i have been deployed. and i slept in the mountains last night. i'm not sure which is more exciting. i am going to montgomery, alabama on tuesday morning. i don't know what i'll be doing there but i have an official red cross identification badge so i guess that means something huh? i know they need a lot of logistical work done so i believe i'll be helping with that first. whatever----i will go where i am most truly needed. so that is exciting. i went and spent some of mom and dad's birthday present to me (a gift cerficate to R.E.I.) on a couple pairs of miraculous smartwool socks that will keep my feet dry and non-stinky even after days of no washing. when i stop to think about it i really don't know what i did with my feet before i discovered those socks. yesterday right around traffic time nick and i decided to drive to the sierra nevadas and revel in mountain air and moonlight. it was fantastic waking up this morning to the sound of a babbling brook and sociable trees gossiping in the wind. we drank some tea, indentified some trees with my handy-dandy new tree indentification book, went on a walk and drove back through the desert to some bbq and a hot shower. a truly beautiful day. now i plan to spend the rest of the weekend building bookshelves and getting packed and ready. i am anxious to hear about all the houses that went through hurricane rita----have we lost anything? it made me feel so much better to know everyone was safe in austin during the storm. although it initially feels like a bit of a drag that i'm not going somewhere in louisiana or mississippi to help out--it is nice to know that i will have internet and phone access so we can keep open communication whilst there.
maybe i'll even devote more time to actually putting my latent writing skills to use instead of these dreadfully utilitarian entries i've been posting lately. all apologies.

after a few frantic phone calls last night i discovered that gamo (my grandmother for those of you who may not know the family terminology) and uncle brady and aunt melissa are all either already in austin or in route and thereby safely out of harm's way. hurricane rita is due to hit land on saturday and it is apparantly going to be a doozy---category 5 now---bigger than that last hurricane that hit. remember that one? katrina--i think it was called. (i am being very sarcastic here in case you can't tell). anyway---everyone hope and pray that my family's houses/stuff is all kept intact. melissa---where are nana and poppa? big love to you all.

errrrggghhhh....
that is my frustration because try as i may (and i've tried a number of times already) i can not post on melissa's or ryan's blog. i try to sign up...i come up with username and password....blah blah blah. i think my computer rejects xanga.com. but i will try again another day when i don't feel like throwing this monitor across the room. but i want you both to know i read your blogs and i love them. and i'm proud of you ryan for being so awesome and making team opera and whatever else and i'm proud of you melissa for being a courageous writer. and i'm proud that you're both part of my family. our family is the bestest.
p.s. tell brady to start rocking on this here blog thing. has nana posted anything yet?

where in the world is sister alex? write soon. write now. where in the world are lindsey and katie? write soon. write now. how does mexico/ india smell? what are the colours? the weather---hot and soupy? cool and breezy? salty? sour? what gastronomic experiences have you had so far? what was your first taxi ride like? tell us everything......

ok ok---people have been demanding that red cross mumurings be explained. so--here is the scant amount of info i have at the moment. i have been trained. i could be deployed at any time.

really--that is all i know. they need gazillions of people to go open shelters and help feed hungry people and do logistical work surveying damage and other such disaster stuff. i always feel this great tug at my conscience to go help in times like these but i usually have handy excuses at the ready (school, work, rent etc.) but at this particular time in my life i have nothing holding me back (except for some dumb job that i'm not particularly trying to work my way up in) so i figured that this is it. carpe diem and all that. not to mention that is the largest disaster to ever strike the u.s.a. and millions of people are displaced and have lost everything and i can at least give some effort to help out. i hope they call me. apparantly i'm fit enough and sane enough to participate and so now all i can do is wait. i've been studying sign language like a madwoman because i told them i could speak it well and that may be a leetle exaggeration. i can speak it. but maybe not so well.

i've been relatively uninspired by blogger.com lately---sorry for my very dry entries. but, let it be known that i am very inspired by everyone else's blog. alex is funny. melissa is nutty (but i can't comment--what do i need to do?). becca is apparantly having too wild of a time. michelle is chasing tornados. emily is in never-never land. these are all good things.
thank you one and all for the encouraging comments---much love.

