Kitten! Komedy!

This weekend I shed the sallow, malnourished, hates-fun-and-daylight layer of skin that instantly encased the entirety of my body upon entering graduate school-- revealing the vibrant, ruddy-cheeked, drunken college senior of yesteryore. My molting was in preparation for the 18th Annual National College Comedy Festival, which I was attending in support of Liz and Barn-- the last Sketchies from my era. Cue poignancy:
This is my view of the sunset over 787 North. I was stuck in rush hour traffic. I couldn't find my local NPR station. I hadn't urinated in 6 hours.
Uh oh, Lena still thinks she's in graduate school! Look at the sallowness return! Ewwwww, go back to the lab, Lab Nerd!

But after that minor traffic delay, I was zooming towards Janet Kinghorn Bernhardt Theater. Then I was sitting in those seats again, chuckling at all that was chuckleworthy. Barn's "Friar's Club Roast of Jane Goodall" was, obviously, my favorite and I think it was generally well received-- with the exception of the girl sitting behind me who asked "So wait, who is Jane Goodall?" I told her "the girl astronaut who tried to kill the other girl astronaut over some other astronaut." She was like "Ohhhh-- well that sketch was totally weird!"

Totally.

Then we [150-200 people] tried to have a party in a Scribner house. I confess, I'd never gone to a Scribner party--or maybe I did for like 5 minutes-- so this was my first. My glasses fogged up immediately upon making the descent into the gamey-smelling first floor. You couldn't move. People were all yelling because they each thought they were the funniest of them all. And I wasn't drunk. I felt as if I didn't belong with these people-- I mean, someone asked me if I was 27! Then they asked me if I was going to "get back to doing comedy" after I "get my PhD." Of course I will. And I assume you're going to get back to living with your mom after you get your degree in theater?

One Pabst and several bouts of claustrophobia later, I went back to Brendon and Kristen's apartment to meet and care for their kitten, Baryshnikov.

I wasn't prepared.

This thing is like the Vietnam War hiding in a bedroom slipper. It took me 20 minutes to get my shoes off, starting at 4:35am.
And here is a grand hiding spot! [5:00am]

So busted!

Well gee, it is almost time to wake up so maybe we can do the falcon training stuff later? I'm going to have some tea, browse the Calvin and Hobbes complete collection... FINE WE'LL DO FALCON ARMS
Be brave my little falcon.
I SAID BE BRAVE!
Amazing. We love this game. Barn loves this game

All in all, it was great to visit Saratoga and have a charming apartment in which to stay-- with complementary kitten. All the hijinks made me miss my own kitten, Bean, so here she is:
That's her "I can't believe you brought me to Georgia" face.