5.I.2004 :::: 17.26

today i was even taller than usual, wearing new swank lady boots with a 2" heel.

things that intimidate me about the new year.
• i don't know where i will be living seven months from now. N is applying to phd programs so we may be moving to one of the following places: madison � pittsburgh � washington dc � new york city. under the big shadow that is the electrifying thought of moving, we do things like sift through our books, finding ones we might technically not (gasp) need to have. winnowing through the books. as we sat dressed up on M&R's berber-carpeted floor watching new year's rockin' eve we thought, independently of each other but confided to each other at a later hour, next year we could be in new york.

• i am going back to school, as in going back to class, tomorrow. this involves further coming in to my own as a science geek & taking classes with long, frequent labs. also this involves staying out much later than i would like: i won't get out of anatomy lab until 21.30 & then i imagine i will come home & eat & crash into bed probably still redolent of formaldehyde. still all will be amazed by my ability to memorize the long latinate names of small, barely distinguishable anatomical bits.

• i am getting a car. this is exciting & unbelievable & mostly pretty unlike me. it is my grandfather's car, & my grandfather has just moved into an assisted-living facility & obviously won't be doing much driving. it is (gasp, sigh) a 1994 buick lesabre, & it is hunter green. i think this car has come my way to taunt me, to remind me of all the times i have insisted that green is a color the automotive industries should stay away from, if they know what's good for 'em. my parents are coming up to see me at some soon point, i imagine, to bring me the car & to eat with us at the starliner diner.

yesterday M&R came over for brunch with A (now nearly 19 mos) in tow. A likes to sing "old macdonald" except a)she can't really sing, b)she doesn't know the words to the farm parts, c)she sings "E, I, E, I, E, I, eeta!" eeta is what she calls me.