Do you ever have those moments when you are simply over the moon? I got some amazing news this afternoon and every 5 minutes or so, I have another mini realization that this is actually happening. I'll start giggling, chills running up my back. Constantly needing to ask myself if I'm dreaming is definitely a good sign and helps me realize how blessed I am.
I wrote my slice yesterday about recognizing the amazing little things in life. I think that was a great perspective for me to have and helps me appreciate the big things, like what happened today, even more.
Now I'm sitting in my living room, feet kicked up, with Storage Wars humming in the background. Somehow that image is the visual representation of my satisfaction with my situation at the moment. Today was a great day.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Little Things
After waking up this morning to my phone alarm energetically pumping out cutting island tones, I stumbled out of bed to get ready for the day. Monday mornings aren't my favorite thing in the world, but this morning hasn't been so terrible.
The braid in my hair turned out like I wanted it to, I got to wear my favorite scarf, I found a great parking spot on campus, climbing the seemingly mile-high stairs wasn't as laborious today, the professor that I TA for commended my grading efforts for the class's midterm, and now I'm sitting in my favorite building on campus looking out of large windows at an amazing view of snow-glazed mountains emerged in sunlight.
It truly is the little things in life that make it worth living for me. I find more happiness in my life when I learn to pay attention to things like a breeze, a smile, the sound of rain, the smell of new books, and millions of other little miracles that constantly surround me.
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~Robert Brault
The braid in my hair turned out like I wanted it to, I got to wear my favorite scarf, I found a great parking spot on campus, climbing the seemingly mile-high stairs wasn't as laborious today, the professor that I TA for commended my grading efforts for the class's midterm, and now I'm sitting in my favorite building on campus looking out of large windows at an amazing view of snow-glazed mountains emerged in sunlight.
It truly is the little things in life that make it worth living for me. I find more happiness in my life when I learn to pay attention to things like a breeze, a smile, the sound of rain, the smell of new books, and millions of other little miracles that constantly surround me.
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." ~Robert Brault
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Self-Prescribed
The past few days have been really rough. I've had papers to write and midterms to take. I've even had to grade a stack of midterms for the class I TA for. (Who knew grading could take upwards of 12 hours?! I guess I should've expected that). So I ended up pulling an almost-all-nighter to grade those on Thursday into Friday and then taking my own midterm later that afternoon, running off of 1 hour of sleep. Finally getting home last night with some dinner, I finished eating and collapsed in bed at 8:00, welcoming a chance to rest.
Unfortunately my body had different plans and I ended up getting sick in the night, which is something I dread almost more than anything. I usually go years between times when I throw up, therefore it terrifies me when it actually happens. So after spending the first morning hours of this day in the bathroom, holding back my hair with tears streaming down my face, I've decided to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Watching the sun peek through the cracks in my blinds, I'm still content holing up in here with a soft bed, pillows, and a stack of unread books. Even with nights like last night, I love days like today.
Unfortunately my body had different plans and I ended up getting sick in the night, which is something I dread almost more than anything. I usually go years between times when I throw up, therefore it terrifies me when it actually happens. So after spending the first morning hours of this day in the bathroom, holding back my hair with tears streaming down my face, I've decided to stay in bed for the rest of the day. Watching the sun peek through the cracks in my blinds, I'm still content holing up in here with a soft bed, pillows, and a stack of unread books. Even with nights like last night, I love days like today.
Forewarning
March may bring with it leprechauns, warmer weather, and basketball but it also brings a project from Two Writing Teachers: the Slice of Life challenge. The goal is to write about a little "slice" of your life and post it every day in the month of March. Already I'm a little behind, but I'm going to try to do it for the rest of the month.
If you haven't noticed, most of my recent posts have had the title Slice of Life: blahblahblah for the same bloggers' Slice of Life Tuesday challenges. So, I'm just posting this right now to warn you all that I'm not going to include that in the titles anymore and you can just all assume that anything I write during this month (and probably after too) will be a slice of my life. Anyway, check out the challenge on Two Writing Teachers blog and join if you'd like! Let the slicing begin.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Slice of Life: Enya
It is an irrefutable fact that when I wake up at 5:00 a.m. and haven't gone to bed until after midnight the night before, I will be loopy for the rest of the day. This week is slowly killing me like...well, some kind of poison that will kill you slowly. (Don't try to Google it. I'm pretty sure, based on the links I discovered, the only other people Googling "poison that kills slowly" are murderers of some sort.) Anyway, my point is that this week is going to drive me crazy with all of the papers, tests, projects, reading, presentations, and grading that needs to get done.
