So I went to Detroit for a few days to see the Fitzes and the Kilsdonks. It wasn’t really that cold but it felt cold. We did some jigsaw puzzles. Mom and I went shopping on Black Friday. We didn’t get trampled. And now I’m back and don’t really have much work left, just a lesson plan demo Tuesday and two very informal presentations on the two papers I’ve already written. And then in like two weeks I have a final. It’s a bit annoying that it’s so far away.

We went to see Bolt, which was pretty cute.

I decided not to quit the job and felt a lot a lot better. I told them that I’m flexible on when I leave to CS for Xmas but once I’m there I won’t be back till Jan 9th (after seeing E, O, and Z in Tucson!!) and they seemed fine with that so we’ll see what happens. Tomorrow I leave for Detroit where it will be COLD. I’m trying to pack. I’m taking my Ugg boots. I’m kind of over them but I feel that the French boots might be too fancy for wearing around my grandfather’s apartment and the hotel. So, now that you know my thought process on that, I’m going to go deposit my paychecks.

that feels like it’s worth saying. I turned down a date (well, more like said yes and then canceled, which is a lot more like me) with a guy at work this week and felt bad about it. We got hit with a secret shopper Wednesday night when I was working and we scored 100 so probably I should be getting paid a little extra next paycheck. I’ve been working more than normal this weekend because I got all next week off for Thanksgiving to go to Detroit. It’s my first Thanksgiving in two years! Apparently Mom and I will be making do in my grandfather’s barely used kitchen.

I think I’m probably going to quit the job though. I need three weeks off at Christmas and I don’t see how they could really afford to give me that. Also I need something that pays a little better. I’m torn over it because I really like the people but the work is kind of low skill and I don’t like being treated as less smart than I am.

I keep finding euro centimes in my coat pockets (I own a lot of coats) and it makes me smile. I miss France. I’m going to ask for my old job back for next year. But I can’t really do that till January at the earliest. Austin is a very cool city but I miss places that have less space and older buildings. I was thinking if I do end up in the U.S., I might look at New England.

Sorry these posts have been so boring. There are a lot of things I think I probably shouldn’t say on my blog which is why the posts end up so boring. Like, well, I almost always think things would be more interesting or more fun if A were around, and I don’t really know him that well, plus, he lives in France and has probably forgotten about me beyond the occasional really short e-mail. Today I was thinking about J and how I still have such mixed feelings about him and I probably should forgive him for breaking my heart, because, well, I can. Not that he would ever really know, as far as I can tell; I was never mean to him after the break-up (or before, if we’re counting…). I got an e-mail from him on the morning of election day (not the only foreign friend e-mail that morning actually) but I don’t really know where he is or what he’s up to, and I don’t really want to ask. But I wouldn’t mind actually being friends with him some day. I’d like to show him that I’m a more interesting person than I think he gave me credit for. But then I don’t really know what he thought of me, beyond that it was generally positive–almost everything he thought was basically enshrouded in mystery and I was just making educated guesses.

Umm, what else? We had an MA student lunch with two of our professors where the program head said we were the most social bunch of MA students she’d ever seen in the department and she thought it was great. I do think we are a cool bunch. I’m quite happy to have run into these girls (and two boys, it’s a typical teacher ed ratio).

I spoke some pathetic Spanish with the monolingual Cuban boy at work today. He didn’t seem to mind how terrible it was. Plus I kept saying “ouais.”

I had les filles (I guess they’re the new ones, I still think of Zandra and Chelsey as les filles) over for wine and cheese Thursday night since Thursday is my Friday. It was quite nice and classmates S and A stayed late listening to me be plaintive about the constant noise from next door (ironically, they have been very quiet this week). Over the course of a very sympathetic hour they convinced me that it would be worth it and it would also be easy to move. So I am moving!

I told classmate D and he forwarded me an e-mail about a couple looking for someone to house-sit/rent their apartment while they are in Paris from January till June. (No wheels were yet turning in my head to put two and two together and figure out who they might be.) So I e-mailed and explained who I was and what I was looking for in an apartment (quiet, proximity to campus) and they said it sounded promising and we could talk on Sunday. Before that I received an e-mail from the Y’s who are still in Paris. It turns out these are the people who own the apartment the Y’s are in in Paris (the Y’s had to move apartments in August so this is not actually the apartment I stayed in when I visited them so many times) and where I have been for dinner. They spend six months in Austin and six months in Paris every year, which I knew, but it didn’t at all occur to me that these might be the same people. So the Y’s recommended me to the people, I went over this morning, and it is all set, I will be moving in January 8th when I get back from Tucson. The place has two bedrooms but they will put all their stuff in one. It’ll be open though so I could use it for guests if I ever have any. The kitchen is nice with a washer and dryer although the oven doesn’t work. Then there is a living room and a full bathroom. It’s a top-floor apartment in a building with probably six apartments. They said it’s very quiet, and it’s a five minute walk from here, so I would still use the same bus stop.

