Oversighted

I had a busy day today.

I woke up, reluctantly, at 8am to drive to the metro and take the train into downtown DC to go walk in a walkathon for the homeless. It started at 9, and despite my best efforts I didn't get there until almost an hour later. So I kind of just threw myself in with the large mass that, I'm assuming, had started at the start time. And then at the finish line (which was also where they started), I checked in. Hahaha. So, I didn't do the whole thing, but some of it. Oh well. And then I resumed my plan for the day, and headed over to the National Art Gallery. Spent a few hours there, saw pretty much everything. I love landscapes. Man.

So, part of my plan was to see the temporary Norman Rockwell exhibit, which I thought was at the National Gallery of Art, but in fact is at the American Art Museum. So after wandering around the first for awhile, I asked one of the people at the information desk of the Norman Rockwell exhibit was there or at the American Art Museum. He told me it was the American Art Museum, and gave me directions. I was wearing (what else) an ND sweatshirt, and he jokingly said "I don't know if someone from Michigan State should help you" and then told me that he wrote a book with an ND prof, who, surprisingly, I actually had a class with. (A cool class, on medieval history.) So that was pretty cool. Then I walked a few blocks to the museum, and the first thing I went to was the Norman Rockwell exhibit. Oh my goodness, I love him! It was such a cool exhibit. All paintings from the collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. I'm jealous they get to own those great paintings. Seriously, I love Norman Rockwell! Ah. So great.

After I finished that, I decided to walk around the rest of the museum since I'd never been there before. It was cool. I saw some interesting things. The American Art Museum is connected with the National Portrait Gallery (which is weird...), so I kinda just walked around the whole of the first two floors and saw both of them. Each floor is half one, half the other. I don't really understand it. But anyway. I didn't spend as much time there, because I have found that I absolutely can reach a point where I've just seen and looked at too much. I had almost hit my limit by the end of the art gallery, but I really wanted to see Norman Rockwell. But I didn't dwell on much else at the art museum. I did see some things I love, and by the end of the day I'd decided that I really want to have art on my walls if I'm ever somewhere for longer than like a year at a time. Including paintings by this guy. And this guy. And Rockwell. And SO MANY OTHERS. I saw this one today called "Winter Scene in New Haven, Connecticut" that I really like. And The Old Violin.

Anyway. It was pretty good stuff. I also inadvertently walked through an exhibit at the national portrait gallery that was basically about homosexuality, and...uh...well, I mostly just looked straight ahead so I could get through to the other side without seeing things I couldn't un-see. Ick. But other than that, it was an enjoyable first trip to the art museum.

And then as I was walking past the National History Museum on the way to the metro, I decided to go in there just real quickly because they have this thing called the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. This summer the local knitting stores were doing a lot with this - having crochet groups and stuff, lots of announcements about it, etc. Obviously I did not participate, as I don't crochet, but it's very cool. So I decided to go check it out. I took some pictures - I'll put them up here later, maybe. It was cool to see. Definitely worth the price of admission (haha).

So that was my day. I was out a lot longer than I expected to be, and I had a throbbing headache by the time I got home around 4. Combination of not enough caffeine today, not enough sleep the last two nights, and probably not enough water today. And also just the overstimulation of seeing so. many. things. Sometimes going to art galleries kind of makes me...not dizzy, but just feeling weird. All that looking and looking and turning and looking and staring some more. It's weird. So anyway, when I got home I proceeded to take a three-hour nap. And now I'm watching ND beat Army at Yankee Stadium. So that's cool.

The end.

Christmastime is (not yet) here...

It's that time of the year. The time when the stores start selling Christmas stuff like crazy, making it difficult to navigate quickly, without unscheduled stops the aisles of Target for those of us distracted with every Christmas-related item we see (not that I have a problem with this, of course). The time when Christmas-themed and -musicked commercials start crowding the commercial breaks. The time when, shortly, the radio airwaves start being taken over by Christmas songs.

I know it's not Thanksgiving yet.

I know it's constantly and consistently in the 60s here, which isn't really my idea of Christmasy weather.

I know that, even once Thanksgiving comes, Christmas anything isn't particularly liturgically correct.

But you know what? I don't care. I'm as liturgically careful as they come, typically. Overly so, really.

