you must be joking me.

A while back my fella mentioned a movie he had paused on during some bored late night channel surfing. Idiocracy, featuring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph (on an unrelated note, who else REALLY wants to see Away We Go?). In the movie the characters are part of a government "hibernation" program in which they wind up sleeping for 500 years, only to awaken and find an America that has grown stunningly and ridiculously stupid.

The movie isn't great, but the point is uncomfortably...probable. Part of my job in the Office of Financial Aid involves reading written appeals submitted by students who have been placed on financial aid suspension, mostly due to some truly miserable grade point averages. I'm usually horrified by the writing skills I encounter from students who have acquired well above freshman standing. Students who graduated from high school. Students who passed freshman comp. Who is passing these students? And what's going to happen when they get into the real world? How will they cope?

Well, based on Pizza Hut's apparent new plan to re-brand...just fine. It's hoped that this new design will appeal to the "texting generation." Or, you know, the generation who can't bother with the time to write things out.

See for yourself and tell me what you think...

one hurtin' pup.

It's a little bit alarming how stealthily and sneakily your youth can get away from you. Not to say that I'm OLD. I'm not, especially by modern standards. But here, in this no man's land between college graduation and full blown adulthood, with PTA and retirement plans and kitchen renovations and such...that's where your youth seems to find the perfect environment to make a break for it. Why am I writing this today? Well, mainly because I woke up unable to trek much further than the distance from my bed to my couch due to back pain, and find myself home from work, trying to figure out whether said back pain is the result of playing tug with my dog or from being certain that I could tote my heavy load of groceries in one trip rather than two. And also, incidentally, trying to decide which of those causes would be more pathetic. I'm prone to blaming it on the dog.

Anyway. Perhaps you don't acutely notice the signs because mentally, you still FEEL young. I do. Yes, I want those adult things, and some of them I already have. But I still FEEL like Katie at Ole Miss, who goes to rock shows and eats out with friends and plans vacation trips and gets excited about something new and cute to wear to the Grove (though thankfully, that something no longer involves quite as much effort or sparkle as it did in undergrad). But lately, in a personal world where I've gotten a little more reality than I'd like, I've started to slowly grow aware of some things that are missing...things that used to be givens for me. I can no longer spring up from an Indian style position on the floor. Just one extra beer or glass of wine can suddenly lead to a massive hangover...and that one extra is tacked on to an overall tally that is CONSIDERABLY diminished from my undergrad or law school days. A day at work in shoes that aren't super comfy or supremely broken in leads to unavoidable pain by 5 p.m., and even a day out at Double Decker in flat sandals leaves me with sore ankles and calves. And a late night out for a concert or gathering on a week night? Yeah. If it means that I'll be showing up at work on less than six hours of sleep, it's probably not going to happen.

When I look at all of these little signs amassed together, it's shocking. The only conclusion I can reach is that I've let myself get old. I've LET these things slip away, or build up, or what have you. I've eased into an everyday life where I am so sedentary and such a procrastinator that these things are inevitable. I guess the good news is that a lot of this "youth" can be reclaimed. I know many people much older than I am who don't seem to have all these issues. They walk, they eat healthy, they play tennis, they do yoga. I may never be able to work with 100% productivity on less than six hours of sleep ever again, and that's OK. But I'm not going to accept the fact that I'm just too old to enjoy a long day walking around at a festival.

So the question becomes...where to start?

too many good things.

Oxford continues to draw in absolutely fantastic opportunities for entertainment. And I LOVE David Sedaris. Of course I do. So why am I not just blathering on about how GREAT it will be to see him live? Because there's another thing that I really, really, truly love. And that's Ole Miss Football. Which poses a problem, since October 10th in Oxford, Mississippi will not just revolve around an Evening with David Sedaris, but also around the Ole Miss-Alabama football game. Which is, as of yet, to be announced time-wise. In a perfect world, the game will be at one p.m., followed by dinner and a couple of (celebratory, I desperately hope) drinks in the Grove, and then a nice stroll down to the Ford Center for a a belly full of laughs. In reality...well, some people are going to have a tough decision to make. And something tells me (I'm so sorry, David) that if that's the case...I'll be hawking two David Sedaris tickets. Hey, we all have our priorities.

oxford cravings.

Oxford has no shortage of amazing restaurants. You can't throw a rock around here without hitting a restaurant that's been featured on the Food Network, in Southern Living, the New York Times, etc., etc. There are so many, in fact, that living here can begin to make one forget what it's like to experience a real craving...that need for something that you can't get and can't get out of your head.

In the spirit of enjoying life to its fullest, I've been thinking about particular dishes in Oxford that I just can't live without (and thankfully, don't have to). Here are some old and new dishes around town I adore and highly recommend that you try:

Ginger scone- Bottletree Bakery
Veggie Pizza- Newk's
Cheeseburger- Handy Andy
Muffaletta- City Grocery
Green Tea Ice Cream with Tempura Fried Bananas- Two Stick
Fish Tacos- El Milagro
Green Curry- Bangkok Thai
Uptown- Bottletree Bakery
Hot and Sour Soup- Two Stick
Ajax Salad- Ajax Diner
Big Bad Breakfast Plate- Big Bad Breakfast
Filet Special (regardless of what it is)- Yocona River Inn (come back soon, Yocona!)
Shrimp and Grits- City Grocery
Sausage and Cheese Plate- Taylor Grocery

What would you add to the list? Anything you'd dispute?

long time, no write. lots of life.

I've had a lot of ups in the past few months. Enough, I guess, that I've been negligent when it comes to boring people with my writing. I've also had a couple of major downs. Downs are bad, and I won't go into the details of mine. I will say that inevitably, those downs suddenly bring the ups sharply back into focus. I take so many things in my life for granted...a job I actually love, a beautiful and hilarious niece. A boy who dedicates himself to me, ME of all people, and makes me believe every now and then that I'm the most phenomenal girl in the world. A wonderful, shaggy, unruly dog who fills my hum-drum day-to-day with laughter and cuddling and amazement, and family that are always, always there and who GET me even when they don't. Friends who are intense, funny, oh so smart, passionate, a little nuts, and who keep me afloat and inspire me continuously. And a faith that can get awfully shaky sometimes but that never ever seems to let me abandon it, no matter how hard I try.

The other night a friend and I were talking about one of these recent major downs, and also about faith questions, and also about how the subject of one of the recent downs had this fierce and uncanny ability to squeeze every last drop of life from every detail he encountered. He also managed to find the time and energy to document most of it. I'm going to do my best to do the same.