My mother told me, in her chirpy sunshine way, that she and my dad just signed up for their very first ATM card. My dad is going to Holland for those crazy Dutch Christmas holidays, and he wants to be able to get guilders out of the ATMs. (Of course he did not come up with this concept on his own; he saw how well it worked for Abby and me when we were overseas last year.) So they signed up for their first ATM card. The reason they never had one before? Using an ATM seemed "too complicated."

Thus, my parents.

Bruce is coming to visit me right after Thanksgiving. Yay!

Of course, since it's right after Thanksgiving and not during my Thanksgiving vacation, I technically have to go to class. I say technically because I plan to ditch as many classes as I can while he's here. I know this isn't "responsible" in the traditional sense, but fuck it. Everyone's entitled to one "get out of class free" card, right? Or two. Or whatever.

We haven't decided on everything we're going to do, but we are going to try and spend a night at this winery in Napa. Like actually on the winery-- he's going to try and get the hookup. I can't explain how this hookup will happen, but I hope it does.

On the other hand, if not, we'll just go to Sonoma for the day instead, and that will be just as fun. I'd like to go back to the Buena Vista winery that Tim and I went to. I want to go back there because every single wine they had was fantastic but since we stopped there first, Tim and I didn't buy enough of their wine.

It would also be cool to go to that movie theater in Oakland that's like a movie theater/restaurant. But then again, I want to find new, Bruce-specific activities for us to do. Just re-creating Tim's visit, fun as it was, would get very old, very fast. Oh, maybe we can go to that museum that has old arcade type games! You bring a roll of quarters and play all the games you want. I want to check that place out.

We are also making plans for the holidays when I'll be visiting L.A. We are going to have a party in December (and by we, I mean mostly he) which should be great. I want to invite everybody I have ever met in my life and have the hugest party ever. (Holiday parties used to be an annual tradition in our circle of friends, but last year I was in Europe, and the year before that, we just didn't do it.)

Also: I might go to Vegas for New Year's Eve with Tim. This would be wonderful, especially since we haven't spent New Year's Eve together in, like, five years or something. And it's Vegas, baby! Vegas! I'm totally jonesing for it.

In the world of computer games, I went to go buy The Sims: Hot Date today and they were sold out. Everywhere, sold out! I hate the bastards at CompUSA because when I was there last week, they wouldn't let me reserve a copy. "Oh, you'll be fine," they said patronizingly. And yet I was there by noon, and by noon they were sold out.

I should have ordered it online, but I wanted to have it the very day it came out, because I am an instant gratification whore. But I ended up ordering it online anyway, and paying the extra $5 so that it would come in two days. (I drew the line at the next-day shipping option.) So no nifty updates yet to the mo pie Sims. Sad. Very sad here in Moville.

Except that I have Zoo Tycoon, to tide me over, and I figured out how to get my unicorns. Rupert and Ozma: he's brown, she's white, they prance. And people with Macs, who don't even have an ETA for their own version of Hot Date, don't feel sorry for me right now. Not even one eentsy little bit.

Mmm... what else? I am back to my usual cheery cherry-headed self. I think it was just your run-of-the-mill mood swing. I had a great day today, including a bunch of hysterically funny three-way phone calls with my girls, some great gossip fests, and the rumor that a hot guy in our program called me "hot."

And there is joy in Moville.

"So apparently I'm a respected editor, a good speaker, and a great poet. Cool. So far, this grad school thing is great for my ego."