Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue

I'm only writing this so I can stop thinking about it.  UMC enthusiasts (that means you,
brassknight86
, and the lovely Creative Crocheter that I'm sure will show up soon), however, will want to note what I'm doing the weekend of April 25th and May 23rd.

So let's assume for a second that I'm not enriching 2 of the classes I'm taking this term.  Let's assume that my only academic challenge is writing my honors thesis.  Let's assume that because my 2nd job is so rewarding and eccentric, the hours I work at it don't exist.  Now let's look at this term's schedule, shall we?  And don't tell me this is overdue- it's only the beginning of the 3rd week out of 10 + finals.  Just because weeks far in the future seem free doesn't mean they're not going to fill up later.  Or sooner.

Current Location: library
Current Mood: overwhelmed

but I had to share.  I started a LJ because I liked using it for NaNoWriMo- a blog format kept me accountable to the calendar, made it easy to measure progress, and allowed for my fellow writers to suggest and give constructive feedback.  Do I write there anymore?  No.  Do I still have tons of ideas and essays on where it could go next?  Of course.  Do I post there?  No.  Why?  I feel greater obligation to keep my friends and family updated on what's going on in my life than I do to my work, my creation, the other writers I've never met who shame me with their productivity.  How to break out of it?  I don't know.  I love keeping in touch, I love keeping an account of my life to read years later.  But I can at least give you this:

 

Robin Hobb

Current Location: library

It's been a weird experience living for 2 weeks without any easy means of Internet access except my shifts at work.  I thought I would miss so much but my own worry was limited to concerns over urgent e-mails and being able to keep in touch with the professors I work for with all the GWS events coming up this term.

But with Lacie-sitting, I've had fast Web at my fingertips all this weekend and will all this week as well.  Fred and I think we've figured out a way to vanquish the mighty Comcast demons and get access in our apartment sometime soon.  And you know what?  I don't want it.

The past few years my biggest time-waster to the tenth degree (literally) was the Internet.  Random things, cool things, things to read and see and look at that linked to other cool things.  Online stories, comics, news, everything.  Fascinating books I can occasionally put down and hide in the corner under a pillow.  And even the best books don't have 10 sequels in the back cover.

But when I was web-less in the apartment, I got things done.  I went to bed and woke up at reasonable hours.  I wasn't late for the train because I wanted to look at one last thing before I left.  I had to face my loneliness and isolation and unsettled feelings head on instead of subsuming them in some morass of online entertainment.  I felt more awake because my eyes weren't strained from late hours in front of the computer.  I got more knitting done.

And now?  I was up late doing something last night because needing e-mail and access to some research sites for what I was working on somehow led to remembering sites I hadn't checked on since mid-March and getting caught up with all of it.  Never missed them before, but there it was.  And now, RIGHT NOW?  Lacie wants me to throw my ball for the next 20 minutes until I leave for class and I am sitting here typing this out.

I know I need the Internet in my place.  I know I need to keep up to date with my e-mails, class cancellations, and other news (particularly if I get the job I'm interviewing for tomorrow).  I know I'll need to do research, lots of research, for my papers this term- checking references, facts, finding new articles and sources and requesting books online.  I know this.  But I still want a way to shut it all off- to be restricted to dial-up to guarantee that only the most essential things will get done- to have some master setting that I can't undo that will prevent fun things from showing up on Firefox.  Unplugging the ethernet cable doesn't work- I think of something I just have to peek at really quick before I go back to work and 90 minutes later I'm still taking one last peek.

Lacie deserves better.  I deserve better.  All the things I need to get done- for my future, the quality of my current life, my classes, my Fred- deserve better.  So why does it keep sucking me in?

Current Location: Lacie's House
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: "All the Things She Said" t.A.T.u.

Everyone has to angst out every once in awhile, right?  I'm sure I'll do the same again in a few hours after the all-nighter I'm about to pull.


