . Cat's).

These were all well and good, but I decided that I would make my own list, picking things out instead of doing things random.
Opening Credits: This is a tie (maybe the credits are long . . . ) "Don't be Shy" by Cat Stevens, and "Turn" by Great Big Sea - "Turn" is an awesome and pretty song; "Don't be Shy" was the opening to Harold and Maude, and not released as anything else for a long time after that, so most people would recognize it as that (if, you know, they recognized it at all), and then we could make Harold and Maude references through the movies, and that'd be cool, since Cat's family is really in to that movie.
Waking up: "Take on Me" by Aha - there are a lot of songs that could go here. Cat has a whole CD of them. But I chose this one because I've been listening to Cat's 80's mix a lot lately and this one's my favorite.
First Day at School: Another tie: "Song of the Elves" by John Simon and "Nice to be Here" by the Moody Blues - both are fun, whimsical, and carry strong childhood memories for Cat. Good luck finding any info on "Song of the Elves" . . .
Falling in Love: "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel - I copped out, I know.
Fight Song: "Bad Reputation by" Half-cocked - Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Forever Autumn" - Single Cut by Justin Hayward. Is pretty and sad.
LIFE: "No Rain" by Blind Melon and "The Actor" by the Moody Blues - Both capture a lot of Cat's life and life philosophy. And "The Actor" has the line "put out your problems with your cat" - awesome line!
Mental Breakdown: "Everybody Hurts" by REM - yeah, can't get too much more melancholy than that.
Driving: "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads - great driving song. Enough said.
Bonus Section: Train Travel: "America" by Simon and Garfunkel - I know, I know, it's about being on a greyhound bus, but it works well for trains too! And so pretty . . .
Flashback: "Hey Ho" by the Minstrels of Mayhem - this is a group that shows up at Cat's favorite Renaissance Faire - they did a round of two folk songs on one of their cds, and one of the songs Cat sings at Camp! And it's slow, sad, not very distracting, pretty good for a flashback.
Getting Back Together: "Call and Answer" by Barenaked Ladies - it's about patching up a relationship. Really long though - we'll have to cut it short for the scene in our movie.
Wedding: :You're so True" by Joseph Arthur - This is really sweet and perky. It comes from the Shrek 2 soundtrack and I'm attached to it.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - No change - the randomizer was too perfect for this one!
Final Battle: "Hall of the Mountain King" but the Who - well, it claims to be by the Who. Not sure I believe it. It's really rocking anyway - good battle material.
Death: "Trouble" by Cat Stevens - It's especially appropriate if we use "Don't be Shy" to start the movie. Nice Harold and Maude symmetry. But likely no Jag for Cat . . "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan was also a high contender. The random songs in different languages by the Medieaval Baebes would be good material too, but I couldn't pick one since I couldn't read their titles . . .
Funeral Song: "Anabel" by the Duhks - dead girl song. . this is in addition to "Let Your Troubles Roll By" by Carbon Leaf from the earlier list.
End Credits: "Once I Was" by Tim Buckly - Sad, thoughtful, pretty, but not something most people want to listen to. Got to hustle people out to begin the next showing and all that.

So, great list, huh? I thought so . . . Snibbly's probably going to think it's lame, but he's not paying attention now, since he borrowed some reading on Egypt so he can have something to talk about the Deirdre next time her sees her (lame LAME!).