Dilemma

I want to put up the majority of my important artwork.

Some of it still needs to be framed.

Some of it can be hung with poster tabs.

I have no frames.

I have no picture hanger hooks.

I have no poster tabs.

I can get all of these things at Target.

I realized this at 8:55pm.

Target closes at 9:00.

This just made my day...

As I was walking into my building for work this morning I looked to my left into the coffee shop on the ground floor. What I saw was the three employees (all males in their late 20s-early 30s) doing some sort of happy jig in a circle behind the counter with gleeful grins on their faces. I think Manek, Jodi (bosses), and I should institute this morning ritual.

Post-Graduate Life

Life after Graduation is very strange. I'm generally terrible with transitions, so even though I'm taking this one relatively well, that's not saying much.

The trip to my uncle's cabin was very relaxing. Lots of quality time with my parents watching "How I Met Your Mother" on DVD, shopping, and going out for great food, which is exactly what I needed. I think Matt had a good time too. After we got back I had to work all day Friday and Saturday, but I still managed to see "Indiana Jones" on Friday night and get Molly moved into Wren and Matt's new apartment on Saturday. She's doing really well there, which makes me very happy.

We got all of my things down to Olympia on Sunday with Wren's help so now I've just been unpacking. We bought two new tall bookshelves and we're still going to need more space to put books, so that'll be a job for tonight or tomorrow. We also splurged on a Playstation 3, which gave me an excuse to buy a WiFi router, so Internet abounds. I just need to get it to stop randomly disconnecting for a split second every few minutes so I won't get kicked off WoW.

Work is going well, though it's hard to make myself get up at 7:30 and hard to sustain my concentration for eight-and-a-half hours a day. I suppose I'll get used to it, though. After all of my summer vacation-type things are over I'll probably work four full days a week (32 hours since they want me to do 30-35) and have a day off with Trev every week, which would be nice. We'll see.

So now I'm just feeling a little unsettled and wishing we had a full-sized dresser and places to put bookshelves and wanting to stay home for three days and clean the house. But I know I'll be okay. I think part of it is that every time my parents visit (or I visit them), things are so great and they take care of everything and I don't have to worry. Of course I'm going to love that because I'm a worrier and they take away my reasons for worrying, but I know that life isn't like that, and that that sense of protection that I cling to is never coming back for good. That's just part of growing up. I just miss them and miss feeling close to them and it's hard for me to contemplate the harsh truth that I will probably never live near them again, and might end up a lot farther away than I am now.

Just rambling now. Future causes that. I just need to settle into a routine.

Dalmation Plantation Graduation

I'm graduating today! I'm also exhausted and stressed and still haven't figured out where I'm sleeping tonight and how I'm getting to Levenworth tomorrow for my four-day Do-Nothing Fest. But it's cool. I get a free brunch with my family and friends in an hour or so, then we get to deal with that whole boring graduation thing, then I get to say goodbye to teachers and such at a reception, then free dinner at amazing pizza place and probably more graduation gifts (have already received $250 in cash, about $2500 in savings bonds for grad school, and gold bracelet and earrings), then back home for the last of packing (which really isn't that much) and move-out and freedom! Everything is going to be okay.

Even though everything I know is about to change.

Change is Painful

I have four days left until Graduation, and I've finished all of my schoolwork and exams except my thesis (as you can see from the below post), which is due in two days. I'm making good progress on it, but not spectacular. I think it'll turn out well and on time, though. I just need to put some serious time in tomorrow and then Friday morning.

I'm ecstatic about Graduation. The moving out and everything is going to be really hectic, as is the fitting work in between family visits and moving, but I know that it'll all turn out all right if I take things one step at a time. But I'm really looking forward to all of the receptions and my parents meeting my professors and getting to go out to dinner at The Rock (amazing pizza place) and (because I'm shallow) Graduation money to help pay bills and rent now that I'll be living with Trevor.

The painful parts are both physical and emotional. I'm stressed, which is never fun, but not nearly as badly as I would've been stressed if I weren't on Lithium. There's going to be a lot to plan and a lot to do and that can be frustrating. And I'm trying not to think about how much I'm going to miss UPS and living with my housemates and all of the wonderful things I have here. I know they'll be replaced (though never completely) by new experiences.

The physical pain mostly happened today, when I sliced my thumb open with a boxcutter while trying to open a knife sharpener (ironic, no?) at Wren's new apartment. I proceeded to bleed all over the counter and worry about staining the new dish rag Wren gave me to hold against the wound while Wren took charge and determined that I didn't need to go to the hospital. I apparently knicked the nail bed (I refuse to look the wound for fear of fainting), which is why it hurts so badly. I have this really squeamish reaction to any kind of cuts or stabs, so I'm being a huge wuss about the whole thing. Thankfully, it's my left thumb, which is the only finger one does not need to type regularly with. There is a God!

Things To Do Before Graduation (AAAGH!)

Asian Women and Religion

• FINAL EXAM: 5/13 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM DONE!

British Literature I

• Recitation (20 lines of poetry): 4/23 in class
  DONE!
• Paper #3: DUE 5/14 2:00 PM DONE!

The Bible and the Literary Tradition

• Paper #3: DUE 4/18 5:00 PM DONE!
• Final Paper Rough Draft: DUE 4/25 5:00 PM DONE!
• Presentation on T. S. Eliot: 4/29 in class DONE!
• Final Paper Finished Version: DUE 5/6 5:00 PM DONE!
• TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM: DUE 5/15 6:00 PM DONE!

Victorian Vision and Revision (Thesis)

• Thesis Rough Draft: DUE 5/7 5:00 PM DONE!
• Thesis Final Version: DUE 5/16 5:00 PM