In trying not to drown myself in the prospect that I might not come out in one piece at the end of this week, I decided to engage in one of my favorite pastimes at lunch today. You can call me creepy if you want, but I absolutely love to people watch. And the best place on campus to do that is the collection of brown, covered benches adjacent to the bookstore and facing the library. It's totally prime real estate, with quirky individuals constantly crossing back and forth. So I grabbed my lunch, headed over to the benches, and popped in my headphones as Enya sang floating Irish cadences over a slow synthesized percussion. Enya is the one person I can trust to push all care out of my mind and provide me with a little corner of sanity in my ever-busy life. :)
On a side note, my roommate (H) and I are in the beginning stages of starting up a blog. It's been so much fun coming up with our concept and pseudonyms, but the real beast of this process is coming up with a Blogger web address that isn't already taken. So earlier this morning I engaged in another one of my favorite pastimes: typing in possible URLs straight into the address bar. It actually becomes more of a game for me instead of just searching for the undiscovered URLs. So, just in case you were wondering... picadillycircus.blogspot.com, camerashy.blogspot.com, rainbowsandunicorns.blogspot.com, zipadeedooda.blogspot.com, ilovespongebob.blogspot.com, and canigetawhatwhat.blogspot.com are all taken. I can almost hear the collective sigh of disappointment, because I suspect those are the exact addresses you all hoped to put to use one day. The most frustrating thing is that when you finally think you've come up with the perfect name, you type it into the address bar and you get one of two things. Either it is completely untouched as no one even bothered to post one thing under it or the most recent post occurs anywhere from 2002-2004. Well... let the search continue.
So as I continue on with my day, the mad rush to complete all of my tasks and the mad search for available blog URLs, I will certainly be putting Enya to work, as she does what she does best.
In trying not to drown myself in the prospect that I might not come out in one piece at the end of this week, I decided to engage in one of my favorite pastimes at lunch today. You can call me creepy if you want, but I absolutely love to people watch. And the best place on campus to do that is the collection of brown, covered benches adjacent to the bookstore and facing the library. It's totally prime real estate, with quirky individuals constantly crossing back and forth. So I grabbed my lunch, headed over to the benches, and popped in my headphones as Enya sang floating Irish cadences over a slow synthesized percussion. Enya is the one person I can trust to push all care out of my mind and provide me with a little corner of sanity in my ever-busy life. :)
On a side note, my roommate (H) and I are in the beginning stages of starting up a blog. It's been so much fun coming up with our concept and pseudonyms, but the real beast of this process is coming up with a Blogger web address that isn't already taken. So earlier this morning I engaged in another one of my favorite pastimes: typing in possible URLs straight into the address bar. It actually becomes more of a game for me instead of just searching for the undiscovered URLs. So, just in case you were wondering... picadillycircus.blogspot.com, camerashy.blogspot.com, rainbowsandunicorns.blogspot.com, zipadeedooda.blogspot.com, ilovespongebob.blogspot.com, and canigetawhatwhat.blogspot.com are all taken. I can almost hear the collective sigh of disappointment, because I suspect those are the exact addresses you all hoped to put to use one day. The most frustrating thing is that when you finally think you've come up with the perfect name, you type it into the address bar and you get one of two things. Either it is completely untouched as no one even bothered to post one thing under it or the most recent post occurs anywhere from 2002-2004. Well... let the search continue.
So as I continue on with my day, the mad rush to complete all of my tasks and the mad search for available blog URLs, I will certainly be putting Enya to work, as she does what she does best.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Slice of Life: Valentine
Do you ever have those days where it feels like 30 different days in one? Today was one of those days for me. It went by quickly, yet felt like months had passed. Was it only this morning that I woke up in a nervous frenzy, making sure that I was looking professional for my first teaching interview ever? Oddly, yes. Nerves were definitely the first order of business for the day.
After the interview, I came home to some lovely Valentines posted on our apartment door. There's just something nostalgic about getting a paper Toy Story Valentine with Nerds taped to it, especially when they are anonymous (my roommates and I are still trying to figure out who would have left them). After downing the Nerds, it was reading, lunch, and off to campus.
I jammed out on my walk to campus (thanks iTunes), sat through my 4 hour block of classes and headed home again. Still on the run, I immediately took a friend of mine to the library and we picked up some needed reading fodder. Meeting up with my roommate there, I looked around a little more, grabbed our materials, and continued on the run.
