a day like today

I was journaling (my real journal) earlier and thought I'd share. Looking at today's 70 degree weather, it's hard to believe that it was snowing just a few days ago.

P.S. Sorry for all the adjectives-I'm chalking it up to nostalgia.

I was reminded today what it is that I love about the south. I was driving east on a back road and the sun was shining. The road I was driving was a bit hilly-just enough rolling to make it interesting. The sky was bright, perfect blue and there were scattered thunder clouds off in the distance. The purple-budded trees swayed a little in the wind, and to the left, at the edge of town, the water tower reminded me of every small, southern town I've ever been in. A warm wind was blowing in thorugh the sun roof and at that moment, I was sixteen again: walking through Wichita Falls, Texas at 6 am, watching the sun rise, smelling the heat starting to penetrate the sidewalk and the damp grass. I was reminded of of the wind-hot and humid-rushing over my skin-a day with all the promise of summer: laziness, a barbecue, swimming, good friends, dust, a drive in a hot truck, country music, and thick accents. I love the p.n.w., and it will always be my home, but it was nice to be reminded exactly why I spent so much time as a kid dreaming about life in the south. You can't get a day like today anywhere else.

some weather

The weekend weather here started off wonderfully...and I am being facetious...we woke yesterday morning to find several inches of snow! It snowed all day and finally quit around 9 pm last night. I'm guessing we had over 6 inches. Stupid me wasn't thinking when I packed up all my winter shoes and took them home two weeks ago. I should have remembered that it always snows here the last week of March or the first week of April...alas, I was not thinking and so yesterday had to alternate between my running shoes, and my only other pair of shoes, which became soaked each time I left the building. However, for all of yesterday's crappy weather, today was beautiful. The sky was clear and blue, the trees covered in purple buds, the sun warming the world and white snow everywhere. The colors were so bright it was like being inside the most vivid photograph. I couldn't help but notice the signs of spring everywhere, and so, this evening, my roommate and I went for a drive and enjoyed the scenery. Here's to spring. :)

getting by

Spring break has come and gone, and there are just a handful of weeks left in the school year...thankgoodness! :)

Break went very well and it was so, so nice to go home and be with family and close friends. I even got to spend two evenings with J., who drove 6 hours to be home for 2 days. What a lucky girl I am to have a guy who will do that. Anyway, my flights went well too, and by chance, I was seated next to a retired English teacher on one of them. It was very neat to be able to ask her questions about her teaching experiences and to be able to converse in "teacher lingo" with someone who had so much experience in the field-definitely an education! ;)

This week, I am starting a very difficult assignment at work and though I am happy to be back to finish the year, I am dreading this project that my reputation as a potential educator rides on. I am hoping for the best, but the time constraints and the lack of drive of my charge are going to be difficult to overcome. Oh well.

A bright spot: I went to the city library today to do some homework and it happened to be discarded book day. I was able to purchase two books for $1.00-awesome!

technologically un-savvy

Saturday...it's got to be the best day of the week. There's just something about a lazy Saturday afternoon that can't be beat. I have a truck load of homework to be sure, but today, I'm going to take a break.

My roommate and most of my friends are going to see a symphony tonight, and I'll admit, I'm kind of jealous, but the time alone is nice too. Actually, my friends got free tickets from the promoter, but had to consent to "twitter" about the experience while they there...so I'm kind of glad that I'm not going. I have mixed feelings about all the new social networking tools. Sites like Myspace and Facebook are cool, but why does someone need both? I actually had both for quite a while. I signed up for my Facebook account in the fall of 2005, and Myspace in November 2005 (before that, I had Xanga). I did the dual account thing unti l January of this year, when I decided that I'd had enough of Facebook and going back and forth between the two. For some reason, being constantly in-the-know about what my second cousin was having for dinner was tiring and took some of the mystery and joy away from being friends. I was tired of knowing about people, while knowing less and less of them.

So anyway, that little tangent brings me back to Twitter and how ridiculous I think it is. I have no desire to be so connected to acquaintances that I get text messages every time they want to tell the world that they have to use the restroom. I think everyone has a desire to be known, but there has to be some privacy too. I do see the upside of such technology, but it's become so over-used and sometimes I feel that everyone has tuned into the tech world so much that they fail to appreciate the little wonders in the physical world.

Ok, so I'm trying to find a way to tie all of that back to the fact that it's Saturday and gorgeous outside but nothing's coming to mind.

Enjoy the weekend.

-Me.

march(ing) onward

I can't believe it's March already. Crazy stuff. Time is flying by, and yet, sometimes the daily stuff just seems SO slow! Spring break's coming up fast, and I'm definitely excited to go home. As break approaches, sleep is becoming more and more of a commodity...it's the same feeling you get after running for a while-every step burns and your lungs feel like they can't take it anymore-at this point, my eyes burn and my brain feels like it's about to explode. Thank goodness for the occasional nap. Supposedly this whole college thing will be worth it in the end...I'm almost there. ;)

There's not a whole lot on the agenda for break, just mostly hanging with the family, but it will be nice to be away from school and kind of split the semester up. Also, one of my good friends from home got engaged a couple weekends ago, so it'll be really good to catch up on all her news over lunch at some point.

Anyway, that's about all that's going down on this end. Later,

-Me.