Good news!

I'm going to be an aunt! My brother Stuart and his wife are expecting a baby in June.

Also, Mia is visiting in December! She called me tonight and we talked for awhile--a classmate of hers has to interview a "living actor" and she recommended me. She just finished filming an independent film based on the Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" (which was adapted into an excellent full-length film in the '80s called Smooth Talk with Laura Dern and Treat Williams). That seems like some pretty mature stuff for my Little Munch but it was interesting talking to her about it. From the way she talks, she has really progressed as an actor. I cannot WAIT to see it--I asked if it was going to screen here in Manhattan and she said she thought so (it was filmed in San Francisco). She sounds so much older, it's eerie. My Little Munch, growing up. She's going to visit around the third week of December--I can't wait!

Um...

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Extreme
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Moderate
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

Tatia over Thanksgiving

When I arrived home yesterday, I discovered that the money I'd left for the cat sitter was still on the table, and the can of cat food left had not been opened. Luckily Chris stayed in my apartment Wednesday night and came back Saturday afternoon so HIH Tatiana was basically fine (in fact she was horrible, albeit a bit snoty because I'd been gone for 5 days. Snoty is how Tatia misspelled snotty in a thank-you note she wrote for my mom. Tatia is very good about writing her thank-you notes, but she's not the best speller, being on a 3rd-grade level). Chris also pointed out that something may have happened to the cat sitter--this turned out not to be the case, she just forgot (she was moving). She was horrified and profoundly apologetic. I was worried about Tatiana all weekend for some reason, even calling Chris once to check in on her. I had a bad dream about her as well.

To get her off the guilt trip, I asked her if she knew a good vet in the neghborhood--I've been taking Tatiana to the Westside Animal Hospital on 9th Avenue ever since I moved to Hell's Kitchen in 2000. However last year I was unpleasantly surprised to see the new owners who'd bought out the practice had doubled the rates. I really hate that kind of shit. At least give us the courtesy of notifying us via postcard that you're hiking your rates unconscionably. They didn't even let me know there was new ownership until I asked why the rates were so high. So, since they tricked me into paying a lot more for Tatiana's last checkup, they've lost my business. Buh-bye.

The cat sitter told me St. Clement's (an Episcopalian church the next block over--I checked 'em out but their services are a little crunchy, feely, clap-hands-for-the-blood-of-Jesus for me. I prefer a more formal services) has monthly low-cost clinics. I think I'll try that.

Speaking of church, I went to Smokey Mary's First Sunday in Advent Evensong yesterday. What kind of Advent service doesn't have the congregation sing "O Come, O Come" or "The Angel Gabriel to Mary Came"? I love all those moody, modal songs--they suit the darkening days perfectly. (Especially since Advent is a penitential season.) And no Communion--instead they had an Adoration of the Eucharist which is just a leetle too Catholic for me. Which is not to put down (Roman) Catholics. Just that I'm not one, and sometimes my parish goes a little nuts with their Catholophiliac tendencies. There's a middle ground between crunch, feely and the Adoration of the Eucharist.