i've seen the lights go out on broadway

I slacked off again today, but I did leave the house briefly to drop something off at the post office, pick up a gallon of milk, and view the interior remodeling of the house that my aunt bought in town. The house needs a lot of work, but it's really big (four bedrooms upstairs, charmingly decorated with a combination left-behind puzzle pieces and children's handprints) and could be really nice. This is of course dependent on my aunt's failure to kill her boyfriend; he's been to the emergency room twice after working in the house over the past few months. However, she claims that it had nothing to do with her, and so I'm reserving judgment until I see whether he makes it through the winter.

My sister came over with her kids, as well as my oldest niece's boyfriend. I'm internally shocked that she's old enough to date anyone at all, but the boyfriend seemed nice, so I guess I can approve if I have to. I would characterize my family's general opinion of outsiders as 'suspicious', but the boyfriend was nice and inoffensive, so we'll see what happens :)

In other news, Nebraska beat Colorado today, which means that if Iowa State beats Kansas tomorrow, Iowa State will win the Big 12 North title and will play Texas for the Big 12 Championship next weekend. I don't care all that much, but it was a pretty big deal amongst my family (my aunt went to ISU and my brother is currently enrolled there), so I'm happy for them. Also, my uncle made some v. tasty pizza, which was quite the undertaking since we effortlessly turned up fifteen people to eat the pizza, so I had something other than ISU athletics to rejoice over. I spent the evening making a Christmas list while everyone else watched basketball; it's hard to make a Christmas list when just last week I was complaining about how much stuff I already have, but I shall persevere.

It's been a whirlwind trip to Iowa, and I go back to California tomorrow night. Since it's about twenty degrees right now, I must say that I am looking forward to the weather, if nothing else--I may still think that California is freezing compared to Hyderabad, but at least it's not genuinely below-freezing like Iowa is.

Oh, and for those of you keeping score at home--my father was able to get the bulldozer out of the creek that it had been embedded in. In even better news, I didn't have to spend three hours watching the procedure :) This is great news, since the forecast shows sudden warming on Sunday, leading to thunderstorms and potential hail; if the bulldozer had stayed in the mud during a thunderstorm, and then frozen that night, it may never have gotten out. The next time you see my father, you should congratulate him on his good fortune.