these? i roll with them.

i was wondering what i was going to say today.

see, all i have to say has been funneled into what i initially thought was a crappy but now think is rather astute (perhaps bordering on brilliant, if i abandon our socially ingrained inability to SQUEEE! on our own behalf) essay on mary shelley’s frankenstein and percy shelley’s alastor. sending it off as a submission for the edited collection i wrote it for was an act of serious faith. i’ll worry, i’ll fret, i’ll try to let it go and move on, i’ll think about how i still haven’t heard about it or the fellowship or anything else for that matter and i’ll remind myself that there’s a reason why the Lord needs to teach me patience.

and then i’ll take a deep breath and go do something else…

…like read blogs.

because as i was trying to think about what to put on my own blog today, and started clicking through my blogroll as i do daily, i started realizing that i pretty much love all of you who write the blogs that have become so much a part of my everyday.

so…welcome to the celebration of a few of you, my bloggy friends, who have impressed me of late with who you are and how readily you share it.

do you know tortious? if you know tortious, you know courage. see, when i was thinking about this initially, i was going to ask you if you’d heard from her lately, because up here in “i worry about everyone and everything because i am me”ville, i was worried/sending her direct messages on twitter/checking her blog incessantly to see if she was back. then i checked. and she was. and she’s amazing. when we really face ourselves, our demons, look them square in the face and say “you know what? i’m scared, but i’m ready. so bring it.” we win. and tortious, you win.

do you know my roommate? if you do, you know someone with the biggest heart ever, with a love that’s quiet and not known to many, but that overwhelms you with its depth. read this and tell me it’s not true. she is becoming the kind of friend that knows you inside out, still likes you, and still makes you watch next and seinfeld because she knows it will make you laugh and what you really need sometimes is to not take yourself so darn seriously. i’ll not tell this to her face, because that’s not how we roll (awwwkward…), but i love her.

do you know law school girl? if you do, you know sass and generosity in equal and hilarious measures. i sing her praises often, because she has been a rock of my sanity over the past few months. she knows how amazing i think her, but did you know that she introduced me to sister hazel (and if you go to her blog, you get to have your very own concert courtesy of her media player?)? she has a supernaturally large affection for them. did you know that she’s obsessed with shoes? i mean seriously. did you know that she offered to buy me a plane ticket so that i could go to see my mom after she had surgery, so that i wouldn’t have to drive? did you know that i love her? did you know that anyone who knows her is lucky to be so blessed? i didn’t think so. she doesn’t blog much i think because she thinks she doesn’t have anything to say–crazy! jump on it! what are you, IN LAW SCHOOL OR SOMETHING? everything you say is amazing!–but she is a treasured friend and i love her to pieces.

do you know ohmygoshi? i didn’t until very recently, but if you do…you know sincerity and thoughtfulness. it radiates from her blog, this sense that she thinks and feels deeply about everything and that nothing goes unnoticed. she’s an old soul, that one, and i am glad to know her.

do you know LindzML? if you do, you know confidence. i don’t think i’ve ever met anyone who seems so completely at home in being who they are. and i know her in real life–and she’s got style, panache, and sass enough to take over any room but the wisdom and respect to know when it’s appropriate and when it’s not. i admire that very much. plus, she’s hecka funny. couldn’t have gotten through the semester without her, half of which she didn’t know i was reading her blog. hahahahaha. good times.

