its amazing what a difference 10 hours of sleep can make....

Wow I'm stuck at work with pittlin little to do, had to pay bills and parking tickets (who knew that white curb means LOADING ZONE when there is absolutely no other signage to that effect). But I feel great at the moment - this is all related to lots of goodness in my life....

I mailed my bills and my registration for IASPM and the IASPM conference, but while at the post office I also mailed rahvina a fulbright app. On the way back to the office (it was sooooo hot) I stopped in at the local doughnut joint for a coke and saw that they had thai iced tea. So I walked out of the shop with thai iced tea AND a peanut butter chocolate doughnut. This went perfectly with the In n' Out double double burger and luxuriously thick chocolate shake that I got on the way home from work last night - this all relates to a certain doozy of PMS or rather MS because I never cramp until after I start.

Yesterday after wolfing down my In n' Out goodness I was trying to relax and read "The Modern Uzbeks" which I'm really trying to finish before I go back, and got a doozy of a headache. I fell asleep at 8:30. At 11 the boy called and had a wonderful suprise. In addition to the fact that it looks like he will succeed in coming down this weekend to begin the moving trauma/drama. He met an Afghan man in the apartment complex hot tub last night who speaks Russian, Uzbek, Pashto, Farsi, Spanish and lots of other languages - and he plays the dutar, though just as a hobby, and lived in Tashkent for a while. So R got to talk to him about me and about Uzbekistan and his plans to visit and the dutar and everything. R called me so excited about this it really warmed my heart. We are talking about going to Uzbekistan *together* next year, and he's hopefully coming to visit me for a while this fall. And I knew in my rational brain that he was doing this willingly and that I wasn't forcing him to make big evil sacrifices, but when I heard how excited he was to have met this man, (and the fact that the guy told him that going to Tashkent would be a big treat for him because it is one of the most beautiful cities), and how eagerly he talks about his plans to go to Uzbekistan, it just fills me will joy - I have found someone who is happy to meld their lives with mine and I can't believe I am so fortunate.

So thank you universe for wonderful, loving partners, and for In n' Out and Thai iced tea.

my hell, bogarted from rahvina

People who feel big at conferences for using words like hermeneutics and phenomenology
Circle I Limbo

the gnomes that take library books that are in the catalogue as *on the shelf* and hide them
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

The red tape machine that keeps my conference airfare refund from being paid 3 months later
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

mothers who scream at their kids to stop yelling
Circle IV Rolling Weights

People who call my office phone becuase it is 1 digit off of the ticket hotline and then complain when I tell them I can't get them tickets to the bowl
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Patrons who complain about *complimentary* seats, Who ever invented size zero
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

people who weave in and out of traffic on the freeway, cutting people off just to get 1 or 2 car lengths ahead
Circle VII Burning Sands

Every person responsible for the weight loss industry, Professors who think that it is okay to not provide their TAs with exam materials until 3 days before the test
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

students who think that whining will majickally make their work A worthy
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell