One singular sensation, every little step she takes

I was reluctant to try NaBloPoMo this year. I have to write three times as much in the next month than I have in the last three months combined! Add that to the fact I've decided to post on my gratitude blog every day too (poor, neglected blog), and it's six times as much! Good grief.

Oh, and there's that whole thing about traveling a lot this month too. This is going to be interesting.

In exciting news, Sisterpants received her mission call this week. Texas Houston East! She reports to the MTC in January. The craziest part is that we lived in that mission for eight years and still consider it a second home. As our dad put it, it's probably the only mission we would have absolutely no worries about sending her too because we know what it's like and are terribly fond of all the people there.

And, since I know you were wondering, here's costume #3 (zombie librarian). I did the makeup for both myself and the ringmaster of the zombie circus to my left.

Who else is in for NaBloPoMo?

Are you hearing me? Like I'm hearing you?

This is a test of the emergency posting system. If this were a real emergency, this post would be accompanied by a Muppet-esque freakout. Arms flailing and everything.

But there are no Muppets here. Today, anyway.

I'm just testing out the mobile blogging features of my iPhone. I'm planning on participating in a certain annual posting fest, but I'll be out of state for more than a third of the month! So, it's time I fully embrace my iPhone snobbery and actually maximize it's functionality.

And just to make this fluff post even fluffier, here are this year's costumes #1 and #2. One for my real job, and the second for the haunted house I volunteered to work in last night.





Happy Halloween!

-- Posted from my iPhone, because after 10 months with it, I'm surprised I haven't already

'Cause I'm a woman, W-O-M-A-N!

I saw it for the first time just before midnight on Saturday. A dark little creature, scurrying across the far wall in my kitchen. A little too freaked out to investigate for 20 minutes, of course it wasn't there when anymore. So, I went to bed.

Sunday morning, when it ran across the open floor, a furry grey body against white tile, I definitely knew I hadn't just been seeing things.

I had a mouse.

I jumped up to follow it/chase it out of the house/something besides just let it run amok. It seemed to dash into my storage nook but was gone by the time I worked up the courage to move the things on the floor. I did notice that the door leading up to the main house had a huge gap underneath, so I barricaded it and moved on with my day.

Sunday night, the mouse had the courage to run by my living/bedroom door, and it was on. I couldn't find it behind my TV stand, but even if I could, what was I going to do? Hit it with a broom?

I called my dad. Who put me on speakerphone. So that the he, my mother, and my brother could laugh at me when I meekly whimpered "Daddy . . . I have a mouse."

Then they confirmed what I already knew - it was time for mousetraps.

After freaking out the landlady (turns out mice are one of her worst fears and oh yeah, the last tenant had a mouse too, sorry I forgot to tell you) by asking if she had any and being told no, I decided that a mouse in the house was an ox in the mire situation, for I would not be comfortable just letting the mouse do its thing.

Not wanting to deal with mouse bodies, I chose the no-view traps, as well as a few glue traps, just in case. Within moments of setting them, the mouse went straight for one, rattled it a bit, but apparently walked away. With six traps littering the floor of my teeny place, I figured it was only a matter of time, so I relaxed and waited.

By 12:30 AM, still nothing, but as I went to brush my teeth, the little devil poked his head out from behind my bookcase, as if to challenge me. It wasn't long before I realized there was only one exit and if I put a glue trap right there, I was sure to win. So I did, with the mouse watching from the shadows. I went back to brushing my teeth, trying not to be to anxious about the whole thing. Less than a minute later, I heard rattling, then struggling. I turned around and saw exactly what I hoped to - a mouse not about to go anywhere anytime soon.

Unfortunately, I had to look the poor thing in the face as I picked it up and put it in a trash bag. It temporarily broke my heart, but really, it had to be done. Sorry, dude. My policy still stands - I don't try to live in your house uninvited, so don't try to live in mine.

None of the other five traps have any catches, so I guess word has gotten out among the mouse community. I prefer that way, as having no one else to take care of unwanted visitors is one of the unglamorous parts of solo living.