do you know chickbug and darling brookem? if you do, then you have answered the clarion call of coolness. they’re probably going to collectively kill me for this analogy, but i have to go with it. remember when you were in elementary school, and there were those older girls in a grade or two above you who were just SO.COOL? they knew the lyrics to all of the good songs that your mom wouldn’t let you listen to yet, they had those really cool Teen Beat magazines and they wore the most amazing clothes ever. they just had this…aura…of impenetrable coolness and you just completely wanted to be them. chickbug and brookem are like them…in the coolness alone (you’re not old, girls! i promise! that’s not the point!) because these are two of the most generous bloggy girls out there. they both have WAY more readers and fans than i do, and yet they come and are so generous to leave comments and be kind and just make me feel like i matter. they are just super cool in the best way possible–and they still ogle over cute boys and wear awesome clothes. and basically, i want to jump up and down and be like HEY! THEY’RE MY BLOGGY FRIENDS! AND THAT MAKES ME AMAZING BY EXTENSION! and if we hung out, i know we would be irl friends. and i think that’s amazing. and they both post pictures of food (steak tips and sandwiches anyone?) and it makes me heart them even more.

i haven’t even scratched the surface, and that makes me a little sad, so i’ll encourage you to pay it forward. who are the bloggers that you love, that you read every day, that you think exhibit the qualities that you’d like to have or that just make your days better?

thanks to all of you, especially those of you in my blogroll, who make my day a little bit brighter. i feel like i’ve found kindred spirits in many of you–and you anne of green gables fans know those are powerful words.

<3

newsbreak without the benefit of ritalin.

i had a ridiculously productive day yesterday. it was nice…odd, but nice. i do believe cleaning my room and transforming my desk from the junk mail pithole of death chaos into an actual work space has–SURPRISE!–made me more apt to sit there and, say, work.

whatever. a place of order encourages ordered thinking? what kind of NONSENSE are you talking, drbolte?

i will cease and desist.

but i thought maybe i’d update you on what i’ve done because i would rather do anything but do yoga, which is what i should be doing but instead i’m here.

shut up.

so…yesterday i BUILT! A! WEBPAGE!

i know. cue the violins, hearts, confetti, and attractive men giving me heaps of money. it is that much of an accomplishment.

(they don’t do that? crap.)

see, the university i work for has a rule that you have to publish your syllabus on the internet for easy access to students. i interpreted this, after the great hard drive implosion of 2006, to mean any way i could get it on an internet site, including webct, would work because i had lost all of my files and could not see a way to replace them without losing my mind.

i actually do not think that’s what they mean, however, so i am trying to make it more accessible and abide the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law. also, my previous website is just…not okay.

(it’s blue.  enough said.)

but cue frustration, because heaven help me if i can figure out how to ftp the gorgeous thing to my webspace. i did it successfully (ultimately…i have foggy memories of this kind of frustration) on the computer that is no more (sigh. poor drbolte’s first macbook. it had so many pretty pictures and purchased songs and irreplaceable documents on it that i never backed up…yeah.). but now i can’t figure it out.

good thing i can just post it from school without much effort, huh? because, apparently, it requires NO! BRAINS! WHATSOEVER!

yeah, we’ll see.

THEN…after i BUILT! A! WEBPAGE! i wrote my cv.

let me tell you what.  it took me like three hours.  because really, how am i supposed to remember what the name of the presentation that i gave at a graduate conference in 2003 was?  how am i even supposed to remember what the graduate conference was ABOUT?

(you know where all of that information is? poor sad first macbook.  le sigh again.)

(oh.  and that whole thing about keeping up your CV as you go along.  VERY good plan.  i’m onboard.  because dissertation writing = brain suckage and you don’t keep the memories of the things that don’t matter very long.  knowing the biographical details of random d-list stars…important.  knowing what you have or have not accomplished in your life…apparently not so much.  drbolte’s moral of the story: don’t wait seven years to write it.)

thank heavens for google, let me just tell you.  i googled myself.  and came up with some stuff i did. and then i remembered some stuff i won and tracked the official names down via google.   and then i made it all prettiful (i love me some papyrus font.  for reals.) and it looks like maybe i actually do something in daily life instead of sitting around blogging all of the time and whining about doing yoga. and eating cookies.

because i did that too.

inbetween the great four hour CV construction and the FTP HATES ME debacle, i baked some cookies.  don’t be too impressed. they were from a mix, so the extent of my pastry chefing was melting some butter and adding some chocolate chips to make them oatmeal CHOCOLATE CHIP cookies instead of just regular oatmeal.