But you'd better believe that next week I'll be breaking out the Christmas music. Haven't decided firmly yet whether I'll load up my mp3 player with my Christmas music for the Wednesday flight, but I'll definitely be listening to Christmas music by next Thursday. Of course, the radio station I listen to out here is starting Christmas music on Friday, so I might be listening to it before that.

You guys, Christmas makes me so happy. I love, love, love the (secular) Christmas season. And the best part is, I get an extended Christmas season, since I don't stop with the Christmas music on Christmas like most of the rest of the world.

I'm going to enjoy it. Even those stupid, overly commercialized commercials. Wait...

I mean, I know those commercials with Christmas themes are stupid. I know that. And are just using the season to sell, sell, sell. But I just love all things Christmas. Maybe I shouldn't. But you know what? I do.

Christmas. I love Christmas.

(Although, considering it feels like it's still just barely fall, it does feel a bit weird to be gearing up for the Christmas season. I look forward to this upcoming month for the rest of the 11 months of the year, and sometimes, I just need something like this to lift my spirits. Like this song says, we need a little Christmas!)


That one's for you, Dad. :-)

FTW!

I'm emotaposting, but in a GOOD way!

Today has been such a fabulous day. I met two of my old roommates at the National Arboretum (I keep wanting to call it the aboritorium for some reason), and it was so lovely! Fall is still in full bloom here. It's great. I took like 800 pictures. Not really. But 300 is fairly accurate, I think. Pathetic? Maybe. But you know what? I love taking pictures! I think I get endorphins from it, if I can get good ones. Gosh. And it was just so lovely and autumnal there today! A nice day, too. A little too warm, actually, and after I took off my fleece jacket all I had on was a long sleeved shirt. A pretty thin one, actually, and I was still almost too warm. But anyway. Nice and sunny and perfect for lots of pictures. So lots of pictures is what I took.

And then I drove back to the apartment, and on the way, just after I got off the highway, the guy in the car stopped next to me at a light told me to roll down my window. I, thinking maybe there was something wrong with my car, obliged, and then he proceeded to ask if I am a supermodel. Um, what? It was so weird! I mean, flattering, I guess, but...weird. He said he thought he's seen me in a magazine or something, and I laughed and said no. Then he told me to tell my boyfriend to take good care of me. So. I guess I'll pass that along when my boyfriend comes around. Haha. Definitely one of the oddest things that's happened to me in recent memory. But also definitely much better than him telling me my tire was flat, or something. (Of course, I, being the untrusting person that I am, was also slightly creeped out by it, especially when he turned down the same street I did, but then he went straight the next time I had to turn.) So bizarre.

And then, oh man, so I wasn't going to watch ND today, or I wouldn't be upset if I had missed it, but I got home right about when it started so I decided to watch. I got to see Utah (ranked #14, with one loss last week and I think 8 straight wins before that) score on their first possession, with a field goal, and us do not a whole lot after that. But then on a Utah punt, we blocked it and ran it in for a TD, and that turned everything around. Utah kept getting penalties, and we managed to be 14-3 at the half, and then awesome things happened the second half too, and we ended up winning 28-3. A HUGE win for us, really. It was amazing, and I'm so glad I got to watch it. The students rushed the field at the end, which is great for them. Kinda ironic that I went to ND two weeks ago when they were playing Tulsa, who shouldn't have been that hard to beat, and we lost. And then this week, against #14 Utah, we won, and I...was not there. Haha. Oh well. Still so fun to watch that happen. So so so fun.

And man. Just good things. It's like I had some felix felicis today. Hahahaha.

I had something else to say, but I have too many endorphins from things running through my head and making me crazy right now to think clearly and remember things.

Seven Quick Takes Volume XVIIII

1. I'll be home in two weeks. And it'll be after Thanksgiving already, which is weird. I am, not surprisingly, very much looking forward to going home. It will be grand, and magnificent, or at the very least, better than DC.

2. DC, where, driving home from work today, I saw at least five examples of terrible, rule-breaking, near-accident-causing driving. It's crazy. It's like people in DC never learned how to drive. Or they just plumb forgot. Either way, it's just ridiculous around here.

