The Lists that Govern my Life

Resolutions. After a wonderfully Christmas spirit filled week, the end of the year is drawing nigh. Which means… IT’S TIME TO REFLECT AND MAKE GOALS AND PREDICTIONS ABOUT LIFE FOR THE NEXT YEAR! If you’re that type of person that is. Which I happen to be. I take every chance I get to think (as painful as t hinking can be) and evaluate and make more plans that will undoubtedly shatter in the next couple of weeks due to unexpected, future circumstances but comfort me in the present regardless. However futile thinking, planning, and making goals may seem, I do them anyways because, well, because it’s tradition! (insert Fiddler on the Roof musical number) So to keep with tradition, what do I want to do this coming year? Overcome some of my irrational fears like salesclerks asking if I need help or ordering at Café Rio (though maybe I’ll just stay afraid but do those things anyways) Leave the country (I’m counting on a study abroad to Europe in the spr

Some weeks, everything seems to happen. Except the potential alien invasion that never seems to happen. But this week, everything else seemed to happen. Everything plus Christmas-ness that is. Like taking three finals in twenty-four hours as the finale to my semester. And like getting a blood clot in my leg as a delayed side effect from  previous vein procedures (which had gone unnoticed through finals week until after my last test when I noticed a hard, painful, red lump on my calf).   And like car transmission problems the day before we planned on driving home (fewer situations make me feel more insecure and ignorant than car shops).   And like getting stuck in traffic for an hour on the way home after our car was miraculously repaired (I still don’t understand the science of traffic jams). Getting through all of those things was a Christmas miracle . But I didn’t really want to focus my blog on those things (even though the worst experiences a

C h r i s t m a s joy continues unabated.  Oh, except for the fact that thousands of pages of research papers and last-minute assignments plus the growing dread of finals threatened to destroy that precious, pure  C h r i s t m a s  bliss.  Also, probably not a thousand pages. But more than a smattering.  I know...lame Christmas selfie. However with the help of my minions ( a.k.a. my magical elves who camouflage themselves as snowflake stickers and help me plan holiday cheer ), I have been able to conquer the anti-Christmas stress that sucks away 67% of all college students' joy.  They also helped me write this song-parody-thing. Which is really me just trying to make finals and papers more  C h r i s t m a s  themed. you have to go back to the previous statement for completeness because what kind of person writes out this whole song anyways? "12 days towards  C h r i s t m a s " On the first day towards  C h r i s t m a s , my professors gave t

As we all know, this week was the first official week of celebrating C h r i s t m a s with growing zest. Yes, I wore Christmas skirts and accessories every day. Yes, people in my classes and people at work continued to ask me how many skirts I have and if I made them (where I reveal the secret that sewing skirts is like sewing pillowcases except you don’t sew the top shut—my limited sewing skills prevent me from making anything fancier) and do I really wear skirts all December long? Why yes. Yes, I do. As part of Christmas joy this week (which is another way of saying “ as part of my life right now ”), I went ice-skating for the first time since my freshman year at college and though glorious , it was slightly also stressful relearning how to exist in a vertical position on ice without falling down. I probably cut off all circulation in Ben’s hand from holding it so hard for the first twenty minutes, but I started to get the hang of it after that (I least that’s what I told