So Fay has gone and rained itself through SoFla, and is now doing the oddest thing ever–strengthening while on land.

Nothing much happened, it was like the nice little Tropical Storms of yore (of yore being when I was a wee lass… er… a kid in elementary school). Just some wind, some rain, and a nice soaking for the plants.

However, we did have a Dorothy-in-Kansas type moment this morning when my mom looked out and saw that there were chickens outside our apartment. I thought, “Chickens? She’s got to be joking.” But, no, there really were chickens. A cute little hen and a rooster. Poor things were soaked and lost. I think they came from one of the homes on the other side of the street, probably tossed about on the wind and too confused to find their way home. We fed them some rice and they seemed pleased.

Here they come…

Lola looks on in wonder… those birds are too big for her to tease.

Hurricane or no hurricane? The cone forecast leaves much to be desired.

I remember being a kid and loving tropical storm days, it’s like snow days for Floridians. When did I realize that even a “light” tropical storm could cause a lot of damage? These things scare me like nothing else… except tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.

I am so tired that it took about five tries before I was able to correctly enter my WP login info…

I’m going to go out like a very out think in a moment, but before I log off…

I finally managed to get Em’s blog up and running… It’s a Blogger powered blog, but it’s my very first original Blogger-ready layout. Am quite pleased actually and glad that Em likes it. Just a few minor glitches to work out, but that’s for a later day.

femmeartis.com

I have a Powerpuff Girls alarm clock that I have owned since I was in sixth grade. I bought it when the Warner Bros. Studio Store was an actual mall store, not just a web store. It’s cute, it’s tiny, it makes a hell of sound when it goes off… but not anymore. The timepiece works just fine, but the alarm has gone out. It made a feeble attempt a few weeks ago, but now it makes one beep and gives up. This sad little clock has to be put to rest. So… now I need a new alarm clock, but I can’t find anything that I like. Everything is digital. I hate digital clocks. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but digital clocks are not my style. Where can I find a proper clock?!?! Not a desk clock, those are lovely, but they have no alarms. A real, analog alarm clock. And not a plain little black boxy thing either. This is like a quest for some near-mythical object; it is not to be found.

In January I found a dollar with a link to the “Where’s George?” currency tracking project, so I entered it and found that I was the first person to register the bill (it looked really crisp and clean, so it must have been fairly new). Yesterday, I received an email letting me know that my bill had been entered again, this time in Louisianna… It traveled 649 miles to get there, I wonder what happened in between, that’s quite a few states that it had to cross. It’s kind of neat

Am keeping busy busy busy. My boss and my friend tell me that the footie kids love me… I just thought they were forced to sign up for my sessions because my hours are more convenient and fit in nicely with their practice schedules. Kind of reassuring to know that they’re saying good things about me when they meet with my boss to discuss their progress. It’s always interesting to discuss student writing, you learn so much about the writer, especially when they have to write personal response essays. It’s almost like a character study. Although, this is probably a sign that I’ve been too immersed in studying literary characters…

Speaking of literary characters, the thesis is starting to look like a proper book. No more worries about passing the minimum page requirement, I reached 50 pages long ago and kept going. 80 is looking more and more likely. 80 was my original goal… 100 is the max… I may have to cut if I keep producing such long chapters.

It’s such a new feeling having all these responsibilities. I took over our student organization (it was something of a lark, I didn’t really think no one else would offer to do it), so I’ve been creating budgets and planning events and dates, meeting with the director, making phonecalls to offices all around campus, and generally doing leader type things. Never thought I’d end up in a leadership position, but there it is.

I put the Whipped Cream fanlisting up for adoption during “The Great Fanlisting Adopt-Out of ‘06″. It was one of my favorites, but it received more joins than I could handle at the time, so I let it go. However, a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Jessica, asking if I would care to have it back, as she was no longer able to care for it. So I did… and here it is:

Delightful: The Whipped Cream Fanlisting

I’m using Enthusiast for this one (because that’s what Jessica used), but I’ll probably be converting it to Bellabuffs as soon as work slows down. Enthusiast may be convenient, but Bellabuffs is so nicely organized and user-friendly.

Oh, the joys of optometry. My optometrist ran some more tests yesterday to find out what is wrong with my vision, so I spent all day with my pupils nicely dilated (which explains why I am writing about this a day later). Turns out I have one of those curious cases where each eye is doing something different. My left eye is far-sighted and my right eye is near-sighted, hence, why I am able to see things clearly from far away when I close my right eye (but which makes for terrible driving and leads people to think that you are making googly eyes at them).

I now have a proper prescription, and an extra pair of glasses (so that I don’t have to panic when I’m getting ready for work/school and can’t remember where I last placed them). If all goes well, the headaches should become less severe in a couple of weeks. And my eye muscles should relax and relearn how to focus without assistance.

I feel like Ross in that episode of “Friends” when he moved into a new building and the building association was hosting a party for a neighbor that was moving away and they wanted him to pitch in for the party, but he had never met the person being honored … Well, right now I’m in a similar situation. I just started this new job 2 weeks ago and they’re hosting a party for a coordinator that is leaving, but she’s been out of the office during these last 2 weeks… so I’ve never had anything to do with this person. Sure, I’ll pitch in and give my share, but it seems silly when I have no relationship with her and I’m not at work during the hour when the party is being held.

Visited my optometrist yesterday (I love him, he takes the time to explain everything) to see about the blurry vision and the headaches that won’t go away. I had myopia when I was about 5, so I thought it might be returning, though it came on so suddenly that it seemed a little surreal–one day my vision was fine, the next it’s all double when I look into the distance. It seems I was right, it was too sudden to be real myopia. It turns out that I have a sort of “false myopia”… meaning that I’ve been spending so many hours reading and staring at my computer screen in order to finish my thesis that the strain of looking at print has made my eyes accustomed to focusing only on things that are close at hand. It’s almost like the muscles have forgotten how to loosen up and look at the big picture. My treatment… spend at least 3 hours a week not doing anything text related. No reading, no writing, no computer related anything. In short, just relax and let my eyes take a break from looking at print. It’s like a punishment.

Yesterday, I sat for an hour in the student lounge and did nothing. I had to restrain the urge to reach for one of my books and just veg. All my friends are being very smug… they’ve been telling me to relax for a while. Mostly, I think they’re trying to coerce me into joining them on their outings (I’m looking at you Miss Em). Looks like I’m going to have to give in to their demands.