For the record: although I didn't really notice it at the time (probably because I was busy deciding not to buy the pair of overalls I was trying on), I did not, at all, look like a blob in the changing-room mirror at Old Navy. I looked just fine. Like me, kinda.

I want to teach at CTY and I want to know if they're going to let me or not. Today's the 24th. The application deadline was January 26th. They said on their website that it might take them up to two months to contact applicants. Would it be bad to contact them on the 27th to ask them what's up? I don't know how good I am at this getting-a-job thing. I've never had a job that I didn't get via an "in." I guess I got into college okay. I'm just nervous. I want to do it. I want them to let me. I'm afraid they won't.

I guess I have some idea how Curtis must feel about grad school.

Next week: more holes in my ears. At least that's the plan. Right now all I have are two in my left ear. I'm thinking of a third there and one in my right. They're so cheap if you don't get anything complicated done... at Piercing Pagoda (I know, laugh all you want, but that's where I got the first two done and they're fine) the piercing's free if you buy a pair of studs, which comes out to something between $7 and $10.

I really like piercing. I enjoyed it before. I'm sure I'll enjoy it again. And as long as I keep my face pristine and unperforated, my parents probably won't mind too much. And yes, I care what they think.

My housemates, three of the four of them, are in a band called Urgent Detergent. They practice in the basement. They're practicing right now and I'm rather enjoying it, even though their music insinuated itself into my nap and probably had something to do with my dreams being completely wacko, but hey. Nathaniel plays bass. He's only been doing it for a little over a year. He practices constantly and he sounds really good. I can't help being proud of him. John plays drums, from what I can tell not that well, but not badly, and he loves doing it. Peff plays guitar really well and sings with an off-key drunk-country-singer swagger. They're my housemates, "the boys" as I usually call them (though not to their faces), and I love them. I hope they feel like doing some form of socializing when they finish practicing.

The dreams were obnoxious and made me feel grubby and sour-stomached. Naps will do that. I feel much better having written to Curtis about them and having written some stuff here.

I'm so bad at remembering to send Emily the postcards I got her in Seattle that I'm beginning to think maybe I should scan them and email them to her so she can see that they really exist, and then I can give them to her when I see her next, which I hope is soon. I can't think when either of us will be free for a weekend before she graduates, but I love her and I need to see her. This separation does not sit well with me. It's been going on since August, it was hard then, and it's still hard now, though I think about it less often because I talk to her less often. Jeff: Bloomington. Emily: Roanoke, sometimes Cedar Rapids. John: Arlington. Curtis: Seattle. Judy: Amsterdam. Matt: Brighton. Can I have some friends here please?

I do, of course, have the housemates and Ronda and Jenny and even Courtenay, which is a lot more than a lot of people have where they are, and I shouldn't complain. Really, I don't mind that much. Having friends who aren't physically present is a lot better than not having them. And then every once in a while I get to see them, which is great.

John-my-housemate-John and I have to go to court on Tuesday to testify against the kids who broke into our house and stole our stuff in September. Or something. We probably don't have to testify, I guess, since some chick from the court left a message on our answering machine saying that they're going to plead guilty to a number of break-ins in the area, but we have to be there, anyway. Tuesday at 11:30. Problem: how to get to court. I don't have a car. John's has been reclaimed by his mom since she crashed hers a few weeks ago. So we walk, or we take the bus: no big deal. Except that we both have 2:00 classes that we want to make, and we don't know how long the trial will go on.

Oh well. We'll figure it out because we are smart like that.

I'm going to go watch some NCAA tournament action, baby.