Oh, the things we know...

I just noticed on my personalized iGoogle homepage that the "How Stuff Works" gadget features an article on everyone's most disquieting creature: the tapeworm.

(I was going to post a picture, but they sort of made me feel queasy.)

Happy discovery!

Winter wasteland: a summation

I’ve been back at work for one week and am already feeling burnt out. Just pathetic. (Don’t worry, I won’t let this diatribe last too long.) There’s no one to blame but myself – I threw myself back into things a little too hard and overdid it in a feeble attempt to clobber the enormous mound of work I’ll be facing until March. And, predictably, I was only to maintain my energy for about three days before utterly crumbling.

*Sigh*

Backtracking a bit, our extended winter vacation was good, though it hardly went as planned. We were halfway to Palm Springs when Honky, our car, overheated and appeared to be leaking antifreeze. The nearest town was Coalinga; its most distinctive feature was a huge K Mart (city of pride, my ass). The local garage (run by drunken in-breds) was unable to identify the problem, but refilled our radiator and gave us instructions should the car overheat again. Rather than risk it, we turned around and headed home, our getaway plans thus thwarted. When our trusty, non-inbred mechanic heard about the trouble he was pleasantly taken aback, seeing as our car had just been in for a tune-up. We arrived home without incident and took the car in early the next morning. They were unable to find anything wrong with it – apparently the car had decided that Palm Springs was a bad idea. So, Sean and I stayed home and my poor in-laws were stuck eating an entire turkey by themselves – it’s amazing they didn’t overdose on tryptophan.

For Xmas we went to Sean’s sister’s house for turkey, copious inebriates and family-bonding time with the Wii – a good time was had by all (except maybe by my in-laws who fielded several drunken phone calls from our party). The only other highlight to our time off (unless you call sleeping in, watching movies and eating our weight in rich foods exciting) was a quick visit from my college-era buddy Steph. Frieda and I took her to Half Moon Bay to take in the coastal scenery and see the wintery beach – fun times. For New Year's Eve I left Sean at home and attended a raucous wig-and-moustache-themed party in San Francisco, which was great until people started vomiting everywhere. Nonetheless, there was a sweaty throng of dancing going on when we exited – very impressive, in my book.

And… here I am, in 2009. Work is busy, as I mentioned, but all else is great. I booked a trip to NYC in late May to romp with my beloved Carse and other denizens of my hometown; and Sean and I will go stare into the abyss that is the Grand Canyon in early June.

I was deeply disappointed to learn that the Ranier Maria Rilke class I was registered to take here at Stanford was canceled due to lack of interest. Ditto for the Orson Welles class Sean had planned to take, so instead we’re going to take beginning Italian together, which will be super-fun, but still doesn’t fill the Rilke-sized hole in my soul, I’m sad to say. (More on him in a later post, I’m sure.)

Now that you’re thoroughly bored with my admittedly drab little life, I’ll leave you with the link to a movie I am very excited to see: Milk. Generally I find bio-pics to be ambitious, worthy attempts with terrible results (Ray, Walk the Line [insert your own retching noise here],... Knocked Up), but the pairing up Sean Penn under Gus Van Sant’s direction, to tell the inspiring story of San Francisco’s own Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and CA's first openly gay politician (in short, a hero), is irresistible.

Here’s to you, Harvey.