Thanksgiving and other things to be thankful for

Wahoo! I'm finally ready to sit down and post and acutal post, not just random notes to myself about WHAT to post.

Here's what I've been up to. Thanksgiving weekend was pleasant, although a bit sad because I wasn't at home. I felt at home, though, at Melanie's house. She's a Garcia, too, and her family is loud and Cuban and the food was a mix of Cuban and American, so it was almost like being at home. I'm very thankful she let me share her holiday with her, and there was another stray there too, a friend of Mellie's from Duke. We just looked at eachother once everyone started talking really loudly in Spanish and our look said "Aren't you glad we're not involved in any of this?" Yes, Mikey. Yes I am.


The night before Thanksgiving, that Wednesday, is traditionally a huge "bar" night, so I went out with my friend Anya. She's Russian and cute. Anyway, we're at Bouganvillia's, chillin', lookin' cute, and this photographer from the New Times came and took our picure. We actually ended up in the paper and on the website! It's totally awesome. The best part? The photographer, Javier, was SUPER cute and he invited me to his birthday party later that week. Win! Here's the picture he took.

I know, we're cute. It was a fun night, though. The band was great too... Wish I could remember thier name. Shoot. I also met a couple of ladies who are in a sketch comedy troupe, Sketchy Sketch, and I'm totally joining them once they start up again! I'm really excited. They're excited too because I can do impressions. That should be fun.

Turkey Day was pretty chill. Macy's parade in the morning and Mellie's house that night. Good times, good food.


Friday I was gonna eat another dinner with Ali's family, but they ended up not doing it, so I just chilled out all day and went to the dog park, knowing there was NO WAY IN HELL I'd ever go out on Black Friday. No. Thank. You. I would end up in jail, certainly, if not worse. That night, a group of us went out to this super cool bar called Vagabond (where my new photographer friend was celebrating his birthday) where we decided we want to live. The crowd was this perfect mix of every kind of person--and I mean EVERY kind. There were hardcore punks with real mohawks and a Misfits jackets, hipsters, business people and professionals, urban kids, "pretty" people... everyone. It was awesome. They had both inside and outside venues, and Steph Taylor, who I saw last year at Femme Fest, was actually the band that night! I was really excited. Not to mention the cute photographer was there and we had a lovely chat. It was a great night.

Saturday my upstairs neighbor Adam made a Thanksgiving dinner, both turkey and chicken. Boy. Can. Cook. Anyway, it was a fun gathering and I love me some Thanksgiving dinner, so it was awesome.


I also managed to see Twilight over Thanksgiving break and I must say... I was a little nonplussed. Cedric Diggory as Edward... whatever. The only thing that was the way I pictured it was the "dazzling," everything else was sort of... not what I thought. Edward was creepier, Emmett was WAY hotter (I'm not mad about it), Bella was... not Bella. Jacob had a hellatious wig that cost all of about $3.99... Whatever. Hopefully now the madness will die down... Until the next movie. Oh, the glories of teaching high school girls.


In other news, last weekend we had a "play" at school, but it wasn't the typical play. It was a murder mystery/dinner, something I've always wanted to go to and finally got a chance! I didn't figure out the killer, of course, but it was set at a wedding reception so we ate and danced and had a great time. I aligned myself with the grooms family, as I decided they're my kind of people--semi-trashy-but-trying-to-be-classy rednecks.


It seems that a lot of the play was improv, and the kids did a great job. Some of them are truly brilliant, and I love to see regular kids in that way. It's great to see them being really comfortable and shining at what they're good at. I love that about high school theater.


Wow... I'm a loser!


Hmm... What else? Oh, I went out to Merrick Park, this UBER expensive mall, to pick up a Tiffany necklace I dropped off for repair, and I had to capture this:

Yes, it was a beautiful 70+ degree day and yes, those are palm trees in the background. Ahh, Christmas in Miami.

All this week I've been grading like mad. Poetry projects and MySpace projects on Monday and Tuesday, in-class essays from Wednesday on. I've only got a few more to go, though, so I should be able to rock them this weekend. I just can't bring myself to use my half day to grade essays. I can't do it!

Next week is midterms, which means half days all week for me, followed by a Christmas party with the English department on Thursday, and then I'm flying home Monday! I can't wait to see snow and feel cold and see my family!

Much love.