Lots to do

Just got back to the house. It was wet and rainy when I left last week, and it's still wet and rainy. Lovely.

When I got on the plane this morning, Weis was still the head coach of Notre Dame. By the time I stepped off the plane, he was officially no longer the head coach. Not surprising. I hope they get someone good.

I had to sit in the middle seat on the flight from Denver to DC, and on the one side of me I had the woman who kept tapping and adjusting her little TV screen that's built into the seat in front of each seat, which only annoyed me because I'm sure it annoyed the guy sitting in that seat since her doing that was obviously pushing on the guy's seat. I certainly wouldn't have appreciated it had I been in his place. But that was nothing compared to the guy on the other side of me - the man I've dubbed the Loudest Chewer I've Ever Heard. I mean, seriously. This guy's mom must never have taught him how to chew with his mouth closed. It was disgusting, and caused me to turn up the music on my mp3 player to an uncomfortably loud level (I dislike loud music). But even then, I could still hear him chewing the sandwich he had pulled out of his bag. Finally he finished, and I was happy again. But then a few minutes later, he pulled out another one. Commence loud, obnoxious, disgusting chewing. And a little while after he ate that one - you got it, he pulled out a third. It was like the bag of neverending sandwiches. And I swear he got louder with each one. And that last bite of food was always the loudest, too. I mean, it was so over-exaggerated, it's like what I would sound like if I were chewing my food with my mouth open on purpose to be as annoying as possible. And he was just sitting there chewing like that on the plane. I felt like maybe I was on candid camera, or something, to see how long I'd last before I went crazy. Eventually he seemed to be done with food, but man. Three sandwiches of that. Maybe loud chewing doesn't bother some people, but for whatever reason, it really bothers me. On the bright side, it was an opportunity to practice patience and charity, in a way (when I would start getting really bothered by it, I would make myself think, "maybe he has some sort of weird medical condition that necessitates eating like that" or "maybe he never had a mom"), although that's probably being negated right now by this post.

Oh. Well.

Also, this thought occurred to me on my way out to the Springs last week, but why are airlines so stringent about making sure your seatbelt is buckled? I mean, I can understand that it might help stabilize you if there's crazy turbulence, keep you from flying out of your seat and whatnot, but how often does that actually happen? Turbulence happens, but not that crazy turbulence. And if the plane crashes, well, a seatbelt sure isn't going to help much. I mean, I'm not against seatbelts in planes, but it's just odd that they're so strict about them in planes and yet in a bus, where a seatbelt could actually legitimately save your life if you are in a crash, there is nary a seatbelt to be found. (Well, the driver might have one, i don't know. Never noticed.) It's just weird.

This week is going to be crazy and ridiculous. It's Monday, and I just got back here. (And oddly, even though I've been on mountain time the last several days and thus it should only feel like 5pm or so, it feels even later than 7pm. Probably because it's been dark since I landed. Boo that.) I have reading and a paper to finish/do for tomorrow. Then more reading to finish (which I really tried to do today, but my goodness, it is difficult stuff) and another paper to write for Wednesday. Plus extra reading for Wednesday because Friday's class this week is moved to Wednesday morning. Which also means I can't go into work Wednesday, unless I do like an hour or something between that and my regular Wednesday afternoon class. Or, possibly, skip Wednesday afternoon class, as it is my audit anyway...but I hate skipping classes. But since I'm gone Monday and Friday this week, and Monday next week, I might only get to work four hours this week and I feel bad about that too (although, I mean, all this stuff was in place prior to getting the job, so there's nothing I can do about it, but still). Either way, I have work and class on Thursday, then flying out Thursday night. Then, ah, back in good ol' CO. :-) But crazy, busy week in the next three days. And probably not a lot of sleep.

I do feel a little bit ridiculous being home for Thanksgiving then coming back here for three days then flying out again for three or four more days. I mean, it is ridiculous. But...worth it, I think. It was so good to see my family and friends this weekend. And my whole family was together. All of us. Who knows when's the next time that'll happen. And this coming weekend? A wedding for two good friends. (And $75 tickets.) And CO, where my heart completely and totally is. I mean, it's sort of like torture every time I go there because I know I'll have to leave in a few days (or weeks, come Christmas). But I'm going to need to fill up my reserves as much as possible this month because after Christmas break I don't know when I'll be going back home again. Maybe spring break, but maybe not. Who knows. So, whatever. Ridiculous, yes. But I'm doing it anyway. What's life without a little ridiculosity, right?

I am almost tempted, though, not to go home after this next spate of travels, for a very long time. I was getting to be ok here, until suddenly it was almost time to go home and then I couldn't wait to leave. And then I was home and definitely didn't want to come back. The longer I'm here at a time, the more ok with it I am, but when there's a trip back home to remind me what I'm missing out on, suddenly I remember where I am (and more importantly, where I'm not), and here just seems...depressing. Of course, right now it's not that bad because I know I'll be back home next weekend, and then just a couple quick weeks after that. And I suppose I am more used to and comfortable with things here, which is good. I do worry about what'll happen when I have to come back after three glorious weeks at home. Well, I'll deal with that when it comes.

For now, homework, because it must be done, and I must sleep. I'm afeared I'm starting to succumb to some sort of illness. But I think it's more just run-downness than anything, stuff catching up to me while I was home and whatnot. Whatever it is, though, I'd prefer it to stay on the definitely deal-able level than some sort of full-blown illness. Especially right now. No getting sick in the next three weeks. That's an order, Slomelette.

Au Revoir...for now

I have to leave again tomorrow. :-( But I come back again in four days. :-) Yes, it's crazy, but two more friends are getting married next weekend, and they were the first of all these marrying friends to get engaged, so I was always planning on going to their wedding (and then everyone else started getting engaged, and everyone jumped in front of them. It was weird the way that worked...). And, hey, I love Colorado, ok? Any excuse to come home is good enough for me. (Especially when I get tickets for $75.)

And two weeks after that I'm home for three more weeks. I know it still won't be long enough. It never is.

Gah. Ok. Enough of that.

I started a Christmas afghan with some fun Christmas yarn. Although, I have a feeling it'll look better than it feels...but oh well. That's ok. It's Christmasy, so it's fun to work on, plus, that means it'll only be out for one month a year, right? (I don't even know who I'm making it for. I've just really wanted to make it since like August.)

Know what the height of the average American male is? Approximately 5'9.2". That means I'm a good inch or more taller than the average American male. No wonder I always feel so awkward when I go to swing dancing, since it's rare that there's a guy there who's taller than me (especially with my heels on). (Yes, even though I'm really tall, I still love my heels, and I refuse to give them up.) I am also approximately seven inches taller than the average American female. Seven inches. So there's your fun fact of the day.

Gah. I have to leave tomorrow. Boo. Also, I forgot to do online check in until about 5pm today, and my flight is at 9:15 tomorrow, so by the time I had checked in the only seats left on my Denver-DC flight were middle seats. So I'm stuck in a middle seat for four hours. Siiiigh. Oh well. I guess I'll survive.

Also, I guess I should go pack up and stuff...bleh. I'm leaving some things here, because I don't feel like bringing it all back right now. I wish I didn't have to bring anything back. Including myself. :-)

Guess what? I love Colorado.

Did you know that the mountains are an extreme driving hazard? Not driving in them - driving around town when they're visible. Because they're so beautiful, and I can barely stand to take my eyes away from them - whether I'm driving toward or away from them. Sometimes it's almost bad. But so good, because...sheesh. I love the mountains. I love Colorado. I love that I've grown up in Colorado Springs. Really. Much as I might sometimes complain about the city, it really is head and shoulders above sooooo many other places in this crazy crazy country. I really, really, really really, really, really, REALLY hope I can come back here ultimately post-masters. Really really and completely. Being here feeds my soul in a way I can't even begin to describe. It calms me. It soothes me. It's wonderful.

Also, Pikes Peak is such a treat to look at every day.

And: first shot at mountain spring water. Mmm.

Beyond that, I'm thankful for stringed instruments. We're all so blessed to have stringed instruments.

I'm thankful for yarn, and for the ability to turn it into various creations.

I'm thankful for a very cuddly dog who managed to worm her way into our lives and my heart, firstly by her very convincing "love me" face. She still can get almost anything she wants with that face.

I'm thankful for having the wonderful family I have. I wouldn't be anywhere without them.

Did I mention knitting?

How about the mountains? And how I went to Borders today and was drawn, as always to 1) their calendars - specifically the Colorado-related ones (I have two already for 2010, one Colorado and one RMNP, but would certainly not be averse to getting a few more - one of the ones I saw was a Rocky Mountain calendar, and the picture for December was of Pikes Peak with Garden of the Gods in the foreground! I got so excited!), and things like Alaska, or the Grand Canyon. Etc. and 2) their "local interest" book section which includes lots of Colorado-related books. Love. It. (Have I told you guys that for my birthday I received both a book on Colorado wildflowers, and one on Colorado 14ers? Yeah. Pretty awesome.)

I'm thankful for the Christmas season, liturgically incorrect right now though it may be. It just makes me so happy. So so happy. And winter. I'm so glad that Christmas is in winter. :-)

I'm of course very, very thankful for my Catholic faith. I wouldn't be the person I am without it, and I'm glad that it continues to change me and challenge me and make me more the person God wants me to be. Slowly, for sure, but little by little.