because regular oatmeal cookies are boring, duh. so maybe you can be a little bit impressed.

because them is good cookies and made the roommates smile (and yell at me for MAKING! THEM! FAT! to which i laugh maniacally and suggest they hide somewhere for the next week because it is SUGARPALOOZA over here!) so it was a success.

i also watched some american idol while i was saving the world multitasking and i just have to digress immediately right now to say this:

i tried not to like you, david archuleta. you look 12 and your dad is a creepy stage dad and i fear you are about to walk in the ballad-loving footsteps of one clay aiken, who now makes me shudder with his complete creepiness and his stylist’s decision to use eye makeup…

…but i redheart you.  you’re a great singer.  i know you tried to take on chris brown and sort of lost, and who the heck chose a dan fogelberg song for you because really you don’t even know anything about that guy and it’s a terrible song anyways (when i was 3 i was telling mom to turn that junk OFF!), but i see potential for you.

you should win!

because david cook taking on steven tyler?  lame.  i don’t know WHAT simon was talking about.

the end.

and then i edited my too-short article that i condensed from my too-long masters thesis and i think it’s infinitely less stupid and much more brilliant now.  and while i did that?

i listened to the jack johnson station on pandora radio.  do you know about pandora radio? i know about it because law school girl is flippin’ amazing and told me about it (i don’t keep up with what the cool kids do, if you didn’t know. i’m always about six and a half minutes behind.).  it’s awesome. you should go there. it’s completely free and easy to use and full of wondrous nuggets of aural amazement.

and in the midst of this i decided that the soundtrack to my summer (yes i do know where that line comes from, thankyouverymuchiloveboyslikegirls) is going to be populated by boys who play guitar–namely jack johnson and kenny chesney, with appearances by ben harper (how did i not know that i am in love with him?) and brad paisley.

what’d you do yesterday? and who’s on your soundtrack to summer?

BECAUSE DID YOU LOOK OUTSIDE?

it’s summer!

(sigh.  yoga time. dangit.)

help me help you help me.

hey you. facebook new guy who friend requested me apparently because we’re in the same department but who i do not know from adam. yeah, you.

while i’m sure that you think that’s it’s utterly charming to create dummy facebook profiles for the characters of bleak house, accompanied by pictures of the actors who brought them to life in the pbs miniseries, it’s creeping me out. i already don’t like the “people you might know” feature, and now it’s populated by fictional characters.

my life is surreal enough without you screwing with it. cut it out.

also…facebook chat? i think i might love it. but i can’t decide.

–

how is it that when i set out to condense my 60 page masters thesis into a 20 page essay, two things happened:

a) i realized that my writing was not nearly as assertive as it is now (yay for confidence!)

and

b) IT ULTIMATELY ENDED UP TOO SHORT.

someone explain how that happened. i think it had a little something to do with me being disillusioned with the crap and padding. but whatever. i still should have ended up with more than 17 pages.

grr.

–

the unholy attraction of the hills and why, after he busted into her meeting, heidi would leave with spencer WITHOUT EVEN CALLING HER BOSS TO TELL HIM OF HER PLAN.

discuss.

–

i need a fake tan. how? help me look not northern european pasty white but not damage my skin any more than it already is. i’m too old for that idiocy, i’ve decided.

–

i’m excessively tired of doing dishes.

this revelation just hit me today.

are you tired of a chore that won’t go away? can you make me feel better about my life? dishes, trash (which i have effectively managed to get out of for like eight months now…i have no idea how except that i have amazing roommates), and ripping up stupid credit card offers that come in the mail so that i don’t get my identity stolen are my least. favorite. things. ever. except for maybe the gynecologist. yeah, that one tops them all. but i feel like that’s a given, right girls?

so, yeah…long story short too late…dishes. hate them.

