No, it’s nothing bad!

With regard to the Illinois trip, I did call that one too soon. Matthew decided he would rather take the weekend to catch up on his sleep after all. Well, he needs it.

So for any of my relatives reading this, we will not be down to visit for the coming weekend.

Darn it.

Well, it’s okay. Matthew really needs a break, what with his work schedule and all, and he’d have to be the one to drive both directions, and it’s about a four hour trip each way, so.

In other news, my creative writing class last night was really fun. We actually went to the Kirkwood ‘little theater’ and put our plays on the stage. Granted it was just the class as an audience, but it was really fun. Ms. DeBoom asked me if I had any acting experience, but I don’t. She was like, “Well, when I was watching you, I was like, ‘She has theater experience.’” Nope. Not in my blood. That’s Megan’s department; Megan’s on Broadway now. (Hi, Megan!)

Tonight is my final final. My biology final. Oy. Well, I just want it to be over with. So.

It’s not that I spoke too soon, it’s just….well, it just was. So there.

The sun is out! The sun will hopefully be out all day today!. I feel much better.

The Illinois trip is on! Yes, Matthew decided that we are going! Huzzah! (Well, he didn’t exactly decide so much as the decision was dropped in his lap. No, it’s nothing bad or anything. More later, maybe.)

Tonight is my last creative writing class. We have to share our one-act plays with the class. I’m ready! I have all my props and ‘costume’ and everything. I’m ready. I redid my ‘Emily’ monologue and made it into a two-character play. Hopefully it reads well; took me two weeks to do.

So, things are looking up. Hopefully, the rest of the week is as sunny as today is. (Both figuratively and metaphorically speaking.)

Things are gonna be in a bit of a downhill run this week.

First of all, the weather. We currently have 10+ inches of snow on the ground, although I will say that over this past weekend a good portion of it melted down. Today we’re in for a round of ice. 1/8 of an inch, to be precise. Oy. Hopefully everyone will be home before it gets too awful icy out. And I’m in the midst of the winter blues, because the sun hasn’t hardly been out at all for weeks. Honestly, the air just seems clearer when the sun is out.

Secondly, the Illinois trip my siblings and I had planned for this coming weekend is in jeopardy. Well, Matthew has a chock-a-block-full work schedule all through Friday. One place has him scheduled for twelve hours two days this week; the other place has him on all day and then on call two days this week, which essentially amounts to him being on call 24 hours a day. He will be in desperate need of some sleep by the end of the week, and so he said he might just take the weekend to sleep. While I really would like to go, it isn’t going to be worth it if Matthew isn’t in good health for the trip. And I would rather he be in good health. So.

Computers are not forthcoming for the office any time soon. That’s got everybody a trifle angry. Myself, I am sick and tired of attorneys bringing work out at the last possible minute and expecting it to get done ‘today.’ Time management, people! Time management! If it’s supposed to get done ‘today,’ you make the time to get it to us as early as possible, not wait until the last possible minute. If it’s screwed up, it’s not on me or Amy.

My last classes of the semester are on Wednesday and Thursday. That, at least, is a relief. But that gives me one last class period to tell this guy I like that I like him. *SIGH* Perhaps it’s not to be. Well, let me put it this way – I KNOW it’s not to be. But all I want is a chance to be honest. Just once. Maybe everything will turn out all right. *SIGH* I guess we’ll see.

Anyway.

On the bright side, the Lia Sophia Christmas party was this past Saturday. Amy and I went, and had a good time. We didn’t win any of the prize drawings, but all the advisors (which we are) got neato Lia Sophia coffee mugs. We had fun.

Went to the mall with Nathan yesterday. I went to Claire’s and got some earrings, then I went to Hot Topic and got some Gir (of “Invader Zim”) earrings. Too cute!

Christmas is coming. That’s always good.

Plus, I love watching Nuala play with the tree skirt. Always a plus. I should make a video of that.

All in all, down. Hopefully, things will be looking up by the end of the week.

Somehow, I doubt it.

I am so sorry for basically having abandoned my blog since September! Things have been so busy, what with school and work and all. I apologize.

Just some quick updates:

~Happy Thanksgiving, late! Our dad came to visit, and we had a good time.

~School is going good. I am hopefully getting at least B’s in both my classes. We shall see. I’m a little worried about my biology class, or more specifically, my biology teacher; his wife has been having health problems all semester and consequently class has been cancelled about four times. The poor man! Of course, creative writing has been awesome. My teacher, Ms. DeBoom, is awesome. There’s a guy in my class named Chuck who writes the most awesome stuff! Plus, Fred is in my class again; he was in my creative writing class last semester, so it’s nice to see him again.

~I hope I have class this week, because I don’t tonight due to the current winter weather, and probably won’t tomorrow. We’re supposed to get 10 to 16 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow! Wowzers! Why isn’t this happening closer to Christmas?!?

