Today I drove to Boston in the crrrazy snowstorm to hang with my MFA buddy Shannon. She's the admin for the big head honcho at a major hotel near Logan Airport so I had a lovely time enjoying the amenities of her fine establishment. Shannon's doing great after her health scare(s) of last year and it was SO GOOD to see her and reconnect with one of my San Jose peeps. We took the T to see her new “single-girl apartment”, which is adorable, then had muy authentico Mexican food in her neighborhood, then rolled back to the hotel, had cookies and milk in the Executive Lounge, and watched “Juno” on the hotel's pay-per-view (or, in our case, comp-per-view). Lights out at 9:30. Pretty much a super-awesome day. Thanks Shannon!!!

Have you guys heard about the pastor who's exhorting the marrieds in his parish to have sex every day for a month? I think it's awesome. What a great exercise for Lent!!! 🙂

Ugh. It's Wednesday and I'm in the doldrums. Tomorrow I have a periodontal appointment, which might have something to do with my grim state of mind. Or maybe it's because I've been grading feature-picture packages for the past two hours and, for the most part, they're not great. Or maybe it's because Anne is visiting the Comtesse and I'm a whole country away and can't join their MFA-classmate fun. Or maybe because my dad is going to New Zealand and will probably get to see MY best friend (well, the best friend I'm not married to) while he's there.

I *am* looking forward to the weekend, though: I'm visiting my MFA buddy Shannon on Friday night, and then get to sit in a lawyer's office, taking notes and being quiet, all day Saturday. So, you know, things could be worse.

The good bloggers at ARE YOU LOCAL??? have launched a contest: send them a blog entry about you and they might include it in the book they're publishing. All profits of the book will benefit the “War Child” charity. I submitted “honk honk honk” and Monstro's latest piece, too. Go try your own luck; rules are posted here.

Your Personality Is

Idealist (NF) You are a passionate, caring, and unique person. You are good at expressing yourself and sharing your ideals. You are the most compassionate of all types and connect with others easily. Your heart tends to rule you. You can't make decisions without considering feelings. You seek out other empathetic people to befriend. Truth and authenticity matters in your friendships. In love, you give everything you have to relationships. You fall in love easily. At work, you crave personal expression and meaning in your career. With others, you communicate well. You can spend all night talking with someone. As far as your looks go, you've likely taken the time to develop your own personal style. On weekends, you like to be with others. Charity work is also a favorite pastime of yours.

Thanks Becky for the link!

We're on a Netflix subscription now, so we're taking a chance with a bunch of movies that've passed us by this year. Last night's selection was “Mr. Woodcock.” Wow, what a terrible movie. The titular character is a sociopath who enjoys abusing the less-than-physically fit children in his P.E. class. Never are we given a reason to sympathize with the guy — he's a horrible human being. Seann William Scott works the whole movie trying to break up his mother's romance with Mr. Woodcock. But then, at the end, he has a change of heart and, even though he's successfully broken them up, gets them back together. Which makes NO sense, because really, Mr. Woodcock is evil and I wouldn't want him dating my mom, I assure you. Monstro and Motormouth give “Mr. Woodcock” four thumbs down. Monstro believes it to be “evidence of the fall of Western civilization.”

…Monstro and I got “Beerfest” through Netflix the other day and it was a LOT funnier than either of us expected, and blew Superbad to pieces. If you're up for some riotous-yet-unintellectually stimulating comedy, I'd highly recommend it.

All last night I had dreams that I was being robbed, my mom was being robbed, my in-laws were being robbed. Now it's 2:20 in the afternoon and I'm a zombie. Even a half bar of chocolate hasn't perked me up. Time for a nap!