the world is your acorn

I am terrible at keeping in touch. I don’t like to talk on the phone, and rely mostly on email to stay updated on friends’ lives. But the problem is, when I get a nice email from someone far away I am frozen by responsibility.

It was so nice to hear from her, I’d better write something substantive in return. Well, I’m too busy to do that right now, I’ll wait until I can devote a chunk of time to the endeavor.

Each time I see the offending email in my inbox I think the same thing, only as the receipt date of the email fades farther into the past I feel like I need a larger chunk of time to write something really worth the wait. This generally ends in no email response at all, or some crappy apology generated through guilt and shame with a brief list of highlights from my life and a request for further updates on whatever it is my friend originally emailed me about, as so much time has passed since that first message. And so the cycle continues. Why anyone bothers to try and keep up with me is a mystery, but I am grateful that there are folks out there more responsible about it than I.

Oliver got into some baby bunnies in the yard last night. He’s been having some stomach issues, which we found out might be a result of eating rabbit poop. But he’s been needing to go out in the middle of the night a lot to take care of said stomach issues. Last night we let him out, but instead of taking care of business and coming back in, he stood in the corner of the yard sniffing around for a really long time, refusing to come in when called. So we went out there to see what was up. I heard some squeaking and the The Little Red Haired Girl saw a few furry little heads.

Well, apparently over the course of the night Oliver had to go out a few more times, and The Little Red Haired Girl took him on the leash instead of just opening the door for him, so he wouldn’t get at the little furries. Except the last time at 5am when she was just too tired. And, lo and behold, a tiny bunny was found lying on the front stoop when we got up this morning. A few minutes later we saw him walking around the yard with another in his mouth. I went out to try and make him drop it, but he thought we were playing keep away. Finally I think he figured out I was not playing, and he sat and let me pry it out of his jaws (though reluctantly). Poor little bunnies. What were we supposed to do to prevent that from happening?

We have just returned from a 5 day trip to Chicago. I had a conference there, and The Little Red Haired Girl came along to see the city. It was a fabulous time, and we love it there. Enough that I might convince The Little Red Haired Girl to live there someday, despite to crappy weather.

Anyway, today it’s back to the grindstone. Lots of work to do before our post-passover seder on Sunday, not to mention class on Tuesday. I don’t know why, but I’ve had a hard time getting focused ever since spring break. It could be the constant travel that has made me feel temporary, or the knowledge that the semester is almost over. It could be the erratic weather or just plain feeling overwhelmed by the end-of-semester crush. Whatever it is, I’ve been feeling like a bit of a fuckup in terms of school lately. I guess I’d better get it together if I’m planning on any kind of successful end to the term.