~I am in like. With a guy. From school. Yeah, I haven’t been myself of late because of it. I plan on telling him. Maybe. Don’t know how that’s gonna go. I’ll keep you posted. Maybe. If I remember. (READ: If I feel like it….)

~Matthew got hired by Area Ambulance, so he’s working part-time with them and part-time with Special K’s Transport. He’s so happy to be on at Area – it’s what he’s wanted for a long time.

~At work, in the next couple weeks, we’ll be getting new computers, as well as totally renovating the office space. It’s already been stressful, because we need the computers first before the renovation is done. Tempers have been flying (and that’s the nicest way I can put it). Hopefully, there’ll be a happy ending.

~The office also got another attorney. So there’s Boss A, Boss B, Boss C, and now Boss D in the main office. And, of course, there’s still Boss E and Boss F in their own offices.

~We kids are going down to visit relatives in IL over the 19th and 20th of the month. Looking forward to it.

~The side job, the Lia Sophia job. It’s…..slow-going. Well, it’s the Christmas season. What are you gonna do? Amy and I are working hard at it.

~Christmas came early to our household this year, at least for us Monty Python fans; I ordered the “16-Ton Megaset” from Amazon and it came in last week. Tee hee. Spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam spam…..

~Been listening to Christmas music nonstop on the radio at work, and am actually liking it this year. They’ve been playing a lot of classic Christmas songs, like Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Brenda Lee, and my most favorite, John Lennon’s “Happy X-mas (War Is Over).” And Elmo and Patsy! Tee hee. Gotta love it.

~The pets are doing fine. Teag is living back at Amy’s house; he had been at our house for a few months. Camille has actually lost some weight – she used to have a mommy belly on account of she’d had kittens (before we adopted her), but she’s lost quite a bit of it, and she’s more spritely then ever! Jasper is doing pretty good. So is Muirne. So is Nuala. And all the cats really love the Christmas trees. Yeah, Amy says Camille and Teag bat her ornaments off the tree, and Nuala tries to chew on the lights on ours. Crazy kitties. And then the birds, Mali and Little Blue, happily squawk and chirp away in their shared cage. Life is good with pets.

~Found a long lost friend on Facebook. Yeah. Nice to make connections again after all these years.

~Still seeing Doctor. Meds haven’t changed. Not seeing Angela anymore; I’ve decided not to continue with talk therapy. We’ll see how that goes. My mood has not been the greatest, but it’s probably just an adjustment that I’ll grow out of. I don’t miss it, if that’s what you think. I ought to start writing in my journal again anyway.

~Had a bout with food poisoning last week. Well, that’ll teach me to double-check the expiration dates of all food I get out of the college vending machines. Boy, was that awful.

And that’s about it.

I’ll try to remember to post a lot more, now that I’m back.

My sister and I are going into business together.

Yup, we’re taking the plunge and starting our own business. Well, not really our OWN business. We’re going to be selling Lia Sophia jewelry.

We’ve been thinking about it for a while now, ever since my brother’s girlfriend invited us to our first Lia Sophia party. We’ve hosted two parties since then, and we have two more upcoming. After seeing what the company’s about and how much fun Lora (the advisor, well, our advisor) has with it, not to mention the beautiful jewelry, it’s time to turn those thoughts into actions into reality.

We’re both so excited. We can’t wait to get started!

More as it unfolds.

I’ve been having a hard time sticking with my first thoughts. Any writer will tell you, first thoughts are usually where the good stuff is. But I can’t. I’m censoring myself, I think. Why? I don’t know. I’ve been having a hard time with creative writing this semester. I think I’ve lost something, and I can’t get it back. We’ll see.

The first week of classes are over and done with. WHEW! Well, it’s going to be fine. Busy, but fine.

I haven’t been feeling well all week. What else is new?

Work is fine. School is fine.

For the moment, things are fine.

Finished The Old Man and the Sea on Saturday. Lovely tragic story. He found just the right words for everything. I’ll have to read it again, though, to get the full effect, since it essentially took me two days to read (Sunday and Saturday), and I could probably read it in one afternoon. Pop made a good recommendation with that book.

Started Crime and Punishment on Saturday as well. It’s interesting so far. I agree with Kendall Hailey: no one would be able to talk for so long without being interrupted. I guess I didn’t mind, though, because it was informative. I’m about four chapters into it at the moment.

The only problem with all this is my schedule will not allow for much more than weekend reading. Drat it. Well, I’ll do what I can.

…it begins.

I started my journey to becoming an autodidact yesterday, with Ernest Hemingway. I started reading The Old Man and the Sea, on a long-standing recommendation from Pop (my grandfather). It was either Hemingway or Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. Dostoyevsky will be next now. I went out to Half Price Books this weekend and got some Dostoyevsky, some Tolstoy, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I completely forgot to look for George Orwell’s 1984; thought I’d give that another try, as I didn’t like it the first time I read it.