So I wanted to at least give people a bit of a smile, although bitter sweet at best.  Bitter sweet because MAN is this song true despite how much fun it was. 

Superchic(k) hasn't made many music videos so I found it set to, uh, Harry Potter!  Mostly Goblet of Fire but some Prisoner of Azkaban thrown in as well.  Surprisingly, it works.  Quite well.  Particularly with the prom queen (Fluer) and showing off and talking behind people's back stuff.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAt4UG5gL0k&NR=1

You know you want to hear it....

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: interested
Current Music: "One and Lonely" Superchic(k)

Where will I be emotionally?
Will I be okay?
Will I finish what needs to be done or will I be agonizing over the late deadlines?
Will I be proud or satisfied or angry that the past week may have jeopardized one of my last chances at special recognition for my GPA?
Where will I be physically?
I don't know.
I just... don't know. 
I need a hug.
All the chocolate in the world can't fix this.

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: blank
Current Music: "I'm Not Alright" Sanctus Real

So words can not even begin to describe how happy I am to hear from people about the different stuff I've posted this week.  It's definitely more interesting than what's been going on in my life.  I particularly loved that, after spending the afternoon thinking that I should go back and clarify a lot of the stuff I posted earlier, particularly that I didn't put up the "women abandoning women" article because I think all women should vote for Hillary (definitely not) but because I was really surprised to see the concept named and addressed in that way, I am greeted by a lively and outspoken post that said many of the same things.  Whoo intellectually stimulating friends... dare I say it?... for the win (oh no, I'm a product on the internet!). 

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: pleased
Current Music: "Soak Up the Sun" Sheryl Crow

Well, not in actual class time- that was full of really cool presentations on our final project.  I was sad because mine ran over so I couldn't say a few of the really neat facts I was saving for my conclusion and it wasn't until afterwards that the phrase "stories and statistics" occurred to me as a better way of describing the struggle and interaction among/between birth narratives and birth facts and figures.

This is actually what's been going on in the discussion board for my Feminist Perspectives class which the teacher utilizes as a way to continue discussions and probe even more in depth into issues then we do in class.  Also, in acknowledgement that some students are much better at writing than speaking or feel more comfortable expressing themselves non-verbally. 

This week's highlights:
Too much cute: one mother reacts against Always and its "HAVE A HAPPY PERIOD" slogan
"Hillary Clinton and the Women Abandoning Women Syndrome" written by a woman who has been much abandoned in her own life.  Hints at the dynamics of threat to women, status, popularity, etc, when one figure either does too well, makes one mistake, or incurs criticism that supporters can't bear to be linked with.  I.E. Why do your friends all ditch you when you something bad happens to you, even if it's not your fault?

That's all! 

Current Location: library
Current Mood: bouncy
Current Music: "I'm Walking on Sunshine!"

Being a senior on the school's humor magazine means that I'm supposed to do something spectacular and out there for my final article.  I was thinking witty critique on a bunch of the stuff that's wrong/still wrong/newly wrong on campus (my freshmen year the big sport was Ultimate Frisbee- now it's BEAN BAGS).  But I was only occasionally feeling bitter enough to be really full of good ideas (although it's been days since the Director of NCC's Wellness Center opened my e-mail on "Why does NCC flood its students with cheap, brightly colored condoms and then refuse to fill birth control prescriptions when there's a full MD on staff? and she still hasn't gotten back to me).  This all changed.  In the past 2 hours.

Things were going okay with my group project, despite the other 2 people getting their papers done 5 days later than we agreed.  Some of the filled-out surveys we're analyzing were SPECTACULARLY stupid but hey, things happen.

NCC's Students for African-American Brotherhood had a fantastic yearly dinner last night (to which the President of the group hand-delivered my invitation- whoo for connections!) and a friend of mine from the library was unanimously elected to their Executive Board.  I *heart* Heaven on Seven catering.