And I'm thankful for the color blue.

The end.

:-)

(By the way, I'm not so thankful that Notre Dame is one of probably a very few teams who can manage to have an amazing QB and 2 WR team, some of the best in their two respective positions, and go 6-2 the first eight games, then proceed to go 0-4 against such heavy-hitters as Navy, UConn, Stanford, and Pittsburgh. Yeah. Also: tonight, our legitimately great QB threw 5 touchdown passes to said two great WRs, and we still managed to lose. That's the present-day ND for ya. Sigh. I wonder who our coach will be next year, and if he'll manage to make us look good again. Of course, he'll be doing it without said QB, and maybe without one or both of those WRs - I forget if they're juniors or seniors, and/or if it's likely that they'll go in the draft in the spring. Oh well.)

Thanksgiving part 2

Today was my family's Thanksgiving, since my brother and sis-in-law were down with her family this week, until this afternoon. And it's been a good day. I:

-did not go fight crazy crowds for things I don't even necessarily need - and probably really aren't worth the crowds and all that aggravation. Plus, even though I'm really cheap and like good deals and all that, I sort of really hate contributing to the consumerism that is blatantly on display today especially.

-went to Palmer Park instead, and had a grand time, because I love it there. Also, Colorado Springs? Not too shabby. And so much quieter than Silver Spring. Soooo much quieter. Back at my house there, it's a constant din of traffic and sirens going by, 24/7. Here? Not so much. Wonderful. :-)

-met up with Lauren, and had Qdoba for the first time since I went out to DC. (They have both Qdoba and Chipotle out there, but I have yet to go to one there for whatever reason. Namely and especially, I don't eat out, like, ever.)

-came home and Peter and Sara were here. And Tom, off from work, to which he had to go early this morning.

-left again and saw two friends who got married in early October, and then a bunch more friends who are some of my favoritest people. Reluctantly had to leave them sooner than I wanted to, but it's because I had to come home for our delicious Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family, so that's definitely worth it.

-ate said delicious dinner, had fun hanging out with my wonderful family, talking and playing games and such, said goodbye to a few who had to go home - including the super-fun nephews - and watched part of Elf with the rest.

All in all, a pretty satisfactory Thanksgiving, even if it wasn't Thanksgiving. But that's ok. It's still good.

Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

I went to Mass this morning (quite an appropriate thing to do on Thanksgiving. And every day :-) ), and as part of his homily, Fr. Jim read this, which I've also seen posted various places on the internets today:


By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks-- for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation-- for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war-- for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed-- for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually-- to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed-- to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord-- To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us-- and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Geo. Washington, President


I hope it's been as great a day for you as it has for me.

I'm such a happier person in Colorado

I got home today. Yay! Despite getting very little sleep, sitting on two airplanes, and yet again seeing far too much of airports, I'm so happy. Everything about being here is just wonderful, even if I used to complain about it. Funny what living in DC can do to a person. :-)

Seriously, though, dude, I just love being here. It makes me ridiculously happy. It makes me feel so good. I can't even say enough about it.

Things I've loved since I've gotten here today:

-Seeing the mountains, both for the first time on the flight from DC to Denver (gorgeous!), and along the way from Denver to Cos (I purposefully chose a window seat on the right side of the plane so I'd be on the mountain side going down to Cos, but then my attempts were mostly thwarted anyway because I was right next to the propeller which blocked a great majority of my view - particularly of the mountains - but it was still better than sitting on the east-facing side.

-The sun going behind the mountains at exactly 4pm. I'm not sure what about this I liked so much, except for the fact that I had forgotten about this aspect of Colorado Springs living, and it was just...nice. Plus, you know, the mountains. I love the mountains. Especially the mountains I get to see every day (when I'm here). They're maybe not really as impressive as other mountains in the state, but...they're mine, you know? (Not that I don't absolutely love the other mountains around the state, because I'm pretty sure it's no secret that I love all these mountains pretty fantastically.)

-Seeing six deer in my neighborhood this afternoon (and one in an area behind my parents' friends' house). I know most people think of deer as a nuisance (and/or a target), but man, do I love them.

-Obviously, family is a given. My nephews are so great. My mom still has the best hugs to give. My dad's wonderful. My brother Tom is fun as always. My sister is my super awesome gorgeous sister. And Nutmeg is my endorphin-inducing cuddler, who Dad brought with him to pick me up this afternoon, and who then proceeded to sit on my lap in the front seat during the whole ride home.

-I'm watching Conan right now. Need I say more?

-Colorado tap water. It is just so delicious.

-The cool, crisp mountain air. We don't get air smelling like that in DC. I miss it so, so much. Mmm. I could sit outside and smell it all night long (except I'd probably get hypothermia eventually). But yeah. Delicious too. Everything about Colorado is delicious. Also: just feels much cleaner than anything in DC.

-A tiny bit of snow! In the backyard and elsewhere around the city/state! Doesn't exactly count in my book as really seeing snow, but it's closer than the rain, rain, rain we get in DC.

-Soon: sleeping in my lovely wonderful bed again. Mmm that'll be delicious too. I mean, not that my bed here is really any better than my bed back in DC, but it just...I don't know. I'm looking forward to it. (Although I did leave my nice memory foam pillow back there, which I'll miss...and I have fewer covers here. But, a bed warmer, so I should be good.)

-Deliciousness all around.

That is all.

Honestly.

Right now, you know what I wish I could do this weekend when I'm home? I wish I could sit on the couch, tell people I'm home, and make them come visit me. I have a feeling I'm going to stress myself out trying to see everyone and spend time with everyone when I only have a limited amount of time, not to mention a limited energy reserve. I do want to see friends I haven't seen in months, but I also do love just hanging out at home. And it's already stressful trying to figure out when I'm going to see who, and it's important to be flexible but I'm worried that if I don't plan things out well I'll miss out on seeing people. Of course, if I do, I'll see some of them again in a week, and I'll see even more a couple weeks after that when I'm home for three weeks and won't have to worry about it so much.

I'm notorious for not liking the phone, but honestly, most of the time I'd rather call someone than text them (which is what I usually resort to doing). The reason? I don't want to bother them. I don't want to interrupt anything. I don't want to be annoying. So I do the non-invasive texting, which can be ignored or responded to at the recipient's leisure. (Even then, sometimes I feel like I'm probably bothering them. Any mode of communication that I don't initiate, I feel like I'm bothering people.) But mostly, I just want to call. (But not have a long conversation. I'm a get-in-get-out type of person.) I really feel like such a bother to people when I call, though, so I just don't. It's annoying. I hate being so insecure all the time.

Also, I hate the metro.

Also, I really, really, really wish I had just gone for a Friday flight. Or at the very least a Tuesday night flight. Then I wouldn't have to sit here all night, packing, worrying about tomorrow, etc. I could have done that already, and be sitting at the airport, or in an airplane right now. And be home in a few hours. Instead, I'll fly out of here in 13 hours (and boy-howdy that plane had better be on time, delay-less, and get to Denver when it's supposed to). I will wake up (hopefully) in 9 hours (um...dang). I would say I'll go to bed in 2 or 3 hours, but we all know that's not happening. Susie doesn't sleep well when she has traveling to do in the morning. But then she goes to bed with enough time only to catch a few hours of sleep, and worries that her body will decide she needs more sleep and will make her sleep through the alarm or something. It's all just bad. Hence why I should always do night flights when possible, instead of morning flights. (But it's always morning flights.)

Seriously, I feel like I'm pmsing right now. But I'm not, I promise. I'm just super-uber emotional all of a sudden. Really, it just hit me like a ton of bricks today. I'm not sure why, other than my body knows how close it is to being 6000 feet above sea level, and thinks that it should be there now. Not tomorrow, now. And I quite agree. Alas, that doesn't much matter. But du-ude I wish I were going home tonight. I mean, I wouldn't get in until late, probably, and I'd be able to do not much other than go to bed, but I'd be sleeping in my bed, at home, after getting a temporary fill of dog kisses and Mom hugs, and I'd get to get a good night's sleep tonight, and sleep in tomorrow, and take a shower and make myself look presentable, and then go about the all-important job of Seeing People. Instead, I'll get not enough sleep, in my little bed here, all alone, dogless and hugless, and wake up super early, drag myself to the creepy metro station, get to the airport with its crowds and noise and germs, get on a plane with its crowds and noise and germs, get off that plane, sit in another airport - so close yet so far - get on another plane for a 15 minute ride, and finally land in Cos at approximately 12:45 in the afternoon, feeling, looking, and probably smelling like Airplane and Travel. And then I'll have to go home, and get situated, and maybe make myself look like I wasn't traveling all day and didn't get up at o'dark thirty, and maybe see some people. Sigh. Tonight would have been so much more preferable.

Sorry. I'm just in a lousy mood right now. Clearly. I just want to be home so badly it hurts. I'm so sick of being here right now. So so so sick of it. Every single inch of it. Every bit of it. Everything.

And why are people who aren't Catholic trying to make the Church do something it won't and can't ever do? Why do people who aren't Catholic even care what the Catholic Church does? Ugh. It's so frustrating. So so frustrating.

Also frustrating? Being here tonight.

