Kings and queens, philosophers have tried so hard to find...

Another birthday has passed, and all is well.

My first summer classes ever are finished; I wish I'd realized that I enjoy these short terms earlier. I feel like I've retained a lot more than I usually do. I think my grades will be pretty okay.

This has been one of the best birthdays I've ever had (and it has lasted a good five days!). Thursday was the actual day, as well as my last day of regular classes. Thank you for all of my birthday calls and messages and text messages!!! That night I went to DPs with Graham, Moonie; Mom and Dad came after a while, then Jeff and (what a suprise!) Jessica. We had a really nice/loud time, ending with a round of kamikazes before Jeff, Jessica, and I went to the apartment for some Mario Kart and cherry-cheesecake ice cream (and joined there Mr. Gunn). Friday after exams Jessica and I went to Huntsville with Mom, Moonie, and Meagan to visit Rosemary and Anne Marie (and their kids and such, Samantha and Alex and Katie and Joey). We all went to shoot pool at The Creek, a bar owned by one of Rosie's friends. We took a late night dip in the pool, goofing off with the kids and having a pretty fantastic time. We left in the morning to prepare for a lake party! Britni, Mark, Lance, and Odin got in that morning and met us at Grandmomma's. Jessica and O'Brian were there, and later Jennifer and Jennifer came by. Jonathan made it towards the end, and of course Graham, Moonie, and Meagan were there. Scott, Mike, and Uncle Keith also spent the day on the lake, which was great. Oh, in case you were wondering, future self, there were also a lot of dogs: Sunny, Bosco, Bella, Odin, and Abby, all present.

We spent most of the day basking in the sun and taking the occasional dip in the Tennessee. Towards the end of the day, after burgers and hot dogs, lots of beer and a no-hands cupcake eating contest (which Mark totally dominated), the family and adults went home and me, Jonathan, Lance, Mark, and Britni cleaned up and decided to have a long intense conversation on the porch (where we were joined by Jeff, too). After that we went back to my apartment and played cards and the 64 (sans Jonathan, plus O'Brian again) before heading to bed.

Sunday morning was lovely; we the traditional French toast breakfast and fresh canteloupe. I actually woke up around 7 and came over here to have a cup of coffee with my mother, which was really nice and peaceful. The days was lazy and nice; the Birmingham crew left, Jeff went to work, Jeff came back, we finished the Death Note series and went to bed.

Today I lunched at Applebees with my grandmother, took a long nap, sorted some laundry, and ended up at my parents house. I'll be leaving in a few minutes to have dinner with Nick and one of our clients.

Tomorrow I leave for Special Session, and I couldn't be less prepared or more excited.

Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice...

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering.

I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable.
I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

The last scud of day holds back for me,
It flings my likeness after the rest and true as any on the shadow'd wilds,
It coazes me to the vapor and the dusk.

I depart as air, I shake my white locks at the runaway sun,
I effuse my flesh in eddies, and drift it in lacy jabs.

I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from teh grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.

You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood.

Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me once place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea...

"The marriage of two derogatory terms, fag and hag, symbolis[es] the union of the world’s most popular objects of scorn, homosexuals and woman, creat[ing] a moniker that most of those who wear it find inoffensive, possibly because it smacks of solidarity." - Margaret Cho

I've posted this quote before, but I think it's worth re-visiting. I'm working on/just starting a paper with that as my jumping point. Here's hoping there are enough sources. I think I might do something about feminism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's work; we discussed it today in class. It's amazing to me now (after a lecture that partially focused on this, specifically in The Scarlett Letter) that this particular aspect of his writing wasn't discusses when we read it in high school. In fact, I recall very little being taught about women's issues in high school. I suppose it's much to radical a topic for young teenage minds-- or maybe I wasn't a willing receptacle? I will give them the benefit of a doubt.

Yesterday was the Florence Pride Picnic; it was very nice. I thought I would know more people there, but there were really more people from the older community. Father's Day probably wasn't the best Sunday to plan a picnic, either.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I was the accidental feminist the other day; Jeff and I spent the night at my parents' house last week, and I couldn't find a bra to save my life, so... yeah. It was kinda fun, though. I crossed my arms for the first hour of the day or so before the f-it switch was flipped and I was transported to the radicals who began the movement.

