Happy birthday Little Sister!

Today is Little Sister's 19th birthday!  I will take this occasion to suggest that you browse through the Little Sister label to relive some of her finest moments, which are obviously documented on my blog. :)

Happy birthday, Little Sister!

DC

Boyfriend and I spent the weekend after Valentine's Day in DC - and holy cow is that a beautiful city.  I loved it.  I'm sure it's got it's shady parts, but the area around the capitol is just beautiful.  It's laid out on a grid (yay logic!), it's clean, and the streets are wide, making it seem so much more open and less closed in.  I'd never been to DC before, and I can't wait to go back.  And I'm sorry these photos are mostly pretty mediocre.  I only had my iPhone.

I've mentioned before that Little Sister has a thing for Lincoln, and sure enough she flipped shit when I told sent her a photo of me in front of this:

I also sent Little Sister this picture of a Trisarahtops, which is what Dad called her for the brief period when she had three teeth, after the brief period when she had two teeth during which he called her Disarahtops... Apparently she doesn't remember the Disarahtops phase, because her reply was, "A DIsarahtops??? Omg!!! Two of me??! What could be better!!!!"

She's still got it.

In an effort to post a bit more, I was looking in my drafts folder to see if there was anything still interesting or useful, and found this Facebook chat that I had with Little Sister shortly after my defense, when I posted a couple photos of me (in doctoral robes) and Boyfriend on Facebook.

Little Sister: damn
that is one sexy dress [yes, this is in reference to my cap and gown]
i really like it
lookin fly
thats a really cute pic of you two

Me: thanks...

Little Sister: those robes
the color [navy]
and the black accents
really working for you

Me: don't look too closely. it's totally obvious that i got zero sleep the night before thanks to the f***ing construction [True story, I lived next to a construction zone and woke up to construction at 4:30 or 5 am every day for the last 4 months I lived in Tucson.  They of course selected the night before commencement to shut down water and work overnight with the use of giant lights.]

Little Sister: oh
no i couldn't tell
no for real though

Me: the dreadful under eye bags are really a shame given the pictures are otherwise really nice

Little Sister: this doctor thing might work out. i decided i'm pretty proud of you and im gonna frae the pic of you in your gown and itll come to college with me. [aw]

Nice, huh?  I thought you could use some classic Little Sister since it's been a while.

• • 
    

Haha! Look at this!

As J mentioned, Little Sister graduated from high school last month.  This particular all-girls, Catholic high school has a tradition of the entire class wearing a long, white dress for graduation.  The same white dress.  Every girl in the class wears the same white dress.  Yes, it's like a group virgin sacrifice.  Some night in December all the girls and their mothers assemble for dress selection.  Ahead of time the class officers will have selected a dozen or so candidate dresses and they model them and narrow it down to one dress.

While I was home, I dug out my dress and tried it on for laughs.  And what do you know, it fits!  Ok, it doesn't actually fit, it's a little too big!  Woohoo!  That iPad app has worked out pretty well. :)

See!  Little Sister even pinned it tighter so it wouldn't look as ridiculous from the front!

Graduation Cake

I made this "cake" for Little Sister's graduation.  She played softball all through high school too, and when I sent her a list of cake options, including some far more complicated and decadent cakes, this is what she picked.  Go figure.  Miss Sophistication.

Sorry for the less than awesome photo quality.  I only had my iPad on that trip and not my camera.

At graduation Little Sister got the biggest award they give.  It's an award that faculty nominate students for and then vote on to select the recipient.  It's more or less an award for being the most awesome all-around person.  And Little Sister won it.  Not only that, she's won herself a pretty sweet full tuition scholarship to a pretty damn awesome school in Boston.  I guess I'm not the only person who thinks she's awesome!  So proud!

It's done!

As J mentioned, I finished my dissertation this week!  YAAAAAAYYYYYY!!  I can't tell you what an enormous relief this is.  Sunday afternoon I finished writing my last chapter.  Yesterday I wrote and revised the abstract.  Today I made my labmates' corrections on the last two chapters.  I emailed The Queen this afternoon and told her that all my chapters are in the drop box folder, and reminded her that the deadline to distribute my dissertation to my committee is July 9th (two weeks before my defense).  It's in her court now.  Anybody want to bet that she'll read it?

