Mid-December Lull

So I've reached that point in the year where things slow down. Exams are over, and my life is in that odd anti-climax stage. It's weird because Christmas is coming and everyone is stressed and crazy, buying the "perfect gifts" and making sure the house looks just right.

I just don't get it. It is a cultural universal that holidays are supposed to be times of happiness, but people spend so much time trying to impress everyone that people don't really get to be happy. I would rather see my family happy, in a house that is less than perfectly clean, than unhappy in a sterile environment. I wish everyone would just stop trying so hard. Something will happen, there might be dust on your chandelier or the biscuits might burn. Isn't the important thing, particularly in this time of economic doom and destruction that we just remember that having people to hold on to is 1000 times better than dust-free window ledges?

I'm not sure people see it that way. Just ask my mother.

There are some things about the holidays I will never understand.

Thank You

For great lengths of time, I forget that this thing exists.
Taking a page from the book of my friend I think I will spend this blog on the things for which I am thankful. I sometimes must remind myself that life, though endlessly confusing and often frustrating, is always special. Special in 100,000 little ways I'm usually too busy to notice.

So to God, or the Universe, or that Great Cosmic Coincidence that somehow led to this life, I thank you so much for:

-peanut butter
-facebook
-skype/skype dates (sundays would be sad without you guys, though arguably more productive)
-Alternative Break trips
-ice cream
-Professors who believe in me
-my body (for continuing to function, despite my poor decision-making skills)
-Brick walls made of flesh
-People unafraid to speak the truth
-free coffee
-Opportunities
-Lessons learned
-hugs
-Glee! Bones, and Firefly DVDs
-Trany-voices
-Computers that flawlessly obey Murphy's Law
-Ween!
-Take Back the Night
-Trips without destination
-Spontaneous family dinners
-Green Valley Book Fair
-Grafton
-Avante: specifically Martha and Mabel
-Buses
-My ability to walk
-Photography
-Memories
-Classes that make me feel like I'm really learning something

And of course wonderful family and friends, who let me be me, regardless of how unappealing I am sometimes.

THANKS!

Words don't visit me as poems anymore.

For some reason, after all that has happened, that is the only thing I still have the heart and desire to mourn.

I will always love words, but they don't speak to me like they used to.

Sorry for the sadness, but it has been a weird day.

This blog is now titled incorrectly: I am no longer in Scotland.

Sad.

I'm in my last semester here at JMU and feeling slightly stressed about it. I've committed myself to enough organizations that I don't really have time to think, much less worry about the future, so all is well there. These are the things I have devoted my weeks to:

TA-ing for GANTH 196
Working at Market One
Advertising Chair for Taking Back the Night
Fundraising Co-Chair for Alternative Breaks
Leader Mentor for Alternative Breaks
Fundraising Chair for Anthropology Club
Volunteering at Avante Nursing Home
PNOLA Participant

It can be quite busy.

I don't know what else to say, I'm not particularly adept at talking about myself.

Sorry this isn't more interesting. I can't think of any good vignettes to share. Perhaps next time.