Spring Vacation

Aha! I have control of the computer while Miss Caitlin plays games, Miss Caitlin's Bother plays with her DS, and Tipsy watches Miss Caitlin's Mother play on Facebook!

Miss Caitlin has taken us with her on Spring Break. Miss Caitlin has already done quite a bit. She finished a dress for Miss Comfort. It is one of Miss Caitlin's "drancy fesses" as she insists on calling them. Miss Comfort has been most insufferable since the thing has been finished. She has continually flounced around crying "I'm a pretty princess!" and demanding that someone make her a crown. I have no pictures to show you of this blue sparkly monstrosity, but I will probably be forced into posting some later. She also made a pair of "Bermuda shorts" for Spud, who has been much more graceful in is acceptance.

Miss Caitlin and Miss Caitlin's excellent Mother went to see Cirque du Solei. Miss Caitlin came back babbling about clown routines and the Cirque's special rigging. It seemed it was quite enjoyable. Miss Caitlin's Mother suggests that it would have been a great thing for children to see, and seems to have tucked it away as an idea for when she has grandchildren some time in the distant future.

Miss Caitlin has taken us to Michigan, where she is relaxing with her Grandmother, her Mother, and her Bother. They have played several games of Carcassonne. Miss Caitlin did not listen to my sage advice and was therefore beaten twice by her relatives.

She will head to her parent's house some time tomorrow, where she will file an amended tax return and hopefully spend a chunk of the rest of the time with her friends in the area. I hope to have a chance to see Lady Deirdre, for while Miss Adrien guested with us back in February, she neglected to bring with her our dearest friend. I hope to also see Gip, as she sent me a nice package a while back, and I wish to thank her personally for her thoughtfulness.

Miss Caitlin also has to fit in a good amount of homework, including reading for her Child Language Development class, studying for a test in her "education psychology" class (it should be renamed as "education philosophy"), and some readings and responses for her school media specialist class. For her practicum, she needs to put together a few lessons on teaching reference sources to third graders. She has decided that she needs to design a lesson on guide words to start, and then something to reinforce keywords. She has some loose thoughts that are beginning to take shape.

Introduction to the New Semester

I have exciting news to share. First off, Clem has recovered well from his surgery. As Miss Caitlin's Father would say, Clem is once again a fat and sassy pig.


In other news, we have several new friends. A lovely sow was presented to Miss Caitlin by Miss Kitty from across the street. Ruth is a very amiable pig. She likes to be social and cuddles with Miss Caitlin often.


Josie was found for us by Miss Shelly. She is more shy - she was happy enough to take on the responsibility of guarding the extra key, but overall, she has had very little to say. I do not find this to be much of a problem, since Tipsy says more than enough for everyone involved . . . However, I am sure with time, Josey will blossom into a good friend. I feel I should also point out in the above picture that Miss Caitlin salvaged the waterfall from her term project and added it to our landscape on the desk.

Miss Caitlin is again studying Japanese this semester. She is currently struggling with conjunctions and distinguishing the correct circumstances for using each one. She is also making a survey of some recent award winning books for her English Senior Seminar class. For the first book, the class read The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing, in Honor of Mrs. Lessing's winning of the Nobel Prize. While Miss Caitlin admires Lessing's ability to convey a large amount of information with only a few words, Miss Caitlin feels (and I rather agree) that the book is not of great quality otherwise. Perhaps a better selection might have been made so the class could appreciate the body of work that resulted in Mrs. Lessing's being awarded a Nobel Prize.

Miss Caitlin is also taking Play Direction, which fills her with not a little trepidation. However initial classes have not taxed her too greatly, as they are mostly discussing theory. In addition to these, she is taking a class about the history of the English language. Already this has proved a fascinating class. Her professor, Dr Stewart, is a very . . . unique individual. Miss Caitlin decided she enjoyed him as a teacher after he encouraged his students to split their infinitives in order to spite the people who believe that English should have a grammar somehow related to Latin.

