The Silver Lining

So it has been a spectacularly craptastic week and so after a whirlwind evening of visiting teaching and being visit taught, I sat down to enjoy a few of the TV shows I missed during the week. And boy, was I rewarded. Whether you watch Supernatural or not, I am fairly certain you will enjoy this video. Seriously, I have watched this multiple times and it still makes me laugh until I cry. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Drumroll Please . . .

I am now the Education Counselor in my ward Relief Society. As if I didn't have enough on my plate already! I'm sure you all were breathlessly waiting for that announcement. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

The Space-Time Continuum Has Some Explaining To Do

So, I'm sitting here at 10 o'clock at night on a Saturday, having just finished my philosophy reading (the whole chapter on indoctrination illuminates nothing so much as the author's hatred for the Catholic Church and religion in general) which did nothing to put me in the mood of finishing the writing of the talk I agreed to give in church tomorrow. Instead, I have been wasting time meanderingly checking blogs I regularly read and links on those blogs to other blogs and inadvertently discovered Confessions Of A Single Mormon Girl, which has a Scully there too. After reading her posts, I couldn't decide if I had stumbled upon a loop in the space-time continuum and was reading the writings of a future me or a me in an alternative dimension or if similar-thinking people choose the same internet identity. And if it is the space-time continuum, why am I not simultaneously spending some quality time in the TARDIS with a certain attractive Time Lord?

I think I'll go take a bubble bath whilst the universe and the space-time continuum contemplate that question.

Motivation Seems To Have Gone On A Holiday

So it is Friday at 7:30 in the  evening and I am seriously considering getting into my pajamas. I have quite a bit of homework for next week, but that so isn't getting done tonight. I have a talk to write for Sacrament meeting on Sunday, but that isn't going to get done tonight either. In fact, it is highly possible that I will spend the remaining hours before going to bed having a Supernatural mini-marathon. Which does not bode well for my future preparedness. I vaguely remember being an overachiever at some point in my life, but alas that is no more. Also, I have a soon-to-be-announced new calling, which is stressing me out just a little. All of which adds up to another Friday night at home. Good times.

Oh, and did anyone else find last night's The Office slightly disjointed and vaguely unsatisfying? I mean, there was a substantial amount of Jim on camera and he does have lovely green eyes, but still, I feel like I missed an important scene or two. Maybe it is just me.

A little birthday fun...

...from your best ghost-hunting tvbf



...and your partner in crime. Remember this? Ahh, good times. I hope you have a rockin' day!

Is It Too Late To Become A Trophy Wife?

Right now that seems like a much better idea than taking 17 credits this quarter (and possibly the next 8 quarters). I have been sitting here for nearly 2 hours trying to come up with ideas for a paper due tomorrow about the relationship between theory and practice in teaching. Nothing is coming. And I have two more papers due Wednesday for just one class. And another paper on Thursday. Plus reading for all my classes AND I have yet to practice my mime, which is due tomorrow at 10 am. ACK! 

On the plus side, no time to obsess about turning 30 in 6 days.

The City of Subdued Excitement

I have seen the above phrase on a mural of Bellingham on the side of a building downtown and on a business sign. I like it. I think it works for the city I now call home. Nearly everyone I have met is extraordinarily laid-back. Irresponsibility isn't a part of this laid-back attitude, rather, it seems founded on the knowledge that life happens and one does the best one can with the life that happens. That doesn't seem a very good explanation, because everyone is passionate about, and works hard at, whatever they do, but stress doesn't seem to be a part of it. At least not the crazy, maniacal stress that makes one drive aggressively on the freeway, at speeds 10-15 mph faster than the posted speed limit, or monopolize conversations by emphasizing one's achievements. Everyone I meet seems genuinely interested in getting to know individuals. For example, it soon became apparent to the 24 other students in the grad program that I am LDS, since one of the first questions everyone asks is where one got one's undergraduate degree, but no one really seems to care - not the way people in Utah care if someone ISN'T LDS. A few people asked questions (nice, curiosity-based ones, not agenda-having ones) and one guy avoided me (later found out he was "raised Mormon" which totally illuminated the behavior) but there wasn't any judging. And I think that is what I like best about this city. People seem to be able to live and let live.

My graduate program itself is paradoxically completely intense and amazingly relaxed. All the professors insist you call them by their first names, which takes some getting used to, and seem more worried that we don't feel overwhelmed than anything. Not that they aren't demanding and expect good work from us, but more that they don't want us to be so consumed with our studies that we don't enjoy life in the here and now. In fact, the most time-consuming and stressful class I'm taking is the undergrad economics class I have to take for my endorsement. So while all of us grad students are completely immersed in pedagogy and philosophy and performance (seriously, in one class I have to do a mime. A MIME people. I suck at Charades, how am I supposed to do a mime? Okay, so there is a little stress.) we are also surrounded by people who want us to succeed; who want our lives to be good. Which is nice, and comforting.

Finally, I have never enjoyed school so much in my life as I do now. I am excited to go through this program, to embark on this career, to follow this path. Not that I wasn't excited before, but I was more than a little uncertain about it. Now I'm certain this is what I want to do with the rest of my life, even though I know it will be difficult and overwhelming at times, and that I will graduate with a significant amount of debt to be paid. So I, like the city, am subduedly excited.

Quick Note

I realize I owe you all a very long post catching you all up on my many doings these past couple of weeks, but seriously, I'm fairly overwhelmed by the whole experience and haven't had time to process. Which means there is no way to explain it in any linear, understandable fashion. Once I get a routine down, I'll be able to organize my thoughts. Plus, I crazily decided to drive home this weekend, so I'm living out of a small bag and forgot half my homework back in my apartment and am generally consumed by chaos. BUT, I do have a little something for you guys - updates on The Gummi Bear and the Peanut!

The Gummi Bear

The Gummie Bear will be 2 months-old on Wednesday and is starting to look like a baby instead of a newborn. She woke her parents up at 4am the other morning giggling. And continued to giggle for quite a while. Which I think bodes well for our relationship! Her very talented mother took this picture, which I think is adorable.

The Peanut

The Peanut just turned 6 months-old last Wednesday. He recently outgrew his 9 month clothes. He loves books, which just makes my heart swell with pride. And anytime I'm on the phone with his mom, The Accidental Housewife, he has to 'talk' very loudly, just so we both know he is still there. Those eyes of his are going to break a lot of hearts someday, don't you agree?