But I did it! And I'd do it again. Only bipeds live here.

To life! To life! L'chai'im!

I know haven't been around much the last few months, but if you spent two years tethered to your computer for an online MLIS (not to mention all the time on the computer for work), you wouldn't be on the computer as much as you used to be either. I've been out living my life instead of writing about it as much.

So what has that life included? Some mildly unexciting things - getting back into the gym more, discovering a new TV show - but enjoying those without doing homework at the same time. Have you ever tried highlighting journal articles whilst running on the elliptical? A little higher on the fun and exciting scale, I've also started a new modern repertory dance class. I was able to attend a ward retreat to the mountains of Maryland for the whole weekend, without thinking about school at all. I even attended a library conference (my first) in Gettysburg, PA.

Settling into this new, school-less life has just been lovely. I'm able to say yes a lot more, to spontaneous meet-ups with friends, to musical projects, to incredibly late social nights - not studying, to wherever the wind takes me.

The wind has been taking me in some very interesting places.

Just this last Saturday, I went, with a handful of friends, to the Maryland Rennaissance Festival for my fourth consecutive year. I'm pleased to report that a lot more women were wearing their corsets properly than in years past and that Hack and Slash get funnier every time. There's something to be said for variety in your performances (I'm looking at you Johnny Fox). I wore normal clothes (as I had last year as well), but with my lovely hooded cape.

In the late afternoon, I attended the ring ceremony/reception of two dear friends in beautiful Leesburg, VA. I'm pleased to report that even though I somehow managed to not put my car in park, it missed the BMW to the left and the small hill directly ahead and drifted directly for the one little tree in between. Since it was only six inches in diameter, and my car was only going two feet an hour, there was absolutely no damage to my car! Just my ego, and a small scrape on the tree. Heavenly Father was certainly looking out for me.

The wedding celebration was lovely (though, unsurprisingly, everything was just a little behind schedule), and I'm pleased to report that even though I was at a table where I only knew one other person (surprisingly, because I know friends and family on both sides) I made the most of it and got to know the youngest sister of the bride and a rather cute, male family friend. I even watched a movie with them after (in his car, because my apartment was too far away from her hotel at that late hour and she was sharing a room with her parents) and let the friend crash at my apartment for the night before driving back to Richmond.

And that was just one day. Last night (or this morning?) I met Mr. T at his place after he got off work at midnight for a movie and some Xbox and didn't get home until after 4 AM. Today (thanks to Columbus day) I ran fun errands to places like the theatrical makeup store in DC, Michael's for a diploma frame, and Staples for a white board for a short film I'm directing this coming weekend. Then I went to the gym, folded laundry, and washed dishes, but that's not exciting.

Life, my friends, is good.

I run for hope

It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! While breast cancer has never personally affected my life, it's still an issue that's close to my heart (literally). So, when I was given the chance to donate to the cause and get new hair extensions to show my support, I jumped at the chance!



I kind of love my hair even more than usual right now.

For my DC-area friends, you can do the same at Zoe Salon & Spa in Fairfax. For all women, early detection is the key! For everyone, find out how you can help by going here.

Who knew?

I wrote this for something else (and mostly for myself), but I thought I'd share it with you too.

I was living every good Mormon girl’s dream. I was finishing my B.A. at BYU (class of ’05!) and discussing marriage with the perfect man. Life couldn’t be better. Until, four days after my 21st birthday (because he didn’t want to ruin the actual day for me), he just wanted to be friends. I thought my poor little heart was broken forever. When my missionary came home that summer (yes, I was one of those girls) and, within a few weeks, told me the same thing, I knew I was a goner. Those were two of the worst days of my life. For the next year, I had convinced myself that no one would ever love me again and I might as well just sit like a lump on the couch.

And sit I did. How else does one watch all ten seasons of Friends in less than two months?

The Lord, however, had different plans and, in July of 2006, I found myself driving across the country to take a job just outside of Washington, D.C.

