I can see a lot of bright in you.

Hijinks! We had the most blissfully perfect snow day in NC history a couple weeks ago. I cannot begin to describe my happiness!

The Big House, a short film by my friends.
Oh the Fun You’ll Have: Printing! by the same aforementioned friends.
The year 2008 in pictures.
Cross Your Fingers by Laura Marling.

I was cutting across the grass back to the dorm after eating a rather mediocre dinner at Marshbanks, and a herd of large, noisy guys were off to my left, roughhousing and cussing goodnaturedly. Then one yelled, seemingly at random, “I LOVE YOU!” Athletes, I thought to myself, without turning. “I LOVE YOU! I FREAKIN’ LOVE YOU!” I sighed. “YOU, WALKING ACROSS THE GRASS! I LOVE YOU!” Oh. Wait. That’s me. That’s me? I kept walking, and the boisterous fellows went their way, thus dooming what may have been (but which almost certainly would not have been) a beautiful relationship. Hilarious, and so very confusing.

Rosemary olive oil bread with sun-roasted red pepper hummus is just about the best thing in this world, I believe.

I have been having recurring dreams about pteradactyls. What in the world? I should go to sleep and see if I can figure it out.

Nothing is forgotten.

It is deliciously wonderful to be back at school, and thus far I love my classes. I’m feeling rather munificent towards the world at the moment, and quite stress-free. Blessed be light course loads! I predict adventures (sing to the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs’ “I Predict a Riot”!).

Some things from the internet, some stolen from friends:
I have added “fly in a windsuit” to my list of things to do before I die.
Perhaps we should all live in Settle.
Those documentaries can be pretty compelling.
Danish power outlets WILL make you smile.

I laid in the grass by the knobbly tree in the middle of campus the other day, and the wind was wild and grey shreds of clouds were scudding across the sky, and it was raining just a tiny bit, and it was a perfect moment.

I know you’re listening

Holy frijoles! I think this is the first time I’ve ever used the “cold” moodtheme. I was planning to take a nice hot shower ’cause it’s been chilly in the house today (our bathroom is open to the attic and, until today, the crawlspace, which lets cold seep in), and just as I got my hair nice and full of soap, the water turned very cold. Very, VERY cold. Turns out that after we were installing the new shower in the torn-apart bathroom, we forgot to turn the water heater back on. I found that out after my toes had turned purple from the frigid spray, of course. That’s the coldest water I’ve ever been in, and I’ve been swimming in three of the five Great Lakes, which are always freezing. *puts some socks on*

I don’t know how it’s managed to slip my mind this long, but I’ve been meaning to recommend Goodreads.com very highly to any and all who read this blog. It’s like the bookshelf application on Facebook (which I’ve never used) only way cooler. Go check it out! I have 570 books on my account; this is terribly addictive, I warn you. You can see what I’m reading by searching by my name or my starfilly7@hotmail.com email.

Speaking of books, I haven’t been lately. I guess because I was doing so much reading for my thesis that it would’ve all been the same old “yet another Tolkien book” thing every time I updated. However! I have recently finished Middlemarch by George Eliot, and I rather enjoyed it, once I got a few hundred pages in. One has to be very patient with Victorian writers…they’re just getting warmed up at the 300 page mark. Anyway, I pretty much just wanted to shake most of the characters until their teeth rattled and they would act sensibly, but I liked the book anyway. It was quite well-written, and once I got in the flow of massive 19th century novels again it was nice to be back. It’s been awhile since I’ve done any reading of that sort.

I’m almost done with Bleak House by Dickens right now, which I’m also enjoying very much. Dickens is wonderful with a turn of phrase, even if, again, many of the characters are exceedingly shakeable. I really hate those perfectly blond ringleted darlings who, we are told, are very good and angelic, but who are also perfectly useless. It’s very easy to be good when there’s no temptation to be otherwise, and sitting in a drawing room blushing every time one is spoken to is not a location particularly rife with temptation, or, in fact, excitement, or anything resembling real life. And really, do you NEED 817 pages to tell me all about the aforementioned angel? …But I still love you, Dickens. *pats him on the head*

Oh, yeah, it’s a new year or something. Have fun with that. I like to keep track of how many books I read per year, because…I don’t really know why because. But I do. And this year I read 123, I think. I skimmed a lot of others for my project, but I don’t think that really counts. Bleak House will be the first for the new year! I think everyone should start the new year with Dickens.

This has nothing to do with anything, but look what I found! Star charts! Very marvelous.
Also, I love xkcd.com.

In a couple days I’m back off to school for my very last semester of my college career. Not at all sure what I think about that, but I’m certainly going to enjoy it!