So I know posting has been sparse, but for good reason.  That dissertation HAD to get done, and the past six weeks or so have been utterly insane even aside from the dissertation writing.

The "normal" post I wrote was about that awesome chocolate cake (that Grandpa is still raving about, no joke) just after everybody came out for commencement.  Around that weekend I did a series of phone interviews with the company looking for "tactful assertive interpersonal skills."  Then less than a week after everybody left Tucson, I flew home for Little Sister's high school graduation.  That was a Friday.  At 5:45 am on Monday I flew to Vancouver for another ASMS.  During the conference I spent a lot of time chatting with the NJ post doc guy, and did a face-to-face interview for a government post doc.  Again on Friday I flew back to Tucson, only to leave four days later for an on-site interview in Delaware with the people I did phone interviews with earlier in the month.  That was a one night travel nightmare of a trip.   Immediately after the interview trip "pre-wedding combat" began, followed by E & J's wedding.  After the wedding I did a phone interview with another company, and then Friday of that week I got an offer from the DE interview. Phew.

I will blog about all of these things in near future.  I've certainly still got work to do while I wait for edits (that I don't think are coming) from The Queen, but it shouldn't be so all-consuming.

J's account of my life for the past month

Because I haven't been able to blog often enough to satisfy him, J (of E & J) has decided to step in and write a post for me.  Yes, he calls me Annie.  Here's his account of the past month of my life [with a wee bit of my own commentary thrown in]:

I am an avid reader of Annie’s life in a lab coat blog.  I am sure that her other readers are experiencing the same angst as I am, wondering what she is up to.  The following is my account of the happenings since her last irregular blog post.

1.       Lil sis graduated from High School.  This is a momentous occasion.  She is a smart and at times goofy young lady.  I think back to the mix of emotions that I experienced when I graduated from high school.  I was overjoyed to be done with a 12 year educational endeavor and anxious for the post secondary hurdle ahead a.k.a. college.  Lil sis was accepted to a good school and even got a scholarship!

2.       E. had her bachelorette party in Sonoita, AZ, in Arizona wine country.  The party of ladies took several tours of various wineries and handed out cookies to several of the operators who gave unscheduled tours of their operation.  Side bar: I am jealous of this trip as it is on my Tucson bucket list and I have yet to go but, E. had a good time and that is all that matters, ever. [Isn't J a great husband?]

3.       Anne went on several job interviews [actually just one on-site interview, plus a few phone interviews, and a couple face-to-face interviews at the conference last month] for post graduation aka the real world with a real job.  This should not be confused with some no-talent hollow a-holes who end up on MTV drinking too much and in general sucking at life.  She had the trip from layover hell.  To keep it short and sweet, she was supposed to get in at a reasonable time and have dinner with the infamous C. [aka Boyfriend] but, Murphy’s Law and the airlines [and the weather] took over and killed that dream.  She finally, after many hours of waiting, landed at 0000 (midnight for you non-24 clock people [--> E]) and made it to her interview at 0700 tired but there in person. 

4.       J & E FINALLY got married after ~6.5 years of dating!  Anne was the MOH and gave a great toast. The back story:  The wedding was on 6/2/12.  Annie returned from her interview and entered pre- wedding combat.  E. decided to make her own wedding and grooms cakes.  So, beginning on Thursday, she worked for two days baking cakes, making marzipan fruit, crumb frosted, frosted, decorated the cake, and flowers.   She did this side by side with E’s mom who is high strung [no comment].  Being my M.I.L., I will make no further comment.  I cannot express my level of thanks for her help.  The cakes were delicious and looked awesome.  Annie is a truly talented baker and any man lucky enough to have her in his life will eat well.  C. take note. [Yes. Boyfriend, take note.] Pictures to follow.

