shamelessly stolen from saf.

if you don't read her blog, you're nuts. you should. it's beautiful.

her latest post features a series of somewhat vague but insightful numbered points. i loved it.  and i decided that, perhaps, i will do that too.  i doubt mine will be quite as good, but imitation is the highest form of flattery (right?).

1. in the long line of things i've tried to do and have, for the most part, been good at, i think this particular challenge might be the hardest.  it's just...different.

2. for the first time in a long time, i am pleasantly surprised by that number i see there in the glaring green light of scale reality.

3.  the loopholes in this whole system make me nuts.  if you haven't already done something, you can't do something until you jump through a series of fiery hoops.  it's really quite annoying and, at times, demonstrates a distinct lack of compassion that rankles me on multiple levels.

4.  things like this elicit two responses from me.  the first is a searing kind of horror and rage. the second is a great deal of peace from my knowledge of the plan of salvation.  the second doesn't negate or really alleviate the first--it just makes me know that there were concourses of angels surrounding those babies and that those sweet children are with those who love them most right now.

5.  wheat bagels. yes. 

6. band camp schedule is insane. it's literally 8am to 10pm. i am just...not sure how we're going to do this semester.  i know we will, because we always do, but crazy busy schedules feel like shoes that have gotten wet and now shrunk and when you put them on you have to stretch them out again. they fit once--you know they'll fit again--but good heavens, there may be some adjustment periods.

7.  i think i've decided on real cable. being awake at 6 am with nothing but infomercials on may have tipped the scales this morning.

8.  my mom is in india and has an iphone.  sometimes i'm like...when did my mom become a jetsetter? i doubt, however, that she's having an eat/pray/love experience.  there was some discussion of malaria pills and duct taping your mouth in the shower, none of which sound like an enlightening experience in the same manner that julia is peddling.

9. when it's this hot, drinking water becomes a job.  if i accomplish nothing else (which, really, who has time for that?), but end up drinking the appropriate amount of water, i feel like i have won in some way.

10.  prayers are power.  this much i know is true.

11. the streak of gray in my hair makes me sad.  i've had it since my early 20s, but still, it makes me feel like the inevitable freight train of age is coming for me.

12. i hate loathe and abominate boring orientations. i don't mind trainings, if they are actually trainings. what i do mind is sitting like a lump in a room with a bunch of other people who probably also know what they're doing and being told a bunch of stuff that i don't care about.  tell me what i, individually, need to know.  give me my keys and my room assignments and the information i need to get into my email and my class rolls and then LEAVE ME ALONE.  when you hire me full-time, then i'll come to your little shindig. until then...let me be a loner freelancer.  i really do have enough to keep me busy...i promise. in fact, i have no idea if everything can possibly get done in time.

that's all for now.