As fickle as these streets are, they might not even wait around 'till then...

Wellllll... here are some things.

One of my clients is in the hospital, so keep her in your prayers. I've been spending a good bit of time there, and at work in general.

I'm trying to get in hours at the Women's Center; we're selling cupcakes Thursday. Come visit!

Friday night! I went to the circus with work, which was mostly fun and a little disasterous. Afterwards I was crampy and tired, but we had party plans so I pepped up. Actually, I didn't think I was going to have fun at all, but it's hard to be sad around my friends. I got to my parents' house (they were in Virginia this past weekend for Aunt Marie's birthday) and they were already there. Jessica was in town (yay!), and Jeff and T.J. and Graham were there with chips and such. Meaghan and Nick came after a while and we played beer pong and cards and pretty much had a whale of a time.

Speaking of... have you ever seen "Mozart and the Whale"? It's got Josh Hartnet and he's a guy with Asperger's who starts a support group and also falls in love. I really enjoyed it; if there's a book, I would like to read it. I don't think there is, though.

I have finished Eat, Love, Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert, and I must say, it was magnificant. She is fun to read and has some amazing insight (made all the more enjoyable by the journeys she's taken to reach enlightenment). I hope you all ready it.... I was going to make a list of people who would really get it, but I think you would all get something out of it. Anyway, I'll probably be blabbing about it especially to those individuals I think would most appreciate it.

Saturday after work Jonathan and I met Jessica at the Sheffield rec. where Jeff was working, where we visited with himand then shot some pool before we all headed to the Blvd. again. Meaghan came over and we all played some Wii! It was amazing. Meaghan and Jessica went home and Jeff and Jonathan and I spent the night here.

Bo has been missing for a couple days. He's been missing once or twice before and turned up later... I hope that's the case this time. I've looked everywhere I can think of (as have my parents and brother). I guess now we just pray.

After class and some time at the Women's Center today I went back to the apartment and then Jeff and I went to TVA. He ran while I walked one of the trails... I noticed an opening into the woods I hadn't seen before, so I took that. I meandered around the forest, founds some water to dip my toes in, passed a dead snake, and was eventually spit out on a road. I followed that until it intersected the running trail, which I took back to my car. I called Thomas while I waited on Jeff; we were still talking when Jeff returned and he and I walked another mile or so. Thomas is great; it was really nice to talk to him. We left there to run by the store for buns and such for the bbq Mom brought home from VA; we watched NCIS and ate with my parents. It was nice.

Also really nice was getting to see Tammy today, who I haven't gotten to hang out with recently. Brittany, who is in a couple classes with me, is also cool times 12. I would really like to keep in touch with her after this semester.

Ohhh, Jeff and I went to visit Eric last night. We brought chocolate brownie ice cream and sat on the porch and just talked for a couple hours. It was amazing. You know, there are a lot of good people in this world. I hope you realize this.

But none of them were home inside their catacombs!

This is how it works-
You're young until you're not!
You love until you don't!
You try until you can't!
You laugh until you cry!
You cry until you laugh!
And everyone must breathe until their dying breath...

You bear God within you, poor wretch, and know it not.

So, it's been raining cats and dogs this morning, but I find it strangely refreshing. I'm enjoying my first day off in a couple weeks. I went to work with Jeff this morning at around 6:30; we grabbed some McDonald's breakfast and headed to the pool. I left Jeff there after a bit and went to the Blvd. to say hello to the folks before they left for work. I played with Abby and Bo some and spent a few hours watching Golden Girls, Spin City, Frasier, a new Dolly Parton video, and a sprinkling of America's Next Top Model. I also watched part of a History Channel program on gun exhibitionists which was quite interesting; apparently it's guns all day on channel 42, as later (after picking Jeff up) we watched a special on snipers, after which aired a show just on the M16.

Now we're at the apartment and Jeff is showering before we go snag some Mexican food, then I'm heading back to Sheffield to spend the afternoon with the fam.

I've been reading Eat, Pray, Love, and I am impressed. It's fantastic, and it's broken into manageable little pieces that I really enjoy. It's making me want to travel, though. My oh my, but I want to live in Italy. I'm also making my way slowly through Schoolgirls, which is good, though it's a lot of information to process. I recently read a couple romance novels; they were okay, I suppose. One actually had a really interesting plot line- by the halfway point of the book I just started skipping the monotonous sex scenes all together. I've read four romances now (well... I'm in the middle of two and I've finished two), and I have to say, they are all pretty awful.

