Playing Catch up

Ok, so I've been extremely bad that past couple weeks with my blog. Things have been crazy at work with Katrina-related coverage and are just now starting to slow down. To help catch up, here's the highlights of the past 14 days of my life:

September 10: The Alabama vs. Southern Miss game. It was the first Alabama game in 6 years that I hadn't sat in the student section. I did REALLY appreciate the free tickets from a friend of mine (THANKS PATRICK M.!) but as I sat in the upper deck pearing down at the field far below, I couldn't help but miss standing on your feet the whole game, getting hit in the head by plastic cups being thrown on the field, or the overwhelming wiff of bourbon that now is synonomous to me for fall and football. I used to hate having to stand up on the stands in my cute but incredibly uncomfortable dress shoes. I used to hate feeling old as I would run into younger sorority sisters who were probably wondering what in the hell I was still doing in Tuscaloosa. But as the game was closing and I could hear the students singing "Hey Southern Miss, we just beat the hell out of you" I couldn't help but wish I was a student again.. err.. well, at least sitting in my old section. It's just not the same.

September 10: Before the football game Mr. Goatee and I did a lot of pre-gaming parties. We went to my sister's sorority house to say hello to my parents. We went to one of his friend's apartments to drink with him and his girlfriend, which was actually a lot of fun since it was the first time I we had gotten to get together and go out with another couple. Then, we went over to a tailgating party that one of my sorority sister's, Lindsay, was throwing with her husband Scott. It was fun hanging out with them again, and just before we left, Lindsay joking asked when Mr. Goatee and I were getting married. We both looked at each other and laughed. I'm not ready to get married anytime soon. I stand by that belief. But, we also couldn't hide the fact that we had stepped into Hudson Poole jewelers earlier that morning just to look. After all, a dreamer can dream, can't she? There's nothing wrong with that!

September 12-13: Nothing major happened on either of these days, in fact, I practically worked myself to death. But, what was significant for me what that Sept. 12 would have been me and Mr. 6 years' 7-year anniversary. One year ago that day, we were canoeing down the Buffalo river with some married friends. I had wanted to take a trip to Charleston or Savannah to celebrate, like we had gone to New Orleans the year before. But, money was tight, and things weren't going as well as in previous years. So, we decided to go canoeing, which I think can be quite telling as far as a relationship is concerned. First of all, it's all about communication and trust. You have to trust your partner to paddle the right way and to communicate to you where you are going so that the canoe doesn't tip over. Second of all, you are stuck in a boat for 6 hours, with no cell phone, no tv. Just the two of you, the water and wildlife. It's an opportunity to really talk about things you wouldn't otherwise have time to do... or in some circumstances, not talk at all, which can be unsettling. Anyways, by the end of the canoe trip... after a day of arguing over which way to paddle and not talking much otherwise, I had made my mind up that I needed to date other people before I could commit to Mr. 6 years. I had no idea that a year later my life, as well as his, would be so completely different. The next day, he and I broke up, only that "break" ended up being a permanent one.

September 20: For the past week, my roommate and I have been taking care of a 4-month old male kitten, who CJ named Oscar. He's the sweetest little thing, following my cocker spaniel around like she's his mother, playing with Lilly's toys and trying to befriend CJ's cat
Emma, who despises him. After more than a week of feeding the little fellow, I knew it was time to find him a good, permanent home. A woman at work said that she would take him for her son. I brought him to work that afternoon to give Oscar to her, but as she was carrying him out to her car, she was going down a spiral staircase to the main level lobby when he jumped from her arms. A cat chase insued, which ended when he first ran into a glass window and then jumped through some metal railing and down- 25 feet- onto the basement floor below. I thought he was dead, and then realized he was injured when I saw a bloody paw mark on the basement wall. A photographer at work, Dan, and I rushed him over to the vet, where we discovered that he had cut the roof of his mouth, lost a tooth and hurt his nose. But, luckily, he was alive and ok. Nothing broken. No internal injuries. He just lost one of his nine lives.