So I'm sitting here fixing a multitude of broken links. I finally scored some earphones at work, after a lot of begging, so it's going faster since I can now listen to music. I only had two CDs here, so I am listening to Plumb. I discovered the group from my Roswell days. Their song, Stranded, was in an episode. Then, I realized that I had that song on a CD that I'd forgotten that I had. So, that's cool. The group is technically a Christian band, I guess, although the song isn't what I would call a Christian song. Anyway, sometimes I get in these moods where I want to play the song over and over. Is that weird? Does anyone else do that, with other songs, of course. I keep listening to the lyrics, pondering this unual thirst. It doesn't seem to be all that auto-biographical in any way. Maybe a little. I don't know. I just like the song, okay? Stop pestering me about it!! :)
Wow. All I did was simply move over three seats in ASL class and what a difference! Simply seeing other people sign, even if they weren't that great, improved my mood. (It helped that they were amazed by my ability and asked if I was going to be an interpreter. :) Flattery gets you everywhere with me!) I wasn't cranky at all! I keep thinking about what I want to do...take ASL 103 or not. I know I have a long time to think about it...but still. And then what? Just stop? I would love to continue taking classes, but that would mean going to SCCC and being in the interpreter program...which I don't think is necessary. Anyway. Need to brood about that some more.
Came across a little saying this afternoon..."It's the things in common that make relationships enjoyable, but it's the little differences that make them interesting." Isn't that the truth? In all relationships!
The past couple mornings I have woken (awoke?) to Mika sleeping in the bed beside me...it's so cute. She's not snuggling, by any means, but it's still cute.
I know that I keep saying this, but I really must return to the novel. I cannot let this be yet another project that I begin and then abandon (like the other two novels I started eons ago when I still lived in Wisconsin). It's about one-third of the way "finished"...
Got the first quiz of the quarter back (if you don't count the abismal fingerspelling quiz) and I beat my nemesis with a 93 to her 88! Wahoo! I would've done better had I double checked some of the true and false, multiple choice questions before I turned it in. But, I never do, so I can't blame it on anyone but me. I've also come to the conclusion that I need to move seats in the class. Where I am sitting now is not useful to me. I end up tutoring people, not learning anything, when we partner up or work in groups. It makes for a very cranky Nikki (who starts talking about herself in the third person).
Woke up at one point this morning to Mika trying to rip my pillow from Suganthi apart...At least that's what it sounded like she was doing. She was definitely over there near it, but it's hard to tell when it's dark and I don't have my glasses on and I'm mostly asleep. I got up at some other time because I was too warm. Got a drink, stumbled to the living room to cool down. At just about the point of falling back to sleep, I returned back to my room. I have funny sleeping habits sometimes...
I'm wearing a Halloween shirt today...
In my (new) tradition of putting holiday themed pictures on the refridgerator, I searched my photo albums for Valentine's Day (or as I am now referring to it, the Holiday of Red) pictures. Sadly, I don't have that many. I guess I don't take pictures on V-Day...Strange. Tons for Christmas. Oh well. Maybe this year.
Last night I went and saw King Lear. It was a pretty good adaptation, although the choice in costumes perplexed me a little. Sometimes the actors wore contemporary garb, while other times it was Scottish kilts (for the men) and once, Cordelia, wore more Rennaissance attire. I'd never seen this particular Shakespeare play performed, so I don't have anything else to compare it to, but it seemed pretty good. I can't imagine memorizing all that! Wow! But all in all, it was a fabulous night. :)
I slept in for the first time in weeks and it was so nice! I must have slept hard, because I woke up sore. Or, maybe it was wearing the heels and running from the parking lot to the theatre. lol
Note to self: Do not put hair in ponytail on top of head. The result is always a headache.
Considering that I got up so late, I actually got a lot accomplished. I propped this week's Seattle Live Literature calendar to our "staging server" for an editing pass. I had dinner with Keely and then had her help me with this week's ASL receptive translation assignment (which was a pain in the ass, let me say), and have written out my expressive activity, which I need to practice signing. That's pretty good! Oh, and I talked to my mom on the phone, but that was in tandem with driving to the Eastside, so that's just simple multitasking. Nothing to brag about there.
Tomorrow I take the contacts back to the optometrist. Something is wrong with them. grr.
Just so everyone knows, the whopper of a bruise on my thigh isn't from being beaten, unless my car is the abuser. Last night as I reached into the car for something, I stumbled and hit my thigh against this...thing (I don't know what it is except that it's hard) in the doorjamb. By the time I got into the YMCA, not even 5 minutes later, it was already bruising. Sigh. I bruise fairly easily. It's going to be a big purple one, too. Grr. So sexy.
First exam of the quarter is tonight. Not too worried since it's mostly review. However, I hope that the professor doesn't employ the only repeating twice technique that he did for the fingerspelling quiz. That kinda sucks. And I am definitely moving to the middle of the classroom, both for an improved viewing vantage point and to escape the annoying girl in the classroom. If I get paired up with her at some point...I will snap!
Went to bed fairly early last night (10:30). Tried to read some more of King Lear but I just couldn't do it because I was too weary, why, I don't know. Not like it was a stressful day or anything. Oh well.
