Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! I miss you all and wanted to call everyone, but it was just so much phone time, and I knew I would be distracted by my family. I wanted to be intentional about my phone time. So here is a generic happy thanksgiving, but i mean it with sincerity.

it was a good thanksgiving. my first with suz in four years! the term metrosexual came up alot, and interestingly enough greg, your name came up and suz and i didn't put you in the metrosexual category, but perhaps things are changing. i haven't seen you in how many months now??? (oh, and for your new pda, my address is 2044 W. Fletcher Ave, Chicago, IL 60618, ph. 773-549-1885, email: julowell@yahoo.com. and my parents number for good measure is 518-483-2341. you can always get me there. it hasn't changed in 25 years!)

not too much else here. alot of food. i ate turkey. it wasn't bad, it wasn't good. i may become a holiday meat eater, or perhaps a non-holiday vegetarian? joe wants everyone to start calling me meat julie.

i fly back to chicago saturday morning and have to work saturday afternoon. it's my first real day on the new job. it should be interesting. my dad and i have been talking about how i could finance a car to make my commute to work safer and quicker, and quite frankly, I HATE BEING AN ADULT! i don't want the hasel (sp?) of a car, but i don't really feel like i really have another option at this point. i just want to be settled.

i hope to talk to you all very soon. i miss you and our celebration loafs and really nearly everything about last year.

i love you all dearly. happy thanksgiving to you and your families.

love, j

Happy Thanksgiving, Mac House!

I'm grumpy and homesick. Not because of Thanksgiving, per se. But I think this is the longest I've ever gone in my life without seeing my family. So yeah. I miss you all very much too. I miss (oh how JVC this will sound) intentional community. And y'all.

S-i knew the blog wasn't totally private, but i'm pretty sure that google doesn't search them or anything, so you're still probably pretty safe, as long as your friends don't randomly type http addresses into their browsers.

G- anthony.house@chch.ox.ac.uk
postal address: Christ Church / Oxford OX1 1DP / United Kingdom

J-i miss you. how's down and out? how's malone? how is you?

M-sorry about the crisis. hope it resolved itself. and that the drinking was good. i'm still amazed (AMAZED!) at your commitment to your clients. regardless of whether you're 'creating an alternative reality,' you're there for them, which is what actually matters more than anything. and i'm sure you know all that, but i guess sometimes it can be nice to hear it from others every once in a while.

B- i need a patented bern hug to get me out of this funk.

B(take two)-two rhodents from BC. awesome! Paul Taylor (Physics and Classics) and Brett Huneycutt (econ). do you know either of them?

yeah, i figure a good way for us to have a reunion is for one of you to get married. any volunteers? or i could, in massachusetts. hurrah.

love to you all. i'm very thankful for each of you.

[a.ho]

hey all. i thought this was hillarious. i hope you like it!

I like monkeys.

The pet store was selling them for five cents a piece. I thought
that odd since they were normally a couple thousand. I decided
not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought 200. I like
monkeys.

I took my 200 monkeys home. I have a big car. I let one drive.
His name was Sigmund. He was retarded. In fact, none of them were
really bright. They kept punching themselves in their genitals. I
laughed. Then they punched my genitals. I stopped laughing.

I herded them into my room. They didn't adapt very well to their
new environment. They would screech, hurl themselves off of the
couch at high speeds and slam into the wall. Although humorous at
first, the spectacle lost its novelty halfway into its third
hour.

Two hours later I found out why all the monkeys were so
inexpensive: they all died. No apparent reason. They all just
sorta' dropped dead. Kinda' like when you buy a goldfish and it
dies five hours later. Damn cheap monkeys.

I don't know what to do. There were 200 dead monkeys lying all
over my room,on the bed, in the dresser, hanging from my
bookcase. It looked like I had 200 throw rugs.

I tried to flush one down the toilet. It didn't work. It got
stuck. Then I had one dead, wet monkey and 199 dead, dry monkeys.

I tried pretending that they were just stuffed animals. That
worked for a while, that is until they began to decompose. It
started to smell real bad.

I had to pee but there was a dead monkey in the toilet and I
didn't want to call the plumber. I was embarrassed.

I tried to slow down the decomposition by freezing them.
Unfortunately, there was only enough room for two monkeys at a
time so I had to change them every 30 seconds. I also had to eat
all the food in the freezer so it didn't all go bad.

I tried burning them. Little did I know my bed was flammable. I
had to extinguish the fire.

Then I had one dead, wet monkey in my toilet, two dead, frozen
monkeys in my freezer, and 197 dead, charred monkeys in a pile
on my bed. The odor wasn't improving.

I became agitated at my inability to dispose of my monkeys and
to use the bathroom. I severely beat one of my monkeys. I felt
better.

I tried throwing them away but the garbage man said that the city
was not allowed to dispose of charred primates. I told him that
I had a wet one. He couldn't take that one either. I didn't
bother asking about the frozen ones.

I finally arrived at a solution. I gave them out as Christmas
gifts. My friends didn't know quite what to say. They pretended
that they liked them but I could tell they were lying. Ingrates.
So, I punched them in the genitals.

