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November 30, 2006
hello. 
Do you ever have one of those moments where you suddenly feel awake after weeks or months of sleeping?
I'm awake, and back amongst the living.
Actually, I've been back amongst the living for about three weeks now, but I've been so overwhelmed by the amount of work (work and school) that I needed to get done, that I've been offline to a huge extent.
For better or for worse, my big school project is over. I still have the final and a couple of labs to do, but I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. There is going to be plenty of franticness at work over the next couple weeks, but none for the next couple of days. And I need to start the holiday blitz of knitting and shopping. But today, I am happy. Hurrah!
By the way, I am writing more frequently at vj.vox.com. If you join Vox, you don't necessarily have to blog there, but you will have the ability to leave comments on my posts, and for me to okay you to see private posts. Doesn't that private post idea just fill you with glee? Anyways, join, drop me an email so I know who you are, and I'll add you to friends and family.
...
As you might have heard, it's been raining in Portland. Unendingly. Well, I exaggerate. I haven't gotten caught in the rain in a couple days at least.
It's made commuting interesting, to be sure. I've been trying to stay on the bike, but I have given in some days and taken the bus. Monday was quite cold (the weather folks were predicting snow), and I bike-commuted, and didn't wear enough clothes. Damn, that was cold. On Monday night, I could not get warm again, and ended up going to bed with long underwear and flannel pjs on, and then I only warmed up once Sweetie got to bed.
The next morning, I felt like I was on the verge of a headcold, and I'm still trying to stave it off.
So the last couple days, I've been taking the bus. So I was really pleased this morning to hear the busdriver say, when we stopped on the Hawthorne bridge, to watch for bicyclists. Yeah, way to be proactive!
We took a slight road trip for Thanksgiving: we and the Texiles had rented a cabin in ZigZag, which is on Mt. Hood on National Forest land. It was great. We brought too much food, they brought too much food. We stoked fires and hung out. For the first time in several years, I didn't cook on Thanksgiving. Truth be told, I didn't do anything but read the stack of books I had for school.
No internet. No television. I'd just sit myself on the couch between the woodstove and the fireplace in about a dozen layers, and peel them off as the room warmed, and read and read and read. Very frequently, the rest of the couch and the chairs would be filled with Texiles, reading, or some of them would be at the table, 4 feet away, working on a puzzle or a board game. It was quite convivial and genial. And it was just so enjoyable.
It totally fed my desire for community, for hanging out semi-autonomously. We'd make meals, but everyone was on their own for snacks, so there was always someone foraging in the fridge to make breakfast tacos with leftover crepes (delicious, yum!). And we all took naps -- some more than once a day!
It was so relaxing and enjoyable, and I thought about how I usually live: eating a meal while watching TV while researching something online. Multitasking to an extreme. I want to start being more conscious about this stuff.
I always claim and truly feel like I have no time to read. But it's quite obvious that I can make the time, and maybe I need to.
...
But first, I have been online this morning and I've found some great things.
-Scentzilla's TV and classic painters mashups
Oh my gosh, she is brilliant.
- Vintage Vespa Menorah
That's right, take two unrelated things and combine them. Huh? I think I have to have it though.
Posted at November 30, 2006
Comments
Glad you had a nice holiday. I finally joined vox - I'm bneca. Take care!
Posted by: neca at December 4, 2006 11:11 AM