When I was at QFC this afternoon, I saw a guy carrying around tulips. I didn't think I was in all that cranky of a mood, but when I saw those tulips in his hand, and I made certain assumptions, I felt a little furious! So, I boiled the annoyance out of me by spending a lot of time in the hot tub afterwards. :)
Tim and I rented a couple movies last night: Alex and Emma, les that stellar, and Down with Love, which was actually very funny! I didn't know what to expect other than I knew it was filmed like those old Doris Day movies. There were lots of double entoundres, one of my favorite forms of humor. One of the best parts of the movie, which co-starred Ewan McGreggor, was actually in the outtakes. In the movie, Ewan's character also pretends to be someone else, so in the blooper, Ewan asks someone offscreen who he is and that person responds, "Obi Won." Ha! Maybe you had to be there, but it was quiet funny.
I also made a kick-as pizza. I even made the crust myself. Tim was kind enough to do my dishes while I prepared the pizza. :)
Last night was one of those nights. Just felt blah. Had a headache (probably because I abandoned a food based diet for the day and opted for nothing but soda. I decided I am allowed one day like that here and there.). Left work, went and worked out. Headache subsided but returned. Went to Target where I bought sugar free Reese's peanutbutter cups. The sugar free part of it intrigued me. By this time I was really hungry and Target doesn't really sell anything but chips...I only wanted a small bag but alas, they only had the large ones. So I drove home eating puffy Cheetos, a kind of comfort junkfood for me. I walked Hank. Put on my pajamas. Watched Friends. I don't remember exactly what I did between that and ER...I must have done something...oh well. The fact that I can't remember just goes to show you what kind of mood I was in. ER made me cry, which I hate and which is rare for me. I crocheted a little more. Thought about getting in the hottub but then was too lazy, so I watched Roseanne reruns as usual and then went to bed. It was one of those stare-into-space-contemplating-everything-that's-going-wrong-or-at-least-not-going-exactly-my-way kind of nights. An internal peptalk kind of night. A night when I should have used the feelings to work on the novel...It would have been great for the novel. But the stupid headache...
Anyway.
I was a little freaked out last night, too...I went downstairs to my apartment and while I was checking my e-mail, I heard this thumping sound coming from upstairs. The place is fairly soundproof, only occassionally do I hear footsteps or anything. So of course I was a little freaked out. So I went upstairs, greeted by Hank at the door. No thumping. Checked the cats. They're sleeping. Hmmmph. Go back downstairs and hear the thumping again, but it's definitely coming from upstairs. So I go back up there and hear nothing. After one more round of this, I discover the source...I had forgotten to shut the bathroom door, which is by the staircase, and Hank, after watching me go downstairs, then went into the bathroom and proceeded to eat one of the cat's food. In doing so, he'd scooted the bowl up against a heating duct that was raised a bit. Everytime he stuck his snout in there to get more vittles, the bowl crashed against the duct, thus the thumping sound that ended when I came back upstairs and he stopped eating. Sigh of relief!
Oh yeah, that must be what I did between Friends and ER...
You know, it's really hard to eat breakfast. I really don't like to eat breakfast. However, what I usually end up doing, and the habit that I am trying to break, is drinking soda when I get to work. That's no good. I'm doing pretty well. I've wittled it down to only drinking soda when I am on main campus. Since I am only there once, maybe twice, a week, that's not too shabby.
I am sure that you really wanted to read about my soda habits.
It's very strange being, primarily sleeping, in the house alone. It's too quiet.
I know that the page changes every other second. I am playing with it. So sue me.
So, I had a little relapse there. I am a worrier and have never purported the opposite. But, I am calmer now. Deep cleansing breaths work. :)
The Packers play this Sunday in the division playoff game...WAHOO!!
The three inches of snow that we had earlier this week has pretty much dissapated, thanks to the rain that followed. I'm glad. While it was pretty, and a nice excuse to not go to work, I didn't move to Seattle from Wisconsin so that I could tromp around in snow some more. No. It needs to stay in the mountains where it belongs.
I learned a new card game last night, which I was promptly beaten at. Twice. And not just beaten, more like thoroughly decimated. What is wrong with me?
I feel anxious tonight. As is my nature, I am worried about something...something that I probably don't need to be but can't help myself. Sigh...I've tried all night to take my mind off of it:took a bath, watched tv, stared into space...I also tried to reread some writing journal entries from a time that I remember feeling the same way. I'm not sure if it helped all that much, but it did remind me how prolific I am capable of being.
As much as I love and enjoy the holidays, I have to admit that I also like it when life returns to normalcy. More often than not, I am a creature of habit (although I am trying to work on that) and so, I like to know what's going on. I'm glad to be back here. I'm glad all my friends are back. I'm glad that my living room looks normal again (although I toyed with the idea of never taking down the mistletoe :) ). I'm excited that class begins again. Etc, etc. 2003 was a great year and I only hope that 2004 exceeds it.
However, it started out on a bumpy note when I lost my debit card. Now, I have had a debit card since I opened my first checking account and never lost one. I guess it was just my time then. I've torn everything apart looking for it to no avail. I cancelled it and reordered one. Bah!
The Packers won the first playoff game yesterday! Woohoo! Rev, Jason, and Keely came over so it was fun to watch with two Seahawks fans. It was a little odd making those cocktail wienies at nine am, though. lol But I got to use the new crockpot, so it was all good. It washed out so easily!
It's supposed to snow, as in blizzard, this week. Holy crap!