a dream...or a scheme...

I had quite the silly dream last night. Aren't silly dreams just plain fun? Anyway, we have this tiny room in the corner of our basement. It's supposed to be my craft room, but in actuality it is more of a "pile shit that you don't know where else to put it" sort of room. The room has this built in work surface across the one wall. In my dream, I built myself a little hideaway under this work surface. Then I gathered up a huge pile of books and some food and stashed them in there. And I wrote a note to my family saying that aliens were abducting me, but they promised to return me in one month. What I planned to do about going to the bathroom or showering or anything like that, I've no idea...you know, that's the way with dreams. But I have to admit I found this whole thing amusing...and not a wholly bad idea. ;)

I'm sure this dream arose out of my frustration at not finishing any of the staggering pile of books I have started:

--have read 81 of 326 pages in The Subtle Knife
--have read 101 of 354 pages in 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa
--have read 126 of 319 pages in Yes Means Yes!
--have read 68 of 209 pages in Monkeyluv
--have read 87 of 214 pages in The Catcher in the Rye
--have read 188 of 573 pages in The Century
--have read 17 of 78 pages in Atlas (as this is poetry, I tend to read the same pages over and over before moving on)
--have read 52 of 272 pages in The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye
--have read 186 of 207 pages in Kaspar Prince of Cats
--and I have two additional books that I need to start for school before next week (The Body Book at 265 pages and Eating Animals at 267 pages) plus my book for our family book club (Seekers: The Quest Begins at 292 pages) which was supposed to be read three days ago and I haven't even started

Am I pathetic or what?!! I seem to completely lack the ability to get my act together. Hmmm...wonder if Rich and the kids would actually buy the alien abduction thing...

as I ramble away some more

Think I need a break from geometry today. I'm not complaining, mind you...relearning geometry is not the worst thing I can imagine (though not the best thing, either, of course). But I actually sort of enjoy doing proofs. Anyway, I think I've been doing too many of them the past few days. Last night I dreamed that I was a assigned a two-column proof to "prove" that the Printz winners were deserving of their praise. Yeah, I know that makes no sense, as is the way with dreams. And, as is the way with dreams, it made perfect sense within itself. Bottom line, I think I'll switch to some Envi Sci prep today.

December 29th "Good Stuff"















*This tea. Mmmmm...heavenly. Doesn't quite edge out my all-time favorite, Hot Cinnamon Spice, but it certainly puts up a good fight. Even better good stuff--the awesome friend who sent it to me!!! (Thanks again, Chris!)

*Listening to my incredibly sweet boy chatting away on the phone with a friend. Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but truly it is. Seeing the joy that Gray is experiencing in having a good friend literally brings tears to my eyes. I don't expect that he will ever be much of a social creature, and that is perfectly fine...but having one good friend can make such a difference, and I'm so very happy for Gray that he has found someone that he can be so comfortable with.

*The perfect poem. The kind that overwhelms you. The kind that is more than just an intellectual, or even an emotional experience, but that is also a full-blown physical experience. "Tulipomania" by Katrina Vandenberg was that poem for me yesterday. I will reread it, and reread it, and reread it, and it will continue to haunt me.
And this "good stuff" also came to me with the help of others--obviously Katrina Vandenberg, but also Ana who urged me skip ahead in the book to read this poem, and Chris who so sweetly gave me this beautiful book of poetry (Atlas) for Christmas. Thanks guys!

When I decided the other day to record the "good stuff" daily, I assumed that I would just list one thing per day. But I guess this is part of the beauty of the exercise...in making the effort to notice the happy things that daily life brings, I'm finding that my days are overflowing in them...