5.       Annie was offered a post doc position that is affiliated with one of the premier medical institutions [located at one of said institutions, I'll actually be employed by an instrument company] in the country.  Last I heard this was where she was going to accept as a job.  It is a bitter sweet event.  On the one hand it is nice to graduate and get the hell out of grad school.  On the other it is sad as she will be leaving a group of great friends and a town that she has come to love and hate.  I can only wish her the best of luck.  I know that she is a great chemist and will flourish at anything she takes on. 

6.       The dissertation is for all practical purposes done, yay!  [YAY!!!!]  I know this has been a looming cloud for a few months but, it is in the final stages of done and should be finished very very shortly.  Annie and I discussed her monumental achievement this evening; I was informed that she was celebrating with ice cream.  For those of you curious souls: Ben and Jerry’s Half Baked.

I am sure that I left some things out but, this should give you some much needed Annie news.

Thank you for reading this somewhat rambling post and have a good morning/afternoon/evening.

~J. of J & E

So...who are you again?

Two weeks ago, my grandmother died, so we had cause for the whole extended family to get together.  Now my mom is one of 5 children, all of whom are married with kids, so this means a lot of people.  In this case though, all of my mom's aunts, uncles, and cousins were around, too.  Gramma was one of I think 7 kids, all of whom were also married with children.  Throw in all the neighbors, coworkers, and family friends from throughout the past 50+ years, and this meant LOTS of people that I probably haven't ever met, or if I had met them, it's likely been at least a decade since I last saw them.  Some of the names were familiar to me, if not the faces, and lots of these people at least knew of me if they didn't actually recognize me.

Sure enough, the combination of lots of people, people who think they should know who they are, or who vaguely know who you are, leads to lots of confusion and funny stories.

All evening at the wake, Little Sister and I had an ongoing competition with two of our cousins (who are brothers) to see who knew the most people there, outside of our generation and our aunts/uncles.  Since our parents live further away, they didn't have all the coworkers and friends that our cousins' mom  had there, so we lost pretty badly.  The funeral home was pretty packed all night - like I said, big family, and then a bunch of friends and in-laws (and even in-laws of in-laws at one point! so sweet! I hope I wind up with such awesome in-laws someday!) of everybody.  Between the two of us, Little Sister and I only knew 25 people.  It was pretty sad.  Lots of awkward introductions.

Whoever came up with the receiving line style of doing wakes (and weddings for that matter) should be shot.  They're miserable.  Generally speaking, the line at Gramma's wake consisted of Grandpa (who stood there chatting with EVERY single person who came through for FOUR hours - such a trooper) and the 5 kids and their spouses.  As the night went on, the line got shorter and shorter - people stepped out to sit for a few minutes, or find the restroom, or track somebody down to catch up, etc.  So at some point when the line looked rather short, I jumped in line with my aunts and uncles, and for a while Little Sister came with me too.  Some people could place me, but to help, the line I generally used was that I'm the oldest grandchild.  At one point when Little Sister was next to me, some woman I don't know gets to us, and while gesturing to both my sister and I, I tell her that "we're the oldest grandchild."  Right.  Sarah just looked at me like I'd lost my mind.  Which by that point I mostly had.

At the wake I was standing next to my youngest uncle for a while.  He's my mom's baby brother, and is actually closer in age to me than to my mom.  Within the span of ten minutes, one person asked if I were his wife, and another asked if I were his daughter.  Yikes.

[Side story.  My freshman year of high school, my parents got me tickets to see the Barenaked Ladies on New Year's Eve in Boston.  However they certainly weren't going to let 15-year-old me go into Boston on New Year's Eve unchaperoned.  So mom recruiting this uncle to take me.  At that point in time, I looked quite old for my age, and he still had his hair. :)  The 11 year age gap looked much smaller than it was, and even my grandmother make cracks about how it would look like we were on a date.]

I've mentioned before that my sister and I look quite similar.  This does not help out extended relatives trying to figure out who you are.  I had a number of people ask if I still lived at home...logical if I were my sister, who is a senior in high school.  Little Sister had a number of people ask how she was liking Arizona...

