"the wretched animal heaved forth such groans" as you like it: ii, i

This morning I awoke early as the sun poured through my bedroom window. I opened my eyes for a few moments, enjoying the Spring light, and then looked at the clock, pleased to note that I had quite a while left before the alarm would go off. I closed my eyes, a slight smile on my face as I prepared to sink back into sleep.


"SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! SKREEEE SKREEEEE SKREEEE SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

What tha???

"SKREEEEE SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Dude, what the hell is that??"
V was awake now, too. "I don't know." ..... "But whatever it is, it's not doing well."

"SKREEEEEEE SKREEEEE SKREEEEEEEEEE!!" rustle rustle rustle
"I can see the branches outside the window rustling."
"Are our screens all in?"

......
"SKREEEEEEEEEE SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
rustle rustle rustle


"SKREEE SKREEE!"
.....

"SKREEE!"
....


....

...


.......


....................
"Huh."
"Huh."



----

In a later discussion, we decided that it was probably an oppossum meeting an untimely death, based on V's unfortunate observation of a previous oppossum death (by car). I wonder what kind of animal it met that demise with, however, as 'possums are fairly big and mean, and the dogs in our neighborhood are small and hors d'ouerve-sized, and would probably make a tasty snack for any 'possum worth its salt. I'm guessing it might have been an owl or something. Thing is, we live in a city; it's not like we live out in the sticks where hearing animal encounters is normal, so it was a bit of an odd beginning to the day.

---

In other news, be sure to check out V's new post on Six Sentences. Good stuff, as always.

"...POP..."! hamlet: v, ii

Finally, the flowers and leaves are starting to POP!!

Spring. I have a love-hate relationship with it. Because much of the time, if I really think about it, Spring is fairly shitty: rainy, raw, muddy. But days like today, the day the flowers POP, the day the air feels like a soothing bath, the day the sunshine is finally warm, the first day you smell that hot sidewalk smell mingled with that muddy earth smell and the smell of every plant and tree waking up and waving in the breeze .... it's just so fucking gorgeous.

Anyway, that day is today, and the fact is, nothing on a day like today can make me feel sad. Even though I was dealt a minor disappointment during the day today, my attitude was magically transformed from the usual "why me?" to the much more desireable "que sera, sera!"

I feel like I can handle anything on a day like today.

"we shall remain in friendship" antony and cleopatra: ii, ii

Congratulate me -- I just got a 94 on a very rigorous practical exam in my chocolates class. It was very stressful, but in the end I feel like I kept a very cool head. There were a couple points where I had little episodes -- like "Do I even remember the first thing I need to do to temper chocolate??" But my cooler side prevailed, just kept my head down and kept moving.

Yesterday I caught up with some awesome friends I haven't seen or even really talked to in years. What felt especially great about it was that after just a few minutes, I felt just as comfortable with them as I ever did in high school. I'm really, really bad at keeping in touch with people, even people I love and want to be in touch with. I always kick myself for letting myself get so out of touch with people whose friendship brings me warmth and happiness, and I always vow to not let it keep happening. I hope this weekend will be a new leaf for me.

----
I feel like I want to close out with something really awesome and funny.
Oh, how about this:

"this happy day" julius caesar: v, v

Just because it's Friday the 13th doesn't mean there isn't awesomeness afoot.

Today is



THIS gal's birthday.

As you can see, Amy is a gal who knows how to have a good time.

This pic was taken the last time I was able to spend her birthday with her, and it must be said that it was in a much warmer climate than the one either of us is in right now.

Happy Birthday, Ames!

"live cleanly as a nobleman should do." king henry iv, part i: v, iv

That's me passing out from cleaning.

You know, if I would just, say, keep up with things around the house, it wouldn't be like this.

But, as a wise man once said, "I am what I am, and that's all what I am."

I wonder if I will ever be a grownup. All the grownups I know have a place for everything in their houses, or at least, it always looks like they do. Organizational systems baffle me. Drawers always fill with junk, bins are never used for their expressed purpose but instead as catch-alls. I start out with such good intentions; I even buy and read magazines like "Real Simple" and think, yeah, hey, that's a good idea, I should do that! It never happens.

Now the place is pretty clean, pretty tidy, and I have to say, it is gratifying to look at a tidy home. But tomorrow, I'll come home and I'll have something in my hands that doesn't have a place in the house, and it will get put on the counter. Then my shoes will come off, and will stay wherever I was standing when I took them off. Then I'll do homework and when I'm done there will be papers that don't quite make it back into my bookbag. Then it will just snowball. I can promise myself all I like that it won't happen. But it will.

Anyway, it's done now and I can relax.

---
It seems tacky to me that someone is already auctioning Anna Nicole's old diaries. I struggled with myself over whether to read the article about it, and in the end, the devil on my shoulder won out and I read it. It was depressing. I shouldn't even be writing here about it. More than anything, Anna Nicole made me sad. She was an easy target to make fun of because she was so outrageous, but most of the time she seemed like she was just crying out for someone to tell her "you're ok."

---
Well, it's getting to be yawn-thirty here, so guess it's time to hit the sack. Goodnight, Moon. Goodnight light, and the red balloon.

"she was a vixen when she went to school" a midsummer night's dream: iii, ii

Today was a warm early spring day. Even now, as the afternoon wanes, the air is temperate and drivers are cruising the streets with their windows open, perhaps blasting a hip new tune. You know, like ..... Gangsta's Paradise??

Seriously, someone just drove by my house blasting that song! It's more than 10 years old! The kids in college now were 9 when it came out.

Just got back from class. All things being equal, it was about as good a day in class as I could hope for -- I was lucky enough to not have any trouble tempering either dark or milk chocolate and was able to get all my production done very efficiently. My products turned out pretty nice. A good day.

Now if I could just wave my wand and have the bathroom clean itself. *sigh*.