I've only received one unpleasant message about my letter to the editor.  The winter issue of the Kindling came out yesterday and so far no one's posted hate mail and 2 students behind me are giggling over the departmental pick-up lines that one of my freshmen friends collected.  Things seemed to be good.

Then I went to lunch today.  Oh NCC, what have you gotten yourself into?  The whole cafeteria was plastered with beach/tropical themes and covered in signs.  Lots and lots of signs.  The theme?  "BE YOUR OWN LIFEGUARD."  The advice?  Don't drink too many drinks an hour.  Eat a lot while you're drinking.  Drink a lot of non-alcoholic drinks because sun, sea water, and alcohol are all dehydrating.  Don' t drink in hot tubs; you might pass out.  Don't play on hotel balconies or lean on railings.  I wish I was making this up!! 

The most numerous sign, second only to the humongous life guard banner, was "MAKE IT FUN.  MAKE IT SAFE.  MAKE IT HOME."  Uh, sure.

They were also, of course, having giveaways.  You could either get a bottle insulator shaped like a t-shirt and colored in a gaudy Hawaiian print or a baggie of sun supplies, such as lip balm and sunscreen.  Never one for turning down Chapstick, I took the bag without asking any questions and tried not to laugh at the t-shirts the "Safe Spring Break Campaign" people had made up for the event.

But now, having written this, and having spent a period of time in the brightly decorated cafeteria after taking the little white lunch bag, I'm starting to get suspicious.  And skeptical.  And paranoid.  What is in the bag??

Hmmm.  Let's see.  A thing of Blistex, still in the individually-wrapped box.  Never tried it before, should be interesting.  Oh wait, is this a small purse/travel-sized bottle of sun screen?  No.  No, it's not.  It's a sunscreen lotion.... towelette?  Huh.  Apparently you're supposed to rub it all over yourself.  Thanks, directions.  Oh, and what's this?  "Rinse with water to remove."  But wait!  The "Uses" say that it lasts for "80 minutes of activity in the water or sweating."  Guess it takes a lot of rinsing?  There is of course a pamphlet giving lots of advice which, surprisingly, actually has better grammar than most of the wellness center flyers and "stall readers" (now called "Fit while you Sit!").  *groan*  Some of it's priceless advice includes the hot tub thing: "since pretty much every MTV video makes it look glamorous," water safety: "if the waves look dangerous...  they probably are," hotel safety: "don't overcrowd elevators" because malfunctions "cause you to be stuck with really bad elevator music," personal hygiene: "don't go pee in an alley," the sensitive comment of "to avoid a hangover, don't drink so much (duh!)," and "STDS are more embarrassing than a condom!"  On to the odd plastic thing.  A yellow clearish plastic with a compass smaller than the nail on my pinkie (and I have little hands, too).  Part of a keychain (big surprise) that... wait, wait... flashes a blinky red light when you squeeze it!!  Oh, boy, NCC!  I'll sure be safe now!  I won't be like the guy on the back cover of the pamphlet who "stepped into an alley to relieve himself and was kidnapped and dismembered as a human sacrifice by a drug-smuggling cult."  Yes, NCC, yes!  I will be my own lifeguard, no matter HOW much I've had to drink!  And I'll be sure to bring along... wait... what's the last thing in the bag?  Oh yes.  NCC- your inanity strikes again.  It's a cheap Durex condom so brightly colored it must have been designed by or for 4 year olds.  *sigh*  Unless anyone speaks up soon, I'm grabbing the lip balm (and possibly the sun screen) and tossing this thing in the trash.

Current Location: library
Current Mood: shocked
Current Music: "Not an Addict" K's Choice

Tuesday: Take-Home Exam due.
Wednesday: Planned out my honors thesis, top topic priorities, and arranged the meeting schedule
Thursday (today): 7 page paper due
Friday: 10 page paper due
Monday: give 1 hour presentation
Tuesday: 10 page paper due
Wednesday: 15 page paper due

It can be spring break now?

