My List

In recent years, Country artist Toby Keith has started putting out a lot of trash. But I can remember when he still had good music coming out. One particular song he did is called "My List."

My List
Under an old brass paperweight is my list of things to do today
Go to the bank and the hardware store, put a new lock on the cellar door
I cross 'em off as I get 'em done but when the sun is set
There's still more than a few things left I haven't got to yet

Go for a walk, say a little prayer
Take a deep breath of mountain air
Put on my glove and play some catch
It's time that I make time for that
Wade the shore and cast a line
Look up a long lost friend of mine
Sit on the porch and give my girl a kiss
Start livin', that's the next thing on my list

The song of course goes on from there, but it gives the general idea of the sweet, simple power of the song.

Well, I spent my whole break redoing my room. I got to spend some time with friends, and I even had Tolkienfest. But there were some things that I'd wanted to do that I hadn't done. Last night, I emailed a friend I hadn't talked to in three years. Do you have any idea how good that felt? And she wrote back, too. Ecstatically, with all the energy and joy I remembered her being full of. It just overflows from her.

Another thing I've been wanting to do: I managed to sort and organize my room while redoing it. And I really, truly plan on keeping it neat and orderly now. After all, I have a room to be proud of.

It's funny what you find when you sort and organize. I found my copy of Purpose Driven Life. I read it my junior year of high school. Or rather, I theoretically read it. We were given an optionally mandatory assignment/opportunity (one of the most stupid ideas they had in my time at that school) to read it. I had originally wanted to read it, sure, but when we had to start writing odd journals on each chapter, I lost my vigor for the book. I seem to recall fudging my way through a few of those journals toward the end. Well, I plan on reading it on my own. As a matter of fact, I already started it. I also want to read Mere Christianity. Why not? My brother's copy is sitting on the game room floor. I'm sure he'll be willing to loan it to me, and it's high time I get that read, too.

So, if you don't mind, I'm going to take my cup of tea, sit down on my nice, clear windowseat, and read Day 4 of Purpose Driven Life.

Back in the Saddle Again

It doesn't ever feel real the night before classes start. Ever. But I've printed my syllabi for almost all of my classes (one of the classes isn't on Blackboard yet, which is very strange). I have a notebook that everything is in for now, but I'll probably need to get more. I have a feeling that we'll be getting a lot of papers/notes for each class, like usual. Wednesday will be a day that almost feels like vacation again, though. I've only got one class on that day. It's also useful that I found my parking permit. It's too easy to lose that silly thing, because it comes in the world's smallest envelope. Why should it be in a huge envelope, if the permit itself isn't huge? Grr.

I got everything back into my room today. Now, that doesn't mean that everything is back in its place in my room. It's just back. I have some things on the floor, a stack of stuff at the desk area, boxes that are holding things I'm not sure I wanna keep, and a box that's holding old textbooks I'm definitely ready to get rid of but the bookstore wouldn't buy back from me. And first day is always fun, too, for all that extra time you have to sit around and ... work on assignments you don't have yet? I'll probably bring my Audiology text with me, since it's taught by the same prof who had the Hearing and Speech Sciences class last semester. It's probably the class that will be the least intuitive, once again. I'll be bringing some flash cards, too, so that I can start on making those flash cards right away.

On a plus side, it rained today. And there is supposed to be more rain this week, too.

The Fun Never Ends

My room is finally, essentially done. Fancy that. I sanded, primed, and painted my door today, and that was the end of that. I'm in the process of moving everything back in. It's like Christmas all over again: I have boxes worth of stuff everywhere. Most of my books are back on my shelves, closet has been whole for a week or so, and the floor has even been vacuumed!

I still need to finish refilling my drawers, even though most of my clothes of all varieties are back in my room by now. I just dread facing the boxes that have all that miscellaneous stuff in them that I should probably still sort through. That's for tomorrow. I figure, if I find things that I'm not sure I want to let back into my beautiful, pristine room, then they probably should be tossed. But I don't necessarily want to toss all those random papers that aren't really important, but I'm pretty sure I'll want again some day. Such are the woes of a pack rat raised by pack rats.

