I got to see Kate this weekend. Not my sister, not the new name kT is going by, and none of the ten thousand other Kates in Texas. This is a Kate who moved far far away with the rest of our SWD YRUU generation, who looks like a supermodel squashed down. Kate who used to live in Austin a couple of times a few years ago and was my very best friend, but who had a rough time being here and couldn't stay. So it's really good to know that she's happy where she is now. And to see her, because I almost never do. Luckily, Meg was graduating from UT last week. Thanks, Meg, and congratulations, which I didn't say while we were pre-crashing your party to borrow your sister.

I also got to hang out with my brother last night. I basically never get him one-on-one, so pretty much any time spent with him is quality time. He's way too stressed out about school, but he does have a really tough major. Which means my advice about school isn't always useful. He did tell me he got some excellent ice-sledding in Wednesday night before they started really cracking down on it and RAs and campus cops took away everyone's makeshift sleds. Also, my brother and I did a tiny bit of Christmas shopping, which is a lot more than none.

The only thing I did this weekend that didn't involve eating Thai food was my Neighboring Faiths field trip to an Orthodox church. But who needs Thai food when you have dressing up, standing up, listening to a whole service sung-chanted, and being drowned in incense?

Last week of work this semester starts today!