On Becoming a Person

I love this song!!!  This band is so amazingly talented.  The best part is that this song isn’t one that is on the radio. 

Say When

I see you there, don't know where you come from
Unaware of a stare from someone
Don't appear to care that I saw ya... And I want you.
What's your name
’Cause I have to know it
You let me in and begin to show it
We're terrified 'cause we're heading straight for it, might get it.

You been the song playing on the background
All along and you're turning up now
And everyone is rising to meet you, to greet you
Turn around and you're walking toward me
I'm breaking down and you're breathing slowly
Say the word and I will be your man, your man

Say when
And my own two hands will comfort you
Tonight, tonight
Say when
And my own two arms will carry you
Tonight, tonight

We're coming close and then even closer
We bring it in but we go no further
We're separate.
Two ghosts in one mirror, no nearer
Later on if it turns to chaos, hurricane coming all around us
See the crack, pull it back from the window, you stay low

Come across you lost and broken
You're coming to but you're slow in waking
You start to shake.
You still haven't spoken, what happened

They're coming back and you just don't know when
You want to cry but there's nothing comin'
They're gonna push until you give in, say when
Now we're here and it turns to chaos
Hurricane coming all around us
Double crack throws you back from the window, you stay low
It all began with a man and country
Every plan turns another century around again
Another nation fallen
Maybe god can be on both sides
Of the gun never understood why
Some of us never get it so good, so good
Some of this was here before us
All of this will go after us
Never stops until we give in, give in

Say when
And my own two hands will comfort you
Tonight, tonight

The other weekend, when we went to a bonfire/pumpkin patch/corn maze with our small group, we also visited a little petting zoo that was at the farm.  When John saw the baby sheep he said, “Look at all the cotton on that thing!”  Giggle, giggle, giggle :-D

In the Part 1 post, I wrote about one of the worst busiest days ever.  But there are always two ends to a bipolar continuum, so now you get to enjoy my least busiest day ever.

6:00am – Alarm rings.  Hit snooze.
6:07am – Alarm rings.  Hit snooze.
6:15am – Alarm rings.  Hit snooze.  John moans because he doesn’t have to get up yet and I am ruining his sleep.  Turn alarm off completely.
6:35am – John’s (separate… we have separate alarm clocks…get used to this idea) alarm rings.  I jump out of bed.  Oh crap, I am so late.

6:45am – Take shower, don’t wash hair, throw on some clothes, feel content with looking gross
7:15am – Leave for school
7:15 – 7:50am – Sit in traffic and curse the rain and people who can’t drive (in this way I think I take after my father…)

8:00am – Go to the counseling center to meet with my supervisor.  It’s time for the mid-semester eval so we spend the whole hour evaluating each other.  I tell her she’s awesome and I don’t want her to change anything.  I am serious but I’m not sure if she believes me.
9:00am – Go into Nick’s office at the counseling center, find out he has no clients for like half the day, plop myself down and chat with him.  He gives me a bunch of articles on online counseling to help me write my Ethics paper.
9:30am – Go back to the Psychology Department; run into Adrienne.  Chat with her about counseling-related issues.

10:00am – Go into the computer lab.  Start printing off the articles that Nick gave me.  Amanda is in there, so throughout this process I chat with her about her frustrations with the phone company she is on hold with.
11:00am – Go back to my office and staple all of the articles I printed and do some other work.  YES, I DID DO SOME WORK!
12:45pm – Realize I have a meeting in 15 minutes; gobble down lunch.

1:00pm – Meet with Dr. L. to discuss the results of a statistical analysis we ran for a research project we are doing.  I tell him what I think the results mean and he tells me I am “brilliant.”  He graduated from Harvard and he thinks I am smart.