–

just realized i didn’t pay my car payment today when it was the last day to do it without seeming like a giant bill flake.

super.

–

updated to say: they told me i have to wait “another week or two” to find out fellowship results. could they just shoot me, pour honey all over me, stick me in the hot burning sun on top of an anthill instead? that would be kinder.

freaking bureaucracy. give me MY MONEY! mine. mine. mine.

i think. i hope. bah.

–

i’m just profusely sorry about the five-year-old kid nature of this post, the whole “and then, this happened, and then, this happened and then, this happened, and then there was cake!” of it all, but…it’s how i feel. i’m all ADD girl lately.

and now i want some cake.

and if it wasn’t 2:20 a.m., i’d go buy some.

because sometimes, you just need some cake.

i need all the chances i can get.

hey!

need some money? some TARGET money? to buy cute shoes or shorts or shirts or a big pile of paper towels?

go here and enter to win (or click the button below)!

we all could use some magical bounty in our lives, couldn’t we? i know i could.

still and small is hard to hear.

i realized towards the end of last week that i’m having what amounts to an internal tug of war between my head and my gut, my logic versus my instinct.

now some of you who read me often (hey! thanks! i redheart you!) might think “waaaaiiiit a minute. didn’t you just write about the importance of NOT following your instincts?” let me clarify for you. when i speak of gut/instinct in this context, i’m talking about that little voice, the one that defies logic.

regardless of your spiritual affiliation, i think this is a pretty standard concept–that we all have that gut instinct, whether you call it women’s intuition or fate or whatever, that guides us to do good things. sometimes those are scary things, things that seem impossible to achieve, but they are always things that encourage us to grow and to progress, to become the thing that we are destined to become, to be bigger and better and grader than we can imagine, in our fininite minds, we can be. it’s the Spirit. it’s there, everpresent when i’m doing what i’m supposed to be doing, and it leads me when i let it.

but here’s the thing.

it’s awfully quiet.

i came upon this scripture randomly today during church when i’d already been thinking about this topic for a little while. i think it very clearly explains how the Spirit works. it’s in 1 Kings 19:11-13

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

it was only Elijah’s knowledge about the nature of the Spirit, about the nature of God’s approach, that allowed him to ignore the booming around him and tune into the quietness of the Spirit. i think this is a really important idea. the Spirit is not in the loud logic of our lives–it’s the small voice that guides us, the gentle whisper of an idea that passes by, and then passes by again, until we listen to it, the urge to call a friend out of the blue, the instinct to be kind rather than catty. for me, sometimes these whispers come in illogical answers to what makes sense on paper.

without getting into too much detail, i have a situation right now in my life that seems to make sense on paper in every way. the numbers add up, if you will, even though it’s not a numbers game. at the beginning, i felt good about it. i had no reason really not to, but beyond that, i felt pretty peaceful about it. now, even though i am being encouraged by other people (including my mom!) to give it a shot, and i want to keep an open mind, i can’t deny how much of that quiet voice is warning against it. even as i write and think about it now, i feel it so clearly. but warning’s not the right word. it’s just very clear: this won’t work. pit of my stomach surety. in this case, to call it my gut instinct would be a topographical as well as a metaphorical description.

but it should work. the logical part of me is battling with that feeling, saying: hey. what’s the harm? go for it. to contrast this logic, the most distinct impression comes: wait. just wait.

waiting doesn’t make any logical sense, though. it really doesn’t. and this isn’t the kind of waiting that is accompanied by indecision or fear. in fact, the waiting is scarier than the moving forward. i’ve never really been a standaround kind of girl.

so you see my dilemma. my logical side, the side that looks at the pro/con list and weighs and measures things, is saying to do one thing. my instinct, what i can only assume is the Spirit since it has never wavered, only gotten stronger after prayer, is saying something entirely different. something that doesn’t make any sense of all.