Turns out that those horrid days from which I thought I’d never recover are actually a blessing in disguise. Had I married either of those young men, I would probably now either still be in Provo or Madison, WI, doing whatever it is the wives of graduate students do. While I have nothing against more regular access to amazing hikes, Wisconsin cheddar, or being a stay at home mom, and heaven knows I would love to be married, I am extremely blessed that I get to live my own life for a while first.

The immediate blessing is the scads of free time I have to myself. There’s no weekly coordinating of schedules. Dinner is when and what I want. I am the only one I have to consult with when deciding what movie to see. Spur of the moment weekend road trip? Bring it on. Would it be more enjoyable to have company or to have someone be decisive when I can’t, at least once in a while? The time I drove to and from Nashville all by myself (24 hours of driving and a wedding in three days, yikes!) says yes. I’ve learned, though, that I don’t mind doing things on my own. Having someone to talk to after seeing a movie together is certainly nice, but since you can’t really talk during the show and the only people paying attention to who is around them in a theater are others who came alone, it’s perfectly okay to fly solo to a movie or anything else. (I have also learned, however, that if I want restaurant food for dinner, I call in an order for pick up.)

Even more important than having the opportunity to do what I want when I want is the time I have had to really learn about myself and who I am and how much I can accomplish on my own. I didn’t know, for instance, that I wanted to be a librarian when I grew up. Luckily for me, the chance job that moved me to D.C. is a librarian position. Not only have I loved my job for three years now, I just completed my Masters of Library and Information Sciences. I was able to do an accelerated program because of my single status. Of course, now that I’m a librarian with her own apartment and even a pair of reading glasses, I’m only short the cat owner part of being the crazy cat lady.

I’ve been to Europe, twice. I’ve put over 18,000 miles on my car in the last 15 months alone. I read 54 books last year. I’m learning how to rock climb. I am making friends with dozens of really fantastic people, both men and women. I’ve gone on some amazing dates, and some not so amazing.

It’s possible, even probable, that I would have learned and experienced some of the same things with a husband in tow. I know women who have. But, the last three years have been incredible and someday in the future, when I am finally married with a multitude of kids, as long as I make the most of all this “me time”, I won’t look back and think “I wish I had _______ when I was single.”

Is it easy? No. Do I have this perfectly optimistic attitude all the time? Of course not. But with Heavenly Father’s help and my own faith, I know that all this wait will be worth it. In the meantime, life is for living, and I’ve got a lot of it to do.

Tomorrow, tomorrow

In library speak, I was hired to plan and carry out a retrospective conversion of the entire library, getting everything onto the computer according to MARC standards, and provide a more automated library system. Of course, my boss doesn't actually speak library speak, so I was just asked to "update the library" and "get everything on the computer". I was shown around for a day or so and then let loose.

After three long years of planning, self-training, hundreds of questions, cataloging, item building, shelving, sweat, tears, and yes, blood, it's completed to a level satisfactory enough that I'm ready to start letting teachers use it. I'll be unveiling it tomorrow during the annual fall inservice meeting.

The library system may be ready, but I'm certainly not. I am little worried about the 15 minute (except I was asked today to keep it to 10 if possible) 40 slide Powerpoint library instruction presentation, naturally. I'm more concerned about the system. I'm still doing a lot item building (getting the circulation system to point to the catalog records) on the fly, so requests are taking a little longer than usual and not everything is going to show up in the online catalog yet and my phone is going to ring off the hook and everyone is going to hate me.

Except they won't. Everyone is on my side. Library catalogs aren't exactly rocket science and most of them won't really be learning anything new tomorrow. The teachers have known this is coming for as long as I've been here and have been just fine with little changes I've made along the way. It won't be a seamless transition, not by a long shot, but it should still be rather smooth.

This project is my baby, and now it's time to trust other people with it. And it's going to be okay.

Of course, it would be great if I could have another month before school started, but that won't happen. Also, it would be really helpful if I could get a good night's sleep tonight, but that probably won't happen either because two things that keep awake at night are stress and knowing I have to get up really early in the morning. Both at once? Could be interesting.