Ok, clearly it's time to stop typing in this post because I'm just getting more and more worked up. Here's what I need to do: pop in a movie or something into my laptop, have it on while I get packed up, and try to go to bed ASAP. The more hours I sleep, the fewer hours I have to sit here reminding myself that I'm here and not there, where I so badly want to be.

There's no blue Monday in your Sunday clothes

My first Monday working. Sigh. It was fine, really. But I'm just so tired. Probably because (surprise, surprise) I stayed up too late. And woke up far too early. Even though I woke up right on time not to be late. But still. Too early. You know. (After a discussion last night, I decided that it must be fate that my prime wake-up time is 9:19am. That's when I was born, and if I could wake up at 9:19 every day, I'd be pretty happy.)

Now I'm sitting here being a complete bum. I have reading to do for tomorrow - there's always reading to do - but I just don't want to do it. I need to write one more paper for my Tuesday morning class, but I could do it for next week. But I really don't want to have to worry about it over Thanksgiving, or once I get back here next Monday. So I'll do it tonight. Really poorly, but I'll do it tonight. I just soooo don't want to. I want to go to bed early, and get a nice long night's sleep. But I'll stay up too late, and get my typical few hours, and be tired as all get out tomorrow, all day. And then I'll finish classes, maybe go out with people in the afternoon (the second years have an afternoon class and a class at 5:30, every year, so it's a tradition of sorts for a bunch of people to go out between the two to a bar and get some food and/or a drink. A few first years join them as well, myself included, and next semester we'll have that same schedule too), and then come back here to pack. Things I need to do: load up MP3 player. Charge MP3 player. And...pack. Which involves figuring out what clothes I want to wear for four days, plus two travel days. That's never easy. Sigh. And it all has to fit into my carry on bag. Oh well. I'll manage it; I always do.

Hey, know what's annoying? Except for the times I can bum rides from roommates (who don't always drive), I'm now going to have to pay $5 round trip to get to work/school and back home. Before I was working, three days a week at least one way of the trip would be during off-hours for the metro (which makes it something like $1.35 instead of $2.50), and occasionally I could get rides for the other way of the trip on those days. And Mondays I never had to go to school at all, and some Tuesdays I could get rides both ways (or have to pay full price, usually just one way though). But now on the days when I have class only in the morning or the afternoon, I work the other part of the day, so I still have to go in/go home during rush hour times on the metro. So, that's $5 a day. And it's an extra day too, now, because I work all day Mondays. That means that at worst I could be paying $25 a week for my stupid four stop commute. I hate that about the metro - they have no discounted fares, no month pass, nothing like that. It's ridiculous, and expensive. I mean, I'm paying more now because I actually have a job which is earning me money, but I'd really rather not have $100 of my monthly earnings go to the stupid metro.

Oh well. After tomorrow (I think one of my roommates is driving in the morning, so I can at least catch a ride on that end. Not coming home, though, unfortunately) I won't have to worry about it. Except for Wednesday, when I have to take the metro to the airport, which will cost me $4.05. Even at 6 in the frakken morning. Ugh. That's ridiculous. Thanks, Metro. And then coming home next Monday, I'm pretty sure I get in at like 5pm which means it'll be another $4.05. Lovely.

I can't wait to be up in the air. The worst part of traveling is up to that point. Once I'm in the air, and we've taken off, and are on our way, then things are mostly ok. Except I do have to transfer in Denver, but at least if things get wonky there, Denver's not too far from Colorado Springs, so that's good. And it looks like the only weather I'll have to deal with is rain here (how typical). Ah can't wait to be home!

Also: I have to figure out what knitting utensils to bring. Maybe I'll just bring nothing. And go crazy all weekend. Hm. Don't like that idea.

Nevermind. I'm not going to do the paper tonight. I just can't concentrate on the readings. Oh well.

So. This week. Maybe Wednesday. Good post. I hope. At least issue-related, instead of a post containing nothing like the last, oh, 23 have been.

34 hours! (until up in the air, God willing, all going well.)

Another night, another cop-out post

I just haven't had the time/inclination to put work into posts that I really want to post. Things regarding recent marriage documents, documents on IVF, things about divorce, our culture in general, etc. I want to put the time into them to make them worthwhile, but I haven't. It's frustrating, because I don't know when I ever will. There's always something else to do. Something else to read. Someone else to talk to. Gah. Not enough hours in the day! I really wish I didn't have to sleep. That'd be another 8 (haha) hours that I would have, right there.

I don't really have any good knitting projects I'm working on at the moment. I started a new blanket the other day just so I'd have something to do, but my heart's not really in it. So maybe I'll be able to do more of the reading and thinking about these documents that I want to do on the plane or whatever. Have I mentioned that I'm excited to go home? And yes, that is one advantage flying has over driving - I can't do anything but drive (and listen to music) when I drive, but when I fly, I can sleep, or knit, or read, and listen to music. And I'm going to listen to music. Christmas music. Oh man, I'm going to listen the heck out of Christmas music. Even on Wednesday.

I think.

Also, have I ever mentioned how much I dislike circular conversations that are really just arguments/debates that never go anywhere? I was over at a friend's (well, a few friends live there) tonight, with some other friends, and it's like every single conversation became an argument. I mean, mostly good-natured, but sheesh, Susie can't take that. And I suppose it's partially ironic, or something, because I'll admit, I am a negative person at times (or all the time), but this was just ridiculous. So I just sat there and knitted. Because that's what I do best. Tiggers bounce, Susies knit. That's just the way it is. What am I going to do when I'm home? I guess I'll just bring along the project I just started...I don't like not having something really good to work on. Hm. Well, maybe I'll be able to get some super-on-sale yarn on Friday somewhere. That's my Black Friday goal.

Also, my fantasy football team did not show up to play today. Psh. Jerks. Peyton Manning (whom I greatly dislike) only got a measly 11. He's usually good for more than that. I hate playing him enough without him underperforming. haha. oh well.

Speaking of sports. At my friends' tonight, I had changed the channel from the Amazing Race or whatever to football (because that's how I roll), but both were on mute anyway. So then the game was just on as we sat there "conversing", and at one point one of the Bears got tackled. And they showed a replay of it, and whoooo, there on national TV was practically his entire bum. I mean, like, wow. The guy who tackled him just managed to grab just right so that he got enough pant to pull. I would have thought that...I don't know...it would be harder to do that. But sheesh. I don't think they showed that replay again. But it was pretty hilarious, especially since I'm the only one in my group who saw it, and they didn't know what I was laughing about. But dang. Pretty funny.

And on that note, au revoir. (Sadly, no more Mondays off now that I'm a working woman bringin' in the big bucks.) (Except after tomorrow, I won't be here the next two Mondays due to previous travel arrangements.)

Home in 3 sleeps!

Fail.

I spent too long doing things and being places today, and thus had no time to post. I believe a cop-out post is in order. Hm...how about music?


(Sorry. That one wasn't music. But it's always awesome.)













Ok. Is that enough to make this count as almost a real post? (And yeah, I should have left two of them out, and done a wholly Christmas music post in a couple weeks, but whatever. I'm losing my hold on waiting until Thanksgiving! My roommate and I stumbled on a radio station here that's doing their 24/7 Christmas music starting this weekend, so I was already rocking out to some of my favorites...and having a great time, even though it feels not at all like Christmas yet...Oh well.)

Seven Quick Takes Volume VI

1. I had a cute outfit today, and a good hair and face day. Doesn't happen a lot (especially all at once!). Sometimes, it's disappointing when it does because there's never anyone worth looking good for. You know? Yeah, I'm pathetic. But I saw not a single boy today. Well, not a single male who's not over 45 and/or not dating someone. (And even then, I only saw one under 45. Who is dating someone, not that I'd care about looking good for him anyway.) Don't get me wrong, it's fun to look good and feel good, but it's even more fun to look good for someone else...haha. Dork.

2. I read some interesting things today, which will be discussed in a post at a later date. Or this date, but a later post. Who knows. Suffice it to say, I'm enjoying working at the pro-life office! at the USCCB! Yay.

3. Also, I really like Archbishop Chaput. There are a lot of great bishops out there these days, but I particularly enjoy him because he's almost my bishop. I mean, he's not at all, but he's from Colorado, right? (Well, I mean, he's the archbishop in Colorado. I don't think he's actually from there.) Anything from Colorado is cool. Ok, that's not true, but a lot of the time it is.

4. I'm also a big fan of Bishop D'Arcy, the soon-to-be former bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend. He's from Massachusetts and was in charge of the Lowell region of the Archdiocese of Boston until around when I was born. So that's pretty cool. And he's a pretty awesome guy, and stood up against the leaders of Notre Dame last year (and at other times during other...controversies). I like him.

5. It's the weekend. I don't have class again until Tuesday, when I have my usual two torturous classes. Earlier in the semester, I briefly considered skipping both of them and going home this weekend instead of next week. And we had our Friday class off today, so I could have gone home last night, even, or at least this morning, and had five extra days back home. Sigh. How lovely that would have been. But, although I didn't even know I'd have a job at this point, I would have missed two days of work. And some other stuff, I guess. And I don't like skipping classes, even though I get very little out of my Tuesday classes these days. Sigh. Five extra days home would have been so nice...but I just keep trying to tell myself that I'll be home for three weeks in exactly one month. And between now and then, I'll be home twice, for 9ish days (although 2 of those are really just travel days). So, I guess I'll be ok without those extra five days. But still. It would have been nice.

