On the plus side: NO COCKROACHES HERE. While in North Carolina I
had the delightful experience of seeing what Marie insisted was the
biggest cockroach she has seen while we were visiting her office, which
I should probably mention is in a triple-wide trailer. Yes, you read
that right. A triple-wide trailer. With metal siding falling off on
one side. In the middle of all these pretty old brick buildings on her
campus are two triple-wide trailers, one of which houses her office.
Welcome to the world of a first-year professor. Glamours, yes?
Thanksgiving itself was awesome. This year I got to play the part
of the stereotypical male: I sat on the couch and watched football
while Marie and T (mostly Marie) did all the cooking. My contribution
to the meal was to open the can of cranberry sauce to dump into a bowl,
and to carve the chickens (T refuses to eat turkey, so we had chicken
instead). No one in the house had actually carved a bird before, but I
stepped up to the plate backed by the knowledge from years of "helping"
my mom carve turkeys/chickens (read: standing around and eating bits of
skin and generally getting in the way). And then, returning to my
stereotypical-man role, I took a nap. T, being T, of course had to go
and post a picture of it on Facebook.
As revenge, I shall share this picture of T, just to prove
that I was not the only lazy-ass hanging around the house. Her snack of choice? No, that is not a bowl of mashed
potatoes. That is a bowl of FROSTING. I have a stomach ache just
LOOKING at this picture.
Other "highlights" of the trip include Rock Band, several
not-safe-for-work and yet hilarious you-tube videos, and a whole lot of
fart jokes and swearing. Because when T and Marie get together they
turn into 13 year old boys. Thank goodness I had copious amounts of
vodka and several books to keep me company.
More seriously, I had a blast watching T and Marie together. They
have the kind of friendship where they finish each others sentences,
laugh so hard at inside jokes and funny memories that they literally
fall to the floor, and stay up until 4am talking about everything and
nothing, or just sitting in silence enjoying each other's company.
Despite my joking complaints, I always enjoy the time we get to spend
with Marie. I will never have the symbiotic relationship they have,
but Marie is a good friend, and I'm lucky to have met her. Us
Minnesota girls gotta stick together.