Current Location: library
Current Mood: overwhelmed
Current Music: "Confessions of a Teenage Girl" Bonnie McKee

When will people, particularly women, realize that?

Yes, there are children starving in China.  And you know what?  They will STILL be starving even if you eat those last 20 bites on your plate that you're not really hungry for.  They'll still be hungry if you finish off those french fries even if they're cold and soggy and they're making you feel bloated.  YOU ARE NOT CHANGING THE WORLD BY FINISHING WHAT'S ON YOUR PLATE.

And you know what?  You're not not wasting food by cleaning your plate.  You're not putting food to good use by cleaning off your children or hubby's or boyfriend's plates either when they say 'eh, I'm done' and there's still perfectly good food left that you know they'll never re-heat.
And you know why?  Because if you're like the vast majority of the population, you neither need nor want the extra calories.  You don't want the calories that come from finishing off the toddler's hamburger, the child's mashed potatoes, the s/o's dessert.

Know what you will do because you cleaned the plates with your mouth?  Hate yourself.  Feel bloated.  Stuffed.  Teach your body that it'll be fed more than it should and that it should learn to like it.  Possibly have a spurt of furious, excessive effort in a- what?- desperate attempt to get rid of the food you ate.  You know, the food you ate so that it wouldn't be wasted. 

Know what else?  When we stop to think about it, we know that eating this extra food isn't doing us any good.  And yet we still do it.  WHY?

What unhealthy, self-destructive impulse convinces us that we need to do bad things to our bodies just so we can say that we aren't wasting something?  To eat what we don't want or need or have room for because someone else has refused to eat something that they don't want or need or have room for?  Why are we doing the eating? 

Why do we do it at all?  Why don't we give a brief lecture on the sizes of eyes versus stomachs and have them properly dispose of the food (using a compost if applicable)?  Why do we think that people who don't eat more than they should are somehow being frivolous, wasteful, feckless, indifferent to the world/environment/poor starving children/whatever when they recognize their limits and refuse to conform to the massive, super-sized portions served them?  Why is it not okay to say "oops, I took too much, sorry I can't finish it but I'm FULL"?

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: fat
Current Music: "A Voice That Carries" Bonnie McKee

Why I think a certain one of my relatives needs to find a hobby or two.  Her friends as well.

Below is a short list of SOME of the most outstanding subject headers of SOME of the e-mails she's forwarded to me in the past WEEK, with occasionally a bit about the actual e-mail.  *sigh*  Disclaimer: I've taken out the numerous "Fw:FW:fwd:fwd" that's usually there and most admit that I'm glad she's finally figured out how to BCC stuff so that everyone's e-mails aren't all over the internet.  I also managed to convince her at the family reunion this summer that I do NOT want to receive political e-mails AT ALL.  Not that I don't love a good joke or biting satire, but 90% of it was from her brother and of the rabid "OH NO- MEXICANS!" variety.  I think the list below is roughly half of the e-mails she's sent in the last 7 days.  Since she seems to have so much fun reading online, perhaps I should introduce her to e-books or something as I *assume* she reads these things all the way through before sending them on.

"Aprons: do kids even know what they are anymore?"
"Why Daddy Shouldn't Buy Baby Clothes" Complete with pictures of crude slogans!
"The Pastor and the Congregation" condom jokes- whoo
"OOPS- WHY MEN CAN PEE STANDING UP"
"Check out what an unhappy woman can do"
"Now THAT's Drunk"
"A Dead Duck" subtitle: "The Duck and the Devil"
"Alert: FBI issues Valentine's Day Email Warning - Not A Hoax"
"Dirt Roads" here's the lovely first stanza:  "What's mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved. There's not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn't be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.""Yes, he was wearing a helmet (graphic photo's)"

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: blah
Current Music: "More than a Love Song" Augustana

Your homework for today: go look at this   It's got lots of flash player and powerpoint viewer forms but I thought pdf would be fairly quick and easy for most people.  If I was a teacher, I would spend a period just presentating this.  

