Assorted breaking news.

And some of this post even includes Oxfordish things!

Yesterday was a hectic day for my family. My mother was with her parents all day, and we learned that my grandfather needs to have triple-bypass open-heart surgery as soon as possible if not sooner. They scheduled the surgery for next Tuesday, one of the same days when my grandmother needs to be getting her chemotherapy. Unfortunately, they won't be going to the same place (my grandmother is at a treatment center and my grandfather will be going to the hospital) so we need to figure out who will be driving everyone. My mom wants her sister, my aunt, to take a day off of work and take 'her turn', which I think is fair. My mom is seriously frazzled at this point and needs all the help she can get.

My birthday this year has turned out to be incredibly anticlimactic. I had a birthday with Justin before he left, but I felt so much like crap that day that I was too much of a mess to really enjoy it properly. This past weekend, I was expecting at least a little birthday fun for yours truly, but still genuinely had a good time celebrating Marita and Greg's accomplishments. As it turns out, we can't have our 'normal' family get-together for my birthday this year ('normal' in quotes meaning that my extended family of six people comes up for dinner and dessert). Really, all I want is to go out to a nice dinner, preferably at Bon Vie (really nice mid-priced French cuisine at a nearby shopping center) with my dad's dad and his wife, but it would have been nice to have at least a little hoopla. However, I need to remember that my birthday is still a few days away and maybe people were planning something for me. I need to learn patience...

Oh well. At this point I'm looking forward to 2010, when my friends apparently plan to spoil me rotten. Such is the fate of being the last of my friends to turn 21 (I'm definitely the 'baby'/'fetus' of the group). Not so bad, really, even though it will be a Tuesday.

This is only half-way related, but I gave myself a happy-early-birthday present last night by getting my hair permed. Once I script something out, I'm going to make a weblog about it. My goal for the rest of the day is to figure out what molecules were actually going into my hair and how they work like they do. Cosmetology is secretly chemistry, y'all. Also, more volumized hair makes

And, for the Oxford note, I think I've finally found a phone option that will work the way I want it to! I found it through telestial.com, and it's a cell phone that apparently comes with dual SIM cards and the phone price's worth of airtime already on it. Calls and texts to the US are relatively cheap. The best feature is, since I have two SIM cards, I actually get both a US and a UK number on the same phone! I don't even care that it's not 'cool looking' and that I could possibly pocket-dial people, it's neat that I'll still have a US number.

I took the day off yesterday (and by 'day off' I mean 'laid in bed feeling sorry for myself and watching Friends'), which means that today is the day that the suitcase gets unpacked, the Secret Project is resumed, and the phone is being ordered. So much to do in so little time!

- Jen -

ETA: That phone thing turned out to be a complete lie, as I found one from TMobile that is actually much better looking and a little less expensive for many more features, minutes, texts, etc. This whole communication thing is turning out to be a thorn in my side.