Now, while I'm having a stressful work week, I'm having a great music week. I spent a lot time last week cleaning up my personal music collection, and even found some great things I'd either forgotten about or didn't know I had in the first place. I'm rather pleased about that. I've also discovered a new station on Pandora (Glee Cast Radio) that's just delightful.

And this song, Aicha by Penn Masala. I love vocal a capella and they do it well. Plus, there are even some Hindi and/or Arabic verses here! As always, I hope you like it as much as I do, though I apologize for the poor quality.



So, if you could think positive thoughts for me around 9:00 AM EST tomorrow, that would be swell.

Haven't seen you for a while

Dear Amanda,

Where are you? We haven't seen each other in over three weeks and I'm a little concerned. I'm sure you've been out doing adventurous things now that you aren't tied to your computer for school. I've even caught wind of a few them - you're a boss now, your Masters graduation, your WHOLE family visiting you for the first time EVER. But does all that really mean we can't chat anymore? I know I'd love to hear your stories.

So, I hope you're well and everything with you is great. Hope we can catch up soon!

Kindly,

Your Blog

Relax, take it easy

Tonight was my first full evening at home post-Emancipation Day. It's not like I've never had a non-homework evening in the last couple of years, but even if I did take the night off, it was always in the back of my mind. I've also had some school breaks, but I'm always traveling over Christmas, May 2008 - fixing my compy and buying a new car, August 2008 - Grandparents!, May 2009 - setting up the new apartment and logging HOURS of solo driving.

So, yeah, quiet nights at home without big projects looming over me is quite nice.

How did I spend my night of nothingness?

I . . .

• Practiced a song I'm singing in a few weeks
• Grilled a couple of pounds of chicken (microwave, add veggies, instant dinner for a week)
• Folded laundry
• Worked on catching up on my Google Reader (down to 88 from 150-something)
• Watched Mystic Pizza (recorded from AMC) and HawthoRNe (so THAT'S what B/C-list TV actors do over the summer, guest star on random cable shows)

Tomorrow night? I'm reckoning more of the same, but add one workout and possibly some writing.

(Since I told you I'm going to the gym, maybe I'll actually go . . .)

I'm free-I'm free!

I know you've probably forgotten by now, since I really never talk about it, but you know how I've been in school for the last two years? Well, I submitted a 17-page single-spaced report on Saturday morning, and, just like that, I'm not anymore. It's both completely surreal and completely awesome. Unlike Canadian Dave, a friend since high school and a fellow MLIS-candidate, I have had a few enthusiastic shouts of joy and I've certainly happy danced. More than once. He's right about one thing though, that the biggest sensation is one of relief. I. Am. So. Relieved.

I'm also really energized. Unlike the last time I finished a degree, I'm not depressed and burned out. I'm single, childless, have a good job, and live in one of the greatest metro areas in the world. I don't want to let that go to waste. There are things to be done, and I'm going to do them.

Remember this list I made in the beginning of this school experience? Time for a new one.

Things I Will Not Do

• Watch 10 seasons of anything in 2 months, unless it's while I'm doing something productive, like knitting
• Become complacent
• Become too reclusive
• Stay up far too late writing papers (at least not for the foreseeable future)
• Do another accelerated degree program (2 is enough, thank you)
  
• Pay for another degree (scholarships/fellowships/free tuition benefits whilst working for a university - all welcome)
  

Things I Will Do

• Continue to kick butt at my job (or any job)
• Finish this year's book challenge (so what if I'm only on B)
• Work on my other goals for this year
• Keep dancing
• Tour DC
• Write
• Perform
• Socialize
• Travel
• Keep learning things
• Explore other career and educational options (yes, I am thinking about a Ph.D. and/or a second Master's)
• Enjoy my life, whatever comes my way

DC friends - I'm up for adventure! Time for fun things!

Non-DC friends - I still have a futon that's just begging for visitors, and I'd love some people with whom to play tourist.

Everyone - here's my graduation present to you, this week's SOTW. I've lost track of how many times I've listened to this song, and the video is just delightful.



Life is awesome. I enjoy living it.