All GWS issues aside, I really, really like its presentations for its method.  No, not the high visual-low text ratio that still manages to be clear, educational, and informational, although is something I really wish some of the presenters in my classes would remember.  No, it's in the way that it directly uses the media, stances, attitudes, actions, and thoughts of what it is arguing.  No straw man, no hyperbole, no exaggeration.  No extensive descriptions of images with no visual back-up or proof.  No reshaping the opponent's arguments and taking their arguments to absurdium, no straw men, etc, etc, etc.  Just plain simple responses and clear portrayals of what they're arguing against.  Aaah, truth, logic, and media images.  :)

Current Location: work; library
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: "Pretty Baby" Spin Doctors

Papers, papers, papers, surprising myself with how sleep deprived I am, something smells like brownies, I'm SO tired, wedding stuff, apartment stuff, moving, driving, cleaning, packing, research, citing, yadda yadda.  I've had so many good posts go through my head, only to forget them completely a few hours later although I owe Fred a "one more reason why I know he's wonderful" post because of a really weird conversation we had the other night about some of the ideas in the movie "Kinsey" about insecurity and how it relates to possessiveness.  I swear he could have passed for a speech com. or english major when he talked about expanding definitions.  :)  Speaking of which, I wonder when Fred was going to tell me he closed down his MySpace account?  Meh.  I was never going to go on there and I doubt he was using it anyway.

The student presentation in my sexuality class today was on sex education, age appropriateness, in schools, the abstinence debacle, etc.  One of the education majors doing the talk even made up fake breasts and testicles for sample self exams.  Which is wholly irrelevant if it wasn't for rosalarian2's (no, I don't know her, I just read her webcomic) newest post asking for sound effect advice.  And all I can see about THAT is that it's a really, REALLY good thing I didn't know about this website when I was an angry, angry teenager.  It would have been.... bad.  :-)  Fred?  Next time you get around to catching up on my LJ, you want to testify as to what an angry teenager I was?  Yes?  No?

So... sleepy... I think I'm going to pass up tweaking my paper in favor of getting 10 hours of sleep tonight and tomorrow morning.  My mom and I were on the phone for ages this evening when all we really had to talk about took about 5-10 minutes.  Somebody felt like rambling tonight.... and those of you who've hung around my mom a lot know how she is when she gets tired.  Can you say interesting conversations about how much "easier" it would be on Fred somehow if I wore 4 inch heels to the wedding?  Yah.  Speaking of, I can't believe the number of people who think we're "adorable" simply because of the tremendous height difference, as if I am simultaneously cuter because of how tiny I look and Fred is somehow more sensitive and "awww, that's so sweet" because he's fallen for a tiny little thing who only LOOKS like a tiny little thing when she's standing next to him.  Huh.  What's odd is that the size differential means that Fred fulfills one of my needs in a partner so thoroughly that people think it goes to the other extreme i.e. "he's so big compared to you!" with the implication that he has to be careful around delicate little me so he doesn't hurt me by accident.  Hah!  Those who know me well know the reality: Fred was the first guy to come around who *I* wasn't worried about hurting.  I tend to be physically demonstrative and affectionate and expressive and- screw it let's just say I'm majorly fond of huge hugs- and there's a lot of guys out there whose little masculine egos get hurt if some little shrimp of a girl (even if it's a little shrimp of a girl with big muscles who can run ten miles!!) hugs them too hard.  They also seemed to have a problem with a girl with muscles, too.  Ick.  Stupid boys.  Fred=the win.

Not that I haven't hurt him by accident, of course.  Flying tackles can hurt anyone if they're caught off guard particularly if wearing a heavy backpack gives me way more momentum and force than I think I have.  And before that, I only really tackled Tim-Tim (who's much stronger than he looks but I generally try to be at least a little careful with him, unless he starts winning of course) so at times in the beginning I would misjudge size and knee him by accident.  *shame shame shame*

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, I'm making NO sense and I think I'm just gonna go to bed and if you read this you're probably one of a very, very few because I have a feeling I'll take this down when I wake up later and realize just how goofy it really is.  Soooooo..... tired..........

