The Week in Review

I've survived the gantlet of 3 exams and 1 presentation in a 49-hour period. Sadly enough, I think I did the best in the 2 courses I care least about. I really should start working on these things earlier. At least I have 5 days until the last exam and a month-and-a-half until my paper (whose topic has not yet been approved) is due. I am officially taking the afternoon off (from school, anyway), but will start reviewing for the last exam tomorrow. Hell, I'd be taking a nap right now, but I'd probably get rolled here in the study hall.

Darling Daughter has been out of school all week, so Lovely Husband and I have been swapping childcare duties. Unfortunately for her, she's had to accompany me to class several times. Except for walking all the way around the classroom to throw something away *while* I was giving my presentation, she was amazingly well-behaved. Did you know she could read a 65-page book in the course of about 2 hours?!

D.D. had many cute and wacky and perceptive and sometimes rude things to say while we were out and about together, like:

* Dogs should not be allowed in Germany. [Her response to the pervasive piles of poop (PPP) downtown.] Or, at the least, the dogs should wear a special dog-diaper that D.D. designed herself, which is a plastic bag, *glued* to the dog's butt. We have a budding inventor on our hands!

* A boy she met at the playground was nice and had a good heart, unlike the boys in her school, who have black holes instead of hearts. This totally cracked me up because I was actually going to quip that they had "black, rotten hearts", but her description was better.

* The other students in my classes are teenagers, but *I* am a grown woman. You must understand that in D.D. parlance, teenager=cool, and woman=mom and therefore not cool. D.D. gives me lots of tips on looking cool—gleaned from the Barbie web site, no doubt—that usually include wearing lots of make-up and jewelry and totally different clothes: basically a complete make-over. She doesn't yet realize that a possession by Satan would have to be involved for me to actually take any of her beauty advice. I blame her grandmother for D.D.'s tendencies; she's the one who pointed out "chicks" on the beach when D.D. was 4. :-)

* After seeing a poster in a shop window of a woman with whole carrots in her ears and mouth and cleavage (eagle-eyed D.D. spotted the last one; I have no idea what the poster has to do with selling eyeglasses), I joked that it's not comfortable keeping carrots in my bra. D.D. replied that men would notice the carrots and look at me; no men look at me now. I'm not sure if I should be insulted.

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I have a cool idea for a psychological study (mention me if you use it!): how people choose ring tones for their cell phones. Because the woman at the bus stop whose phone rang "Bear Necessities" (from The Jungle Book) [Damn! I've just given myself an earworm! Aaaack!] must be insane.

My personal favorite sounds like an old-fashioned dial phone. I remember my grandparents had a big square black one that probably weighed 20 pounds.

But if I were to buy a cell phone for myself (don't hold your breath), I'd have the theme music from the Harry Potter films. I love John Williams!

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I took D.D. to the Fasching parade on Tuesday. Fasching is the same holiday as Mardi Gras. The parade here was very tame compared to New Orleans or Rio or even in other parts of Germany, but D.D. was pleased to catch a pile of candy off the floats. And she didn't even have to bear her chest! Besides, it was too cold for risque costumes (maybe 40 F). I think I read that it was around 90 F in Rio, which would help explain the sweaty, naked bodies. And that it was in Rio.

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I have reached the point that I am no longer coherent. Lucky for you I wrote the above based on my notes during the hour after my exam this morning when I was still hopped up on nerves and about 8 cups of coffee. Now I must go to sleep and try to recuperate.

Tune in tomorrow for the tale of the new (to us) car!