The funniest in my book though, was at the reception after the burial.  Little Sister and I were sitting at a table together, when somebody (one of mom's cousins? maybe?) came up and asked which of us was the senior in high school!  Now Little Sister really doesn't look older than her age, definitely not more than a couple of years.  Yeah, I could pass for a few years younger than I am, but I'm quite sure I don't look 17!  I could keep it together and swallow the laughter at most of the ridiculous things people said that week, but not this one.  We both burst out laughing on the spot.

It's been a while.

Text from my sister:

For your current school attending its university of [state] - [city]...should i say youre phd candidate or is that just assumed bc ur 27 and still in college...

Sigh.  While not quite accurate, yes, I am 27 and still in school.  If we want to be really depressing, I'm in the 21st grade.

I hope it never stops.

The other day, via Facebook:

 

Me: Hi

Little Sister: hey

today is the one day all year I wish I lived in New Hampshire

I want to vote!

I want to be 18!

ps - does gravity cause wrinkles?

[Friend] voted for the first time ever today

big big big day

Me: I saw that [Friend announced this on Facebook earlier.]

no, you get wrinkles when your skin loses its elasticity

Little Sister: oh

ok

I was doing french with Mlle today and I wondered that

Me: Poor Duf

that's what you think of during French?

Little Sister: well only for like 2 seconds

and she was talking about a poem about aging

and roses

so I thought it

and she didn't say anything to me

even though I haven't gone to see her in like 2 weeks [she's taking French as an independent study since she's the only student for French 5]

I think she thinks I was out sick

I didn't confirm or deny this theory

 

Little Sister Holiday Edition

The day after I got home for break I made Little Sister watch White Christmas with me because 1. it's my favorite Christmas movie and 2. she'd never seen it before which is a tragedy that had to be fixed immediately. (Apparently this is the year in which I make all the people in my life who haven't seen White Christmas watch it. Before going home I made E watch it and I would have made Boyfriend watch it last week if I hadn't accidentally left it at my parents.  Sad.) Little Sister actually really liked the movie, which surprised Mom a bit. In reply to Mom's surprise Little Sister said, "Men look better in black and white." Never mind that the movie was definitely in color...

When I was looking at Leopold, her fish, we had the following conversation:

Little Sister: I hate that fish.
Me: How can you say that about my fish-nephew?!
Little Sister: Every time I clean his water it's dirty like 5 minutes later.
Me: But what about when you have kids and you change their diaper and it's dirty again 5 minutes later?
Little Sister: That's what a nanny is for.
Me: Oh, with your sugar daddy's money?
Little Sister: I can't have a sugar daddy.
Me: Why not? I thought your plan was to marry rich? Why can't you have a sugar daddy?
Little Sister: Anne. Have you seen my nose?? 

Reluctantly taking care of Leopold

Later when I was telling Mom about that conversation, Mom said something or other about supporting herself and somehow (I really wish I could remember how) she got around to saying that she could be a nun:

Little Sister: I'd rather be a hooker.
Mom: (dropped jaw and stunned/horrified silence) 

After Christmas eve mass we were getting Dad to take our photo in front of the Christmas tree like last year. At some point I asked Dad to check that I wasn't blinking in all the photos, since we both (me and Little Sister) have the Chinese eyes going on when we smile. Little Sister said no way, that was just her, and I said nope, mine can be just as bad. At this point she says, "Let's have a squint off!"

Not twins.

 Later on Christmas Eve, Little Sister curled up on the floor in front of the (fake) fireplace. 

Somebody's waiting for Santa...

Conversations with Little Sister

Yesterday, via text message:

Little Sister (out of nowhere): I think we should match at xmas again this year...lets work on that
Me: Hahaha but it was funnier bc it was totally accidental last year.  i bought a gray dress the other day, but i have no idea if i'll wear it for christmas or not
Little Sister: It feels like xmas break right now...minus snow on the ground which is ironic bc a snow storm is the reason i'm out of school for a week
Me: Haha well what are you wearing for christmas?
Little Sister: Idk i'll let you know christmas eve eve bc thats usually when i decide
Me: Uh, yeah, matching is only gonna happen again by totally coincidence then
Little Sister: That's the best way to match!

Sooo...I'm supposed to read her mind when I'm packing to go home for Christmas...when she hasn't even made up her mind yet?


