Dudes!

What is up, my homies? I'm alive and well, survived the holidays and a hella lot of stress, but wanted to check in so that my two frustrated readers don't write me off altogether. Lately:

- the Trasherati household has increased twofold. My decrepit mother (and I mean that in the most affectionate way possible) has been near death, recovered, and been released to our care. She's moved in and will live with us until (as it was so graciously explained to the kids and they gleefully explain to their friends) she dies. So now we number three adults, one of whom uses a walker, two little boys, two geriatric cats, and FOUR DOGS. Of course, my mom's chihuahua doesn't really count as she's not a real dog. She's sweet, just not a dog of substance like the Magnificent Rudy and the mammoth Colt. I need to post pictures of the dogs. Jag?
P.S. My mom is doing much better, thank you for asking.

- I broke the front of my Creative Zen MP3 player and now the Forward, Backward, and scrolling functions won't work, so I have to listen to whatever pops up on random play. Apparently I have an assload of Barry Manilow loaded on this thing. Shut up.

- I'm still commuting to Occupied Virginia to work three days a week. But I'm not teaching this semester. So I'm committed to pulling together some more material and hitting the comedy clubs. In 2008 I'd like to be invited to host an open mike night, that's my lofty goal. Screw world peace, I want stage time to make folks laugh. You have to work with the talents you're given, right? Ya'll go publish a novel or something now - I can do very little that's useful, except help create laughter, so that's what I'm going to polish a little bit this year, if you don't mind. 'Cause my plate is pretty full (see first item); I need this to fill me up.

- My sister turned me on to the best meal ever: split a whole wheat pita round, grate some cheddar cheese on it (she uses reduced fat - whatever, JOYCE), broil it until the cheese melts. Then, add sliced avocado and a good salsa. DAMN. Time for another sandwich party.

- I did recover from the very embarrassing, frightening, EPISPLODE posted about previously. An "epislode" is what the Poaikots and I labeled a public episode of explosive diarrhea a number of years ago - apt, don't you think? Tasteful wordsmith, that's me.

So there's a very condensed update - what's up with you?