(no subject)

My nephew called me last night, to thank me for the Christmas gift. (Yes, he's late, but I did mail the gift after Christmas, because right up 'til Christmas I thought I would be seeing him.) He's 14-going-on-15 - his birthday is in a couple of weeks - and his voice has started changing. He didn't seem to be aware of this when I mentioned it. I don't know if he's changed physically to match the voice, though, because I haven't seen him since his parents split up almost a year ago. Anyway, he talked on the phone for ages. (I mostly just listened.) I missed most of a Miyazaki movie while he was yakking away. He made the A-B honor roll, though, he said, which is a change. He's always been smart but very unfocused. (Like his aunt, as the family points out from time to time.)

I watched 3 (well, 2-1/2) Miyazaki movies last night: My Neighbor Totoro, which I adored (I mostly expected that, because it's one of the ones everybody seems to love); Porco Rosso - that was the half that Parker talked through, but I saw enough to be pretty sure that it wasn't up my alley anyway; and Whisper of the Heart, which I also liked a whole lot, as evidenced by the fact that I stayed up way too late to see the end of it.

I was really, really busy all day at work. It was very annoying, quite honestly; aren't Fridays supposed to be slow? At least I have another short week next week, because I asked to be off Tuesday to go get my car checked out. It's been nearly a year since I got the new engine and the warranty is about to expire. There are a couple of things I want to get looked at before that happens. (Car repairs are even less fun than work; my only hope is that I won't be stuck there quite all day.)