Feather by Feather

My dad is dressing as the Pope for Halloween. We also said "Hola" at the exact same moment on the phone.

Is everything going to finally be good?

I have contacts! I can see individual leaves! This is so cool!

On that note, I am getting new glasses soon (I hope tomorrow).

Coconut Thai Chai tea is both delicious and fun to say aloud. Look around (Go ahead, I'll wait.) If nobody's around, say to yourself. Then smile.

At Goodwill I got a black version of my lighthouse/windmill necklace. I think I've actually never explained the importance of this to a single person. Ask me when we meet again.

I need goggles for Halloween. If you can lend me some, I would be well-pleased.

I made delicious crêpes with yummy food like:

--homemade pineapple syrup

--apple butter

--strawberries and cream

--turkey Caesar

--chocolate, caramel, and cream

I also created green tea crêpes and put honey on them. I checked, and people have basically done this before, but I didn't know that when I thought of it. In the future, I'm going to try other teas and coffee.

The lesson here is that my house is awesome and you should come hang out here.

I've been miserably sick for the past week and a half with the flu and/or stomach virus. Then this happened:

[Conversation about fevers and diseases]

Emily: I don't know! I'm an English major, not a doctor!

Me: That's why you're useless!

[Emily smashes a pillow on my face. I cough.]

Me: Great. Now my germs are all over that.

Emily: [throws pillow across the room.] We'll have to burn it.

Me: [wistfully.] It'll be like "The Velveteen Rabbit"!

Emily: Then it'll be a REAL pillow!

<3

I am something like discontent, but I am also happy.

I like everything that I am doing. My classes, my clubs, my jobs, my writing are all enjoyable, rewarding work, but work nonetheless. And, it isn't that it's too much. I've had a lot of work lately, but it's all work I want to do. I'm in the mindset that "Slow and steady wins the race." So, I'm on top of it.

My situation is strange. For the first time in my life I really feel calm and competent. In many ways, this past summer was not what I had hoped. Upon occasion it was wretched, but aside from two major catastrophes, the things that would have wrecked me before didn't touch me. I know what my goals are and I feel like I'm right where I ought to be (I am legitimately writing a short story and my portfolio is coalescing bit by bit). The trouble is, these are long-term goals. They won't see fruition for two to ten years. Excepting the Prism, my cat-rescue plans (Anyone interested...?), and getting my license(if that happens), I don't have a lot to look forward to in the near future. Besides, all those things seem like a continuation of what I have already begun. I crave something completely NEW.

Suddenly, nothing's good enough. What's up with me? Maybe I'm itching to leave school, ready for adventures, but I can't imagine what's out there that I'm missing.

Like I said, I love everything. I just want more to love.

Notes: My brother went to court Friday for shoplifting. I haven't heard from my parents yet about that or the other charges. He'll be 18 in fifteen days. This demands a party.

LARPing this weekend was wicked fun.

Cabell, Emily and I have agreed to try a new restaurant or go out every Friday. All are welcome to join us. This weekend I think it'll be the Muse, then King's Island (or Osaka's). Also, RiverViews on Thursday night.

Here's a bit to catch you all up on my recent life. After last weekend I was ill for about 4 days but I am well now. Nightly John, Chris, Julia and I have been watching the Harry Potter movies in order to get Chris ready for the sixth movie. During the day I have mostly been reading and writing books include a couple books of poetry, Ethan Frome, Einstein in Love,a book on evolution and morality, Sylvia Plath's collected letters and a few other things. Sylvia Plath made some fairly obnoxious or inexplicable statements (at a resort "the working class is also dirty {littering}," etc.) but she also expressed a wish to be omniscient at the same age that the notion occurred to me;no one I've ever said it to got what I meant.She said a lot of good things about writing in general but unfortunately I dislike much of her writing. As for me, I've begun 5 poems in the last two days. I feel productive.Plus I found several renown poets I like(Dana Levin, Gregory Orr, Gerald Stern) thus affirming my sense of aesthetics.I will apply to UVA and have decided to apply for the peace corps after gettong my MFA. That's basically my life for any who were wondering. BTW, please pardon any odd formatting--this is John's phone.

This summer is amazingly similar to last summer, better in a few regards, but worse in others. Like most of my life in the past, I have no internet, so I do miss you all passionately. I do despise summer. Like last summer, I have not found a job. I have sincerely been trying though. I have gone to over twenty places and spent three hours yesterday walking around. On the plus side, I know this city now.

I have been passing my days in writing, reading, wandering about, and playing Exile. As soon as I get some money, I can add cooking and saving kittens to the list.

So, I probably will not have time to type up everything right now, but I'll try to get the highlights.

Friday--I spent almost 20 hours on the greyhound bus. I'm going to start looking into planes. It can't cost too much more.

Saturday--I got home. I hate it. My room is so gross and pungent that my eyes watered when I went in there.I washed my hair overhe  the toilet becaue the tub is ful of black water. Nick turns 18 in September. If my parents do nothing, I'll have to do something.

Vacation--It was beautiful. I swam in the Carribean Sea and got a bit of a sun burn. I bartered with the merchants and got some cute stuff including silver strawberry earrings. My poem about strawberries is nearly done now, among others. We went deep-sea fishing; I caught a red snapper, a rainbow trout, a tuna (?) and a few smaller things. I didn't get to help reel it in, but our party caught a huge white marlin. It took over an hour. I was somewhat sad because the woman who hooked it did not understand how important it is. I spent hours reading by the ocean and finished "Of Human Bondage." It's a lovely, accurate book. My copy is from 1915, so I ought to check if it has any particular worth.

