The last few days have been good. I have the feeling that life is slowly leveling out. That I'm meandering into normalcy. And the certainty that this feeling won't last long-- well, that's normal too.

I have this urge to tell you all the stuff that I've been doing, and an equal and opposite feeling that nobody will care. Because it's not very interesting. But I'll talk about it anyway. Because rambling on and on about mundane crap in this journal is also normal. I'm sure you've noticed this by now.

I am still feeling the Watermelon love. I did notice a couple of things that don't work, so I have to call the dealership tomorrow and put the smack down. One thing is that the dashboard lights don't work on one panel. The other thing is that one of the windows won't roll down. I hope they don't make me pay the deductible for this.

And yet, worst case scenario is that this costs me fifty bucks. How cool is that? I still don't want to pay fifty bucks though. So I am going to do my best to avoid that.

Money is tight. I haven't yet sold my old car-- I need to clean it out first, for one thing-- and I am anticipating some big expenses in the near future. Pigwidgeon needs to go back to the vet this week, the holidays are right around the corner, and my DVD player has decided it doesn't really like playing DVDs, so I might have to get a new one.

I have been getting the DVD player to work sporadically. If I keep putting the movie in and taking it out over and over and over, eventually it plays. But it only likes certain movies. When Katie was here, we were trying to watch a bunch of different DVDs. Finally, we put in a porn movie and said, "Just watch, this DVD is the one that will play." Sure enough, it played the porn on the first try. Who knew I had a perverted DVD player?

I bought a $20 DVD cleaning disk yesterday, which I definitely want to try before shopping for a brand new one. It ain't cheap, plus mine has sentimental value. Except that when I put the cleaning disk in, the DVD player doesn't want to read it. Maybe if I draw a picture of a naked chick on the cover....

Oh, what else. I watched a lot of movies this weekend. I went to see 8 Mile-- have I mentioned I love Eminem? I rented Insomnia, even though the bastards at Entertainment Weekly totally spoiled the ending for me. I'm glad I saw it anyway, because it really was good. Would have been so much better if EW didn't suck ass.

I also rented the Middlemarch miniseries, which was so very good. The casting was perfect. I wanted to hit Rosamond as much as I ever did, and Dorothea was wonderful, and Rufus Sewell made the perfect Will Ladislaw. Great story, faithful adaptation, amazing acting. I'm going to have to put that on my wish list.

Speaking of my wish list, while I was at Circuit City buying the DVD cleaner, I also bought the 8 Mile soundtrack and the new Zoo Tycoon expansion. I really wanted to wait until Christmas for that one, but I couldn't. They have sharks and manta rays and giant squid, and you can put on shows with your dolphins and killer whales and stuff. How could I resist?

I drove home listening to the 8 Mile soundtrack. The contents of my CD changer are instructive. I've also got Britney, The Eminem Show, Dawn of the Dickies, Weezer's green album, and Hot by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. I feel woefully mainstream.

And can you imagine me, the whitest girl in the world, rapping my way through traffic like a moron? Because I do that. My biggest fear is that someone I know will pull up next to me and I won't notice. They'll see my white girl stylings and then they will laugh and laugh and pee their pants and get into a car accident because they can't stop laughing.

Hmm. What else? I am completely out of control. So much stuff I've been meaning to write about, and I am sure I've forgotten the vast majority.

Oh, it's been so Winter Wonderland around here. The air smells like rain, we're making Gingerbread lattes at work again, and the other day, driving home from a student's house in the fancy schmancy hills, I saw a family of deer prancing back and forth across the road, up the circular driveways of mansions, right in front of my car-- it was so cool.

I love the rain, as long as I don't have to be outside. I love the sidewalks right after it rains. I love the sky right before the rain starts. I love lightning and thunder. Falling asleep to the sound of a storm is one of the most delicious feelings ever.

So what else? That's pretty much it, I have been fairly lazy the past couple of days. I think I've earned a little laziness, there's been not nearly enough laziness around here lately.

But now I have to get cracking. This site needs work, my thesis needs polishing, I have a couple of contests to enter, some magazines to re-submit to, bills to pay, filing to do, budgets to make, Christmas lists to draw up, floors to vacuum, cars to sell, friends to call, a huge email backlog to clear...

Aw, screw it. Viva laziness! I'm going to go play with my zoo.