and i just don’t get it. not that i necessarily need to get it–so much of life is about taking one step into the darkness in faith and moving forward with that faith even when you don’t see the grand expanse ahead of you–but how do you explain to other people who don’t understand?

so i stand inbetween, waiting for a sign about which one is right. that in and of itself frustrates me, because i don’t like hanging out in indecision city. or maybe what i should say is that i don’t like doubting my instincts…and i don’t like it. i think some of it will resolve itself soon, but i don’t like it. i wish i could know for sure. but knowledge isn’t faith, right?

so i’ll be over here having faith, and trying to trust that voice in my heart. and telling my head to stifle it.

and in case none of this made any sense whatsoever to you, i’ll bribe you with this, which i have for some reason not been able to get enough of today. i even made part of it my facebook status–and that’s when you know a song really strikes you. it really has nothing whatsoever to do with anything, lest you begin to read my life in the plotline of rent (good heavens, no drama here), but it’s awesome and it’s youtube and i don’t think you need any more than that.

happy sunday, all.

i want…

…some cute new shoes for school/teaching that won’t tear up my feet but will make me look stylish and won’t break the bank.  why does spring/early summer equal new shoes? any ideas?

…some really nice black bermuda shorts that fit my butt perfectly (instead of what usually happens, which is that it fits my hips and then is huge in the waist because i am, in fact, a curvy american woman whose waist is a size and a half smaller than her hips).  also, it wouldn’t suck if they were affordable.  and if they came in navy blue too. i’m going to try target and then maybe the mall.  i wish we had a kohl’s here, because i’ve always had great luck there.  next week might commence the great shorts hunt 2008.

…some cute shirts on SALE that highlight my assets.  are you seeing a trend here?

…to not turn on one life to life on a random friday afternoon and see, simultaneously, snoop dogg performing (hello…what?!? what’s the demographic here? are we really trying to sell snoop to the 45 year old white woman audience?) and a crawling text bar along the bottom describing the lockdown of two schools because of police action in the northeastern section of my city.  i don’t like that.

…my mom to not have to do radiation, but if she does, i want it to be easy.  and if it can’t be easy, i want the not easy part to come when i’m home and can be her beck and call girl.  and if that can’t happen, then i want someone else to be there for her.

…different candidates to vote for.  i don’t want to get all political here, but i’m not happy.  i feel like november will be me standing in a voting booth somewhere going “really? really? these are my choices?” and having a wrenching sense of frustration that i have to choose either one.  because i WILL exercise my vote.  too many people fought too hard for me not to, but…i’m not really happy about how it’s all shaping up.

…my hair to look great for the wedding that i’m going to tomorrow. actually, i just want all of me to look great.  but since it’s going to be 90+ degrees and i have to drive an hour and a half, i am just not sure about that one. also, i’m sincerely wondering if i can forget how to be cute after a week of slumping around the house like a crazy.

…the cleaning and organizing of my room to happen without me.  but it won’t.  and the inspirational gorgeousness of law school girl’s room has inspired me to go forth and clean….

what do you want?

what i am right now.

i am, at this moment in time:

–petrified that the GINORMOUS bug that i saw last night and that made me scream like the girl that i am and maybe, i’m not saying for sure but just maybe, jump a little bit won’t have a family member come searching after him because he met his demise between a wad of paper towels and the toilet bowl flushing.

(and if you want to yell at me about killing the bug, stifle it.  i don’t want to hear it.  it being in my world was a declaration of war.  i get to do what i want to do.)

–hopeful that the cleaning product i sprayed all along the windows and floor where said bug once walked will prevent others from wanting to come in.  yeah, i know.  not likely.

–finding it impossible to go to bed before 3 or 4 in the morning or wake up before 11.  sigh.

–wondering what would make someone ask me if i’d ever been engaged before.  i wasn’t particularly worried about answering it, as i’m not ashamed of the answer, but it simultaneously struck me as one of those questions that really crosses a line that i didn’t even really know i had.