Now, I'm not one to be picky about sexual preferences. And, as many of you know, I'm a sucker for the knight in shining armor type. I even like the rough and tumble kinda boys, the ones who do what they want and are bossy and protective and all that jazz... to an extent. These books all have these hopeless/helpless women who resist the men throughout the book, always giving into their lust at the last minute (about halfway through his rape of her, usually). Geezus. It makes me angry. I'm not going to read any more of these any time soon.

I've been working a lot... we spent an amazing afternoon at the park Wednesday, and we attended a Special Olympics Banquet Tuesday (where we say Elvis and Garth Brooks!). And the day before that, we celebrated Meaghan's birthday!!! We did dessert first with chocolate fondue (dipping angel food cake and strawberries). Then we had a Mexican Mash (a recipe I got recently at camp). Meaghan was there, of course, as well as Jeff, O'Brian, Jarmel, and Edward. We missed the rest of you a lot. Anyway, it's time for me to get some grub... oh, and I hope everyone is having a killer time in New Orleans. Love!

Happy yesterday to all-- we were born to die!

I like my new job. I don't love my new job, but I like it. I love the clients I work with. I'm not sure how I feel about the company or a couple co-workers, but overall things are pretty good. It's... well, it's kinda stressful. Sometimes the environment can be volatile, and things can switch directions so quickly that there's a constant worried voice in the back of my head. Mostly, though, we have a lot of fun.

School is okay. I have a test Tuesday in Minor's class and I really need to catch up on some grammar stuff, but mostly it's okay. I need a million hours at the Women's Center. Hey, I'm running a fund-raiser for Africa this month, but more on that later. I was supposed to go to New Orleans this weekend, but I can't. It's very sad. I can't take off work because I've taken off so much with all my recent sickness (not to mention having to pay for doctor's visits and medicine while not making money). I was looking forward to crazy bonding with the ladies from the WC, not to mention helping a great cause. Shittiest thing? I just got a new boss making a new schedule, and I'm scheduled to be off Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (and she said I would probably stop working Sundays as well). This sucks because (a) I need the hours/money and (b) if I'm not working, I should be in Louisiana!

Umm... illness update. Staph infection gone; UTI here. After almost of full week of enjoying almost full health, I headed to a work meeting Monday feeling slightly off kilter. At 2 I was on my way to work, and I had a temp of 99; still, nothing big. I left at 6:30 with 100 degree fever and took some ibuprofen when I got home. It was 101 when I went to class the next day, and almost 102 when I left class halfway into it. Jeff came with me to the doctor's office, where I was told I had a virus and a UTI.

I feel much better now; a lot of people have reacted in a way that implies I should be in a lot of pain, but I'm not. There's only mild discomfort and I get tired quickly.

I'm one pay check away from not having to stress about money. Yay! Also, my Aunt Alice gave me a cookbook called "Cook for a Day Eat for a Month," and a week or so ago I did the two-week plan in there. Our freezer is full of good eats, and so far everything we've tried has been really good. We've had stuffed peppers and lentil soup and chili and spaghetti pie. I'll keep you updated on the other dishes.

Did I even tell you about the fabulous weekend I spent at Camp McDowell? Wow oh wow. It was amazing.

Also, I'm about to buy some viney plants to grow on our little privacy fence in the back yard. Get excited.

But even at our swiftest speed we couldn't break from the concrete...

Hey.

Sometimes I feel like a cup with a tiny hole in the bottom; it's a hole so small you can't even see it. Nothing even drips from the cup-- you only know it's there because there's a wet ring on the table every time you move it. And you keep pouring more and more water in the cup, refilling it every day, thinking it can hold just a little bit more, but really it's full, it's really full and it's floating on a thin membrane of its own offerings, and you still keep checking it, filling it, filling it until clumsy people are afraid to come in the room because they might bump the table and that would be the end of the cup that's too full.

Sometimes I feel this way with good things. Sometimes I feel this way with bad things.

Sometimes I feel like maybe the good things are the cup and the bad things are the water, and the cup's okay because it's got so many layers, and as long as the layers are together they'll keep all the water until it evaporates, until it disappears, or at least until it's manageable again.

Then sometimes you don't like school and you don't like your job and you don't fall in love and you never have money and you keep losing friends and you're always sick and you don't remember how to talk to God and none of the layers are broken but none of the layers are whole.