inhale exhale inhale exhale inhale...

So, quick update in bullet points because I'm feeling a bit lazy tonight:

• April's been in Colorado now for almost a month (she's an assistant professor, tenure-track even--which means I'm dating a professor, how strange!), and it's both better and worse that I expected. I miss her terribly and the house is incredibly empty, but I'm coping all right and we talk every night. While I'm lonely, I don't feel that awkwardness that sometimes comes with the long-distance relationship territory, so that's heartening.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the cats are keeping me company. Reggie (April's cat--who's with me until she can fly him back to CO with her) is especially clingy. Velcro-cat. So lovable.
  
  
• Speaking of cats, I had a hysterical, adrenaline packed half hour last night when my cat, Olive, caught a mouse and then proceeded to torture it. I tried to get it away from her--I couldn't stand to see the poor, terrified thing try to run away and get toyed with. It escaped into the fireplace and I haven't seen it since. Either it was relatively uninjured and managed to sneak away later in the evening (highly doubtful) or it died a lonely, scared death in the ashes from internal bleeding. I know it's silly, but I'm still a bit torn up about it. I couldn't let Olive near me the rest of the night. Especially since she's in the habit of licking me. Eww. Icky, mangy mouse breath!
  
  
• I started teaching my Action Heroine class (noted in an earlier post) on Thursday and the first day seemed to go well. I like my students and I hope we all have a fun semester together. You can find the syllabus here, if you're interested.
  
  
• I'm also teaching karate at my dojo. The little kids (4-7 year-old white belts!) are both the cutest and by far the hardest to teach. They have the attention span of gnats and can't stand still to save their lives. It's a good thing their so cute. Survival of the species--mammals are the cutest at the age when they're the most annoying.
  
  
• Because of the lonely-house malaise I've been relying heavily on my Netflix account to supply me with movies and television shows to while away the empty hours. Expect to see more film reviews in this space in the near future.