* * *

Those were the days when the Earth was flat, and tourists flocked to the edges with their polaroid cameras and their loud children and their SUVs. And some came to cry, because it was beautiful. And some came to scoff, because nothing impresses some people. And some came to jump, becasue the edge of the world played the same song as the San Fransisco Bridge, if there had been a San Fransisco Bridge. If there had been a San Fransisco...
And Cam came to scoff, her and a van of silver-spoon misfits; instead she cried, and she didn't try to jump, but she almost fell-- different means to the same end, she thought, as the guard pulled her from the fence.

All I wanna do is drive around in my truck and drink Jack Daniels... and they just don't understand.

I finally turned in my notice at work, although I may stay on there a couple days a week once I'm back from Camp McDowell. Things are a little better now, I suppose. Working with Kari has helped that. I'm still overly tired, though, and summer school, while more condusive to my style of learning, is stressful because of my lack of time (and let's be honest, time is just a poor code for motivation).

I'm actually enjoying composition a lot more than I thought I would. I knew it would be interesting and laid back because it's Garner, but I didn't know we'd be workshopping so much. I believe taking Nature Writing helped me gain the confidence I needed to be honest in my edits. What I hadn't realized before was how much I enjoy editing, and that perhaps (*gasp!*) I have a talent for it. It's something I hadn't thought about before now, but it's a fun idea to toy with. I'm also eager to bring more pieces to the class to be workshopped. I do think I have some talent as a writer, but I'm afraid that I may have one solid style of prose and that's it. Some authors I can read back to back to back, and their style never fails to intrigue me. Others I enjoy, but if I read to many of their books in a row, I begin to feel like it's the same characters in a different story. I hope my writing isn't like that (or if it is, I hope I have the ability to develop it futher!).

Let's seque from writing to reading with a question... who is reading this old journal of mine? I've been suprised several times in the last year to find different people find this old blog interesting (even people who aren't involved in my day to day interactions). Recently, Lindsey mentioned a Matt who reads it (which may be a mutual Matt, I'm not sure), and an Andrew commented before... anyway, you lurkers with private profiles, leave me a hello message sometime! :)

I think I'm going over to Sheffield now to shoot some pool with my brother if he's around, or maybe my sister or Moonie. Tonight we're eating out for O'Brian's birthday (which was yesterday)! Mom and Dad leave tomorrow for Anna Maria, so color me jealous on that account. Florence Pride picnic is Sunday from 10-2 at Veteran's Park. Meagan's 19th birthday is Monday. Jessica will be here in less than two weeks, and Special Session is in less than three.

We're almost halfway around the sun right now, and Christmas is just around the corner.

Thank you for your message, but I don't understand...

Lindsey is totally in South Africa, and if you would like to read about her journey thus far, click here. She is amazing.

Speaking of amazing, my sister Meagan is braiding my hair right now, and it is exuding kick-ass.

Speaking of kick-ass, I got a lot lof good reviews on the papers I turned in to my classmates in my composition class; the prof even had a lot of great things to say, which is especially flattering.

Speaking of flattering, I found a dress to tonight at Hollidays that I'm pretty in love with; I hope to buy it next pay check.

Speaking of pay check, my boss is barely competant, mostly due to her relationship with one of my completely incompetent co-workers. It's okay, though; my time there is almost over. Just keep my clients in your prayers; they need them.

Speaking of prayers, you are in mine always

Always.

You make hay when the sun don't shine; you don't need a dollar, you don't need a dime...

O'Brian, I've developed a slight obsession with this song; it's been on repeat in the car for three days running and no end in sight.

Today was quite busy, but it wasn't nearly as stressful as it could have been. I got off work at six this morning, went home and cooked breakfast, took Jeff to work, came back home and took an hour nap, and went to class at 9:40. I've got one tough teacher and one fairly easy teacher; I've had both before. One is very reading intensive and the other writing intensive. Class was over at 1:50, so I went back home to take another hour nap before I was supposed to go out with my Little. She forgot about our plans, though, so we rescheduled for Thursday. We're going to see Prince Caspian. Sooo, not wanting to mess up my sleep patterns (not that there's much to screw up, considering my inability to sleep enter NREM) I went on to Sheffield and visited Jeff at the pool and then hung out at the house for a bit. I just got back from Sheffield Billiards, and here I am with you, Reader.

A request, if you please, and it's assuming a little, To those of you who read this old thing-- any entries caught your eye recently? And by recently, I mean in the three or four years I've been keeping this thing? One of my proffessor's suggested expanding old blogs into papers for her class. I know a lot of my journal is the simple recording of events which I don't imagine most people read, but every now and then I write about different things on my mind. If you have found anything remotely interesting and would like to suggest an expansion, let me know.