Happenings and Gobledigok

Caitlin took us to Chicago last weekend. She went with her friend Shelly because Shelly had to do research in Chicago and we could stay at Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's house. Cat had to do tax stuff and get some stuff that we can't get here. It was a good time. Snibbly went downtown to the library to enjoy the old books. Josey came to meet all our friends at Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's house. Then we had to drive back and it was foggy and wet. K-town is cold and miserable.

Cat is busy - being a senior means being very busy. But she found out today that Dominican is looking at her application now - she'll find out if she was accepted to learn to become a librarian there soon. University of Illinois should also make their decision soon. Cat's a little nervous about that. She did FAFSA paperwork today so they can give her money to learn to become a librarian. I'm not sure why anyone would do that . . . but if that's what they do, then Cat should get their money.

Cat's been making Dice Goblins for her friends. They don't take long to make, especially now that Cat's getting good at them. She's about out of eyes right now though, so she can't make anymore. She made girly dice goblins with pretty sparkly ears, for girly gamers like her. She also makes more dignified ones for the boys.


The gold ones turned out a little scary, and we keep finding bits of gold fluff everywhere. Cat pulled some out of the kitchen sink earlier today. She says she's not buying any more poodle fabric, no matter how on sale it is. The purple ones (whose color gave Cat's camera some major issues) actually turned out really well. Their hair is curly too, but not as crazy long as the gold ones. Plus they don't shed as much when you make them, and you don't have to play hide and seek to find their eyes. Cat sent one to her bother at University of Illinois - he said the girls there liked them (Cat sent him one of the maroon ones, and some candy).

Lexical Fun

These are some neologisms from Cat's History of the English Language book (Dr. Stewart pointed out that the class had a really long name and that he would not be offended if students only pronounced the capital letters). Anyway, neologism means a newly coined word. These were from Britain, on a BBC Radio thing.

bagonize - to wait anxiously for your suitcase to appear on the baggage carousel

circumtreeviation - the tendency of a dog on a leash to want to walk past poles and trees on the opposite side to its owner.

polygrouch - someone who complains about everything.

kellogulation - what happens to your breakfast cereal when you are called away by a 15-minute phone call, just after you pour milk on it. (^ happens to Cat a lot)

hicgap - the time that elapses between when hiccups go away and when you suddenly realize that they have.

And for your further enjoyment, Dr. Stewartisms:

Overtime repeated syllables (such as in Englaland) are dropped out of words (leaving you with England). "This process is called haplology. Rather ironic - it has been suggested to change it to haplogy, and I can't say I disagree."

In reference to silent "e"s like the ones found in "change" or "dance" that are not pronounced but instead give clues about how another letter should be pronounced. ". . . these funny little 'e's that only tell you about their neighbor - gossips I'd call them."

"This is your vowel space." Pause, looks at the class. "This is your vowel space on Great Vowel Shift." Goes back to the chalkboard.

Some people in the class still haven't gotten that he's not entirely serious and they write these down. Cat writes them down, but for a different reason.

In other news, Cat is choosing her play this weekend for directing class. She has two she likes. She has to time them out and then pick one. Both of them are funny, so I think either one is a good choice.

Due to a siege in their other game, Traveller is being delayed. Though they do have their new ship picked out (it's called the Oleander) and Gabe's the Marquis de Megalmatree, which is pretty awesome. Megalmatree is the name of the main planet he owns. Pretty cool. In addition to the Marquis, the ship is staffed with it's designer, a scout, a female telekinetic engineer, a slightly shady lawyer and comm officer, and a gunner. Also around is Gabe's character's son and apprentice trader and two deckhands. They have cargo and a trade route, but further play is on hold. You'll have to wait to hear more about that.

Also to note - Cat is going to Chicago this weekend with Shelly. Shelly has to go look at something in a library or something. Snibbs and I are going to tag along (he's going on about manuscripts or something, I just like seeing our friends at home). It should be a good time.

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.

Behind

Sorry! I didn't mean not to write. But see Cat was busy with the project, and then we went back to Cat's Parent's house and there were lots of things to do for Christmas, and then it was after Christmas and we went to visit Cat's relatives, and then we came back and bummed around, but Cat bummed around a lot on the computer so I couldn't get on . . .

Anyway, here I am.

I have a few bits of info to impart. For one thing, the Snowdrop blew up, killing all aboard. Carmichael and Elsie were not aboard when the ship blew and their condition remains unknown. Cat had fun doing it. Now they have new characters and a different ship that remains unnamed. It will be before the first game. Cat's picking and choosing for a new universe. It'll be fun.

Secondly, Clem underwent surgery today - it is not entirely complete since the beanies are having static and settling issues. Mrs. Cat's Mom thought it best to let him rest and settle overnight and check again tomorrow to see if they can get more beanies in before sending him back to school with us. We're all trying to be very supportive.


So Cat finished her project. Miss Adrien helped with a bit of painting and Mr. Cat's Dad helped by suggesting a good way to make a dome. The class liked it (though she wouldn't let me go with to class - something about the scale thing again). The teacher liked it too and she got a good grade. The little man got to go. She said he was to scale . . . lame. She said he's six feet tall. Liar! He is so not that tall! He's like a couple inches or something. Cat must have been really out of it from being up so late working on it - usually she's not so bad about numbers as that!

Cat's been having trouble with her rechargeable batteries, so she hasn't taken too many pictures. We might put up more later - like about what Snibbly and I did on Christmas - TEE HEE.

We're back in K-Town Saturday. We get to take the train! Comfort and Spud aren't excited about the train - neither is Clem, but that goes without saying.

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!