acid-stars.com

The other day, as I was washing my hands, I noticed how clean my parents’ bathroom was. This was the bathroom in which we kept our cat’s litter box. As soon as this observation was made, I felt horribly guilty. I tried to push the thought out of my head. However, I calmed myself down by telling myself that I had no reason to feel guilty: there’s no way in hell I would’ve traded sixteen years of the warmth and happiness of my cat’s companionship for a clean bathroom.

I’m actually surprised by how much I still miss my cat. There are times when I’m doing my laundry and I could swear I see Santik walking across the kitchen. Or my instinct to look for him in the family room (where he used to sleep) when I come upstairs. I get excited each time… but then I remind myself that I’m just imagining it. This, of course, makes me anxious because, well, I’m seeing things!

It’s been over two months since he died and I’m still getting over it.

My family currently has access to one vehicle. The Maxima is in the shop. After the Nissan dealership performed maintenance on the car, we were told that the automobile required new brakes — however, instead of getting ripped off a second time, we took it to a friend’s garage to have that done. On the way to the shop, though, the Maxima was hit by a driver who didn’t stop at a stop sign. Good thing it was on its way to the shop, then, eh? It’s been there since Tuesday. (The insurance claims adjuster only examined the car yesterday.)

Muffins
Photo by Allie

Of course, that means that when my parents have the Murano for the day, I am left without transportation. That also means that when Alex comes over, we really can’t do much besides watch TV and bake stuff. (He doesn’t have a car, either.) Two months ago, for our second monthiversary, we baked brownies. Then, a week ago, we baked banana nut bread (from scratch!). Today, we made muffins from a box.

We’re such a cutesy couple. We bake, watch TV, and nap together. Sometimes, we even make our own dinner. (For the first 3 months of our relationship, we went out to eat practically every day. Yay, healthy diet!) We’re also trying to get some kind of workout regime going.

I guess we’re trying to undo the damage done over the first three months.

The mail carrier brought me gifts today!

• Thank you, Marina, for finally returning the Empire Records DVD you borrowed a year ago. Also, thank you for the two books which came today: Adventures in Marxism and Mere Christianity. (The ones that were ordered right in front of me — immediately after I had added them to Marina’s virtual shopping cart — and whose titles I had forgotten moments later. The arrival of the package was then a nice surprise… seeing as how it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise at all.)
• I love Trent for scaring me into thinking he sent me Teenage Caveman… when, in reality, Donnie Darko arrived in the mail today.
• From Stephen, I received a B&N gift card… which will probably be spent tomorrow. If I can bring myself to shower and leave my house, that is.
• My sister, Diana, bought me two DVDs off my wish list: Bambi and Pirates of the Caribbean.
• Diana’s boyfriend, Eugene, got me Memento, making me an incredibly happy girl… with a lot of DVDs.
• Lastly, thanks to all the family members and friends of the family who came bearing cash. This has been my most prosperous year ever, haha.

Thanks, everyone! It felt like my birthday all over again ♥

Birthdays give me an excuse reason to call my family. I have some relatives over in Brooklyn and the rest of my family (my mother’s entire clan — there are dozens of them) back in Makhachkala. I don’t talk to my family members unless it’s my birthday. So today morning, I had to call my grandmother. I love hearing her voice but it’s incredibly awkward on my side. My Russian is limited to “Thank you” and “How’s the weather?” After we got all of the birthday wishes out of the way, she put on one of my cousins, Saida (sah-EE-da), on the phone. Now… I haven’t seen this girl in years. The last time I saw her, she was still in diapers. (She’s around 12 now or something.) I’ve never talked to her but here she was, on the phone, wishing me a happy birthday and asking me about my parents.

Next on my list was Madina (mah-DEE-na), my 16-year-old cousin. She was around 10 or 11 the last time I saw her. We exchanged pleasantries and all that. She asked me if we’re going to celebrate my birthday. I said, “Yeah, we’re having friends over tonight and family tomorrow.” My grandmother was apparently on another phone at the time because I heard her say, “I want to be there, too!”

My heart just broke. She is so adorable and I miss her so much.

Just now, I was on the phone with my father’s sister, my aunt Nelly. She’s the one who was at Brooklyn College last year. I need to talk with her more often — she’s hilarious. She graduated in June and has been job hunting ever since. While on the phone with me, she got a call from an employer who made her an offer. She was so excited. Yay.

She also told me how she got stung by a jellyfish at the beach recently. “Did you pee on it?” was my response. She then proceeded to tell me how she had a neighbor who came to her door one day, asking for her son’s diaper. My aunt thought she meant a clean diaper for her to wear — no, the woman wanted a used diaper. Something about applying the fecal matter to a wound or something like that. Some kind of old-world remedy.

Guhh… Unsanitary and weird. But the way she told it was funny, so it’s OK.

Um. The sky is crying. It’s been raining all day. It was especially heavy when my sister and I were enroute to IHOP at around 12 PM. There, I ordered a huge breakfast: 2 eggs (scrambled), 2 sausage links, 2 bacon strips, 2 pancakes (topped with whipped cream & strawberries), and 6 pieces of French toast. The waitress looked at me like I was insane: “That’s all for you?” Whatever happened to just taking my order, lady? No need to make comments. My sister said, “It’s her birthday today.” The waitress replied: “So? That doesn’t mean anything.” Well, yes, it does. It means I get to pig out. And have several IHOP staff members sing to me and bring me a free ice cream sundae when I was already on the verge of vomitting.

Happy birthday to me.