3. I finished one half of a pair of fingerless gloves today for a friend. She wanted separate fingers instead of just the general thumb spot and then four fingers mingling together, and I like to oblige what people want. So it's fine, except harder to find a pattern for, so I kind of had to improvise, and I think it might kind of suck. But I'm not sure. I mean, it is the first time I tried doing that, so yeah. Also, her hands are smaller than mine (whose AREN'T?), so that might be a problem too. Basically, I suck at knitting, for how much knitting I do.

4. Verbum Domini. I haven't read it yet, but I'm hoping to read at least some of it this weekend. (It's rather long, which makes it somewhat daunting.) But I'm excited. I've heard very good things about it. Which, duh, it's Benedict. How could it not be full of good things?

5. I love Michael Buble.

6. It feels like trees around here have been changing for awhile, but very slowly. All of a sudden, though, in the last week or so, it's like it exploded. All the trees in and around my neighborhood are full of color, and very lovely. It's great. I love autumn. It cause me to go out, for the first time since moving to VA, and take pictures of the trees and such around where I live. Crazy! (Kind of like the azaleas last spring...) Quite nice. But, I'm already really looking forward to being able to see changing aspens next autumn. God willing. Oh, I hope I can be back in Colorado. Sigh. (Honestly, I don't really know how I'd end up anywhere else. If I had something specific I wanted to do, a specific kind of job I was looking for, maybe it'd be different. But as I don't, it makes sense to limit my job search to location more than job description, right? So. Colorado it is. I just hope it works out that way.)

7. Speaking of azaleas, I bought yarn a little while ago with a color name of "azalea". I mean, come on. I couldn't not buy it when I saw that. :-) It's for this scarf I'm very excited to make. One of these days. I have so many knitting projects in my lap. It's overwhelming. I get too eager to make every cute pattern I see, and then it just gets bad. I'm trying to be better though, and pausing on the knitting random stuff for myself so I can get the things done that I want to finish by Christmas-ish. Even that's questionable. I mean, I am supposed to be a student, too. Unfortunately I can't spend all my time knitting. Also, I really need to stop telling people I'll knit them things. Like, really. Ugh. Too much pressure. Oh well! At least I enjoy knitting, when I don't feel like I suck at it. (Which is usually when I knit for myself, because if it turns out not well, I don't care as much if it's just for me.)

Bonus Buble!


(My radio station here has been giving away tickets to his concert for the last couple of months, every once in awhile. I've never called into a radio station before to try to win something, but I've called in four different times for Buble tickets. Sigh. Nothing. This morning I actually got the phone to ring! But then it just...kept ringing. Oh well. Just not meant to be, I guess.)

Can't take the ND out of the Susie

Hm, a week out and I still haven't posted my ND recap. I've started it (in various places) but never here. So. Recap:

I'm still in love.

So very much.

Ok, more detailed. 10 hours in a car by oneself gets to be a bit tiring towards the end. Probably wouldn't be as bad if the whole 10 hours were done during daylight hours, because then at least there would be pretty fall foliage to look at. And it's so fun seeing the country when driving down an open highway. Because, seriously, I hit no traffic either way. Not that I would expect to see much in Ohio, since, come on, it's Ohio. But it's always so lovely to see the little farms and, oh! the little picturesque towns in northern Maryland and southwest PA! I love them. And the trees were still changing, some of them, so that was fun too. Quite enjoyable. Until I got to about 7 hours, both ways, and then I was ready to be done. (Especially on the way back, because I just got really creeped out for some reason on the way back, driving through the semi-mountainous WV and MD and such, with it all dark and isolated and I couldn't see much and could barely tell what was around me - mountains or forests or what. Plus I saw tons and tons of dead deer - and raccoons, but that's not as scary - while driving, and I was terrified that one would jump out at me at some point. That would be highly unfortunate. I did actually see one live deer on the side of the road, but oddly, it was on the GW Parkway in DC on the way back. Just chillin there. Weird to see one in DC instead of anywhere along the way in Ohio or PA or WV or MD. And I also saw a dead deer along that road too, so...I guess they're there.) I do really like road trips. And I had my music, which was very helpful (yay for Glee soundtracks volumes 1-3! And for mp3 and phone car chargers!). It's nice driving through different parts of the country. Makes me really appreciate all that America has. And, oddly, the more I love other parts of the country (if I were to relocate somewhere, I'd seriously consider some small town in PA), the more I realize how much I love Colorado. So that's nice.

