The Return

After a 6 a.m. flight, giant winds, and obnoxious tourists, I've returned. Waiting for me was a rejection letter from #1 School on my list. To be fair, this feels like progress, as last year I received nothing from them and am only certain they had my materials because I called to make certain of it after not hearing anything for what felt like much too long.

But the trip home was pretty good. I do finally have proof that I have a grand niece, though in form true to my family, I only managed to see her for 10 minutes after a series of events that could be prevented if that segment of the family could only be bothered to live life on this side of the grid long enough to actually know their own address. For those of you who are curious, here she is: my niece Antoinette. Having received a billion cards (okay, maybe seven) from friends with pictures of their kids, this seems fair as it's as close as I'm going to come for the foreseeable future.

I also got numerous discs, the best of which right now (at least overall) was probably Spoon's "Ga ga ga ga ga" (though the best song I've heard is probably Les Savy Fav's "Patty Lee"). I also got halfway through a movie called "Black Sheep" that was embarrassingly funny to the point that the rental DVD stopped working. It should arrive shortly from Netflix.

Now I have two syllabi to write in time for the start of classes, plus the impending start of the book this term. And, of course, I need to sit down and start answering all those e-mails I haven't answered over the break and catch up on blog reading which I entirely ignored while I was away.

Comments

7 Responses to “The Return”
Post a Comment | Post Comments (Atom)

kermitthefrog said...

To the obligatory picture, I respond with the equally obligatory (but no less heartfelt) "Cuuute!"

Also, grand-niece? Either you're older than I'd imagined or the generations are very close together (or spread very widely) in your family.

January 9, 2008 at 10:57 PM
Dr. Crazy said...

The niece is darling :)

January 10, 2008 at 10:35 AM
ash said...

yeah, i am confused, too.

grand-niece = your niece or nephew's kid, right? you have a sibling who is a grandparent???

oh, and cute kid!

January 10, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Margaret said...

I love her name. But I confess, "grand niece" confused me too. Or not, since didn't we confirm last year that you are in fact 87 years old?

January 10, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

She is adorable, isn't she? Plus she gives me an excuse to call my older sister "Gramma" which, because it provokes her so, seems unlikely to ever lose its joy.

We've got a reasonable spread of ages in the family - there's an average of seven years between each sibling, and I'm the middle child (sitting in the mid-30s) And I joked (I think) in one of the posts around the New Year, family planning isn't something my family does particularly well. Older sister has baby when she's a bit too young, then her eldest daughter does the same. Voila! Grand-niece!

January 10, 2008 at 1:11 PM
ash said...

holy guacamole! but then, i am guessing this is just the tip of the iceberg with your "family issues."

also, if your sister can produce grandchildren AND a great-granddaughter for your poor deprived parents, don't you think you could get busy and produce some offspring of your own??? (ha, just a little joke there.)

January 10, 2008 at 4:32 PM
Dr. Curmudgeon said...

Ah, a touch, a sting!

I think I just had that conversation two days ago. How they put up with my failure to provide them a daughter-in-law and grandchildren to help warp, no one can say. As for me, I think I should be able to milk the little dear for at least two more years before I'm truly back on the firing line.

Maybe I should set up a little betting pool on how long till I'm asked by family again? I could run it, and split the pot with the winner. That'd also help pay for my student loans.

January 10, 2008 at 11:22 PM