Been reading more of XKCD lately.  Gave up on trying to go through the archives and just been hitting "random" instead.  Today it gave me:
Human sized hamster ball
Playpen balls!  Who says what a grown-up is? 

Current Location: dorm
Current Mood: dead to the world
Current Music: "My Baby Loves Me (just the way that I am)" Martina McBride

Massively edited, shortened, sentences put in the wrong place, everything about the discrimination policy taken out because there's just not enough "back-up" to verify it, different address to the whole thing, wrong class, etc etc.  But it's up.  It's there.  Maybe someone will read it, maybe someone will care.  

Current Location: Lacie's house
Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: "Life is Beautiful" Sixx A.M.

Whoo!  Busy day here, which I'm going to try to regurgitate quickly because it's going to be a VERY busy night.

Lacie dog actually let me sleep in until 9-something which felt very, VERY good.  Internet at her house was being icky so there is a mostly-finished e-mail to my auntie waiting to go through because I was fixing the network instead of finishing it before chapel this morning.
Chapel THIS week went just peachy and the speaker was fascinating, she's the key-note speaker in the article I'll post later on.
My friend Brittany (bridesmaid #2) went with me to the print shop to pick up the flyers for an art showing to "celebrate the lives of women in art and history" that's next week (have I mentioned that I have a cool job?) and we talked about deep, important stuff.  Like sex.  Mostly, though, about high school and mopey times and trying to be warm and encouraging because she's going to her grandpa's visitation (funeral? not sure which) tomorrow.

Current Location: library, work
Current Mood: ambitious
Current Music: "When You Say Nothing At All" Alison Krauss

Although I realize there are inherent possibilities for bitterness given the subject matter.

I had a date last Thursday, for the first time in 3 years.

Current Location: Lacie's house
Current Mood: tired
Current Music: "My Baby Loves Me" Martina McBride

I'm not used to criticizing things I enjoy or laying a burden of responsibility and blame on a place where I feel encouraged, motivated, affirmed, and empowered by the select number of authorities I work with.  And I'm not used to having to consider social repercussions to my actions, objections, and attempts to raise awareness of issues key to my heart.  Never before have the people I seek to hold accountable been a nice, friendly group that, if they haven't outright included me into their network, at least smile at me and know my name and save me a place during the shared meal that takes place after service.  But it had to be done although I agonize over why I had to be the one to do it.  Why, why, why?  Is my blend of Christianity and feminism that much of a chimera on campus?  With the feminist Christians allowing that he made some interesting points and sweetly pointing out that "it's only natural for some of the speakers to be a bit more conservative" and the not-so-Christian feminists who overheard him railing about his bigotry but feeling unqualified to speak because they're not campus goers, am I really the only one who will give public voice to my discontent?

ayamechan1113, yuri93, if this never gets printed, I still want you two to know that I wrote it and I wish I could have said much, much more about the issue of interfaiths (and non-faiths) on campus and only reluctantly limited myself to feminism and relativism.  Sometimes it feels like everything I say or do with the slightest religious perspective and standpoint, and much that my family does and says, particularly in my mother's job, is a form of crying out to the rest of the world that "all Christians are not like that!"  True Christianity would never endorse such things as hate, bigotry, violence, war, homophobia, discrimination, sexism, etc etc ETC!!"  I don't know.  I need sleep.  I need rest.  I want this to be over with so I can go back to my happy little world of intense theological, literary, and feminist discussion with the professors whose opinion, perspective, and insight I value more than the entire rest of campus (AND the administration) put together.  Because, really, it's because of those professors that I spoke up in the first place.  I knew they would want me to.  And I want to make them proud.  So here goes.

