Phoebe's News and Thoughts

Tue - September 7, 2004

I have been asked

whether I'll tell my students about my blog. Well, no, I won't direct them specifically there, but I can't prevent them from finding it themselves. I suspect that they won't be particularly interested. I mean, what is my relationship to them? Sort of like a parent, in a sense. Would you want to read your parent's blog? Bor-ing, no? Unless it talked about you... well, I probably won't talk about my students on my blog. So, what do they care? They should care primarily about whether they are doing the best work they can do. Because anything less will irritate me, you know.

Same goes for all of you readers out there. I hope you're busy trying to do your best in all your endeavors.

You know I'm trying. Excuse me. Must go back to that syllabus.

What?? Same to you, PipSqueak.

Posted at 12:06 PM

Sun - September 5, 2004

Hi. I'm shy.

Just a bit shy, not all the time, but sometimes.

I'll meet you here sometime, by accident. We'll talk then.

Posted at 07:16 PM

Sat - September 4, 2004

hi pip.

Pip?

What?

Are you tired?

Yeah.

OK. Let's take a nap.

Posted at 02:42 PM

Fri - September 3, 2004

Sweetie, I am not in a good mood this morning.

The children have no school today and I have many responsibilities in addition to their welfare and entertainment.

This is not a good combination of situations.

(Sorry, don't know who to credit for this one. Did YOU take it? Good job! Now put down the gun!)

Posted at 09:53 AM

Mon - August 30, 2004

submitted by an astute and helpful reader

A better version:

Thank you, Dug!

Posted at 09:34 PM

Sun - August 29, 2004

Incidental...

The Falsehood by Sojka

...and uninvolved. The cat does not concern itself with your nudity.

Posted at 08:45 PM

Ahhh... there he is!

OOOOooohh! There he is again! With "Little PipSqueak!"

Posted at 01:22 PM

Hello Again Milo!

OK. Here's a cute picture for you. A lizard in a Mexican mall. He's jumped up to say "Holá!" to all the kids.

Whoops! You asked for PipSqueak. I'll go find him in a bit. I've got to fashion a tidy little syllabus first.
--Phoebe

Posted at 09:11 AM

Sat - August 28, 2004

Milo wrote:

Milo wrote:
> hey phoebe,
>
> Hope all's well with you. The People [me] visit
> your blog at least once a week, hoping to see a
> new post, only to have their hopes dashed. You're
> not dead or trapped under something really heavy,
> are you??? Please advise.
>
> -- milo
(below: Milo George at his t-writer)

Dearest Milo,
I just got your message. Today. August 27 or 28. I thought you had forgotten about me.
The truth is, I have wanted to write blog entries for a long time, but I upgraded my blogging program and moved to Ann Arbor and my job gave me a computer and my idisk thing got all screwed up and it's a miracle that the old blog entries still exist. I didn't have time to fix everything because I had to unpack all the boxes and enroll the children in school and then my father-in-law moved in with us and that actually has involved no hardship or inconvenience at all, on the contrary, but then I had to find a vet here because we had moved so so far away and one cat got a swollen paw (while Pip remains in the peak of health). And then and then I was trying to figure out how to sell things on ebay for the big sale I had envisioned but instead I became distracted by the joy and adventure of BUYING things
on e-bay, particularly old Mexican jewelery that reminds me of the story I'm working on. Then I had to go to Ciudad Juárez a couple weeks ago to see this family again, and when I got back, it was high time I started preparing the course syllabi for the classes I'll teach in my newly responsible position at the University. It's hard though because I just want to finish translating police reports but I must rely on the kindness of a certain Thad Suits because my Spanish is pidgeon and his translations are excellent and the google translations confuse "daughter" with "leaf" and "I took" with "tapeworm." And I'm missing a box of important comics- which includes our precious copies of "What's Michael?" Did the movers leave it in Long Island? I'm distraught. And the tree in front of this house-- we had to arrange to have it cut down because it was dead dead dead and might have been about to fall on Bob and Vivian's house so I called and it was felled within a matter of days. Then I vaguely remembered promising to do a comic about a part of the United States, and I didn't do it yet but I have to. And I haven't had my hair cut in months and I look like
rasputin, and I needed some new clothes because I'm going to have to look like a clean professor, but I'm no saavy shopper and I wandered into tjmaxx right near rite aid and I spent hours choosing clothes that once cost much more elsewhere and that didn't quite fit exactly right and perhaps weren't exactly the right color, but why pay more?
I don't know what else to tell you. But may I publish this correspondence? If I don't hear from you within, say, ummm.... four hours, I'll take that as a "yes."

Posted at 08:33 AM

Mon - August 9, 2004

PipSqueak of Michigan.

He's well settled and has met many of the neighbors.

Posted at 12:58 AM

Humor suitable for CatFancy magazine

Photo courtesy AGS.

Cats cannot pick their noses, but...

Pip may only have three legs, but he can still hold his nose in the event of a bad smell.

Avoid licking your nose after licking superglue.

Posted at 12:56 AM

I'm leaving for Mexico early in the morning.

I feel like I'm not allowed to write

I couldn't resist one more—still, my month away begins today.

This blog won't be updated for a month

I sat waiting for my muffler to be replaced.

after talking all night