Thursday--I got back pretty late. Sadly, I slept through the lightning storm on the fight back. Since I had no place else, I slept in the car, but the weather's nice so it was kind of like camping. The roses aren't in bloom yet and the lightning bugs aren't out yet. My dad got paid today so I won't have to fret over money for another couple of months.

Today--I've been hanging out with Kathryn and Derek (<3!). I tried fondue for the first time and it was yummy. I miss Virginia a lot. It's definitely home now.

More later.

The other day I went by the bookstore in Harrisonburg. There are always free books outside and I have a penchant for antique books so I picked one called "Silverwood." It was published in 1856!

Turns out, the author is Margaret Junkin Preston, "the Poetess Laureate of the South." She was married to Major John T. L. Preston and she was Stonewall Jackson's sister-in-law.

Epic win.

In less than 48 hours, I'll be on my way to Mexico.

When she wanted me to pet her more, she tapped me twice on the nose with her paw. It was the cutest ever.

In other news, I will briefly appear in Lynchburg on Friday before I take the Greyhound bus (for 15 hours) to Ohio. I am kinda of concerned because I had to pay for it. This means that my parents owe me $600, assuming we split the price of the ticket and if I insist on them paying for my passport. I think I will. $100 is food for the month and maybe a dentist visit. I am flying to Houston at 4:30 am Sunday morning for a layover. It will be my first time on a plane.

I feel sort of guilty for going on this trip. If i had the money that the company is spending on it, I'd use it for far better things.

My grades went up to a 3.6. It is probably too late to get the 3.75 I wanted, but I'm still pretty happy with this.

Oprah's hosting Dane Cook today. My first thought?

"BrOprah"

I just made you cringe, didn't I?

Good job Katie!

Good job J. J. Abrams!

I think I've got this summer hammered out, minus a few crucial details.

Emily, Cabbie, Tree, Natalie, and I just ate a giant cupcake.

I'm pretty damn happy. All my love to all of you.

It must be weird dating Kanye West, considering that the radio is still playing the songs he wrote about his ex-fiancée.

(I actually really like all of his songs.)

I have sort of decided to go to Staunton for the summer since I can't get a job here in Lynchburg, it costs just as much as an apartment to stay at LC in a dorm room, and I can't get around well on foot. Also, Lynchburg bores me.

If my parents pay me back, I should have close to $1000, enough to get me by for, say, two months. It's bizzarre how this suddenly seems much less impossible than it did before, and I wish I'd felt this way sooner. It helps to know that I've got good friends who won't let me die.

Not sure yet if ths is really going to pan out, but I'm going to apply tonight to a job online. It's some sort of health service position...I'd be feeding old or disabled people and cleaning? The job sounds painful--they warn you ahead of time that you'll have to deal with difficult people and circumstances (you can imagine, I'm sure), but considering that, the pay shoud be good and it could be an interesting experience. When I work up my courage, I'll call about apartments.

The advertisement I just heard said "Don't wait any longer! Get the body art you've always wanted! Sport a new look for summer!"

I guess "Sport a new look for the next sixty+ years of your life!" would be less convincing.

I'm so glad! ^_^

The Mysterious Eternal Illness (hereafter "MEI") sucks. I don't want to do anything but sleep (Because it hurts. I don't think it's mono).

Here are my symptoms:
--body aches
--constant headache (on and off since Saturday)
--nausea
--slight sore throat
--slight congestion in throat
--slight runny nose
--slight sneezing and coughing
--hot flashes
--chills
--fever (Teresa said I had one Monday night and I think it broke while I slept, so it wasn't there when I saw the nurses).
--swollen lymph nodes

Health Center diagnoses: Allergies

Allergy symptoms:

• Sneezing, the most common symptom, may be accompanied by a runny or clogged nose
• Itching eyes, nose, and throat
• Allergic shiners (dark circles under the eyes caused by restricted blood flow near the sinuses)
• Watering eyes
• Conjunctivitis (an inflammation of the membrane that lines the eyelids, causing red-rimmed eyes).

Notice how two (I'll grant that allergies can give a person a headache) symptoms match and they completely ignored everything else I told them. Their half-ass explanation for the rest of my symptoms was "Whenever something is different with your body, these things might happen." But then they admitted that the rest of the symptoms might be from a virus--you know, something contagious--but whatever. Have some allergy meds.

I've never really had a problem with allergies, besides a little sneezing. I understand pollen levels vary, but I shouldn't suddenly have a huge reaction. I usually get allergies in June. The nurse told me that things bloom here earlier (by two full months?) despite the fact that I got sick in Manasses, three hours north, where things were not blooming yet.

May I point out that it's thirty-odd degrees today and I'm burning up? Yeah.

Pah.

http://birdandmoon.com/birdandmoon/complete.html

I love getting something exactly the way I want it, even if it's at two in the morning, even if I have an exam the next day. Earlier tonight I was trying to describe why I am an English major. It's because I just spent 45 minutes vacillating between the words "dust" and "powder" and had to choose from five adjectives that mean "like a star."

I chose the phrase "sidereal dust." It sounds a bit silly out of context, but, trust me, it's right.