–waiting anxiously for news about the fellowship. if you’re tired of hearing about it, imagine how i feel thinking about it.

–wryly amused by the invitation that i got late last night via facebook chat (love it.  i think.  maybe?) from previously mentioned leftist politico friend who wants me to come over and participate in movie marathon fun and frolic.  i chuckle even as i write it.  of course i will go.  regardless of whether or not i am annoyed by being called the reason for the modern wal-mart slave trade, he’s my pal.  we’ll agree to disagree and eat twizzlers while watching movies.  good times.  life is nothing if not funny.

–loving my vacation and already trying to plan the list of 2008 summer festivities, which will probably include learning this:

if i could learn to be as cute as jennifer garner, too, that wouldn’t suck.

–ready for tonight’s lost. i consider myself an intelligent person.  but i don’t understand a single thing going on on that show. it is the ultimate exercise in faith.  i someday believe that it will all come together, so i will endure to the end.  and matthew fox is beautiful, so that makes it less painful.

–unnaturally excited about this weekend’s TV choices. apparently mother’s day means that people sit around and watch tv all day?  whatever. indiana jones is on.  a bunch of stupid girly movies are on on abcfamily.  life is good.

and i have officially reached pathetic.

happy thursday!

things that unexpectedly happen on a random wednesday at 6 p.m. that make you want to throw something.

dear liberal-minded acquaintance,

i know that we share things in common–we’re older, we’re in grad school, we are somewhat disillusioned with mormon singlehood–but don’t you judge me for shopping at wal-mart.

(this really happened, btw.)

i can appreciate and even respect that you don’t like wal-mart or their business practices. actually, i quite admire people who feel fervently about things that i don’t necessarily feel that fervently about. sometimes their attitudes make me rethink my own. but usually that doesn’t happen when i’m told, rather judgmentally, that by shopping at the rollback center of the universe, i am contributing to treating people in other countries like modern day slaves.

number one. what i do or do not care about is really none of your business.

number two. just because i shop there doesn’t mean i don’t care. it means that, right now, i value the fiscal savings over whatever small impact my boycott of a national supercenter behemoth might have on the larger issues a capitalist economy has on the world. when i have a real job and more of a discretionary income, how about i shop at target? will that make the world safe for democracy? excuse me while i doubt it.

number three. when you lecture me about things that you think i am uneducated in, all you do is make me angry. everything has a cost, as you were so quick to remind me. so…the cost is that i don’t respect you much at all anymore. how about you stop living in the black and white world that’s so easy for you, where you are always right and everyone else is always wrong, and come join us in the very grey world that i live in.

basically, let’s just agree that you don’t lecture me and i don’t talk to you about my shopping experiences. oh, and fyi…anarchy isn’t any less a political groupthink than being republican or independent or libertarian. stop thinking you’re so cool and above being american. it’s really annoying.

i appreciate it. thanks.

it’s really the simple things, you know…

the stress of grading is over.

in fact, grades came out last night and knowing my students, they all checked immediately. i would imagine that many of them were pleased, but i haven’t heard from anybody yelling (yet…why did i say that? WHY?) so that’s a good sign. i thought they were all pretty much what i expected or above.

the impetus to clean and organize has not yet hit. i just can’t make myself do it. i just can’t. i sit here, thinking about how i should, and manage to ignore it and think “i have a week! a WEEK before real life starts! i don’t have to do that now…” we’ll ignore the part where i should be working on my dissertation? kthanks.

regardless of my intentions, i am on vacation. and these are the things that have brought me some silly joy over the past few days:

i happened upon this blog (which i really like! yay for new blogs!) and right there was a clip from adventures in babysitting, and my soul clapped a little in merriment. so, for your amusement, a clip that pays homage to one of my favorite movies with a song that makes me laugh a little…

i’ve spent much of the past few days reading these:

and now i’m reading this:

i just realized, after i posted, that these are all about summer.  it makes a sort of sense now. and yeah, i guess i should be reading grownup things, but grownup things are for grownups and i’m not grownup this week.  i’m an adolescent again…who sleeps in too late and eats dinner food for breakfast and breakfast food for dinner and who thinks about how she should probably look fairly decent for the pizza man if he comes a-calling.

