duck-shaped pain

I went on a trip (Boston, New York). Had fun hanging out with friends, eating food, and doing the general sorts of things I do on vacation, which included, at one point, buying a pistachio macaroon. Did not get stuck in the blackout, although I came close. I spent much time on the flight (or, to be more accurate, three discrete flights, each inching me closer to home) thinking of ways that I could have been stuck, when I wasn't reading the crappiest magazines I could buy. This was quite a long trip (ten days), long enough that I nearly forgot where it is I live. I returned to crappy weather, and today, have had a hard time adjusting to several aspects of being home, namely the altitude and the two-foot-high stack of mail that greeted me when I walked through the door. This was the sort of trip where the people that you visit try and persuade you to move where it is that they live, and, I have to say, that I'm entertaining the proposition. Many other things would have to come into play, though, and my head hurts too much to even think about that right now, or even soon.

My dog, Hoover, died while I was gone, which was sort of a shock, since I didn't find this out until I got home (the rationale was that since I couldn't do anything about it from two time zones away, it was best not to notify me while I was gone). He had a massive seizure one morning, while no one was home, and this seems to have completely did him in. While this doesn't surprise me -- his seizures have been more violent as of late, and the vet told me that something like this could happen eventually -- it's still a bit of a shock. I keep expecting there to be a dog out on the porch, watching me as I do stuff in the kitchen, expecting hourly dog biscuits, barking at grass, talking six-hour naps -- all the usual dog things. I suppose that I'll be getting another dog sooner or later, but given that two of them have up and died on me in the last three years, I don't know when that will be.

School starts Monday, which seems awfully soon. I'm not ready to go back, although I've had a full summer. My excitement re: the coming semester seems to be missing. At least I managed to find my books cheap, spending $120 through various online sources versus $366 at the bookstore. I was fairly uncertain that some of the books I was ordering were the correct ones, but they were cheap enough that I was willing to give them a chance. But what showed up were the right books, so I'm feeling fairly confident about my book-picking prowess. If only the other aspects of starting school again were so easy, but at least I don't have to pay for school this year.

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