Later yesterday, again via text message:

Little Sister: Today i asked mom to get my phone out of my purse bc i was driving...she proceeded to take my wallet out and open it. is it too late to trade her in?
Me: On purpose or bc she's an idiot?
Little Sister: Hahahaha who would do that on purpose?
Me: A snoop?  Some parents would
Little Sister: Ohh haha well theres nothing important in my wallet...just my current school id in which i look like a cancer patient
Me: Uh, why do you look like a cancer patient? btw my bday package from [Boyfriend] weighs 2.1 lbs.  SO curiousssss
Little Sister: He weighed it? weell bc i was like i dont care its not in the yearbook so i had a messy [high school she attends] bun with a bandana tied on top...those pics r displayed on the bulletin board for student of the month, distinguished senior etc so hopefully i dont get recognized for those
Little Sister: When is his bday?
Me: I bet you will. [Really, she probably will.]  I have a tracking number and it says it weighs 2.1 lbs. his bday is sept 24. we were in the grand canyon.
Little Sister: Oh ok so he gets you a nice 2.1 lb mystery present and you get him a throwing up girlfriend whose feet he has to rub. i know whose present i'd pick.
Me: Well i also got him 3 space prints and framed them for his apt
Little Sister: Whats a space print? sounds nerdy
Me: Photos from apollo missions
Little Sister: Ohh thats cool. is he into that space stuff? thats a pretty classy apt decor
Me: Yeah, he really likes space stuff and his apt walls were super bare
Little Sister: Soo he likes space...and he works for john deere [not quite true]...id be willing to bet he has experimented with crop circles
Me (after a few minutes, during which I asked Boyfriend about this accusation): So apparently he sorta has.  he and his dad wrote [LAST NAME] into a rice field one year. [Boyfriend's dad farms rice & soybeans.]
Little Sister: Knew it!

Today, via Facebook chat:

Little Sister: Hey, you wanna know something?
Me (hesitantly): Sure
Little Sister: [Friend's] fish died Sunday
and came back to life Wednesday
right as they were about to flush it.
Me: Hahahahahahaha why'd they wait 3 days to flush it?
Little Sister: Well they had to wait til the power came back on bc they have well water
and also
it was just really hard for them
i mean it was their fish
garfunkel was family
Me: Is this the fish she got at the same time as you?
Little Sister: yesss
Me: whose name i can't remember...
Little Sister: Leopold
Me: Right. I was going to say leonard, but that's big bang theory.
how is leopold?
Little Sister: Still kickin
bc we put him in front of the fire
during the power outage
so he'd stay warm
Me: Hahaha that would be bad if his water froze
Little Sister: Yeah
dad was smarttt thinkin there
i gotta go i'm meeting [Friend] at the 99
bc mom and dad are out partying tonight
and we have no food bc of the storm
Me: out partying?
Little Sister: at a dinner for church's 50th
at a golf club
or something
idk
something like that

Miscellaneous Tuesday Thoughts

It's payday! When you only get paid 3 times/year, payday takes on a whole new level of excitement. Unless I wind up at a job with some really weird pay schedule, these are also by far the biggest paychecks I'll ever get, even though I should make (lots) more money at any future job.

I just double checked cooking plans with E to make sure I don't accidentally trade something we had plans for at our CSA pickup. Except our pickup is Wednesday. Today is Tuesday. I really was earnestly planning to pick up our produce on my way home today. For some reason I've had a hard time keeping days/meetings straight lately. I very nearly blew off lunch with my old roommate today because I can't seem to keep track of things lately. It took multiple tries to schedule lunch in the first place because last week I didn't remember I had group meeting Wednesday at noon. We've had group meeting Wednesday at noon for over a year now. Except this week it's Thursday at noon. Not helping.

My weird leprosy thing is finally clearly up. Thank goodness. I really didn't want to look like a freak for the rest of bathing suit season.

It's Little Sister's birthday! She's a ripe old 17 today. She can (legally) see a rated-R movie all by herself like a big girl. If you know her in real life feel free to wish her a happy birthday in the most obnoxious fashion you can think of. By the way, the only labels with more posts are "gradual school", "random", and "travel."

