Mon Chat

My cat's name is Piggy. Piggy-chan, if you want to get technical about it. She's a brat and she drives me absolutely bonkers. She will never be a cupcake, sweetheart, or princess. My cat lover boyfriend identified the problem right away.

"Your cat is a bitch."

And you know what? She is. She wakes me up every morning at 4 to go outside, she follows me around the house whining (although no food, treat, or coaxing seems to alleviate the whimpers), and she loves to plop herself in the most inconvenient places. It's almost as if she senses that if she sits in your chair, that in five minutes you will be needing the use of your desk. Or she will find a warm spot in the very center of my bed, five minutes before I feel the need to sleep. And yet, I find myself worrying when she hasn't come home, or if she hasn't eaten her breakfast. And I can't help taking pictures of her kodak moments. It's a love and hate relationship with Piggy. But at least we're honest with each other. I call her bitch, and she bites me. Consider us even.

Mémoire d'école

I was looking at a yearbook from 1995. I was still in middle school, but my sister was in high school. The below was written by her in my yearbook. I think it describes our relationship very well, and in fact reading it made me laugh out loud. I realized we have similar conversations 12 years later.

Naomi,

I don't believe you are watching Four Weddings and a Funeral AGAIN! Soon you'll be playing nekofunjyatta AGAIN! And coming into my room early (It's early for me okay!) and stealing my clothes or your clothes back AGAIN! And we have to go shopping in the States for clothes and books again. But that's okay, those times are pretty fun. I'll miss you when I'm away this summer. (This part of the movie is so sad.)... What in the world are you writing? It's so long. ...Well, there are still no cute guys in your class. I doubt there ever will be. There are cute guys in our class, but they're such nerds. (How many times have you actually seen this movie?)...

It goes on, but it reminded me of how great it is to have an older sister. Often we have two seperate conversations going on at the same time. She will be talking about her topic, and I will be following my own train of thought. And really you can only have these types of totally random, uninhibited conversations with the best of friends. If only I had listened to more of her advice when I was younger. And now we both have lots of advice, and we both are equally annoying to each other.

L'education

Like many things that we end up debating, education should be a non-issue. Everyone should be getting a good education. We can debate what a good education encompasses, but let's face it:

"Seventy percent of eighth graders are not proficient in reading—and most will never catch up."

That's not okay, especially for a country who has as much money as the States. I heard someone say once that it's silly to even ask the question. Why are we asking if everyone in the US should have health insurance and care? That's not even worth asking because the answer should be so clear. I think the same goes for education.