around campus

i've been craving chicken. you have to feed your cravings, i guess. eating some chicken parmesagna from sbarro in the union, i realized i'm feeling pretty comfortable alone. i ate that chicken alone just as comfortably as i've ever eaten with another person. and i wasn't really "alone." with my brain still functioning and all, i had myself to talk to. women friends of mine have been saying forever it's not bad being alone, you've got to get comfortable that way, and increasingly i'm seeing the wisdom of their ways.

as i wake up from whatever protective devices i constructed to enable me to get through this transition, i am noticing a lot of cats. yesterday it was a kitten. today it was what seemed like a big mancoon cat. on campus, they don't want to be touched. but i see them everywhere. this led me to think maybe i need one of the six cats we accumulated during our 7 years together... i went to get miso today, but clint told me there would no returns (unlike the dog who i'm free to take intermittently). i held miso and loved him. but, still not in the habit of doing my own dishes, i thought "am i really ready for kitty litter every day?" i decided no.

but, then serendipity happened. chris, a woman i enjoy in class, came back today after being gone for a week. i struck up conversation during break and learned that she'd going to alabama next week to see her husband's family but doesn't know what she'll do with her kitten. yay. i offered to kitten-sit. i feel like one week of a kitten is all i need. it seemed the perfect exchange. we'll see if her husband will go for it. i swear, i need just one week of kitten. then i'll see what comes next.

biding my time before a reading by mimi schwartz, whose memoir "notes from a queen-sized bed" i read a few years ago and enjoyed, despite wondering about the fact that she wrote about affairs she had but is till married... i guess she has a new memoir out... how many books can one write about their life? i guess i'm in admiration. i live in some cross between "another book" and "really, you think i should write one?" i guess that's my perogative... went to the sheldon after my chicken to check out latino art. if i taught spanish at an arts school, i would think that would be a great field trip. they had too much free food there. totally made me regret the chicken i paid for.

i had some dessert... a little lime bar wedge, some pineapple and strawberries dipped in a pineapple sauce with tapioca consistency... then the juice they had was a orange/pineapple cross.. i didn't even try the chips with various wonderful dips... i decided this free food that would otherwise be so appetizing is kind of like how a person feels when they're in love but surrounded by young men... oh, you look great, and i can appreciate that, but i am full. in this case, at least a little dessert didn't hurt much.

anyways, off to the reading soon. doesn't start for 45 minutes, and i'll see lesley there. not sure exactly why i'm blogging... old habits die hard... talked to my dad... he was fun. we seem very in sync right now. it's fun. back to walk and cat-hunt until the lady talks about her book...