New Music

Coming home from DC this evening, I heard a story on NPR on the band Paper Bird. Came home, downloaded 2 most recent albums. Love so far. Thanks, NPR!

Things that have made me happy this week:
- New music
- Friday, a consistently exceptionally pleasant day of the week
- Phone call on Thursday evening
- The realization that Christmas is 7 weeks away
- Explanatory footnotes
- Pleasant coworkers
- The gingerbread latte
- New cell phone, though irritated initially to have to purchase it
- Getting her money back from the gym, who has been charging me for the last 6 months even though I canceled the membership
- Good weather both weekend days
- Being approved for the tuition discount so I can start some more schooling for free
- An alumna was named the new President of Mount Holyoke College!
- The voters of Washington state, who seem to have approved their "everything but the word marriage" option
- The knowledge that although Maine turned down their gay marriage law, the election was close, more people's eyes were opened to the critical nature of this issue.

Plus, remember this, from Dr. King: "When our days become dreary with low hovering clouds of despair, and when our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of no way and transform dark yesterdays into bright tomorrows. Let us realize the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice." (8/16/1967)

At the moment, despite small day-to-day irritations, I am happy, pleased with the life I am carving out for myself, and glad for family & friends.

Best Friend

I have been friends with my oldest friend in the world since we were 2 years old. We're coming up on 30 years of being friends. Most of that friendship has been spent at least a half-continent apart, most of the time more. But she's like family and we can pick up even after a long time apart like we lived together for many more than 2 years and like we speak far more often than we actually do.

The most exciting news as of late? She and her husband are having twins, girls, due in March. I'm so so so so excited for them. :)

Crazy Week

What should have been a normal kind of workweek got sillier by the day. Tuesday, you know about. Wednesday went like this: now that I am a corporate warrior, I work in an office with office culture. Part of our office culture is apparently this: there are contests at Halloween. Apparently, one of the Florida offices goes ALL OUT. Each office has two contests: cubicle decoration and costume. I am so not into the costume concept, but I have come up with an excellent idea for decorating my cube. I shall be sure to take pictures and post them, fear not.

Thursday was a normal sort of day at work other than the parent conference from hell, then I got to have dinner with a high school friend who was in town for business. Much fun.

Last night I suffered from a bout of insomnia and was awake between 3 and 4:30 in the morning. Which then led to oversleeping this morning, getting up 45 min late, but only getting to work 5 min late. Thank goodness I can turn on the speed if need be. To balance out the parent conference from yesterday, there was an excellent 1/2 hour IM conversation with a student in one of my AP US History sections about section differences that emerged during the Era of Good Feelings. I wear my history teacher dork label proudly, thank you very much.

Here's to a good night's sleep tonight, followed by a few fun activities over the weekend. Who doesn't like the silly?

Fun on a Slow Tuesday

It's amazing how one little suggestion can make your whole day into a ball of fun, even if nothing ends up happening as a result of that suggestion. Exhibit A, from today:

- K's dad forwarded her an email from an airline about a sale they were having. Said email was intended to alert her to fares that could be used when her mom visits for Thanksgiving.

- K looked at the email and said, "Hey, fares to Boston are wicked cheap. $39 each way!"

- K forwarded me the email and pointed out fares. "Wouldn't it be fun to go to Boston for a random weekend?"

- C looked at fares and the suggestion and said, "Yes! Let's go bug (I mean visit) E!"

Before you knew it, plans were in the works. A weekend was picked! Time off was requested! The fun began bubbling up! We could visit E and go out to western Massachusetts to visit "the motherland"!

Then, real life got in the way of the fun. Something came up for K's work.

Now it looks like we won't get to go. However, even if we don't go (offer up some prayers to Mary Lyon, whydoncha?), the thought was there and brought some fun to an otherwise uneventful Tuesday in October.

Now I've got some days off in November. What do we think I should do with them?

Knitting

I've been knitting a lot as of late. Time + knitting group = lots of knitting.

I have knit two new baby hats for the two babies that an old and dear friend is having. This pattern. A lemon and an eggplant. Too cute.

I have also finished a linen bag with a Mobius strip strap. I have to say, I like it a lot more now that the ends are all woven in. Shocking that I like it nicer when it looks neat.

Next project? New mittens with a wool/silk blend yarn and then socks! I bought self-striping sock yarn.

This

Borrowed from a kick-ass blog, Bitch PhD, the entry from today. You must watch the embedded video...

Happy Coming Out Day.

'Cause it's different out there now and that's a good thing.

Activities to Make Life Good

The new 9-to-5 job leaves me with evenings and weekends generally free and clear. TV has become less of a presence in my life in the evenings, which is a good thing. Less TV + fewer responsibilities = ability to join activities. I have already joined a knitting group, which is super-fun because I am making friends and have people there to help me when I need it during new and exciting projects. For example, I am nearly done with a nifty linen bag, but would have driven myself batty if I had not had help to finish it -- there were things in the instructions that I didn't understand how to do, but the women at knitting group helped me.

I think that I need to add a few more activities to make life really good -- some sort of exercise and perhaps a singing outlet of some sort. Both might require some research or perhaps just some good, old-fashioned motivation. We'll see what turns up. :)