6. The people I work with are pretty great. I like them. And it's cool working there. As one of my classmates/co-interns reminded me today, we'll be really busy during the March for Life, and we'll probably get to help out at cool and exciting things for it. And another one of the interns (and also classmate) answered the phone this afternoon, and who was on the line but Senator Sam Brownback. That's pretty cool, right? (Answer: yes.) Also cool? I get paid to research things that I find insanely interesting. I mean, for example, obviously I wasn't a part of this but last week they put together a fact sheet on IVF and its human costs. They got to research the harmful effects of IVF. I mean, hello awesome.

7. That just made me think of Animaniacs. That show was so great. Man, I wish I could watch it on Netflix. Why is their instant selection soooooo lacking? Someone needs to talk to them about that. Also, someone needs to talk to me about not being so knitting-crazy. I started working on another afghan yesterday, but I don't think it'll be very big, and I have no idea if it'll be any good. It's not from that book of afghan patterns I bought this summer from which I've already made three afghans (three which I love and which I hope are enjoyed by those for whom they are intended) (even if they aren't quite even on one end compared to the other. By far the worst part about knitting for me is getting the beginning end to have the same amount of stretchiness as the ending end. I think my casting on tends to be looser than my casting off, so that when I go to fold it end to end it's just...not even. Maybe blocking would fix that, but I'm a slacker knitter and have never blocked - don't know how, plus I think it involves laying out the entire project flat somewhere, and I just have nowhere that I could even do that here. Oh well. People are just going to have to deal with the fact that one end is tighter than the other, and I'm going to have to deal with the fact that I'm not even close to perfect or even very good when it comes to my knitting).

Yeah.

I like thinking that someday, everyone will be Catholic

So, did you know that Ennio Morricone is a Catholic? Yeah, I didn't either. (Married to the same woman since 1956. And that's his only marriage. Pretty cool.) I was flipping through a National Catholic Register today, though, and they had an interview with him. I do enjoy his music, but I really enjoyed this:

I have a very good opinion of Pope Benedict XVI. He seems to me to be a very high-minded Pope who has a great culture and also great strength. He has a great wish to correct [liturgical] errors that have existed and continue to exist, and he tried to fix them just a few days after being elected. Today, the Church has made a big mistake, turning the clock back 500 years with guitars and popular songs. I don't like it at all. Gregorian chant is a vital and important tradition of the Church, and to waste this by having guys mix religious words with profane Western songs is hugely grave, hugely grave. The same thing happened before the Council of Trent, when singers sang profane songs with sacred melodies and sacred words. He [the Pope] is doing well to correct it. He should correct it with much more firmness.

I personally think that's pretty durned awesome. But what do I know.

Well, I do know he has some nice music. Like this:



Also, I highly recommend everyone read the USCCB's new document on Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. I haven't gotten very far in it (it's 60 pages, and I don't just want to rush through it), but so far I'm loving it. I mean, basically, it's just reiterating what the Church has always taught regarding marriage, contraception, homosexuality, divorce, cohabitation, IVF (I think...maybe I'm just making that up, although it is very much related), etc etc etc. But I pretty much love the Church's teaching on all that stuff, so yeah. Go read it. Even/especially if you aren't sure about or disagree with what the Church says on these topics. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something you didn't know...

Mary, Undoer of Knots

PS: I love, love, love being Catholic. I mean, in addition to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, we've got Mary (the Undoer of Knots - I read an article about that yesterday, and I had heard it before but I just love that image of her - maybe partially because my life is so knotty, and I happen to have to deal with literal knots a lot with my knitting... But I really like what St. Irenaeus said about it: "Eve, by her disobedience, tied the knot of disgrace for the human race; whereas Mary, by her obedience, undid it." Good stuff), we've got saints, we've got all these wonderful traditions - novenas, rosaries, oh, and, you know, the Eucharist. And just such a rich, full, complete truth and tradition. It's beautiful. Being Catholic is beautiful. I love it.

I also love snow. But, of course, as of right now, it's going to be stupid 50s and sunny in Colorado the whole time I'm there. $5 says they get a snowstorm the day after I leave. I was really hoping we'd get some next weekend. I mean, they've had several snowstorms already this year. But that's what's going to happen over Christmas, too - it'll be unseasonably warm and sunny the whole three weeks that I'll be home. Just you watch. Either that, or there will be a blizzard the day I'm supposed to fly home. Yeah. Just wait. It'll be one of those.

Anyway. No Friday class tomorrow, yay, but that just means I'm going in to work early. And I'll leave...at some point. Guess it depends on how slow/busy things are. We shall see...

Here's hoping for the world's shortest week

It's 9:15pm. I want to go to sleep right now.

Unfortunately, my plan to be productive after I got home this afternoon was thwarted. Instead, I ate dinner, and spent time connecting with one of my roommates. (Ok, it was over episodes of The Office, but still!) And then I just spent the last...I'm not sure how long just fighting sleep, instead of doing my reading for tomorrow. Which I still have to do. But I also have to go to bed at like 11 if I want 8 hours of sleep. Because, um, I have a job now, and can't sleep in ever again. So, sigh, now I have to become like a responsible, non-lazy person, I guess.

Anyway. I need to post something tonight, so I'm going to talk about the excitement I feel over what will happen in one week.

One week from this moment I will:
-Have less oxygen to breathe in.
-Be either with friends or family.
-Have access to a TV.
-Be not here.
-Have pet-induced endorphines. (They're real, ok?)
-Be almost, or possibly definitely, listening to Christmas music and/or wearing Christmas earrings.
-Be nowhere near DC.
-Happy happy joy joy love.

Yes.

Can you tell I'm excited? Excited to be home. Excited to be back with mountains in my backyard. (Or, more accurately, side yard.) Excited to get a hug from Mom. Hopefully lots of them! Excited to give my much-missed dog a kiss or eighteen on the head. And take her for lots of walks. Excited to see my goofy fun nephews. Excited to drink delicious tap water sans need for a filter. Excited to see friends I haven't seen in months (some, not since summer). Excited for turkey, and egg nog, and Thanksgiving food, and Thanksgiving stuff, and the impending Christmas celebrating, and maybe a good Black Friday sale or two (specifically: yarn. And maybe possibly an external hard drive. And very maybe but not likely something along the lines of a new mp3 player. But very unlikely). (I wonder how crazy those old ladies camping out at JoAnn's are on Friday morning...I'm sure I can take 'em.)

It's a very good thing that I only have two more days of class before I get to go home, because I can barely concentrate anymore. Unfortunately, one of those two days is tomorrow, and the other is Tuesday, and Tuesday involves two classes which will, I'm sure, be looooooong. (Thankfully we have our Friday class canceled this week, although I'm not sure if it counts as canceled since it's been not on the calendar from the very first day. My prof is in Rome for some conference or something. I have some super-cool profs, y'all. They just go over to Rome all the time for talks and conferences and whatnot because they're so awesome.)

Which brings up the question: so, my general work schedule will be a long day on Mondays, when I have no class, so I'll probably work around 7 hours those days, then four on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays - mornings on Wed and Thurs, and afternoons on Fridays. But, since today was my first day, and because I don't have a good reason not to go in earlier on Friday, should I work a longer day on Friday? I mean, I'd really love to sleep in and just go in at my regular planned time, but I could just get my lazy bum out of bed like a normal person and earn a few more dollars. Hm...we'll see how I feel, I guess.

160 hours and counting...

The real reason? I can't get a Mom-hug anywhere else.

So, the other day, I went to a concert of Tops in Blue, an Air Force "entertainment showcase." It was pretty cool, and entertaining, but that's not the point of this post. The point is, looking at their crazy schedule of performances (it's just go-go-go for a year), I wondered why I have such a hard time being away from home for even a few months at a time between visits when there are people who can go gallavanting across the globe for a year (or more) at a time, and not even look back. Now, I realize first of all that military people are different, and a special breed, and whatnot. And I'm sure that lots of them miss their families and don't like being away for a full year, even if they do get to see many different parts of the world. But I could never imagine going to live in a foreign country for a semester or a year, for example, even somewhere as cool as Ireland or Rome. The chance to see all the coolest places in the world doesn't really hold much appeal to me if it comes at the expense of the chance to see my family and go back home.

Some people have the adventurous spirit. Some people love the idea of traveling all over and seeing new things and having all these experiences. I have never been one of those people (yet, oddly, I'm the child in my family who's spent the most time away from home - although Peter does get the time and distance award). I'm worried God's plans for me include more and more (and permanent) time away from home. But I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, and if that is the case, God will give me the grace necessary to bear it.

All I know is, some people don't mind not being home for holidays, don't mind missing out on random family dinners and game nights and reminiscing conversations that come out of nowhere. Some people want to see whatever they can see before they die, or while they still have a chance to. Me? I'm not one of those people.

Of course, I'm sure the fact that me being here today instead of back home caused me to miss a reunion with my oldest friend (albeit on a very sad occasion) isn't helping my feelings about being away from home. But God has his reasons for things, right? All I can do is go with it.

