Rambling on and on

I have updated my resume, written a new cover letter, and made a new contact information sheet list of former employers for reference purposes. I haven't actually applied for any jobs yet. I tried to make another appointment with the job counselor, but she didn't answer my voicemail. When I called again, a couple of days later, her box was full and couldn't take any new voice messages.

I had a really great chat with my sister on IM today. It is so great to be able to do that. We shared photos back and forth and talked about silly things and about preparations for their relocation back to Washington. After the chat I read her journal, which I do more since she has been writing a lot lately. She wrote a really expressive, touching entry a couple of days ago about how she is overwhelmed by her husband's imminent departure to get things started here in Washington. I had to write her an e-mail in response. I know she is stronger than she thinks she is. I can't express how I appreciate the ability of the Internet to help us keep in touch with so many people no matter where they are. Of course there are cell phones and lots of plans that have no long distance charges, at least within North America. Still, I'mthrilled with the power of Internet communication tools.

One of the things my sister and I love to talk about is one of our favorite shows, What Not To Wear. They had a special three episode installment last night called What Went Wrong with outtakes and the moment where the first and only person ever refused their offer. In the end, it was all very anticlimactic and I'm glad that I was multitasking by doing stuff on the computer while it was on.

Now let me tell you about some accidental shopping yesterday. I took my photos to get developed and wandered around the mall. I went into my Lane Bryant store and they had a blazer that fit me nicely, except for the sleaves of course. I always have to have sleaves shortened. Thank God that they sell petite length pants and jeans or I'd have to have the legs shortened on each pair. I don't have any blazers and I've been wanting to find one for about a year. They didn't have many and only two in my size, so I had to jump on it before it was too late. Today I dropped it off at the tailor to get the sleaves shortened and in one week I can pick it up.

The pictures from the Tall Ships Festival in Tacoma turned out well. I'll post a couple to the journal.

There has been a little drama about the neighbors' cat. She has been ill and then disappeared for a couple of weeks. She returned yesterday and Mom and the neighbors together took her to the vet. They were expecting to have to put her to sleep. She is down to 4 pounds and looks like a skeleton with ratty tufts of fur. It's hard to see her like that. Incredibly, the vet didn't find any critical medical issues other than a horrible flea infestation and probable worms. He advised treating those and was hopeful that she would recover well. She was purring and took food and water while she was there. She didn't act like she was ready to go. From now on She will spend most days at our house and evenings/nights next door. She will be carried over and custody transered by hand. We have had an unusual kind of cat sharing arrangement with our neighbors for several years. Don't ask me to explain the whole story, please. Mom will have to do that in her own journal.

Yesterday evening I happened upon American Splendor on cable TV. What a great, surprising find. It is refreshing, unique, sarcastic, gritty, and even warm hearted at times while not being sentimental in the slightest. Paul Giamatti gives a wonderful performance as Harvey. Between this movie, Sideways, and Cinderella Man, I feel he has earned himself a reputation as a virtuoso comic and character actor. It's the story of Harvey Pekar, an underground comic book writer (he doesn't do the illustrations although he does sketch the page layouts with stick figures). He basically started making an autobiography in comic book form and it is titled American Splendor. He became very well known among comic book fans and even made regular appearances on David Letterman for a while in the 80's. Note to self: remember to ask my brother-in-law if he has ever read any of the comics. They would perfectly suit his taste and off-beat sense of humor.