Colleen: Yearbooks Through the Years

Arnold: The Best Hamster Ever

Friday was seemingly an untouchable day. The whole fire truck thing, then Carole Simpson and Janet (my boss) took me to Tantric (a great Indian place by Emerson). As I was leaving for home, my wonderful boss hooked me up with a ticket to see A Chorus Line with her at the Opera House. I went home to change, caught up with Melvin (of fireman fame). Saw the show (great performance, and the newly-restored Opera House is fantastic); neral arrangements were made. I decided I wanted to bury him near Walden Pond. Rob offered to come with me (as did Dani, but I decided to go before Sunday). As Rob and I were about to depart, Savanna came by to pay her respects (so nice and so inspired!). She ended up coming with us to the burial, and it was really nice. Rob dug a hole for Arnold's final resting place beside some shrubbery. Despite the crazy mosquito attack and the fear of being caught doing an borderline-illegal act, it was a beautiful funeral. We all tossed a handful of dirt on the coffin, and I marked his spot with a large stone. I was pretty sad, actually, but it was a beautiful moment (as silly as that may sound).

I LOVE YOU ARNOLD!!!! Have fun in Hamster Heaven!!!! (Following is a tribute to my hamster pal: videos and photos of Arnold, his stuff, and photos from his funeral.)


Arnold, the Hamster (I miss you!) from colleenita on Vimeo.


Arnold the Hamster from colleenita on Vimeo.

I CAME TO WORK IN A FIRE TRUCK

Okay. First things first.

I live right up the street from a fire station.

I have taken the same route to my bus/train every morning for a year. I always pass the fire station. My bus stop is right after it, and when I am feeling industrious and want to walk the entire way to the train station...I pass it then, too. Twice a day. Back and forth. 10 times per week. A bit over five hundred and twenty times so far.

These firemen have obviously seen my pattern.

Apparently, one fireman in particular, Melvin, has been particularly observant. After a year of "hello, how are you?'s"... he asked for my number this most recent Monday morning. He said that he saw me every morning and I seemed "mad cool." He asked about my schedule and when would be a good time to call. I told him that I worked 9-5 and had classes on Monday and Wednesday. I predicted he would call on Thursday (last night) and he did (good points for him there). I missed the call - I didn't have my phone with me and I wouldn't have answered anyway because I was watching the BLUE MAN GROUP (so fun; an awesome hook-up from my friend Jen).

On my way to work this morning, I saw Melvin. I was running late, but I couldn't just walk by after not taking his call, so I said: "Hi - I got your call, but I was, etc. etc." We chatted for a bit, and my bus barrels by. CRAP.

"That's your bus!"
"Yes! I need to catch it! Call me later!"

I run off (embarrassed that he is probably watching me take off running/thinking of my wobbly buns jiggling about and how it's a good thing I am wearing tight jeans to hold some of that together) - miss the bus. So, I run to the next stop. Miss it there, too. I consign myself to walking to the train station even though that will make me later than I already am.

Then.

I hear a piercing WAAAAAH, WAAAAAAH behind me. What? Then, a random fireman running after me. "Wait up, wait up!"

I turn around and this fireman (not THE fireman, an older one) says: "We felt really bad that Melvin made you miss your bus, so we want to give you a ride." He opens the front door, I climb in. He climbs in the back and I say hello to my two new chaperones. Are you freaking kidding me?! I'm in the fire truck easily gliding through traffic since everyone gets out of the way.

"Do you work downtown? Is Lechmere or Sullivan (two different train lines) better?"
"Oh, its okay, you can just drop me at Sullivan. I catch the train to Chinatown."
"Okay. Melvin is the happiest guy at the station. You'll have a lot of fun with him."

We get to Sullivan Square station, and I say - "Oh, I can just get out here." We had made it to the passenger drop-off curb, so we were close. The dapper fire chaps reply with "No, we can go in there with this thing."

So, they drive me right up to the train station door. The place where only transportation vehicles can go. The place where you get screamed at and ticketed if you even try to turn around in. Everyone is staring. I get out (after being charmingly teased) and our little affair ends with a loud and emphatic yell from the fire truck:

"SEE YOU LATER, CHIEF!!"

A girl after my own heart.

Okay. So my sister recently added two new videos of my niece, Alexa. I COULD NOT STOP LAUGHING!!!! (mixed with tears - one of me and my family's signature moves). This girl takes after me, I'm convinced. I think Rachel can relate to this first one as I'm pretty sure we've reenacted this scene in our apartment...



And, this next one is reminiscent of my black widow status... getting that last word in with her boyfriend...



Today I've been going through orientation for my master's (even though I've been taking classes for a year, I wasn't an official full-time student yet). There are some brilliant people in our group - I feel like an imposter. I didn't realize just how few audio people they allow to study at Emerson. Scary.

Anyway - I bring the whole orientation thing up because I have been so excited all day to be where I am in life. I'm not quite sure how I got here, but I'm exactly where I need to be. Yet, every time a milestone occurs, I think of my little Lex (well, my sister and Zack's Lex, but I get Auntie claims!)... she won't be able to do these sorts of things. It depresses me, and I know it way more than depresses her parents. I get that she may have a chance to do all sorts of things in some other realm, but not here. Not now. And that sucks. I feel like this dark cloud has settled over my family and we're all just pretending that everything is normal.