And knit. I finished that delicious baby blanket last night. I'm in love with it. I don't quite get what it is that makes me love it oh-so-much, but I do. The colors, the texture, and the super-duper easy-peasy pattern. It's just so squishy and soft. I can't wait to make more. And they take, like, a matter of hours. And not a whole lot of yarn. Susie likes that. Muy mucho. Unfortunately, I have no more baby yarn at the moment (and there are no JoAnns around here, not very close anyway, plus, you know, no car) so I'll hvae to wait to make more.

Also, I can't wait for this semester to be over. I need to start from a clean slate. This semester has, in a word, sucked, generally speaking. I know that's an across-the-board thing for most people here, that the first semester is just plain awful (ok, seriously, I just started spelling that "offul". What the heck?). As some have described it, it's like they just throw us into this really deep pool of water before we know how to swim and we barely manage to keep from drowning by the time the semester is over. Next semester can only get better - at least by then we'll have learned how to swim, and we'll have developed a few muscles to keep us a little bit more afloat.

Well. I'm really tired, and I'm starting at my new job (!) tomorrow, and I really want it to go well and not to fall asleep at my desk or something, so...off to bed soon. Plus there's nothing like a little sleep to improve one's mood, right? Everything looks better in the morning. And, bonus, when I wake up tomorrow, it'll be only a week left until I'm at that glorious place I call home.

Eh, it's just chemicals, how harmful could it really be?

I find this stuff endlessly fascinating.

People like to argue or believe that these chemicals they put in their bodies give them more control when, in fact, they're taking away natural abilities our bodies were equipped with. Obviously there's a lot wrong with contraception and this is just one part of that equation, but it's naive of us to think that we can pump our bodies day in and day out with a hormone-adjusting chemical and think that it won't do anything but allow us to decide when and where and if to have children. God created us in a mysterious and intricate way, and every part of our bodies are formed with certain jobs to do, and they all work in and with each other - it's all connected together. When we suppress one aspect, it will inevitably spill over into other parts of our bodies. And then it's just all sorts of no-good.

Basically, point is, we shouldn't be manipulating with our bodies like that. It's not surprising that all these chemicals are starting to show adverse effects, both physically and mentally/emotionally/whatever you want to call it. I mean, there's already been proof that the chemicals from birth control pills can change male fish to female. (And just think: some of that is more than likely getting into our drinking water, too. Doesn't that sound appealing.) People who hear that and don't immediately get weirded out by the fact that we willingly put this stuff into our bodies, daily, for years on end, well, I just don't get those people.

Anyway. Sorry I don't have anything better. Today I've gone on knitting-overload, and now I have to finish up reading and write another paper. (Next to last one for this class, thank goodness.) And then tomorrow is Tuesday. Tuesday, Tuesday, I loathe Tuesdays. Sigh. And the next day is Wednesday and my first day of week and I'm nervous. The end.

One week!

I have absolutely no inspiration. I think I thought of something earlier to make a post about, but whatever it is, it's gone. So I'm just going to go all stream of consciousness and see what comes out.

-I'm hungry.

-I have a  headache. Had one earlier from lack of caffeine, but then I had some caffeine, but maybe not enough. It did go away for awhile.

-I'm knitting an awesome baby blanket. It's multicolor pastel, and it's so soft. Mmm. I mean, I don't know how good it is for a baby blanket, but it is a baby blanket pattern. I just don't know if it's better to have baby blankets sans holes, or if little holes are ok. You know, never having had a baby and all. Oh well. I like it. And it's a super-quick, super-easy pattern, too, which is super-awesome.

-I just watched the Patriots lose. Lose like Notre Dame would, at the very end, and with a very questionable last-play call. (Except I'm not sure that ND would be up 34-14, or whatever, like the Patriots were in the second half.) That makes teams that I root for 0-4 this weekend. Pathetic record. On the plus side, I won in fantasy football, with a huge score, so...that's nice. Except I would have rather seen any of my teams win. Particularly the Patriots. Siiiiigh. Football is so depressing this year.

-Tomorrow is Monday. yay. I start my job on Wednesday, and I'm nervous. New things are never very much fun at first. But I hope it works out and goes well and yay for me.

-Monsignor (pastor at my parish here) mentioned during his homily a letter that one of the assistant bishops, or someone, of the DC archdiocese sent to the parishes. In it he pointed out the fact that the media are completely misconstruing this whole issue (if you haven't heard, the Washington Post claimed on Thursday, in a big front page story, that the Washington archdiocese issued an "ultimatum" to the city that made them (the diocese) look petty and "childish". This apparently ultimatum said, according to the paper, that the archdiocese was threatening to withdraw all support for homeless, adoption, etc that it currently provides - 1 out of every 3 homeless people in the city are helped by Catholic Charities, and they do a lot of stuff, so that's a big deal - if the city passes same-sex marriage as it's trying to do. Now, the media are trying to make it look like the Church is using its social services as a bargaining chip to get what it wants, basically, thereby looking spiteful. In fact, the truth is that if the same-sex marriage thing is passed as it is currently stated, the Church will no longer be eligible for contracts with the city (which it currently has - the city gives money to help the Church with its social services) because there is no religious clause within the law (regarding things such as benefits for same sex couples, I believe, and adoption to same sex couples, things like that), and thus the Church just wouldn't be able to have a contract with the city. So really it's the city that would be withdrawing the contracts from the Church, not vice versa. So anyway. It was interesting/nice that he talked about that during the homily to clear up what I'm sure some people thought, based on common news sources. Unfortunately.

-Did I mention I'm nervous about the job? Yeah. I am.

-Why did I title this "One week!"? I have no idea. Usually I make up titles after the fact, because I never know how a post is going to turn out. Hm...Oh, maybe in one week, I can almost officially listen to Christmas music. Still trying to decide if I should be strong (ha) and wait until Thanksgiving (or Friday if I'm really ambitious), or do what my initial plan was and load up my mp3 player with Christmas music to listen to on the plane ride home. Ah, decisions, decisions. We shall see. I'll probably end up planning to listen to it on Wednesday (next Wednesday, that is), and then once it's Wednesday, realize it's so close to Thanksgiving that I might as well just wait the extra day or two and keep it officially "in season" (although, I know, it's not liturgically correct, blah blah blah).

-Isn't it annoying how much thought I put into the stupidest, most mundane decisions? And subject you all to my thought process? Yes. Yes it is annoying.

-Man, I'm totally in love with this baby blanket. It's just... I don't know. It just feels like a baby, somehow. I'm so in love. I hope it turns out as good as I'm anticipating. B-e-a-utiful. It feels like a dream. Actually, I think the word "dream" might be in the title. Ah, no, it's "heaven". Close enough, right?

-So, even though the Patriots lost, they played well most of the game, and Randy Moss, who is one of my fantasy team WR, got me 29 points. Pretty fantastic. And Peyton Manning got me 25, although I dislike that since those last five points came on the last drive that sealed the Patriot's fate. And I didn't need any of the points he got me, anyway. Sigh. Oh well. I still scored a lot of points, and that's always nice. And that's twice that I've brought up fantasy football in this post. Is that weird? I mean, most guys I know don't even play fantasy football. Why do I? (Because I'm awesome, that's why. Someday someone will realize that.)

-Monk is such a fantastic show. Seriously. I love it. The main character obviously has a lot of neuroses, phobias, and OCD issues, but I can identify to an extent with at least a few...maybe that's not such a good thing. Haha. But still. It's very entertaining.

-Thanksgiving. It's next week. A) that's crazy; and November is already half over, which is also mega-crazy. B) that's exciting, and I can't wait! Ah, to see the mountains, and the Nutmeg, and the family, and the friends. So loverly. C) the semester is almost over. Exciting, but also terrifying, because that means finals, and I have a very strong feeling they're going to kick my patootey. In a big way. And, of course, lucky me, I'm going to have two in one day - and probably two of the worst ones, too, because they're the classes I enjoy the least (and thus, unfortunately, in which I pay attention the least). Sigh. I'll have those two the Tuesday of finals, then I won't have my Wednesday class final since that's the one I'm auditing, and then I'll have my Thursday class final on Thursday, and my Friday class final is apparently a one-on-one oral so those get set up at various times and I don't know when that'll be. The Institute Christmas party is on Saturday, which is sort of annoying because that means that I can't leave until Sunday and it'd be nice to leave earlier, and it'll make for a stressful Saturday what with packing and all, but I don't really want to miss it either because, you know, fellowship, communio, all that jazz. Whatever. I have an earlyish Sunday morning flight (which hopefully won't be problematic - I'm going to need to get someone to take me at like 6am that morning, or I'll have to pay for a taxi, or I'll have to sleep in the airport, because the first metro doesn't leave until 7am on Sundays which is definitely too late to make my flight), so I'll be home soon enough.