A while ago I saw something online about this new thing called Pinterest. I didn't think much of it. Then a couple weeks ago a friend mentioned it, and said she really liked it. Eh, still brushed it off. Well, yesterday I got annoyed when epicurious wouldn't let me add a recipe to my recipe box, so I said eff it and started a Pinterest account. It's awesome and I'm already addicted. I can store and organize recipes or anything other website my heart desires all in one place. Definitely beats having recipe boxes on all sorts of different cooking sites and trying to remember which website or blog I got which recipe off of. I'm having fun with it, but it's not very conducive to getting my research update done.

Speaking of which, I HATE preparing and giving research update for group meeting. Loathe it. I generally analyze my data in a fairly timely fashion, but I don't generally made it into pretty figures and slides that are presentation-ready. So giving group meeting generally means a lot of pretty tedious work. And a last minute crunch to get more data.

Another annoying feature of work lately is the recent arrival of a person that we're pretty sure The Queen hired to be our babysitter/her watchdog, since as department chair she has just about zero time to pay any attention to what or how much work we're doing. As she puts it, he's a "real grown-up," as opposed to a post-doc fresh out of a PhD program, and since he got here most of what he's done has been to stick his nose into everybody's business. Last Friday he came flying into my office to less than tactfully inquire about the status of an instrument. The very next morning I got an email from The Queen asking the same. Coincidence? I doubt it. Maybe if my entire grad school experience had had this level of "supervision" I'd be less annoyed, but at this point I have zero interest in somebody looking over my shoulder all the time. The Queen wants me to stay through August because I have outside funding through then. I'm feeling less and less inclined to stick around that long. Working for the department chair is...interesting...to say the least. It probably merits a post of its own at some point.

Syfy has stopped posting episodes of Eureka online after they air! How am I supposed to keep up when we have Monday night softball games?! We have a few weeks off before the fall season starts, but I'm several weeks behind, so I'd just be all out of sorts watching the new episodes for the short time that I can. GAH!

Last bit of rambling for tonight - I need a haircut. But I'm totally undecided what to do. Sometimes I know I want to keep growing it out or that I want to chop a lot off. I have zero thoughts on the matter now. Since I don't have thoughts do I just trim it and see if I have inspiration later? Or chop a bunch (4-8") off? The shortest I've ever had my hair is about chin-length (about where 8" would leave me now), and I know it grows back, so cutting a bunch doesn't particularly freak me out. Opinions?

Blackett's Ridge

Sunday morning I dragged Little Sister out of bed at 5:30 so we could be at the trail head by 6:30. Blackett's Ridge is a great hike, though really not meant to be done in summer. Even at the highest point it's only about 4400 feet, so not a whole lot cooler, and holy cow is some of it steep. Blackett's Ridge is the ridge line between Sabino Canyon and Bear Canyon, and the views at the end are fantastic.


Little Sister's mind was pretty much blown by all the cacti. Arizona is reeeeeeeaallllyyyy different from the northeast and from anything she's ever seen. She kept remarking on all the cacti around us. (There's one like every 3 feet!)

While she did admit the necessity of starting so early by time we were done, the funniest part was the realization that she climbed up to the ridgeline and back down all before she'd normally be out of bed!

Friday the 13th

Little Sister goes home tomorrow morning, so tonight we're hanging out with ice cream and Friday the 13th.

Little Sister: Oh look these little sluts are sneaking off! They're probably going to die!
Me: Because that's what happens to sluts in horror movies!
Little Sister: Oh, he's spreading out the sex blanket... You know, that's true...Sluts really do die in horror movies...
Me: Yep...

Sure enough, less than 2 minutes later, they're both dead. I love predicable '80s horror movies. :)

Little Sister Does Tucson

Little Sister arrived in Tucson yesterday afternoon for an entire 5 days of ridiculousness. She's been saying one hilarious thing after another. So much that I can't keep track to remember even half of it.


When she exited the secure area of the airport, i.e. we haven't even left the airport yet, I overhear her on the phone with Dad telling him how much she misses grass already.