I like monkeys.

i'm back too after falling off the face of the earth. i have one part time job, just waiting for another to come through. i'm at a dv shelter working weekend shift. 20 hours a week may be exactly what i need, i'm not sure if i want a full 40 again. although i do want health care benefits. stupid, stupid non-socialized government.

i hear you michelle about freaking out about grad school stuff. i just had a good mini-vacation though. jennie came to visit for 5 days and we explored chicago and had a great time. it was so nice not to feel impoverished (jennie picked up a lot of the bills), and to just go out and enjoy an expensive improv show, or a good meal. although, we went jv style when we could, and found good deals, like checking museum passes out of the library and ushering at the blue man show so that we could then see it for free. it was great. i'm really starting to like this city.

in other un-jv like news, i am probably going to have to get a car. i'm not really excited about that fact, but i prefer that to riding the bus at 10:00 at night for an hour and 15 minutes to get home from work. i just think it's safer and better for my mental health.

love you all. hope all is well.
jules

ok. i fell off the face of the earth. i'm back.

1) happy (belated) birthday, shannon!!! who spanked you?

2) i'm watching bushie's speech at banqueting house right now. UGH. he's talking about all these british folks who affected american values... locke. wesley. booth. smith. does he actually know who these people are? i can't believe he followed me here. take him back, y'all.

3) meanwhile, hurrah for the mass. supreme court. how excited is bubba?

4) i was at gym today (at 7 am, nonetheless), and you'll never believe what song/video they had on. oh yes. camel toe. there's a video. believe you me, it's not what i wanted to see before breakfast.

5)have i mentioned how much i want bush out of office? ok. just checking.

onward to dinner. love you all!

[a.ho]

oh greg. that news is old hat. shannon and i have known that about charlie and stephanie for months now, right shan ;);)

well, so it's the usual ups and down for everyone i suppose. i was offered a job however!!!! but i'm not sure i'll take it yet. it's at a dv place, but it's two weekend shifts, and while i like the idea of doign shelter part time and something a bit lighter part time, i have one more interview to set up with someone that would be 9-5, M-F, so if that comes through before teh end of the week, i'll go that route. life is gettin better! joe and i made a new blog though, that addresses our current lot in life. as soon as i figure out how to invite people, you'll all receive the link.

i'm glad to hear i made a Dean convert out of you Greg. that's awesome.

that's about it here. life is good. i'm gettin distracted by people and not getting the shit i need to get done done. like shannon, i need a schedule.

aho-thanks for the chat last week. you make me realize my life can be more exciting and still productive.

g-thanks for the lovin

s-call anytime. i'm not at home as often during the day, but sometimes you can still catch me.

m-where are you?????????? i haven't talked to you in ages and i'd really love to chat.

love to you all, jules

alright, i never was or am i now in the employ of the bakery!!!!! yea!!!!!!!!!!! s-i went in yesterday for about 20 minutes, talked to teh manager and then she said tehy'd figure something out with teh schedule. then i felt obligated to try and explain why i didn't want to work tehre, and started going into-"well, you see, i guess this is just a bit more commercial than i was expecting, i was hoping for something a bit more organic" and i received a blank look and a "i don't know what that means." and i said, "ok, never mind, thanks, bye." i walked out thinking am i really weak for not sucking it up an taking a job i hate for a guaranteed paycheck, or am i strong for saying "fuck you commercial bakery with cookies that were made two weeks ago! i have ideals."

either way, it's back to the job hunt. i had an interview at a dv shelter this morning that went well, adn the woman seemed really impressed with me, but it's only a part time position saturday and sunday. it would be a good foot in the door though, so we'll see. i go back next week for a second interview.

i hope everyone is doing well. where are you all? perhaps as an unemployed individual i have slightly more time for the blogging? i hope life gets exciting soon like the rest of yours. miss you and love you all. i was talking to suz last night and she said she missed all of us too. she was hanging out with a group of people in burlington who clearly were already established group and she said they weren't as fun as us, or as friendly.

love, j

hey all. well things are still the same here...looking for work. but now there is a little wrench thrown into the socket. i accepted a job at the pastry shop "BitterSweet" after my "working interview" and then realized i absolutely don't want to work for that kiss the customer's ass while rolling your eyes type of place, and that i can just get a job through a temp agency just as easily. so, i called her back on sunday to say i wouldn't be able to work over the holidays so she should find someone else to fill the position and i got guilted in to going in to train for 3 days this week to cover next weekends saturday and sunday shift because there isn't anyone to fill them right now. i'm too nice and sooooooo weak. i don't owe them a thing after already donating 7 hours of free labor, and it's going to be so uncomfortable going in there, but of course i will. right now i'm just praying (you know it's serious if i'm praying), that they call me back and say they found someone else. i'm scared of them. they're mean. ahh, the drama. why can't it be exciting boy drama? why stupid work drama? aye, yaye, yaye (how do you type that expression out?)!!!!!

bern says hi to everyone as her computer use time is limited. we had a good weekend at a halloween party on friday. i went at mrs. roper from three's company and bern went as a flower child. it wasn't quite as scandalous or fun as being with you all last year, but we're managing. bern's friends are a lot of fun. she's still scared of mine, but we'll all hang out soon i hope. once i start working we hope to throw a big party.

that's about it here. my sister jennie is coming to visit in two weeks and today i'm looking for jobs and doing grad stuff, big surprise.

love you all, j