I still have two more mini-projects for my room, but those will have to wait until later. I plan on putting a dress on my desk chair, because orange doesn't fit with the color scheme, and I want to make a folding screen/room divider to go in front of my closet, because I hate those ugly, clunky, permanently spotted (dunno how) mirrored closet doors. People seem to have mixed emotions, at best, at the idea for my screen. Oh well. I'm sure people will see my brilliance once it's all done.

One other bit of brilliance I had in putting my room together was to make sure I had a shelf where I could put my texts for this semester. Yes, classes start up again on Tuesday. It makes my parents giddy to think that I won't be storing my texts on the chair in the front hall (theoretically). Of course, that doesn't mean that my purse, jacket, shoes, and karate bag shouldn't be kept out there for quick and easy access.

I have been given a mandate to get everything back into my room tomorrow, or be ready to toss or donate it. Out of 15 possible drawers, I now have 6 filled. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It'd be so much easier working in my room if the cd player on my brand-new boombox hadn't stopped working. I should write Mom a note about whether or not she has a CD player cleaner in her car, so that she can tell me before she leaves for work tomorrow at o'dark thirty.

My room last night, before the gradual process of its accessorization. Yes, I know that having the ceiling light on makes the room look funky. However, it's superior to having no light and having the picture be just of a blackish room, the way things normally look at night, without light.

Guess Again

Ha! Betchya didn't think I was going to blog again this week, did you? Well, I fooled you. Of course, there probably isn't anyone reading right now, since I hadn't blogged in about a month.

I was able to turn in my papers for my passport today. I'm planning on doing a study abroad in the Czech Republic this summer. Note: it's the Czech Republic, not the "Check" Republic. In any case, I should get my passport in the mail in 4-6 weeks.

Clearing all my stuff out of my room ... again. I plan on painting the walls tomorrow, maybe even painting some of the shelf-like stuff in my closet so that I can get that reassembled, too.

Not much is really new around here. The dogs got new beds a bit before Christmas, and Eddy has already put a hole through the cover of his, which definitely isn't new. Dad tried giving the dogs some old, hard leather gloves as chew toys the other day and they ended up as Eddy's afternoon snack, instead. Also not very new, even though the dogs haven't gotten gloves before.

Thinking of dogs, Mom got me a puzzle for Christmas. It's Dalmatians. Just Dalmatians. On both sides of the puzzle. And cut so that you can't feel which side is up and which is down. Should be interesting.

Yes, I am blabbering by this point. I'm already thinking of the hours spent in my room inhaling paint fumes.

New Year, New Blog

Yes, I know it's almost a week into the new year, but it's still the first week of the year, so I can still call it new year. It's still new year this whole month, but it doesn't always feel like that because of the birthdays that come up in the middle of the month. Some general observations from the holidays and the few days following:

* Ask Grandma for white socks for Christmas, and she'll give them to you (I needed them), but she'll still give you the bathrobe you said you didn't need.
* Only my brother would take his Bible and a notepad to go see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit.
* If you're not sure you'll have a project done by Christmas, you're vastly overestimating yourself.
* Never, ever leave painter's tape up for more than a day, especially if you just recently plastered, primed, and painted your ceiling.
* Sugar plums really are made with plum, and an assortment of other fruits. They're not terrible, but they're not chocolate truffles, either. I won't be sleeping with visions of sugar plums in my head next year.
* Clara's Godfather Drosselmeier really is an odd one.
* Make sure you locate the movies you want to watch on New Year's Eve before New Year's Eve, but when in doubt know that numerous rounds of Uno will pass the time very quickly.
* When given the option, do not allow your bedroom to be undergoing construction during Christmas. It makes for general inability to find anything.\
* Scraping popcorn is very messy. Applying plaster is very messy.
* Sugar cookies are too bland for my dad's taste, but he'll eat them anyways given that there are no chocolate chip cookies in the house.
* Subway will probably close early on New Year's Eve.