that much closer to free popcorn

Last night we made the aquaintance of possibly the worst Christmas film ever, which I realize is a strong statement, especially coming from someone with "Santa Claus Versus the Martians" on her hard drive. Either way, the world is now filled with comments about disrupting the cosmic balance.

My favorite part of tonight's movie is a tie between Tenika pointing out all the tidbits referenced in the children's play and Jesse's perfectly timed quip to me (in the middle of one of Elizabeth's piercing childbirth screams), "Good luck with that."


After the movie, the five of us had a brief discussion, ending with the general comment that we're (in Natalie's words) more "socially happy" than anywhere we've been before. I don't know if I can throw myself completely behind that statement. I'm certainly very happy and entertained to hang with the people I do, but there's still a part of me that misses some of my Missouri folk something awful. I don't know whether this will improve or not by running into them during my brief travels. Phone conversations to catch up on details of life are certainly not the same as actually seeing people day-to-day. The delightful cellphone also can't prepare you for the little inevitable changes in people over the span of several months.

Let me quickly clarify: I love it here. I really, truly feel like this absolutely where I'm supposed to be AND I enjoy it. The fact that I have both sides is an amazing gift that I cannot ever repay with enough thanks. But, if we remember from the Truman years, I didn't stay feeling completely comfortable until after that first section of time. I shouldn't be expected to be completely at ease now (or frankly any moment); that wouldn't be in my nature.

This became somewhat down somewhere in there, and that wasn't my intention at all. Maybe if I stopped cheating myself out of sleep, that would help things. Also, allow me to do a list of positive things before we become too concerned with my well-being:

* jokingly requesting that people supply me with food/cookies/candy, and them actually coming through with food/cookies/candy (twice in one day)

* being complimented on my organizational skills by one of my directors and his assistant director

* the thought of chocolate-covered Tootsie Rolls: what's up with that?