...Of Cats and Corsets and Chocolate Ice Cream

I used to have two other cats. I had them when I was an undergraduate, but left them with my parents b/c I couldn't have cats in my apt where I live now (i.e. Kishka is a secret, so don't tell my landlord). Their names are Nikolai Ivanovich and Ivan Nikolaiovich - and no I didn't make those names up to be mean. It is from a book. What I noticed was that they would always sit on the things that I needed. Like if I were reading a book, or if there were some papers on the floor. Apparently Kishka has this problem too, except that he gets mad when you try to move him. Like today. I moved him off of my makeup, he sat on my purse, I moved him from there (all the while he is making these fussy not quite growling not quite meowing sounds), he tries to sit on my glasses, and I have to intercept. Finally he storms off to sit on the corner of my bed after swatting at me a few times with his paws. B/c I found the entire incident amusing I took a little video - well, and also b/c I kinda like playing with my new phone.




The other stuff referred to in the title here is that I went to a mini food festival type thing today. I went a few years ago - both times it was fun. Of course it was though b/c what could be better than all the restaurants in your town gathering in one place, and offering samples of their food? I had some squash curry, buttermilk hush puppies, eggplant fries...oh, and some dark chocolate ice cream. All really really delicious.
However, today was a game day. So all the crazies were out (and all wearing red). Got asked a few weird questions. The first I won't type out here b/c I have no clue what the girl was talking about, and my luck it is some sexual position that I do not want to know about.
The second question was "could you buckle my shoe?" Strange enough having someone ask you that who is waiting for a bus at 10pm at night. Even stranger was that she was wearing a tiny plaid school-girl style skirt and a white corset. I am thinking she couldn't buckle her shoe b/c the corset was too tight, but I mean really if you are wearing something that prevents you from getting properly dressed - i.e. buckling your red 4 inch heels - then you probably shouldn't be wearing it. But maybe I'm just too conservative...

Kishka Adventures: Day 3

I think we are sort of friends now. Except when he does something that I don't like, and I yell at him. Then he growls and hisses. Which is actually still all of the time. He is out of the "hiding under couch phase" and into the "lets explore everything" phase. Essentially this means that he tries to drink out of my glass, eat my food, climb on my computer, sleep on my clothes, turn over the garbage can, and sit on the book I am reading. So, I redirect him in a nice way like "hey kishka stop that!" and then he turns his head and makes a vicious demonic sort of noise.
Funny moment that I heard, but unfortunately missed... he had some sort of run in with my desk chair. I think he tried to jump on it, not realizing that it was going to move. I found him looking a bit shocked lying underneath the chair. Where is a camera when you need one!

And in the midst of such cat induced mayhem I almost forgot to mention that today was the very first day of the semester. I taught three classes. In each one I managed to forget something super important, but I think they will survive. My two morning classes are 99% Freshman. In fact, in one of them, I have all freshmen and then one lone senior. He looked a bit overwhelmed to hear that. I of course redirected all campus, UW questions to him. He laughed thinking I was joking, but actually... Anyway, my second section is also all freshmen. They all seem friendly and talkative though, which will be good. What else, oh I was mistaken for a student today. That was funny "are you in our class too?" "nope, I am your TA."

Wednesdays are such long days, as are Thursdays. I am on campus from like 9:30am to roughly 7:30pm. I know it is like having a real job. I shouldn't be complaining, but my response is to say I just think I will go to bed early tonight. By the way, I did read like 4 or 5 articles for my own research ( I know!!). And started reading this really interesting book on Ukraine. And by "interesting" I mean full of useful sources and very recent (2008?). So, I am actually rather proud of how productive I was. If only I could be like that every day....oh, wait I wouldn't still be in graduate school - I would be out, doing someting useful, like fieldwork. (cue manaical laughter in the background).

Cat-Sitting: Day One

I agreed to watch my friend's cat for like 2 weeks. I thought this would be great b/c I love cats. Kishka ("cat" in Ukrainian) has been here about 2 hours. First he hid underneath the couch. His owner tried to get him to come out so that she could say goodbye to him, but he just hissed at her. I will try to keep that in mind when he starts hissing at me...oh, I mean I should keep that in mind while he is hissing at me now. Yeah, he finally came out from under the couch and ended up in my closet. I saw him and started talking to him (in English though apparently he speaks Ukrainian) and he started making some odd noises. Sort of like sounds of discomfort. So I got up and walked in his general direction - he started hissing. Full out, fangs bared.

I guess I could say then that so far the experience has been great! :) Hopefully he will come around, and also hopefully not break anything while I am gone all day tomorrow.

Midget Car Racing

No, not midget racing. Though that is what the sign says as you drive into the park where the race track is. Anyway, this is not something that I am in the habit of doing, never been to car racing of any sort, but it was actually fun. I felt rather American though as they prayed before the event, they sang the national anthem, and it was sponsored by Miller. The winners of each "heat" received a case of Miller - and oddly enough a bottle of water.

Watching the cars going around the track would have been even better if:

a)it wasn't ridiculously cold. Supposedly the low tonight is 38 - it should so still be summer!!
b) dirt wouldn't have been flying at us. The dust was annoying and got into my contacts, nose, and clothes. Worse though were the large clods of dirt that flew into the stands. I might have a knot on my forehead from one rather large piece that hit me.

I should probably do something useful and explain exactly what midget cars are, but since I know nothing about cars period, I won't even bother. Basically they were just small, loud, and fast. No one was injured, a few cars broke down, and one kind of caught on fire, but no serious drama which was good. Oh, and there was a raffle, really bad music during the "intermission" and a "t-shirt toss" in which a few firemen threw shirts into the audience.