Tipsy will likely have something to say soon, as Miss Caitlin will be refereeing another game of Traveller this semester. They start tomorrow. I am to tell you that while the ship is yet unnamed, Master Gabe is the owner of it, and he is the Marquis of Megalmatree. Make of that what you will.

The Visitor and Other News

Deirdre came over on Monday after I posted. She's very nice. She made a nest in Cat's headphones, since Cat doesn't use them much. She has a pretty necklace, and she likes my earing. She likes books and stuff, but she doesn't make fun of me for watching anime. She says she likes Dr. Who better, but anime is fun too. She says Miss Adrien's roommates watch anime too. It made me remember that it was those girls that got Cat into anime when she roomed with them last fall. I'd forgotten because I came to live with Cat last spring, and she was in the campus apartment then, and already watching anime. But anyway, Deirdre doesn't mind anime.

Last night was a short rehearsal for Cat because they were only running through Act I. The actors were supposed to be off book. Some of them had to be scolded because they weren't. They're running Act II tonight - hopefully it will be better this time.

Cat's Mom linked to us from her blog! She writes about her needlework stuff mostly. This time she put up some pictures Cat took of the ice from the ice storm. Cat's a little disappointed that Mom forgot to take pictures of the christening gown that she made for Cat's baby cousin. Cat had to come to school and work on the play, so she didn't get to go to the christening or see the gown when it was finished. But maybe someone will send Mom a nice picture of it and she'll put it up.

It's pretty warm today (pretty warm means above freezing). Cat says the trees throw pieces of ice when the wind blows. She says it's like the Old Forest in Fellowship of the Ring, when the trees throw leaves and twigs and pieces of bark because they don't like the hobbits. Deirdre and Snibbly thought this was funny, but I didn't since I haven't read that book. Cat says she'll read it again this summer, so I can read it with her then. I feel I should, because those books are very important to Cat.

Cat's been watching anime for a reward when she gets what she's supposed to done. It's been hard for her to fit time for herself in with rehearsal, so this is a good way for her to unwind. Code Geass is getting really interesting. We're starting to like that one a lot. Bleach has also been awesome lately. We started watching Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, (there's a mouthful for you) which is very good. It's about the last few Samurai in the 1800's. There's a lot of politics and history stuff, so we're watching them again to try and follow that since neither of us know a lot about Japanese history at that time (we're also trying figure out everyone's name this time through). The main plot's pretty good too. Adrien's coming over today to watch Hana Yori Dango 2 with us. It's the second season of a Japanese drama. We watched the first season last year. It's not an anime, but it did come from a manga. It's kinda hokey, but that's what makes it so much fun.

Returning to University

The preparations have been set in motion for our return to University. Unfortunately our friend Clem is overcome with dread concerning the upcoming train ride. He has been terrified of the train every since Amtrak misplaced Miss Caitlin's duffel several years ago as she returned to school from Spring Holidays. The unlucky Clem was in said duffel and he braved a several day long trip to Las Angeles that no one expected. I feel that he is justified in his mistrust of the train, however, since that incident Miss Caitlin has been more contentious about where she stows her duffel, so there is little to worry about. In general, the trip is very enjoyable, since it gives Miss Caitlin a chance to read, write, or even watch movies (or anime, sigh) for the four hour trip.

Miss Caitlin is in the process of washing her clothes and packing. Packing, for Miss Caitlin, seems to be more about exerting the proper will-power at the objects in question that it does about the laws of physics. For instance, one of Miss Caitlin's maxims on the subject is "You can fit an almost infinite amount of underthings into any space, no matter how small." The frightening thing is that she makes it work. But today she may have to declare defeat and set out to buy different sized boxes as the ones she has are either to small to fit much, or too big to be manageable.

On a different note, Miss Caitlin and I had the joy of going out the lunch with some fabulous ladies, including Miss Caitlin's dear friend Miss Pippin and her porcine friend Gip. I always enjoy Gip's conversation and yesterday was no different. I only wish that I had gotten to see more of her over the break.

I must preside over the packing now, so I must say good-bye.