i’m pretty much in love with this stuff, which is keeping me sane and not screaming. (my back? burned REALLY bad in some spots. i swear. the irony that i live in florida and can’t survive the sun is not lost on me at all.):

and, the unfortunate element, is these, which are in my freezer:

as i’m blogging, i’m watching this and they’re on a trip to gville…and they’re going to places that are like DOWN THE STREET from my house and i laugh and it fills my soul with silly joy, because it’s like i’m famous by proxy.

YAYA.

it’s one nonstop party around here. if i take a shower today, i’ll call it a success.

you think i’m kidding. that’s cute.

what silly things bring your soul joy?

six things you never knew you never wanted to know about someone you’d never thought you’d meet.

i’ve been tagged by copper boom. i’ve avoided doing this list for a long time already because i genuinely don’t know if there are six random things about me that you don’t already know, but i’ll give it a whirl because…well…it seems like i should. all about personal growth and such. also, i like to keep her on my good side. she’s got the potential to take somebody OUT. and i can say that now because we’re real friends and not just blackmailed professor/sassy, mouthy student.

Post the rules on your blog:
- Write six random things about yourself in a blog post
- Tag six people in your post
- Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog
- Let the tagger know your entry is up

1. i wear a ring that looks like this. when i say that i wear it, i mean i wear it. all the time. i don’t take it off, except to make bread, and that happens so infrequently that it barely merits recognition. it’s a reminder to me to make the right choices (the CTR stands for “choose the right”) but it has become more than that to me. it’s a declaration of who i am, of what i stand for, of the commitments i have made. i love wearing it. also, it’s cute.

2. i think white rice has a smell. and it’s a smell i don’t like at all. when my mom went through her rice cooker phase, when that thing was on i had to stifle the nausea. seriously gross.

3. i eat ketchup on my scrambled eggs. i sometimes dip my grilled cheese into ketchup too. most people think this is gross. most people can kiss my big fat white toe.

4. i know several friends in dental school. i would without any hesitation take my children to see them (when said children are born and have teeth) but i wouldn’t for one minute entertain the idea of going to see them myself. not going to happen. never ever. also, i will probably always see the dentist that i love so much in north carolina. he’s basically the only one who hasn’t made me hate the entire profession.

5. i am ridiculously perceptive. i can usually survey a room (when i’m paying attention) and figure out what’s up with people. i really like that i can do that–and usually know stuff about people before they tell me, which a lot of them do because, for some reason, people like to confide in me. i have a COMPLETE blind spot, however, about people with whom i’m involved in some intense way–friendship, romantic interest, etc. i can’t read them at all about what i’m most concerned about. it’s deeply frustrating and horrifyingly annoying.

6. i really like law and order.

no, i don’t think you understand. the old law and order. the original. the one with lenny. it’s the only one i like. i tried to like criminal intent for a while, but i got bored. svu freaks me out. there’s nothing like the original. i have watched so much law and order with my mom that when the reruns come on TNT (starting at 1 on weekdays…), i can usually tell you which one it is from about a minute in. i’ll still sometimes watch them, even when i know them backwards and forwards.

because i really like law and order.

and now, i need to go take a shower and try to do something other than read the rest of the third sisterhood of the traveling pants book that i’m currently reading. or maybe i’ll take a nap. what do i care? i’ve got nothing to do for a week. i mean, i have a lot to do…but nothing to do too. hmm.

okay. i have to tag people. but most everybody has already done this. so, i’m going to tag laura, saf, and elisabeth. it’s three. which is divisible by 6.

shut up.