I came home and changed into some casual clothes and started making Valentine's cookies. With just enough time to get the cookies out of the oven, it was time to change my clothes yet again to go out to dinner with my roommates. A Smashburger chocolate shake was my Valentine tonight and that worked perfectly for me!
Now is the first time all day I've been able to calm down my racing mind. Perhaps it was all the outfit changes, but I just felt like I just lived many and many days wrapped up in one. Hopefully tomorrow is a simple and normal day, but with my luck I'll hit the ground running again in the morning.
After the interview, I came home to some lovely Valentines posted on our apartment door. There's just something nostalgic about getting a paper Toy Story Valentine with Nerds taped to it, especially when they are anonymous (my roommates and I are still trying to figure out who would have left them). After downing the Nerds, it was reading, lunch, and off to campus.
I jammed out on my walk to campus (thanks iTunes), sat through my 4 hour block of classes and headed home again. Still on the run, I immediately took a friend of mine to the library and we picked up some needed reading fodder. Meeting up with my roommate there, I looked around a little more, grabbed our materials, and continued on the run.
I came home and changed into some casual clothes and started making Valentine's cookies. With just enough time to get the cookies out of the oven, it was time to change my clothes yet again to go out to dinner with my roommates. A Smashburger chocolate shake was my Valentine tonight and that worked perfectly for me!
Now is the first time all day I've been able to calm down my racing mind. Perhaps it was all the outfit changes, but I just felt like I just lived many and many days wrapped up in one. Hopefully tomorrow is a simple and normal day, but with my luck I'll hit the ground running again in the morning.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Slice of Life: Slow Motion
The moment I got home from school today and slowly set my backpack down, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
I've survived another day.
It was getting pretty late by that time, so I decided to whip up some potato soup for dinner. I always have every good intention of morphing into Rachael Ray in the kitchen, but that hasn't successfully happened quite yet.
As soon as I put the soup on, my roommate came out of her room, computer in hand, with a song to show me. She argued that the song, a mellow mix of slow beats, was the perfect slow-motion-running-through-the-airport type of song. I agreed.
We became even more curious about how many good slow motion songs exist, so one of our new goals is to create a massive playlist of only the best. As my roommate started clicking through her songs to find some material for our self-appointed project, I began to act out some slow motion scenes. It's more fun and addicting than you'd think, trust me.
Amused with myself, I asked my roommate to call out some scene ideas and I began to feel like Ryan Stiles or Colin Mochrie from "Whose Line is it Anyway?" I took on the personality of a comedian, not necessarily a good one, but sufficient for my living room and a one person audience. As I acted out a baseball player hitting a home run and a distressed individual realizing they have lost their life fortune gambling, I heard some unusual noises from the stove area. My soup was boiling over and sullying our newly-cleaned stove that I spent hours scrubbing the other night. Luckily, the soup was still salvageable but my dreams of becoming Rachael Ray were dashed. Perhaps my future lies in slow motion improv acting. It's definitely an option if such a thing exists.
I've survived another day.
It was getting pretty late by that time, so I decided to whip up some potato soup for dinner. I always have every good intention of morphing into Rachael Ray in the kitchen, but that hasn't successfully happened quite yet.
As soon as I put the soup on, my roommate came out of her room, computer in hand, with a song to show me. She argued that the song, a mellow mix of slow beats, was the perfect slow-motion-running-through-the-airport type of song. I agreed.
We became even more curious about how many good slow motion songs exist, so one of our new goals is to create a massive playlist of only the best. As my roommate started clicking through her songs to find some material for our self-appointed project, I began to act out some slow motion scenes. It's more fun and addicting than you'd think, trust me.
Amused with myself, I asked my roommate to call out some scene ideas and I began to feel like Ryan Stiles or Colin Mochrie from "Whose Line is it Anyway?" I took on the personality of a comedian, not necessarily a good one, but sufficient for my living room and a one person audience. As I acted out a baseball player hitting a home run and a distressed individual realizing they have lost their life fortune gambling, I heard some unusual noises from the stove area. My soup was boiling over and sullying our newly-cleaned stove that I spent hours scrubbing the other night. Luckily, the soup was still salvageable but my dreams of becoming Rachael Ray were dashed. Perhaps my future lies in slow motion improv acting. It's definitely an option if such a thing exists.
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