-Truth be told, I would much, much rather drive the 30+some-odd hours it takes to get home from here than have to deal with flying. I know. It makes no sense. But driving is sooooo less stressful for me. Or, the idea of it is, anyway. Maybe I'd start going crazy after 20 hours. But yeah. I really, really hate flying nowadays. There's the stress of packing and making sure I'm not over the weight limit, making sure I fit everything I needed, etc. There's the stress of worrying about baggage getting lost. There's the stress of potential flight complications (cancellations, delays, weather, whatever). There's the stress of making sure I'm there on time, with plenty of extra time. It's just a. lot. of. stress. Plus, they always jack up the prices like crazy around the holidays, too. (Of course, factoring in gas and whatnot I'm sure it's still a lot cheaper to fly than drive that whole distance.) And buying plane tickets is so final and inflexible. I hate that. I know I shouldn't, because I know it just shows that I'm like most people my age who don't ever want to commit to anything lest something better come along, but still. I hate it. I am so sick of flying. With driving, I could leave when I want, pack whatever I want, and not have to worry about anything but potential weather, traffic, and drowsiness. I know that it's more likely to die in a car accident than a plane accident, but still. If I could, I would much, much rather drive. Alas, I have no car. And really, I'm not sure how much I'd actually want to drive that whole way by myself if I actually had the option. But talking about it theoretically, heck yes. (Haha.)

-I just looked it up on google maps, and it's actually only 26-27 hours! That's not bad at all. I was thinking it was in the 30s. Interesting. Also interesting, from my house here to my house back home is practically a straight shot across the country. I mean, not necessarily driving-wise, but "as the crow flies," as they say. Latitudinally, I guess you might call it. (I always remember which is which, longitude vs latitude, because of my 5th grade teacher - latitude is "fat"itude, so it's wide-ways, and longitude is LOONGitude (and she would always spread out her arms up and down vertically when she would say it). Good times, 5th grade. Good times.) (Also, I hope I'm not misremembering, and that I don't have it completely wrong...haha.) That's quite interesting. In my head, DC is further north than the Springs. Probably because I consider DC like I do most of the (north)East Coast, right next to each other and all up in the upper part of the country. But no, it's like halfway down the coast. Yes, I do know geography in theory, but things look different in my head, ok? Sigh. I wish I didn't know that it was only 26 hours. Now I really wish I had a car so I could drive home. I've done 18-19 before (all at once, driving the whole time, just stopping once for lunch). 26 isn't that much more. I mean, obviously it is. But anyway. Oh well. I don't have a car, so it doesn't matter. Plus, that'd be a whole two+ days out of my break. More, probably, because I wouldn't be able to drive that whole thing without stopping.

-Why am I still talking about this? I'm ridiculous. I'm flying home. And it'll take 6-7 hours, including commute time, and factoring in the two hours I'll gain coming home. Can't complain about that, right? Yeah. Shut up, Susie.

-Yeah. I'm gonna go try not to worry about things that are pointless to worry about right now and/or I can't control anyway, and knit a few more rows (it is so, so addicting), and then sleep.

Hey, hallelujah

I found a bit of a haven today. Well, I didn't find it, but I finally visited it. Down our street a bit, maybe a 10-15 minute walk, there's a nice little trail that goes on either side of the street that someone who lived in Silver Spring last year told me she loved running in (and that she even saw deer there on occasion). One of the things I hate the most about being here is the lack of being around nature and the inability to get away from all the cars and all the noise. So I decided to check it out today for my run. And it was pretty nice. I mean, it's impossible to get away from roads and cars and noise, but at least it's a little bit more secluded than just running on the side of the street. And it's pretty; well, as pretty as it can get around here, I guess. Next time I go I'll have to try the other side, since the trail crosses the street and I had to choose which side I wanted to explore first. Unfortunately getting there still requires walking along and crossing busy streets, and that's rather unpleasant and just. so. noisy, but at least it's something.

And that weird ball-bruise thing on my finger? It's only gotten worse in the past week. Sigh. I was washing dishes tonight after dinner and it was oddly painful with this thing. Weird. Oh well.

Also, have I mentioned ever how much I love coffee? No? Well, I do. Very, very much. It's just sooooo good. I have become so unpicky with my coffee intake, too, because I just love coffee too much to need it a certain way or flavor or strength. I mean, some is obviously better than others, but I will never complain about coffee being too strong, or declining coffee because there's no cream or milk...I'm entirely too addicted to care that much. Mmm. Coffee.

Seven Quick Takes Volume V

1. My contacts are currently in a time-out. I guess they don't handle sleep deprivation as well as my body does, because dang if they haven't been getting rather very painful by the afternoon/evening the past couple of days. I have the kind of contacts that I don't have to take out every night, just once or twice a week (which, apparently, I'm like the ONLY PERSON who has this kind of contact, because practically everyone else I know with contacts has to take them out even if they just take a nap or something), so I guess they should rehydrate themselves while I sleep. But they don't hydrate enough when I don't get enough sleep, and I've been terrible at getting enough sleep lately. (See: yesterday's post about how I stayed up late to finish an afghan I was working on. I didn't tell you how late I stayed up, or the fact that I could (and should) have gone to bed early since I had no immediate homework to do that night and thus didn't have to stay up to do reading, etc, and I really needed to go to bed early because I had stayed up late the previous two nights writing a paper each night. Me=pathetic.) So for the second time this week, I pulled out the glasses, and in the middle of the day, too. Feels a lot better than having stinging, watering eyes from painful dry contacts.

2. Regarding sleep deprivation: I've realized this semester how terrible my sleep patterns are. I've always been a night owl, but it's gotten especially bad this semester. I'm not sure what it is, although I have a few theories. At least one of them includes the fact that only two days a week do I have to be anywhere by 9am(ish), two days a week I don't have to be anywhere, one day a week I have to be at church by our usual 11am Mass time, and two days a week I don't have to be out the door until 12:45 or so (earlier if I want to make noon Mass before class). Not conducive to making me be very motivated to get to bed at a reasonable hour. But then I feel like a pathetic mess when I sleep in 4 days a week, and I know that in general it's bad for me, and I'm sure I would feel all-around better if I got my hours of sleep in during a more normal time, like 11-7, or whatever. Even midnight would be reasonable. I mean, really, it's getting out of hand.

3. Luckily for me, a potential solution is in sight! In the form of a well-paying job. I will be making more money (per hour) at this job than at any job I've ever had. So that's a pretty exciting prospect. And while I don't really know my exact schedule yet, I'm fairly confident that it will require me going in on those mornings that I either have nothing or have afternoon classes. Thus necessitating me to wake up early on those mornings, which will hopefully motivate me to get to bed at a more reasonable hour, which will require me getting my homework and reading done prior to midnight, which will only happen if I spend less time on this stupid computer. All good things. Plus, did I mention, I'll be making money? That'll be nice. (And did I further mention that I'll be an intern? At the USCCB? In their pro-life office? Heck. Yes.)

4. I realized today that this one particular kind of bug, of which I've killed at least three in my room (including one particularly unpleasant interaction when one fell on my bed as I was sitting there doing homework, and then I almost lost it when it went underneath the crocheted blanket I have on top of all my covers...) since moving here, is a stink bug. So that's pretty disgusting. The only thing is, I've killed them, and haven't noticed any weird smell. So maybe it's not, and it just looks remarkably like pictures I've seen of stink bugs...or maybe I just don't notice the smell. Or something. Either way, those are some gross bugs, the ones I've seen, and I don't like it. Bugs are just reason #879,372 that Colorado > DC.

5. I can't wait to be home for Thanksgiving. And then Christmas. I really wish I didn't have to take finals in between those two things, but there it is. Also, I'm already slightly concerned about leaving our house unattended for long periods of time, both breaks. I don't trust anyone in and around the DC area, and I don't trust our neighborhood, and it just makes me nervous to think about. Hopefully we can get a friend to come check in on the house every few days, or something, and maybe we'll get an automatic timer for a light or two, but still. I know I shouldn't worry about it, as there's absolutely nothing I can do (short of staying here and not going anywhere for holidays and breaks), but I can't seem to help it.

6. Have I mentioned how much I want to go visit national parks? How much I miss the mountains? How much I don't want to be in DC at all longer than is absolutely necessary? Well. Now I've mentioned it again. (Also: since I obviously can't be there while I'm in DC, I really think that owning the National Parks series, with all its lovely park shots, might help quell the desire I have to be there...hint. Hint. HINT.)

7. Why do people go to grad school, anyway? I mean, it's a well known fact that grad school students are weird, and poor, and crazy, and socially awkward. The Simpsons said it best:


Huh. I just saw this one too. Also pretty funny:


Anyway. I'm really looking forward to the day when I can be a real, functioning, contributing member of society again. With, like, a TV. And maybe, hopefully, not so many meals that come from the microwave. One of the worst things about this grad school thing, too, is the fact that I don't even feel like I put in that much effort. Which is dumb, and will only serve to hurt me in the end. It's just been a tough semester adjusting and everything. I'm getting better, and maybe I'll be a lot better next semester. Which, I realize is all on me and I could easily change that myself. Hopefully I will. But the point is...I don't like being a grad student, and I really hope that in a year and a half I can move back to CO and do something beneficial there. That doesn't involve being in school anymore.

Bonus! A ridiculous fight scene that is just...ridiculous. (Really, someone found it because he google "ridiculous", and if you do that, this is the second thing to come up.)


So. There you go. Happy Friday the 13th!

My dream life: Knitting on top of a mountain.

I have nothing to say...

I stayed up too late last night watching Hello, Dolly!, episodes of Glee (I have now seen all five that are currently on hulu, plus a sixth that was up until last night, and I do enjoy it...), and knitting. Those two big afghans I've been working on? Now finished. Well, I just have to tie up some loose ends (literally! haha), but yeah. The knitting work is all done. Crazy. That's three afghans I've made since August. I love them. And I love that quick knit afghan book that I bought in August, too. It's just delightful. I hope the recipients of these afghans like them as much as I've enjoyed making them...

