There were intermittent and peculiar power outages. A sudden gust of wind blew me out the door, and I headed on. Despite the gale, I got home late. There was dinner to make. W snapped the peas, I chopped onions. The cat sniffed briefly around the kitchen, then cried for an hour. She looked so sad, peering up at me with those little kitty eyes, brimming with onion-y tears. I tried to tell her that next time she needed to hold a slice of our French bread in her mouth, but she was satisfied to hide behind it.

Dinner was then allowed to grow cold, while W and I inspired the neighbors.

Then we snuggled up on the couch, as we do, and watched King of The Hill. Then the Nightly News with Jim Leher. W dozed, and dreaded work. I contemplated getting up for ice cream, and dreaded W leaving for work. At 2am he grumbled himself awake, stuffed his feet in his shoes, and searched belatedly for the car keys. We said goodbye at the door in a dramatic fashion. I missed him immediately.

I think a lot these days about having children. Today a woman brought her 2 year old daughter into the store to sell something. I needed her ID, and she stepped out to her car to get it while I watched the little girl. I picked her up to distract her, and to save the life of the VCR that she was force-feeding a calculator. She was small and round and very soft. I felt profoundly depressed when they left. I want to have his children. That is one of the very special ways that I love him. It doesn't sound particularly special, but it is for me.

Not now, of course. Right now I want to have his Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Alas, next Christmas.

After he left I got some ice cream, which was very satisfying. I ate it from my favorite mug, in various stages of melty-goodness. Then I did the dishes and washed all the counter tops, and sat down here at my desk.

Architecture In Helsinki is playing. Thank you Erin.

After this coming semester I will only need 45 more credits (upper division courses, basically anything I want besides hard math or science...so really anything I want) and a 200 level language course to get my degree. I will graduate with a BA in Liberal Studies at the end of next year, factoring in time to get married this April. And after that, what, exactly?

I know that some of you are planning on graduate school, getting masters degrees and phDs. How hard is the GRE? Can you get into a masters degree program if you have a B average in undergraduate coursework? Do you need to have majored in your masters program in undergrad? How does this all work? I know that I could look it up, and I will, I just wanted to ask my friends first. Maybe we could all talk about our plans. It would make me feel less aimless.

Alright, so here are my ideas:
After undergrad I will...
1. take A&P, get my CNA certification and a caretaker job, volunteer at OHSU for while, then apply to nursing school
2. get a masters degree in social work
3. continue volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society and apply to vet tech school
4. work for Head Start (which I should be able to do in some capacity with my BA, W's sister did it so I'll have to ask her over Christmas)

The vet tech idea is my favorite (only a little more school, and I could always go on to become a veterinarian later if I wanted), but it doesn't pay terribly well. And I don't know that I would make a very good social worker. I'm sympathetic, but nervous. But maybe I would, who knows?

I want to end this post with a huge virtual hug of congratulations to my sister Liz, who passed her thesis defense this week with flying colors. She is going to get her phD from Berkeley, and then fame and fortune. I love you Lizzie!