And then ND. Oh, Notre Dame. When South Bend first showed up on the list of upcoming towns on the sign along the highway, I got excited. When I started seeing billboards for the ND bookstore, I got excited. When I finally was on roads that were familiar to me in college, I was so happy. And then...the Dome. Oh, how I love the Dome. Lovely. I got in at about 10:30pm, so it was dark, but the Dome was lit up, as usual. I got to my friend's (friend's) house, which is just a bit south of campus, and got to see a few people I hadn't seen in a long time. Very nice. We went to the Backer that night, which was alternately fun and...weird. Ah, well, nice to recreate college days (oh, so many years ago). Saturday, we woke up, hung around, and I walked to campus with a few people at noon or so. Ate some food at a friend's tailgate, and then I headed off on my own to walk around campus again. It had been two! years! since I had been there, and it was bizarre because it all felt just the same - and yet there are buildings that weren't there when I graduated, and so that was weird. But it's still Notre Dame, and lovely.

I eventually made my way, inevitably and predictably, to the Basilica. I can't even describe the rush of emotions that came over me the minute I stepped through those lovely wooden doors. The first thing that hits is the scent of incense. I don't know what kind they use, but it's different than what most places use, I think, because it's definitely "ND incense" in my brain. And I can't describe how much I love that scent. So, there was that. And then walking into the main part of the church. I forget how beautiful it really is. I know it's beautiful, but it's so different when you're there seeing it with your own eyes - no matter how many times and how many hours you've spent there. My favorite place in the world. Seriously, and this is kind of pathetic, probably, but I almost started crying then and there, just being in that glorious place. So much of who I am is tied to that building. I know it's just a building but to me, it's more than that. I ended up just sitting in a pew for awhile, taking it all in, enjoying it, letting it wash over me. It's like nowhere else. The Shrine here is nice, and yes, it's beautiful and impressive and breathtaking in some ways, but the Basilica at ND is...that's it for me. Anyway. I could go on (and on. And on), but I think you get the point. You probably don't understand, because very few could really understand what that place means to me, but I think it's clear that the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is pretty much...well...fabulous in my life.

Aaaanyway...so I kept walking around some more after that, saw a bit of the band marching through campus, went over by Cavanaugh and North Quad and Lafortune and such. Oh. It was just so nice, walking paths that I walked many, many times over the four years I was there. And then I had to make my way to the stadium, which I did, and I got to go in the super-special will-call gate for athlete guests, since my tickets (free!) were from my friend's brother, who's a senior and on the football team. Our seats were pretty good. But then after a quarter or so we moved over to the student section because my friend('s friend) who I was staying with is a grad student, so yeah. That was more fun, being in the student section (duh). And. AND. I went up for push ups after one of the TDs. Which I had never done in four years as an undergrad. (Partially because, I'll admit, I was always a little embarrassed since most of my female friends were of the tinier variety, and...yeah. Me, not so much.) I was still embarrassed about it, but they didn't leave me much choice (so, joke's on them). Anyway. It was fun, I guess. Nice to be able to check that off my list. And then, of course, we lost the game, in the last minute, when we should have easily won. (We were up for awhile, then they got a TD towards the end - maybe after an interception, I can't quite remember, and then it was 28-27 with just like two minutes to go, so we were down, but we made it to field goal range and then decided to run one more play, I guess, and make it a throwing play just for fun, and of course, they intercepted us in the endzone. And by then there was less than a minute to go, so they just took a knee twice or something, and won. It was so pathetic on our part. We have like the best FG kicker in the NCAA right now, and all we needed was a field goal to win, and we THREW IT. When that quarterback had thrown TWO other interceptions during the game. Ugh. Oh well. Wasn't terribly surprising, really. The worst part was that during our Alma Mater, which we always sing at the end of every game, and the team comes over and sings with the student section, and it just always happens, well their band started playing their fight song or whatever. Well after our alma mater had started. And dude, that's just not cool. Not cool. Bunch of jerks, those Tulsa people. (And their band is pretty much a joke, too. Their flag girls? Horrible. I'm so glad we don't have those. But theirs are especially pathetic.) (And, seriously, they're from Oklahoma, and their mascot is the Golden Hurricane. Really? Hurricanes in Tulsa? Common problem, I hear.) )

That was a long parenthetical statement. I need to work on that.