I'll take some pictures of them all this weekend, since I'm sure everyone is just dying to see these pieces of marvelousness, right?

Seriously, knitting is so wonderful. And to think, I only started knitting because a few friends were on a knitting kick sophomore year of college. Weird how a little thing like that can become such a big thing in your life, isn't it?

Next up on the docket: a scarf I recently started, a shawl I started back in September (but haven't picked up since, oh, September), and a baby blanket I've been working on for far too long considering how relatively small a baby blanket really needs to be. It's my purse-project du jour, though (meaning it's the one I've been keeping in my purse to work on at odd moments such as on the metro, etc), so other than that I haven't dedicated much in the way of large chunks of time to it. I think I'm almost done that one though. Then...yeah. Who knows what after that. One of the things I love about knitting presents for people (as opposed to things like the shawl for which I don't necessarily have a recipient picked out yet) is that I can pray for them while I'm knitting, and it reminds me to pray for them whenever I pick it up to work on some more. I need all the reminders I can get because I'm very forgetful.

Speaking of purse projects, I'm now very grateful for the fact that I like having a big purse. Particularly the $10 Target purse I got this summer, or spring, or whenever it was. It's amazing how much I can pack in there, including knitting projects. I mean, I've literally fit half an afghan (maybe even more) in there to work on while taking a flight. It's pretty fantastic. And it's important to have a project at all times - you never know when you might just be sitting around for a few minutes, waiting for this that or the other thing.

Also, and this is completely unrelated, but my goodness I want to go on a national park tour this summer. Or sometime. Sigh. So so badly. I want to see Yosemite again. I want to see Yellowstone (again, technically, but I barely remember it, since I was only five or six when we went there). I want to see the Grand Canyon again, and this time for more than just an hour. I want to see the Grand Tetons. I want to see Glacier National Park. I want to go to Mesa Verde again. I want to go to Utah and see Arches and Zion National Parks. I always want to go to Rocky Mountain. I don't know if I'll ever get to see many of those places. But I really, really, really want to, and I hope I can. Someday. Mountains and beautiful places like that let me breathe like nowhere else can. They keep me sane. Even just seeing pictures. Even just knowing that they're there. But to be able to see those places, those refuges to which people have escaped for decades (and more, before they officially became national parks), places that for the most part have retained everything that they were prior to humans coming in and developing here there and everywhere we can get our hands on, oh, it's so magnificent to be able to experience.

I want to experience it. So badly.

Metro Woe

I take the metro a lot. (This is annoying in and of itself because they don't offer student passes, or monthly passes, or discounts, or anything, thus it eats up a lot of money every week.) On days when I go in later/don't have a morning class, I normally have to wait longer for a train because they run less frequently during non-rush hours. Sometimes it's up to 15 minutes depending on when the last train was. At the station where I get on, once I swipe my card I have to take an elevator down (really, really far down) to the train platform, and then go wait. Today when I got out of the elevator and turned to the platform going the direction I needed, the train was already sitting there, doors open. I knew I wouldn't make it before they closed, but I still ran. Missed it by literally ten seconds at the most. So then I had to sit down there, many feet below ground, all alone for awhile before a few other people showed up. Annoying. Then this afternoon, after class, I went to the station there, swiped my card, went up the escalator to the platform, and when I was still a few feet from the top of the escalator I realized there were people coming down the escalator, meaning they had just gotten off the train, so I tried to run up the remaining stairs to get to a door, but again, I missed it by just a second. Argh.

So that's annoying enough, right? Well, the thing about taking the train from school back to my house is that many times, well, every afternoon which is every time I take it, every other train goes out of service one stop before my stop. And of course the way it works out, generally I get to the station at school in time to get one of these trains instead of the every other train that goes to the end of the line. So then I have to decide: do I want to get on this train, knowing I'll have to get out one stop before my stop and wait on the platform there for another six minutes (estimated - sometimes it's more, sometimes it's less) for the next train to take me ONE STOP, or do I wait at this station an additional six minutes so I can get on a train that won't make me get off one stop before my stop? It was cold and rainy today, and as annoying as it is - especially since I had missed the good train by just a hair, which maximized my waiting time for the next train as well as adding to my annoyment (is that a word?) - I decided to get on the train that would kick me off, if only to get warm again before waiting for the next train. Really, the amount of waiting is the same, it's just a question of do I want to do all the waiting at once, or do I want to break it up? And it's so frustrating that it's one stop before I have to get off. For some reason it'd be less annoying, I think, if there were an additional two or more stops between the train going out of service and getting to my stop.

Anyway. It just didn't help improve my mood today when I just barely missed the train by seconds, literally, twice, and had to stand out in the cold twice as a result of missing one of those trains. Boo.

(Speaking of cold, it's miserable here when it rains. And for the rest of the week, I think, it's supposed to be in the 40s or 50s and raining. Doesn't sound very cold, but it feels cold. Apparently it's the dampness that magnifies the cold. I guess I'm not used to that from Colorado. But I guess I have a whole winter of this to look forward to. Plus another one next year! Yay! And yes. That is sarcasm right there.)

On a lighter note, enjoy some videos of dogs welcoming home their owners who had been deployed. Pretty cute stuff. And the last video there is great, too.

Also, Strongbad. He endorses good grammar, too. (Watch to the end, and then click on the picture of the muscle, and then click on the album title that pops up. There are several quality songs there. I highly recommend them.)

At least my Mondays are followed by Wednesdays, right?

Today's been a tough day. Tuesdays generally are, especially because they're like my Mondays, but today is worse. I had to write a paper last night (I've had to write one every week the past few weeks, and still have two more to go, for my theological anthropology class - we had to choose six different weeks to write papers, out of 11 possible class topics, and while I didn't quite leave them all to the last possible six weeks, I did leave most of them - in my defense, three of the first weeks options were weekends that I was attending weddings and such), so I was up late doing that, and then Tuesdays are just long. Class from 9:30-11:30, Mass for most of the noon hour (I have to show up a little early since I'm in the choir), today between class and Mass I read some for this paper I have to write tonight, then after Mass I had to eat lunch fairly quickly then go get in our usual 15 minutes of choir practice, squeezed in between lunch and everyone's 1:30 class time, then my class went until 3:30 and the prof for that class tends to keep us over. Today was no exception. I was just so worn down by the end. And I still have to finish up some reading for this paper that's due tomorrow, and I still have to write it. Sigh. And the really tough part about Tuesdays is that they're both my least favorite classes, I think. Especially the second one. It might be partially because by that point in the day my patience is worn down, and I can barely focus anymore, and the prof's lecture style doesn't tend to work well with me.

And I have a headache. Probably a combination of dehydration and sleep deprivation. Both of which are my own fault.

On the bright side, I did have a nice little reminder of the random kindness of people sometimes. I had gone to the Shrine's cafeteria to get a tuna sandwich for lunch, and I also filled up my travel mug with coffee. When I got to the register, the guy ringing me up didn't put in the coffee so I pointed it out to him, and he said "Don't worry about it" or something like that, and didn't charge me. Pretty much made my day, right there. One good thing about my time here in DC has been that God's shown me that people really can be kind in general, and do things for other people without expecting something in return. It's been such a great example seeing people willing to help others (including myself, many times) just because it's the nice thing to do. Happily, and joyfully.

It's all good, though. I have my cup of tea (I've been woefully neglecting my tea in the past week, what with the reintroduction of coffee into my daily routine), and at least I don't have to be anywhere until 1:30 tomorrow in case I'm up late again finishing this paper, and then tomorrow night I'll be able to relax since I'll have finished the readings for Thursday's class tonight (that's what the paper is for - we have to email them to him by 11:30am the day before class). And then before I know it the week will be over, and I'll be that much closer to going home for Thanksgiving! Yay. (And in between then and now, I'll start working at my - ! - new job. Yippeeeee.) (Barring no unforeseen complications, anyway.)

I can't wait for Christmas break. (Except I really, really hate buying plane tickets. It's just so...final. There's no switching once you get them. And there are so many options. And it's so inflexible. It'd be so much less stressful if I were able to drive home. Of course, it'd also take me a good two days. Oh well.)

Also, next week, Tuesday night - early Wednesday morning, apparently the Leonid meteor shower is supposed to be really spectacular. And I sooooo very much want to go see it. A few problems with this: no one to go watch it with (not sure if anyone around here is as interested in meteor showers in the middle of the night), no car to go drive somewhere to watch it, and living in a very very light-polluted area. I'm lucky if I can see a star or two at night. So, not sure if that's going to happen, very sadly. Even if I knew of someone else (with a car) who wanted to go see it, we'd probably have to drive a fair ways to get away from the stupid light pollution around here. Hm, maybe I can talk my friend who majored in meteorology to go with me...

Anyway. That's all. OH. And today is 11/10/09, which I think is cool. And just because I can, and it's not too far off from the actual time, I'm going to change the timestamp. Yay for sequential numbers! (Although, I don't think the date and the time are next to each other when I post. Oh well.)

