11 53 am pst   [ ok ]

So this is the way it's going to be. I'm going to write in the morning and post it, and then I'll post the day's photo(s) in the evening. Now that we got that settled...

I recently spoke to my sister. Let it be said that we do a poor job of keeping in touch with each other. When I invited her to drive up to the bay area with me and she declined I had the sinking feeling that we'd never be close. That remains to be seen.

I don't blame her for not staying in touch. She's 16, she has a boyfriend and she's just gotten her driver's license and a car. Speaking of which, why is it that my brother got a car when he turned 16 and my sister got a car when she turned 26 but I didn't get a thing? I remeber eagerly anticipating my sweet 16 birthday. What did I get from my dad? A Christmas sweatshirt. A sweatshirt! Decorated for Christmas! And my dad is Jewish! Not that I'm bitter or anything.

So I called my sister, who lives in Florida. She was excited to talk to me, but she was really distracted, and I finally figured out that she was also online having several IM conversations and reading her e-mail. I remember being on AOL back in 1994 and I thought I was cool bacuase I could carry on a dozen different conversations simpultaneously without ever seeming distracted to the conversees (probably becaue they were doing the same thing).

I was immediately reminded of a Shelly Turkle article I read in more than on of my film classes. One of Turkle's interviewees said, "RL [real life] is just one more window, and it's usually not my best one." The idea of reality being just another window, especially with regards to MOOs, is quite captivating. And I experienced it from the outside while talking to my sister.

The main focus of our conversation, after I got all caught up on her academic and social life, was when are Matthew and I getting married. She said she wants to come out to California and pick out dresses, so we should hurry up already. I'm almost getting used to people asking me when now.

Talking with my mom later, I told her Matthew had spotted a house he liked and we were going to find out how much it is. We're just doing research, but my mom got very excited about the prospect of us finally buying a house.

And in final news, I am fairly unhappy at work, with my one rude co-worker and my lousy review. It is looking to be time for me to start job hunting again. Matthew is beginning to hate his commute, so we may living in Silicon Valley this time next year. Like I said, only time will tell...

[I broke one of my dishes today.]