The very first thing she did upon exiting the airport was hug a cactus:


She was astounded by how big a lot of them are. Somewhere she got the idea that cacti were fairly short...


From the airport we went to a local taco joint in South Tucson so Little Sister could have her first "real" taco. She loves tacos, and they're one of only a few meals that she can make herself, but she's only ever had gringo, Ortega grocery store kit or Taco Bell "tacos." She liked them, but found her nose starting to run and her tongue on fire from the "hot" salsa. It was spicy compared to most stuff you can find in New England, but wasn't much compared to a lot of salsas you find around here. Now those will make your nose run. She decided that it was the "most ghetto" place she's ever eaten. And seeing as it was a taco joint in South Tucson, she's probably right.


After some food we went to campus so a few friends could meet her (after all, she's pretty hilarious, and I do talk about her quite a bit) and so she could start to get the lay of the land. One of the first years asked, "Are you twins?!" Uh, not quite. Two minutes later E's advisor said in his usual total deadpan, "You don't look anything alike. Not at all." Dallas said we're "like the same person," mostly based on us being about the same height. And then she simultaneously offended and charmed the die-hard Yankees fan with her Red Sox cap.


Driving back from buying roller derby tickets for Saturday she noticed that the fire hydrants are all silver.

Little Sister: ANNE, did you notice that the fire hydrants are all silver?
Me: Uh, no.
Little Sister: What?! You've been here 4 years and you never noticed that???
Me: Uh, no.
Little Sister: No wonder it took you 3 years to notice that the hall is narrower at one end than the other [true story]. The color of the fire hydrants is like the 6th most important thing to notice in a city.
Me (interrupting): OH really now? What are the other 5 things??
Little Sister: Well uh...
Me: No really, what are the other 5 things??
Little Sister: Well, I'd have to think about it.
Me: That's ok. Think about it.
Little Sister: Um, first the size of the street signs; second, the color of the street signs; third, the arrangement of the traffic lights; fourth, um, the closest Starbucks; and fifth, something about the sidewalks. Like if they exist or not...
Me: Uh huh...

She has since asked most of my friends if they know what color the fire hydrants are in Tucson.


Before we went to walk down 4th Ave, where a bunch of shops and cafes are:

"I'm bringing my camera, for all the beautiful Tucson sites that need documenting."

Good...because I'm bringing mine in case (when) you do something silly.

While on 4th Ave, we found these redneck wine glasses:

Little Sister: Oh, it's a goblet of the Lord.
Then I see the tag on them saying they're "redneck wine glasses."
Little Sister: Wait, so they're saying the Lord is a redneck because that's what he serves his wine in??

I also found this awesome sparkly blue dress:

Wouldn't this make a great bridesmaid dress for E's wedding? I sent her pictures just in case she thought so too. :P


Once we were home for the night, she was checking her email on my computer. Now I have my cursor on the "dinosaur scheme" because it amuses me. Apparently it amuses her too:

"I love when your little dinosaur tries to walk because his legs are so little."

While in control of my computer she took over a gchat convo with my boyfriend:

me: omg [Little Sister] keeps saying so much ridiculous stuff that i can't even keep track of half of it

when she walked out of the airport terminal the first thing she did was hug a cactus

Boyfriend: hehe

how is she liking the 100 degree weather?

me: it's HORRIBLE

literally i always feel slightly moist

and if you're not outside you're inside

and everywhere inside is wicked over air conditioned

so then its more like vancouver in december instead of tucson

Boyfriend: so if you're not outside you're inside, how profound. :)

How are you doing [Little Sister]?

me: i've always been profound

its a strong point

Boyfriend: haha

me: i'm contemplating majoring in philosophy...following the footsteps of big bruddah [who majored in philosophy and is now marginally employed and living with our parents]

Later in the evening, I'm telling her about this weird leprosy-rash thing I've got going on, that apparently I just have to wait out. She's into biology, so she's googling to try to figure out why a rash would be a reasonable immune response - like why does it happen or what purpose does it serve? In her googling she's reading various bits aloud, and keeps pronouncing the word "dermatitis" as "derma-tit-us" (with a short i, to be clear), and laughing uncontrollably. I totally think she's mispronouncing it deliberately. But then as she's reading she's like wait, so it's like a skin-itis...so it's probably pronounced "dermatitis" (with a long i). We're both in tears laughing at this point. I just can't believe she was actually earnestly pronouncing it "derma-tit-us"...