I also completely forgot about giving my library card a run – I was planning on checking books out of the library and reading them and seeing if I liked them before I bought them. Oops.

Well, I figure the books I bought will be keepers, so it all works out in the end.

Go figure, my first post back would be a meme. Well, I’m feeling lazy. I found this via Green Duckies; she’s got more interesting answers, of course.

This probably isn’t already stuff you didn’t already know. I plan on redoing this one in one year, to see how far my promise to myself has gotten me (See the answer to 22). Just so you know.

And I tag Amy. Otherwise, anyone can do this one.

1. What author do you own the most books by? ~Sylvia Plath. I have practically everything she wrote. Two close seconds would be Sarah Vowell and Edith Wharton.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? ~I don’t. I have one copy of every book I own. I used to have two copies of The Bell Jar, but I don’t anymore.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? ~No. Better that way than saying “Of what book do you own the most copies?” or “By what author do you own the most books?” That would sound silly. Far more appealing to end them with the prepositions.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? ~Severus Snape. *blush* Not a secret anymore, is it? I blame Alan Rickman.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life? ~It’s a tie between The Language of Goldfish by Zibby O’Neal and Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.

6. What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? ~The Language of Goldfish.

7. What is the worst book you’ve read? ~I haven’t read a book yet that constitutes the ‘worst’ book, because I haven’t read them all. I mean, I wasn’t partial to 1984 by George Orwell when I first read it, and I didn’t like Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates, but they wouldn’t qualify as ‘worst’ books. Maybe I’m just being too generous.

8. What is the best book you’ve read in the past year? ~Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer.

9. If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be? ~Birds of America by Lorrie Moore.

10. Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature? ~I don’t know.

11. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? ~I don’t have an answer to that one. Most of the good books have been made into movies already.

12. What book would you least like to see made into a movie? ~Again, I don’t have an answer for that, because a lot of bad books have also been made into movies. I’d have to say The Bell Jar, although they already made it into a movie back in the seventies, and, from what I heard, they’re planning a remake with Julia Stiles as the star. Ick.

13. Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. ~Haven’t had one yet. “Yet” is the key word there.

14. What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult? ~Hmmm…….Lowbrow as in guilty pleasure – Phantom by Susan Kay. Lowbrow as in lowbrow – Innocence by Jane Mendolsohn. Really dumb book. I only read it because I liked her book I Was Amelia Earhart.

15. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? ~Dune by Frank Herbert. Didn’t get through it at all. I dislike sci-fi.

16. What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen? ~Sorry, there’s no such thing. Shakespeare is everywhere. I think I saw or read them all in high school.

17. Do you prefer the French or the Russians? ~You have the likes of Victor Hugo and Alexander Dumas (French) versus the likes of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Russians). No question, the Russians.

18. Roth or Updike? ~Neither. Actually not familiar with either one.

19. David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? ~Dave Eggers. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was okay.

20. Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? ~Well, not Shakespeare, because my brain goes numb with Shakespeare. The other two, I haven’t read yet. Yes, I know, I haven’t read The Canterbury Tales yet. Shame on me. I’ll borrow it from Amy.

21. Austen or Eliot? ~Edith Wharton.

22. What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? ~Right now. As I’ve grown up, I’ve discovered I’m not as well read as I would like to be. I want to change all that, by following Kendall Hailey’s lead and becoming an autodidact by way of reading everything ever written. So. I vow to work on that. (How I Became An Autodidact by Kendall Hailey is a good book, too; it’s hard to find, but well worth the search.)

23. What is your favorite novel? ~The Language of Goldfish by Zibby O’Neal, hands down. Sure, it’s a young adult novel, but it’s really really good. It would tell you more about me than any other source.

24. Play? ~Haven’t ever seen a play for my own enjoyment, so I don’t have one.

25. Poem? ~I own poetry books by Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Sara Teasdale, Dylan Thomas, Robert Lowell, Nikki Giovanni, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jane Kenyon, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes, among others. My favorite poem is “Tulips” by Sylvia Plath.

26. Essay? ~Probably anything by Thoreau or Emerson, I guess. I don’t know. I haven’t read them all.

27. Short story? ~”The Public Hating” by Steve Allen, only because of the visceral reaction I experienced when I first read it. I was a junior in high school, and I went on a three and a half hour crying jag after I read that story the first time. No joke. It’s a good story.

28. Work of non-fiction? ~Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. Highly recommended.

29. Who is your favorite writer? ~Sylvia Plath. She’s a literary goddess.

30. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? ~Huh! Like I said, I’m not well read, but I’d have to say either Dan Brown or that chick who writes the Twilight novels, Stephanie Meyer, I think.

31. What is your desert island book? ~Either The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides or Midwives by Chris Bohjalian.

32. And … what are you reading right now? ~The 3 AM Epiphany by Brian Kiteley. It’s a book of unique writing prompts. I’m working up the courage to try some of them.