The End of the Spike

Well, the dream of owning a small and affectionate pet for my apartment is over. I went over to actually see some hedgehogs in the flesh while I was still in Idaho, and the animals turned out to be much different than I anticipated. The websites on raising hedgehogs praise them as being warm and affectionate, although I could find no trace in either warmth or affection in any of the specimens I sampled. They curled up threateningly at the first sign of disturbance, made a rattling/hissing noise when moved, and seemed oblivious to the humans in the room as soon as they were left alone.



On one of the websites, one owner described the spikes of the hedgehog as feeling like "a brillo pad on the skin". Whoever wrote that must either have leprosy or skin like a catcher's mitt. Brillo pad, my eye! Those things are darn pointy! I left the breeder's house with spike divots all over my hands. No, sadly, a hedgehog is not the pet for me. I must seek elsewhere. Onward to the chinchilla store!

Coincidence

The movie Ten Things I Hate About You came up in conversation last night between myself and Emily Jane. She was praising Heath Ledger's performance in a movie she saw over Christmas break, and our talk immediately veered over to his earlier work. I have not thought about that movie for so long, I was surprised at how much I remembered about it. It must have made a deep impression somewhere in my teenage mind.
This morning I checked my computer for Apple updates, as usual, and saw that QuickTime was promoting a few new movies. Yes, people, in the glorious tradition of Ten Things, we now have She's the Man, a teenage over-sexualized version of Twelfth Night. Check out the trailer here if you dare.
I really should have no problem with directors stealing plots and characters from Shakespeare. After all, the Bard himself was a formula writer who took all of his plots from previous plays and legends. I really shouldn't mind that a glorious, witty, and poignant play should be distilled into a teeny-bopper sex fest full of well-muscled pubescents and bare midriffs.

But I do. Grr...

Mid-Winter Update

Since I am still considering my time here in Idaho as a vacation, despite the fact that I have been doing quite a bit of school reading for the next semester, I have been less inclined to update my blog. However, I feel that I should at least remind you all (a.k.a. the two people who read it faithfully) that I am still alive, still perky, and still loving my life. Here are some tidbits from the last few weeks:

1. Marcie is coming to Chicago in February! Her plane tickets were my primary Christmas gift this year. Mom cleverly hid my gift in a photo puzzle she had made, which I had to assemble before I found the hidden message. We're going to have the best of times, visiting all the cool locations around Chicago. I'm determined that she should try sushi while she's there. And, best part of all, Mom and Dad bought us tickets to go see the musical Wicked. Oh, it's all going to be so great!

2. I got my grades from fall semester, and it turns out I did better than I thought I would. The first month of school, I can tell you honestly, I read and wrote next to nothing. The only possible explanation I can give for that wretched month was merely my shell-shocked condition. Leaving my parents for the first time, moving from a town of 70,000 people to a metropolis of 2.8 million strangers, and experiencing independent life for the first time are my only excuses. But, as it all turned out, I accomplished more than I thought possible, and I am left with the sure conviction that I can do even better next semester.

3. I am taking a trip to Boise this week to visit with some hedgehog breeders. I have tossed around the idea of getting a hedgehog as a pet for some time now, and since I have some leisure time in the next week, I plan to research as much as I can and determine how soon I can get one (if at all). Living all alone, the apartment seems a little desolate whenever I come home from class or grocery shopping. If I just had a living creature of some kind to come home to, it would be so much more pleasant.

Honestly, how could you not love a face like that? I truly think I'll get one in the next couple months. I've even picked a name for it, but I'm not going to tell you until I actually buy one. withholding information is one of the best and simplest ways to increase your audience's suspense, so ha!