All afternoon and evening she kept remarking on the time difference. She'd look at her watch when it was say 7:30, and be like oh my goodness, did you know it's 10:30 at home?? Everyone at home is doing 10:30 things, but we're doing 7:30 things, AND it's light out here but it's dark out there...


She's entertained and entertaining. Tucson is really, really different from anywhere she's been before, and she clearly thinks it's a really strange place. We'll have to see what the rest of the weekend holds in store... Maybe we should find some javelinas to really weird her out. :)

Introducing Leopold

Me: hi

Little Sister: HI

i'm legit

about to go to bed

BUT

i'll fill you in

i got a new fish!

Me: hahahahahaha

congratulations

did [friend] get one too?

Little Sister: yes

betas

hers is garfunkel

mine is leopold

Me: hahaha

nice

my fish was gustavo [I'll have to tell you all about Gustavo another time.]

Little Sister: but dad hasn't met him yet

i left him on the counter

with a sticky note

that says meet the newest addition to the family - leopold! hes the most handsome beta around

mom came home like 20 min ago

and i was sitting in a chair next to the counter talking to him

i love him

my little fishy

Me: oh my goodness

Little Sister: mom thinks im gonna give him a complex

bc [other friend] told me its a girl

but i dont want a girl fish

so im gonna pretend its a boy

but i told her i want to laminate a prince harry and put him in his fish bowl so he can have company and bc its prince harry

and hes beautiful

and mom reminded me its a boy

she really thinks im gonna give him a complex

and the stones at the bottom of his fish bowl are bright pink

like breast cancer pink

Me: actually i think they generally sell boy beta fish because the girl beta fish aren't pretty colors

Little Sister: oh ok good

i think its a boy too

bc it made a bubble nest

and only the boys make those

Me: what the heck is bubble nest?

Little Sister: its what they do

when they prepare to mate

it means they're really happy!

my fish is happy!

because he loves me

OK WEELL

going to bed

byee

Me: goodnight

Quotable

Here's a sampling of the ridiculous or funny things my sister said while I was home. I'm sure there will be a similar post following her trip to Tucson next month.

Me: So what should I cook while I'm home?
Little Sister: Can you make that dish you made before, with the orange chunks?
Me: Butternut squash chili?
Little Sister: Yeah. Or I could just to go Wendy's and get their chili.

Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" is playing while Little Sister and I are making dinner. She's singing along.
Little Sister: ...wife of the post man, wife of the post maaaaan.
Me: I think that line is actually "wife of a close friend..."

We went running on the track at the local high school, and just over 2 miles into the run, Little Sister darts off the track, hops the fence, and bee lines it to the porta potty by the next field. Little sister, while we stretch after running: I claim dibs on showering first because I went in a portapotty.

During our run there was a bunch of lightening off in the distance, which we ignored, because it looked far away and it wasn't even raining at the track. Just as we walk in the house after our run we see the ground crew at Fenway pulling the tarp over the field. It's like the bottom of the 8th inning, and not pouring, so you'd think they'd push through it to finish the game. Then they show a pretty fantastic shot of lightening just beyond the 3rd base side of the stadium.
Me: Ooh, they're probably really having a lightening delay, not a rain delay.
Little Sister: Why? They use wooden bats!

Little Sister, while decorating cupcakes (which I baked, with frosting that I made): Baking is a good time to practice using common sense.

Little Sister, while applying sunscreen at the beach: I gotta be sure to get my nose, cause it's so close to the sun ya know.

Important Announcement

It's official. Little Sister is coming to visit in August! Can't wait for the ridiculousness...

Quote of the Day

"A gypsy told me I was gonna marry a guy at least 8 years older than me." ~ Little Sister (duh), in justifying her admiration of Prince Harry