Bullets of Tuesday

Well, the enjoyment and self-discipline continue unabated (or so I'm telling myself). 

• Met a classmate/colleague at Peet's Coffee to work on our theses together.  In reality, we spent several hours catching up after not having talked much throughout the year, though we did spend an hour or two actually working.  She was a bit hungover, so we cut the afternoon short.  I did stay a little longer than she, but then it got cold again so I went home.
• It's been cold-ish here.  It's as if we traded weather with Seattle.  I love the misty-rain and cloudy mornings. but the rest of our locale is complaining mightily (they'd be complaining it if was wretchedly hot, too).  On Monday, the sun only managed to break through for about half an hour, in the very late afternoon.  Today it managed a couple of hours, but again, only in the afternoon.  We'll see what tomorrow brings. 
• Today the rain-ish-ness kept me in bed longer than I had planned.  It's ok, though, as I was reading a book for my thesis, so it counted as work. 
• Tomorrow I will head to Starbucks for the majority of the day, to work.  I'm supposed to email my advisor "something" by Friday.  (Gah.)
• Thursday is the funeral for Madame X's dad.  Madame X reported having a day that actually felt "normal" today, for which I am grateful.  It's been difficult to know how to provide support to her and her family, which is odd to say about someone I've known and loved for over a decade.  I think the books and movie gift card were the right things, though;  she called today to thank us for them and let us know she's already used the gift card (which helped lead to the shreds of normalcy today).  After the funeral, she and her family may have to head to parts north to see her grandmother once more before the dementia sets in full-bore.  Pardon my English, but Madame X has had a fucked-up year, and I know she won't be sorry to see 2010 get hit in the butt by the door on its way out. 
• Saw Winter's Bone, and it was excellent.  They made a few changes between the book and the film, but it did not detract from the story in any way.  My only criticism is that the beating one of the main characters receive is in no way as intense in the movie as it was in the book.  That was probably motivated by a desire to spare the viewer the discomfort and gore, but it weakened the impact of the later plot events, at least for me in comparing it with the book.  They definitely nailed the casting dead-on, and the setting is just perfect.  I recommend both the film and the book.
• I think Despicable Me comes out this Friday, doesn't it?  Strangely, I'm really looking forward to seeing it.  When I first started seeing trailers for it, like, last year, I was fairly meh about it.  But since I've seen more detailed trailers recently, I'm hooked.  "It's so FLUFFY, I could die!"  (LOL.)
• I walked today. 
• I've been obsessively checking the College Board's website to see if our AP scores have been posted yet.  This is the first year we get to check them online (finally, join me in welcoming the CB to the 21st century), but they're not up yet, at least not for my school.  Sigh.  The curiosity is giving me heartburn (or was that the KFC I indulged in earlier?). 
• This was a pretty boring post, but I'm in documentary mode, I guess.  Thanks for reading. 

Ah, well, Lent

It is upon us, even tomorrow. We availed ourselves of Shrove Tuesday (a.k.a. Fat Tuesday), courtesy of Claimjumper and a wicked messy burger. Hours later, I'm still full. In some ways, I think this Lent will be very difficult; in other ways, I feel very ready and welcoming of it. It is time once again to curb excesses and indulgences that have become too much a way of life. It is time to reorient my focus yet again. It's too bad that focus can't be permanent, but then I guess I wouldn't appreciate it so much if it were. May your own Lenten season feature a regaining of clarity and health for you, however you choose to observe it (if at all).

This'll be brief.

Mendo was gorgeous and mostly relaxing, as expected. Photo(s) will follow...at some point. I took nearly the whole of break truly off from school. Damn it if those stacks of grading did not shrink themselves while I was gone. Back to school. I had forgotten that Tuesday can sometimes be worse than Monday. I was happy to see the students on Monday, and they were mostly excited to be back, strangely enough. But today...meh. Tomorrow I become an associate of a Benedictine order. A friend asked on Sunday if I was excited. Not really. More scared, actually. Self-discipline is what I crave, and a rule of life is a very good thing...but I'm semi-notorious for not meeting my own expectations. The reassuring thing is that it is not a sin to fail to live by one's own rule, and no one will be judging me from on high or at eye level if I do not achieve all of my goals every day/week/month. It's a process, as is all of life, really, and I'm definitely taking baby steps this year in the things I would like to change, being realistic about the fact that all will not be perfect every day. I just wish it didn't feel like starting over every year. Some continuity would be refreshing.