herm. I had a happy surprise yesterday. I got a letter from the university in the mail last week sometime, and it looked like another W-2 form, so I didn't open it and it was just kicking around in my bag for a while. So then I did open it yesterday, and Lo: another W-2 form... and check for $300! apparently they screwed up my witholding on something or other, and so they owed me money. so they gave it to me! Whee!

now i have money i can, um.. Not spend frivilously..

actually i already bought three books, a CD and I intend to buy some good running shoes. I unfortunately also have a lot of bills to pay...

zdupid bills.

i'm actually realizing just how quickly i could cause this $300 to dissappear in a puff of smoke. this is a bit alarming. its a sign of adultness or something, when $300 becomes a relatively small amount compared to your monthly expenditures. Wouldn't even pay rent.

God its expensive living in Ann Arbor. but that's ok.

so i got "Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World" by Johnny Clegg & Savuka, which I am currently Not listening to as I am in a computer lab with no headphones. Curses. This is one of a couple of CDs that Jake and I used to put on when we were little (except we had them on Vinyl. god.. the days of my youth..) and 'dance' - which in retrospect was us basically moshing around the living room and jumping on the furniture. But it was very rhythmic jumping. umm. really.

so this, Paul Simon's "Rhythm of the Saints" (and to some extent "Graceland"), and some Penguin Cafe Orchestra album, we listened to and jumped and sang along with. go get them and listen to them and you can relive my childhood. Plugging in the christmas tree, turning all the lights out, putting on Johnny Clegg, and dancing around the living room.

dark spots and bright lights.

and there was something with the "jump down turn around pick a bale of cotton. jump down turn around pick a bale [a day (?)]" on it. and lots of Raffi. and the little disney read along books with 6" records, and my grandma reading "Harriet and the Crocodiles" for me on tape.

yup.

books:

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie.

The Fairy's Mistake, Gail Carson Levine.

The Great Good Thing, Roderick Townley.

Guess which two I found in the children's section?

If your guess included Midnight's Children, you FAIL.

okay. i just have to remember to finish Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov, which is what I'm reading right now, and which is a large portion of why I haven't been updating much, because i've been absorbed in other matters.

more on naming and why people should love me and the moon and etc later. right now, u menja est' ekzamen po russkomu jaziku. pardon my transliteration.