Current Location: Lacie's house
Current Mood: anxious
Current Music: "Iris" Goo-Goo Dolls

And on top of that, that I can't remember the words properly so I'm approximating (90 minutes of playing music will blur your brain on all pieces except the one you're playing and then discussing wedding music on top of that).  If I can remember a more correct version, I'll post it up later or edit this one.  Originally, I know this all rhymed.
(1st voice) I was drunk, I wasn't careful
I'll handle it now
Don't want it, don't need it,
can't stand responsibility
I like my life simple, I like my life easy (you're easy!)
You can't make me feel guilty!

(all but 1st voice)Don't like your story, don't approve of your life
don't think I'd like you if we ever hung out
can't understand why you made the choices you did
but I know in the end, it comes down to this
your battle is mine, we'll work together for this
we'll march and we'll fight, we'll sign and we'll write
'cuz it's our body, our choice, our duty, our right

I love children, babies are the best
but my hubby has a temper, you can imagine the rest
can't afford to leave him, I'll end up on the streets (coward!)
better kill it now than let the baby get beat

Chorus (all but 2nd voice)

I'm a happily married mother of 2
the act that you speak of, I'll just never do
but my friend was hurt bad and I want to be true
so I'll hold her hand and go with her too (don't judge me!)
in hopes that it'll help her start life anew

Chorus (all but 3rd voice)

I guess we're all women; I guess we should try
to see all the good, in each other's lives
'cuz it shouldn't matter why, it doesn't matter who
we need to keep up the fight, for me and for you
'cuz if you don't have the right, soon I won't, too
we're in this together so we'll sing til we're blue

Chorus (all voices)

Current Location: Lacie's house
Current Mood: trying to remember

I'm happy that I have the use of a toaster oven for 10 days.  Yay soggy-free reheating and easily roasted sweet potatoes!
I'm happy I have a tremendously warm and loving family, even though that means I miss them terribly.
I'm happy that Fred has a Fourth Sister, and not just because she's the reason Fred and I may finally have a place to live in a few months.
I'm happy my parents raised me on good, healthy food and that I actually enjoy whole grains, vegetables, and eating well.
I'm happy that my parents forced me to keep trying stuff I don't like- most forms of cooked spinach and fish are still a lost cause, but now I love properly cooked onions and most forms of tofu.
I'm happy that they understood me enough to know how important having a doggie was to me, even though the family-owned Airedale was always around.
I'm happy that when the time came where my dad had to choose what type of father he would be, he was brave (strong? daring? man?) enough to reject the stiff-upper lip, detached, unemotional disciplinarian parenting that so many men fall back on.  I operate on hugs!
I'm happy that my mom always had time for all of us, despite the tremendous drain that was graduate school and having an extremely special-needs child.
Okay, screw it, I'm happy for my parents (otherwise I'd be here all night) for nearly everything- my love of animals, plants, the environment, society, the world, social/moral/environmental/cultural/political issues (even though caring and awareness frequently results in pain and disappointment at the daily news, instead of the blissful indifference most people operate under), viewpoints, relationships, memories, etc etc etc.
I'm happy I'm in love with someone who can be sensitive, tender, loving, caring, insightful, and warm without ever worrying about his masculinity or feeling like he has to put on an act in public.
I'm happy that I'm not just like everybody else.
I'm happy that I'm getting a good education, despite the price.
I'm happy that I love both my jobs.
I'm happy that I like myself (most of the time, at least).  
I'm happy for dark, milk-free chocolate.
I'm happy for warm beds and having lots of blankets so I don't un up the energy bill.
I'm happy that I'm not outside in the brutally nasty weather we're having.
I'm happy that I could afford to pay a computer when I needed one for school.
I'm happy that I can type fast.
I'm happy that I finally have an idea for my master's thesis.
I'm happy that I have self-determination and free will, even though that means I'm going to go to bed now instead of finishing this list.

Current Location: Lacie's House
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: "So You Had a Bad Day"