Here, there, and under that

As of this posting, I am on page 399 out of 479 of the first Lord of the Rings book. The book that I've been reading very on-and-off since 2006 or so. Yeah. For a long time (like, the first couple of years) it was a matter of having trouble pushing through parts of the story (particularly that Tom Bombadil part, which took me a long time), but more recently it's just been a matter of me only reading it in short spurts (like, just a page or two at a time). I will finish it by the end of the year though, that's a guarantee. It's so pathetic that I'm 24 and have not read the Lord of the Rings series. What did I waste my time reading when I was younger? And, come on, I didn't even read the entirety of the Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia until I was a senior in college - and mostly because I was in a CS Lewis class that required the reading of the whole series (honestly, that's part of the reason I took the class in the first place). Anyway.

I do remember reading the Mandie series when I was a young warthog. Not exactly Lewis or Tolkien, but I enjoyed it. Man, I used to love reading, love going to the library and browsing for a good new series to read (series are so much better than singular books). Reading is awesome.

I mean, reading for fun is awesome. Reading Aquinas and Balthasar and Locke and Descartes and such, for class, because I have to - not so fun. But such is my life right now.

Hey, can you imagine being the lawyer defending the guy who shot up Ft. Hood last week? I mean...yeah. I don't know how people who defend criminals like that do it. I know someone has to, but I just wonder how it affects them, if it does. I would think it has to, but what do I know?

So I have this weird thing on my finger. It's on the inside of the top knuckle on my right middle finger (so, on the palm side of my finger), and it's like...sort of like there's this tiny ball there. It hurts like a bruise, or something, but it's hard. And it looks more blue than the rest of the area around it (but it could just be a blood vein or something there). I've had it before, too - I think the first time I got it was maybe a year ago, or sometime during senior year - either way it was when I was carrying a laundry basket on my hip and the handle of the laundry basket kind of pushed into  my finger right there harder than normal for some reason, maybe it was heavier or I was dropping it or something like that. I forget exactly the circumstances, but yeah. So since then I've noticed it off and on, sort of like it flares up every once in awhile and then goes away again. It's very weird. And it's definitely worse this time than it's been before. Oh well. If it doesn't go away soon maybe I'll go get it checked out or something. Or, I won't.

(Speaking of pain, I played soccer yesterday for the first time since August, but beforehand a few of us were throwing around a football. And I am so sore in my arms and hands from throwing/catching the football. I suck at both. That's why I played defense on my flag football team in college. Ouch.)

Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

In other news, happy baptismal day to me! I was born into the Catholic Church on this day 24 years ago. I'd say that's a pretty good day, right?

(I keep trying to write posts that are coherent and follow one specific thread about one specific topic. But then it never seems long enough, so then I just start adding random things, and then posts like this happen. Sorry.)

I apologize for the lack of substance. Pathetic.

I've been listening to my collection of movie scores/soundtracks today. And I'm reminded of those that I don't have that I would someday like to add to this collection. Namely, Gladiator, The Last of the Mohicans, either/both of the first two Lord of the Rings movies (I have the third), Miss Potter, and Cinderella Man. To name a few. Might be nice to have the full movie scores to Jurassic Park, ET, and Indiana Jones, maybe Star Wars (I currently have the main themes of these - and more! - on my awesome John Williams Greatest Hits album).

Anyway.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love movie soundtracks? Because gosh almighty I really do. Oooh oh yeah, I also really want the National Parks soundtrack! I might buy it on amazon one of these days...we'll see. Maybe once I have a paycheck in hand (since I'm still a little doubtful that this whole job thing is actually happening).

I also would like to own, one of these days, the following: Emma (seriously have been wanting to watch this movie for months now, but stupid Netflix took it off their Instant and the only copy my family owns is a VHS which is somewhere back home), Much Ado About Nothing (same thing, was on Instant, now is no longer), and Hello Dolly! which I have decided I love. I had seen it once or twice in the past few/several/many years, but I've watched it at least twice now since this summer (because, thankfully, as of a few weeks ago anyway, it's still on Netflix Instant). It's so good! And I don't even like Barbra Streisand. At all. But I love it. Seriously.

Speaking of that, what is up with Netflix Instant? Every time I go to see if they have a movie on there, it's a movie that you can only order through the mail. It makes no sense to me. I can understand them wanting to put a cap on how many movies you watch with instant per week or month or whatever, that would be reasonable (they don't currently have that), but why do they have such a limited selection of movies to watch on instant? They should all be on there. I mean, it shouldn't be a copyright issue, right? We can watch all those movies anyway, it just requires getting a hard copy from Netflix themselves. Seems like it'd even save them money - less damage to DVDs, fewer costs for mailing, etc. There's probably some obvious reason I'm overlooking, but I really wish they had all or most of their movies available on instant. It's disappointing. (And I can't order the disks themselves because it's my parents' account I'm mooching off of, and disks go to their house.) Oh well. I guess there are greater tragedies in the world, anyway.

I'm fairly certain that a year from now, I'll still be wishing I owned most of these, since I doubt I'll spend the money on more than a couple (maybe) between now and then. Or I'll just go on a huge binge and get them ALL at the SAME TIME. Except probably not. (I sure hope not, anyway, unless maybe it's an "I won the lottery!" extreme impulse buy.) (Can it count as an impulse buy if I've been wanting it for, in some cases, years?)

I'm sorry that this post is so boring and pointless and filler. Not to mention stupid. And selfish.

It's been a long day. I played soccer for the first time today since August. It was fun, but it also really made me miss my friends back home that I used to play with on Sunday afternoons. Sigh. That reminds me. I have to get tickets ASAP for Christmas. Can't wait! Whoop whoop! (Sooo itching to break out the Christmas music, but the only thing I've compromised on was tonight when some of the Nutcracker came on - it's on the Fantasia soundtrack. Only sort of counts, right? Speaking of, I really wish I could go see the Nutcracker again. Although last year was almost a little disappointing thanks to the too-frequent inclusion of little kids. Yeah, I'm not very sentimental with that stuff. If I'm paying to see something like that, I don't want to pay to see a bunch of other people's kids who bring down the production level. Sorry.)

I'm such a bad person. Sigh.

Mr. Monk

So, one of my favorite shows these days is Monk. I don't watch it often - yesterday was the first time I watched it since I came out here, since the only other times I would watch it was when it was on reruns during the weekends back home. But it's just a thoroughly enjoyable show. Unfortunately, I've watched all the currently available episodes, and as far as I can tell, the only ones that are watchable for free online (which is like the most recent five or so episodes). So, back to not watching it. But it's really a great show. I might want to get it on DVD someday, because I like it. I don't get a lot of shows on DVD, since...well, I don't know why. I wouldn't mind having any seasons of that show, and I'd love to be able to watch Boy Meets World again (which would require getting DVDs of it), Home Improvement,...yeah. Just lots of other old tv shows.

It's weird - I wish we had TV more so that I could watch reruns of old shows, rather than any new shows (The Office and Conan excepted, and of course, football). The one year I had cable up at school, I watched reruns of shows more than anything else, I think. Anyway.

I don't have anything interesting to say today, obviously. I baked. We're having some people over for a game night, and I decided I should bake something for once. I haven't done any baking since I moved here. I'll let you know how it turned out - I just made this chocolate marshmallow brownie thing, for which the recipe was on the bag of mini marshmallows I have. (I looked for a long time for something good to make that didn't require either cocoa powder, since I thought we didn't have any, or brown sugar, which I also think we don't have - but as it turns out one of my roommates does have cocoa powder so I could have made chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Oh well. Next time.)

Oh, and ND just lost to Navy. At ND. Yeah. And here's the kicker - we lost by two points. Two points that Navy got as a safety for sacking Jimmy Clausen in the endzone with about a minute left, or something, to make the score 23-14. (After that we did an onside punt, and recovered, and scored, but it was too late. We still lost 23-21. Pathetically sad.)

Oh well. Yay for people coming over!

:-)

Seven Quick Takes Volume IV

Man, I haven't done many of these.

1. My friend sent this to me yesterday. It's so horrible/hilarious. I mean, really, why would you ever put that on a price sticker? Sheesh, people. (Sort of reminds me of the year we sold chocolate crosses at the Huddle at Easter. I think that was freshman year. Welcome to Easter at ND, Susie! Nah, just kidding - Easter at ND rocks my socks!)

2. This article explains some of the reasons that the Jon and Kate debacle is so terrible - and why divorce in this country, in general, is so awful. It's no wonder marriage is becoming such an endangered species. So much work to be done. But be done it must, and be done it will. Slowly but surely.

3. Um, so, I think I got a job. A long-awaited job. Details still pending, but unless I'm completely misinterpreting things, I might be starting by the 16th, potentially.

4. My new favorite food? Pita chips. Holy goodness Batman! And I just got some tonight that are cinnamon and sugar flavored, and, um, yeah. Deliciousness abounds.

5. Adoration is wonderful and far too under-utilized, by me anyway. I've gone for at least a few minutes three times the past...two? days, and yeah. Good stuff.

6. Have I ever mentioned how much I love knitting? Like, seriously. How did I ever get by without it? I surely don't know.

7. I just realized today that I had yet to change the two calendars I have hanging in my room. I love changing my calendars because they're both Colorado calendars (one Colorado in general, the other specifically Rocky Mountain National Park), so while I love every picture each month and it's sad to say good bye to it, there's another one following right after that's just as beautiful! And November's are both pretty trees-changing pictures with some snow involved. Makes me happy.

Yup yup.