(of course you'll be the first to know if i get deployed. does anyone wanna come with?)

i have figured out some way to keep spamming robots from commenting on my site--i will try to implement it soon. i have somehow forgotten to mention that nick and i recently purchased two fabulous goldfish. our tank has been running, empty, for over a month now and we we actually kinda digging the whole zen feeling of an empty fish tank in our room but finally decided to put the thing to the purpose for which it is intended. thusly----fish. they are only babies at the moment but soon they'll be gawky teenagers and then full-blown fishy adults. they're the brainiac fish (as i call them)--you know--the kinds with the really big brain looking things on the outside of their heads (very martian looking). we haven't decided what to name them yet but we're contemplating naming the very golden one mariko-san after our favourite character in Shogun (a great book, incidentally) and the brown one admiral boots. we'll keep you updated. i'm up very early for a saturday morning but i'm off to go to training for horse rescuing. more on that later.....
alex--if you don't start a blog before you leave i will come down to mexico, find you, and punch you.
(love you)

i just realised my birthday blog got totally cut off in the middle which is a drag. i do not remember what else i put in it but i'm quite sure it was brilliant. i do know that i put if anyone wanted to get me a late birthday present to donate to the red cross or any institution of your choice that is helping out the victims of the hurricane disaster. those poor poor people. everyone should stop sometime today and count your blessings.
i had a luxouriously (that is spelled so so wrong--feel free to correct me) lazy labour day weekend hanging out with my pillow and some movies. what a delight.....
and i bought some tights and i got 2 leotards for $10 which is way way cool so i think i am officially a dancer now that i have the outfit right? oh i wish outfits made one official. i think i would dress up as the president. what would you dress up as? an opera singer, a cheesy lounge singer, a flower? do tell.
scruffy almost fell over backwards smelling something in the air that only she can smell. i checked out a sign-language dictionary and a french slang book from the library (librarys are the coolest) and i'm studying both assidiously. i've also been perusing the word lists for the GRE so don't be intimidated if i drop some really big words on you---but i can't even really remember any right now. what are some of your favourite big words? i like equivocate and ephemera. and, of course, supercallifragilisticexpealidocious.
i hope your family and friends are undamaged by the storm lindsey--please let me know.
emily is changing lives in pennsylvania working with developmentally disabled kids---i have linked her blog to mine so be sure and read it. i have to go eat the rest of my soggy ravioli and go dance dance dance the night away.

by the way--i am 9490 days old.

yesterday was my lovely mother's birthday. today is my birthday. without my lovely mother's birthday my birthday would not have been possible. life is cool. i thought today was just gonna be another day with work (which it was) and coming home to an empty house (which i did) but it turned out to be almost perfect. almost...but not quite. i haven't had a birthday with my family around me in way too long. i miss everyone. and i still haven't talked to any one on the phone! where is everyone? are you all gonna surprise me by showing up on my doorstep any minute now? i wish that were true....
but...back to the perfect bits of my day. i got jolted out of deep sleep at midnight by nick jumping on the bed and yelling something about birthdays and a huge brown paper package wrapped up in ribbon sitting on my chest. i think i incoherently tried to be civil and unwrapped said package through slitted sleepy eyes. it was so fun to see nick's huge grin and excitement--an amazing way to start a birthday. he got me one of those super duper memory foam pillow thingies because i complain about neck pain every second of every day and always talk about how i want one of those super duper memory foam pillow thingies but they're so expensive and i feel wierd spending money on a pillow but geez my neck always hurts.....you get the picture. so he woke me up so i could sleep better. and i did. it's a little bit like sleeping on a cloud. when was the last time you did that huh? then nick came to work during lunch bearing a massive sunflower plant and a spectacular present from sister katelyn and a book from suzanne (i like to read a little bit. i don't know if you know that about me...)