2:30pm – Go into Dr. T.s office to have him sign an enrollment form for next semester and end up chatting with him about my dissertation
2:45pm– Run into Betsy, who is making percolated coffee in her office.  She offers some to Dr. T. and I.
2:50pm – Stand in Betsy’s office with her and Dr. T. and drink the coffee out of old mugs I had in my desk drawers
3:30pm – Run into Myriam while still chatting with Dr. T. in the hallway; start chatting with her

4:00pm – Go to another meeting with Dr. L. in the qualitative research lab to learn how it works
5:00pm – Walk back to the department with Dr. L., who shares his umbrella with me since it is raining and I don’t have one.  How gentlemanly of him.

5:15pm – Wait for it… wait for it … GO HOME!!!!  Go home at a reasonable hour and not feel completely drained and exhausted and lonely and miserable.

This is what I looked like when I got home and John and I watched 5 episodes of Lie to Me and I ate a DQ cookie dough blizzard.  What a glorious day it was indeed. 

Last weekend, I decided it was time to start stocking up on the supplies I will need to effectively study for the comprehensive exams this coming summer.  John and I went to Wal-Mart and I picked out a bunch of hanging file folders and manila folders for organizing articles by topic.  Of course, I needed something to keep all of these files of articles in, so I picked out a gigantic pink crate.  John said, "Of course you want the pink one, huh.”  I asked him to carry it through the store (full of our other purchases) while we finished our shopping.   I think he felt ridiculous but he did it because he loves me.

On Tuesday night, John had one of his annual sales dinners after work.  These are pretty big events—niiiice steak dinners, drinks, etc., all courtesy of his company.  Unfortunately, no significant others are allowed.  When he left for work that morning I was sad and I told him I would miss him that evening since he wouldn't be home until like 8:30.  He said, “You should be happy.  Now you don’t have to cook me dinner.”  Ha.

Item #1:
Last weekend when I went to visit my little sister at college for her birthday, I picked up a mini pumpkin that she had on display for the fall.  (It was actually pretty gigantic for a mini-pumpkin, and it was amidst a couple of other gourds, yeah!).  I grabbed it from the bottom, and my index finger went right through it.  Yes, it was rotten.  I had rotting pumpkin under my fingernail.  Yum!  My sister told me to throw it out her back door, so I did, and when it hit the ground it smashed into a zillion pieces.  Even better.  Funny part is that she said the remains of it disappeared.  Who would have wanted a smashed up pumpkin?!  Maybe it was squirrels.

Item #2:
Yesterday, I accidentally dropped my lunchbox on the floor at school.  It seemed like no big deal at the time, except I had forgotten that I had one of those glass Pyrex bowls with a lid on it inside the bag.  The bowl had the uneaten half of the salad I had brought for lunch in it.  When I got home and opened the lunchbox to empty it out, I saw that the lid wasn’t snapped into anything.  I picked up the lid, and underneath it was a huge pile of glass chards, none bigger than a quarter, and a bunch of wilted lettuce and dressing and toppings.  Delicious.  I had to throw the lunch bag out because I figured there was no way I would be able to safely remove all of the tiny tiny glass fragments from its plushy folds.

 
(I killed the biggest one)

Item #3:
Keeping with the theme of item 1, I was cleaning yesterday, only to notice that one of the gourds in my own basket was covered in a thick, thick layer of mold on one side.  Luckily, it was the side facing out, and I did not grab it from behind.  It really looked disgusting, like fuzzy white carpeting.  I should have taken a picture of it, but out of horror I threw it in the trash too fast.

I think this might be one of the funniest videos I have ever seen in my life.  I used to LOVE Sesame Street as a kid, so that kind of makes it funnier, but kind of makes it a little sad too.  But I can think of this at any time and pretty much bust out laughing.  The first two times I saw it, I cried.  Thanks Derek!!

Judging by this obnoxious weather, I think fall is fully upon us.  To mark the occasion, I have recently taken the liberty of procuring some seasonal decorations for our apartment.

Namely, a burnt orange mum, and a bunch of unique-looking gourds.

While we were at the store picking out the gourds (and yes, I’ll admit that I dragged John there against his will), the following conversation took place:

John: What is the point of gourds?  Can you eat them?
Me: I don’t think so.
John: So there really is no point, except for women to put them in baskets and think it looks pretty.

Well, I guess he got me there.