Well, I guess I need to report on days that are not so good, as well as good days. Yesterday was a bad day in some ways, even though I love having Molli here. At work, I had to continue printing out, photocopying and matching up resumes, cover letters and answers to questions. Although applicants were told to include their name on their answers, 7 did not. The board president asked me to try to match them up. After working at it all morning, I did find six of them. The seventh is a mystery to me. Another one of the Job TREC interns, Cara, helped me with the copying and sorting. Supposedly Beth, the board president, came and got them last night. I give them joy of reading them and hope it results in someone wonderful that I can work with and learn from as the shelter continues to meet needs.

I have had ongoing problems with a rental company. Several months ago, we started getting automated calls from "Leasing Services." I had no idea who they were. The message gave a number to call back, but when you call, they ask for your account number before you can talk to anyone. If you go to the referenced website, QDS, you also need to type in an account number. I never heard of QDS either. It was very frustrating to get these calls, but we couldn't do anything about it. Eventually, I would get a call from a person now and then. The first few times, I politely explained that I did not have an account with them and did not owe them money. I started receiving bills from CTI, apparently the same company. I explained to at least one person that we paid Marlin Leasing for our copy machine and did not owe them money. She said we had been paying them up until a few months ago and gave me a check number. This was a five-digit number and our checks are only 4 digits. I told her it was not my check. We were both baffled. The next few times someone called and started to tell me the account was overdue, I referred them to the notes and hung up. Yesterday morning a man named Craig called. He was very insistent and asked to send me the signed contract. I never heard of the person who signed it. I tried to explain the situation to him--he asked for my boss. I hung up on him 20 times. I told him he was harassing me and I would consult with a lawyer. He wanted Beth's phone number. He emailed me the contract. I got his name and number and called the place we bought the machine, Athena Business Systems. John had told me several times that he would take care of it, so I gave him Craig's number. Meanwhile Craig kept calling back. I told him he needed to hang up so John could reach him. Unfortunately, it upset me very much to the point that I was shaking and felt sick.

Meanwhile, a good friend called and told me more about Aliyah's death. It is truly astonishing. Apparently, she was watching a movie on TV that involved people flying. She went up on the roof of her building, piled up some chairs, climbed on them and fell or jumped. She did not commit suicide in the usual meaning of the word, which is in some ways a relief, but had some sort of mental breakdown leading her to think she could fly...I don't know how they even know this much. It is horrible to imagine that any of us could have a brain malfunction of this consequence and I can't think of a way it could have been prevented. No one should ever be alone for any length of time? Don't watch fantastic movies? No one seems to think drugs were involved. I am afraid I cannot think about it any more and will have to deal with this one by ignoring it for a while. It is too sad.

Molli and I did some Christmas shopping. We went to Rolling Pin, but only bought one thing--a 50 cent orange peeler that she had wanted. We stopped at Bulldog Sporting Goods and bought a few Georgia t-shirts that may go to some nephews. Molli tried on some good running shoes but didn't want to spend $50--they were on sale. We went to the Half-Moon Outfitters and looked at the funny shoes that are supposed to be like going barefoot. They are $80, so too much for a lark. We went to an upscale consignment shop and bought something for someone who reads this blog, so I won't say more about that. We went to Homeplace, where we used to always buy toys and gifts. Molli and I went right back to the toy section, although we had no intentions of buying anything. We picked out 4 games for Nate (and others), but managed to put two back. One was a game involving putting on a pig nose and trying to get truffles out of the box top. It cracked us up in the store. Then we bought an advent calendar to give to Vanessa. And Molli had to have a peppermint for old times' sake. Sarah, the daughter of the owners, was there. She is married now and has moved back to Athens with her husband, a student at UGA. Her major was sociology and for now she is working at Homeplace and looking for another job.

We picked up Ray and came home. We called Gerald so Molli could talk to him. He was attending a celebration and when asked what they were celebrating, he said nothing. It was about 10 o'clock there and very noisy.

We had an early supper and I went to ARabic class. Every time, it seems, he introduces something new. If I were studying for hours in between classes, I could probably get a lot out of it. The word for "the" in Arabic is Al. You have probably heard words that start "Al..." It becomes part of the noun and is attached to the beginning of the word. Depending on the first letter of the noun, it is pronounced "al" or "a", plus a doubling of the first letter. Did you ever have anyone teach you to play a card game called Teg War? It is an elaborate joke, because they make up the rules as you are playing... no, twos can only go on black threes..." That is what this is like. It feels like on Tuesday when it is cloudy, one rule applies... It is very hard. I don't know all the sounds and appearances of all the letters yet and can say very few words. It seems incredible that anyone could ever learn to speak this language, but thousands of children are doing it right this minute.

I don't know how late Molli and Ray stayed up. I fell asleep and went to bed about 10:30. She did seem to enjoy Big Bang Theory and the joys of the DVR. She may have stayed up watching back to back Third rock episodes. I woke up at 4:30 from a dream where I was convinced I should apply to the Public Interest department (a sort of Poli Sci branch). I don't think they have that at UGA and I think I talked to someone in Public Policy and it would be a 7-year program and they only take 10 people. Something like that. At first I thought I heard a kitten mewing, but it was Ray's breathing. His asthma has not been bad for a long time, but it sounded bad then. Then I remembered my conversation with Craig and got all worked up again. Not to mention Molli is leaving today.

One bright spot. Chieko and Casey had their baby! Congratulations and love to all. I wonder if Barbara got any sleep waiting to hear. Cheiko's mother is with them now and Barbara will go in December.