other boring news

well, i did it: i signed up for another year here. my life is relatively decided for 1.5 years from the present, which is about half-and-half nice and unnerving.

in other news, i'm pretty sure taro, my bonsai, is dead. and i have NO idea what happened. there was no sign of disease or insects, everyone else seems healthy, and he had showed NO signs of distress until rapidly dropping ALL his leaves. very sad. will continue to attempt a resurrection.

in other news, i am going to new york city this weekend. hope to visit a couple of museums - the whitney and the met. maybe the gug. (yes, i am surrounded by world-class institutions every day here, but the ones in new york seem more exciting)

in other news, the trees are all blooming here. there's one by the front door that i think is a magnolia, and it has scale just like in the wikipedia article. pretty cool. hardly look like bugs, but i pulled some off to check their bellies.