I can’t even say how happy I am about it. The place is so nice and all I have to do is pay slightly more rent than I pay here, water their plants (although she did not seem overly concerned about them), and take in their mail. I think the place will be positively dreamy.

I told my roommates and they are sad but not too shocked. One of them asked if I would rather switch rooms with her than move out, but this apartment is such a great deal that I’d rather just move. So now I have to find a sub-letter. (I’ll also have to find a place to stay in July and early August while I’m still taking summer classes but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Maybe I’ll just sleep on S’s couch.)

I did speak French to the husband and man, my French is rusty. It’s mostly my accent, I think.

Anyway, now that I have a futon and a spare bed to put people up on, I think everyone should come. Prime times for visits are the third week of March and the last two weeks of May.

On a related note, my parents closed on their beautiful new house in SA today.

Have been uninspired about posts lately. I’m thinking about moving because of the noise here; it would involve talking to my roommates and finding a sub-letter. I’m also sort of poking around looking for a better-paying job. This one is fun, but not very much money, which is not that motivating.

In the mean-time it’s mostly work work work here. I’m in a little research group for one of my professors. We might get our names on a paper if it gets accepted. Wish I had something interesting to say. I do think about things, I swear, I just forget them by the time I sit down to post.

that is, that you don’t already know about. There was a bus strike yesterday. It may still be going on, I’m not really sure, I don’t know if it’s in the 6-week-Twin-Cities vein of bus strikes or the French kind that last one day (usually). The UT shuttles are still running so I haven’t had to inform myself yet.

Otherwise it’s all writing papers around here. I think I’m actually kind of ahead on work. I think I also might be able to count on one hand the number of assignments left till the end of the semester. WEIRD.

I work for a burger place now (henceforth to be known as Burger Place). They put me on as cashier for now which I’m pretty happy about since it doesn’t involve being responsible for building people’s burgers or sandwiches or whatnot. Just taking their money, which I’ve done before, and which involves lots of colorful labeled touch-screen buttons which I like. So we are training today and tomorrow and they give us a free meal each time we work which is pretty rad right now though I’m sure I’ll get sick of the food at some point.

I have to buy black shoes for the job though so I’m waiting for some to arrive from Zappos tomorrow.

I’m trying to figure out why Austin isn’t my dream city.

1) It’s really, really friendly. Strangers talk to each other. They apologize. They commiserate. It’s never weird or awkward in the slightest.
2) The weather is insane. It’s still hitting 85 degrees here in the afternoon, and it’s always, always sunny.
3) There are a lot of cool commercial neighborhoods.
4) Downtown is a hive of activity. Sorry to use a cliche phrase. But they block off sixth street every Saturday because of how many people are down there.
5) The beer is really good. Shiner is on tap everywhere along with one or two microbreweries.
6) There are bikers everywhere (though not bike lanes). And the drivers are really nice to them.
7) The place is really friendly for people with disabilities. The buses announce everything in two languages.

The cons:
1) It’s pretty much constant allergy season, though not allergy season at its worst. I wear my contacts for most of the day but usually not the morning.
2) There’s not a lot of ambiance. I mean the buildings and streets don’t have much of a feel to them, besides there being a lot of space in general.
3) The bus system kind of blows. Okay, I’m absolutely sure there is worse in other cities in the states. But I’m tired of my bus being anywhere from 15 minutes late to 5 minutes early. What is the point of a bus schedule? Plus, they only come every half-hour.

But I mean overall it is an amazing place. I know a lot of my friends from France would think I’m crazy to want to go back there. Why do I want to go back to northern France where it is rainy, cold, dark, and unfriendly? And all they serve is Kronenberg and Blanche de Bruges? I am so tired of that stuff.

And yet I do still want to go back. But I’ve decided to look at it as taking one year at a time instead of planting myself there forever, mostly because it’s too stressful to think of planning my life out for that long. If I fail or get sick of it, I can always move to Boston. It was pretty cool. I think I prefer places with some sense of history.

So yay, I don’t work Saturday morning after all–training has been switched to Sunday and Monday, which makes my weekend pretty swell. I’m going to S’s Arrested-Development-themed Halloween party as Michael’s unfortunate love interest Rita:

I have acquired a coonskin hat and am going to make a backpack (well clearly it won’t be utilitarian) out of my stuffed baboon by attaching yellow ribbons to it. Also am going to make a cheap ribbon MRF bracelet. And possibly buy some cheap beads. All of those materials (except, obviously, my awesome stuffed baboon) are to be acquired tomorrow.

I hope to remember to take pictures of everyone. I haven’t dressed up for Halloween in years.

I voted today! I’ve stuck my “I voted” sticker on top of my Obama button but the Obama button has a real habit of falling off my bag so we’ll see if either of them make it through the day tomorrow much less till election day. It was my first time voting with electronic machines so that was a bit weird.

I also registered for classes. I have to take a French literature class. You wouldn’t think I’d mind, considering that I was an English major. But I’d really rather spend my time on linguistics and teaching classes.