Ato-manx?

There are four types of Manx cats, called (I love this) the stumpy, rumpy, rumpy-riser and longy. With long hind legs, a prominent tush, round eyes and face, extra-thick coat, rabbit-like hop and unusually small meow, doesn't it remind you of certain black kitty seen bopping around Seattle?

Keep looking up

I was taking a walk late last night and noticed an especially bright star that twinkled and sparkled as spectacularly as any rock that J.Lo's got. The whole night sky, in fact, was aglitter with stars. It reminded me of a funny scene in "The Lion King", where the warthog Pumbaa and meerkat (apparently a relative of the mongoose and prarie dog. Neither a cat, a goose, nor a dog. Dicuss.) Timon are lying in the grass, looking up at the stars.

Pumbaa: Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon: Pumbaa, I don't wonder - I know.
Pumbaa: Oh, what are they?
Timon: They're fire flies - fire flies that got stuck up in the big bluish black thing.
Pumbaa: Oh. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon: Pumbaa, with you everything's gas!

When I got home I looked at a chart of the winter night sky, and found out that the sparkly dot was Sirius, the Dog Star.

Back from the dentist and all smiles

No cavities! YES!

This makes me ridiculously happy.

a film to see

I have just one full week left in Seattle before I leave for Tokyo. I'm very glad that I decided to take my mom's advice and planned to stay in Seattle for about 6 weeks before leaving. It's given me time to digest the upcoming change and get things in order without feeling the need to rush. Also I have plenty of time to take advantage of the things I will miss about Seattle, like beautiful crisp air and inexpensive produce and libraries where I can check out excellent movies like "Touching the Void" and CDs like Radiohead and make MD copies to take with me.

A little more about "Touching the Void". Have you seen it? NO?? Never has a movie left me with (sorry for being un-lady-like) trails of snot running down my nose from crying. I remember seeing previews for the film last year and thinking, "I will never watch this, I hate scary people-falling-into-bottomless-crevasse movies like this." Oh how wrong I was. It's based on a true story about a mountain climbing adventure gone very unpleasant. There's re-enactments with actors, using very little dialogue. Nothing is melodramatic, even though it's a weighty and existential story. The breathtaking mountain scenes and landscapes do so much in communicating the loneliness and struggles that the characters go through. But the real show stopper is what's said in the on-camera interviews from Joe, Simon and Richard, the actual people. I really can't describe it, it's just amazing.

Oh, and the score is beautiful too.

Groundhog Day

It's that special day again - did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow? Will there be 6 more weeks of winter?

Judging from the spring-like weather in Seattle these past few months, the answer is no.

"Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray and Andie Macdowell is one of my favorite movies. It's hysterical. Bill Murray is genius!



"This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."

Deja vu, anyone?

career week

Last week I went to many panel discussions set up by UW's 6th annual Career Discovery Week. They were all very interesting and helpful in giving me ideas about careers, and I was able to make some new contacts, too. Networking is always stressed as the most helpful thing in finding out about jobs and careers, and I am getting better at it.

Most of all, though, it was good to hear how people's career paths are very unique, and the most rewarding things are to continue to pursue your interests, and keep meeting new people and staying in touch with them, and keep an open and optimistic mind.


isn't she lovely?
the Spirit of Massachusetts, where I spent 4 amazing months in 1998.