Anyway...the rest of Saturday was good, I think. Nothing too special. And Sunday, I woke up early to walk over to campus and go to the 10am Mass, my old favorite Mass. Lit choir. Delicious. It was so nice. The music is so lovely there. Especially with all the smells and bells that go along with it at that Mass. Ugh. I can't stand it. It's so wonderful. The end.

I walked around campus again/some more after Mass. Oh, and went to the Grotto to light a candle. And to the Huddle to get some coffee for old time's sake. :-) And then just walked around more and more. And got a huge blister which then obviously passed the blister stage and moved over to the bleeding stage by the time I got back to my friend's house. Oh well. Nothing a bandaid or five won't cure.

I left shortly thereafter for the long drive home. All in all, a quite lovely weekend. Even if it was almost 24 hours of driving for 40 hours at ND. Just...great. Definitely worth it. And really, aside from a few hours of those 24 of driving, the driving part was pretty nice too. It was so weird being back, because I felt at the same time like I belong there, like I had never left, all that jazz, and also the disconnect that happens when an alum visits her school after graduation. But still, it's great. And really made me wish I had at least considered ND more seriously for grad school when I applied to the Institute. Oh well. Still nice to visit, at least.

Ok, well, I've blabbed on about this long enough. It was just a success of a weekend, overall. AND I managed NOT to buy any of the overpriced merchandise in the bookstore! I was tempted, but resisted. (I'm a sucker for anything ND-related, you know.) I did pay a couple bucks extra at the stadium to get the thermal mug of hot chocolate instead of just a disposable cup. So, good for me, right? haha.

Anyway. Sorry this isn't more exciting. But that's me.

Sooooon...

I am going to write a real post soon. I just haven't yet. It's going to be about Notre Dame. Fabulous.

Also, I just bought my plane ticket to go home for Christmas. Had I done it last week, as I really ought to have done, I could have just used my United miles and gotten round-trip and good flight times. But I procrastinate buying plane tickets, always, this time because I wasn't sure what dates to do. (Leave Friday? Saturday? Sunday? Come back earlier in the week after New Year's, or closer to the weekend?) So by the time I got around to checking today, the latest flight I could get to leave was early Friday morning the 18th, out of Baltimore. I could have done that, but I'll have a final on Thursday, and it'd be really tough to get to Baltimore in time Friday morning (I'd have to get a cab, which would probably be expensive, and I'd probably have to leave at like 3am), and I'd be up late packing Thursday night since I wouldn't have had time sooner due to finals and such. I mean, it'd be possible, and I could always do my fall-back sleep-in-the-airport thing, but there's just so much about that that's not fun. So. Instead, I used my Frontier miles (pretty much my whole stock of them, since they charge practically double for that time around Christmas) to get a flight out of DCA Friday evening, one-way, and I'll just use half my United miles to come back at the end of break. The Frontier thing is pretty nice - it includes two free checked bags, which is good, plus I got great seats near the front on both the DC-Den and Den-COS legs, and I'll get free TV on the DC-Den leg. But now I'm wondering if I should have just done the United thing and slept in the airport that night...

Nah. This will be fine. Not ideal (mileage-usage-wise), but hey, at least it's still free! And I do enjoy Frontier. And it'll be a lot nicer to fly out of DCA, since it's relatively close to my apt and easy-ish to get to.

Anyway. So we've gotten that taken care of, which is good. I should have done it sooner. (Story of my life, y'all.) Now this weekend I just have to winterize my bed (wash my sheets, put the electric bed warmer on the mattress, put my comforter on my bed), and I'll be golden. Not sure what that has to do with anything, except for the fact that I'm cold right now and know my bed is going to be cold when I get in it soon.

Ok, seriously. Better post coming soon. Perhaps tomorrow, but perhaps not, as well. I'm sure you'll all be on the edge of your chairs waiting.