Shiny.

Monday, December 31, 2007

Will has gotten me addicted to Firefly (and Serenity). I've watched the first two disks of Firefly (Blockbuster lost the last two, and I ordered it from Sam Goody's but I can't pick it up until Friday at the earliest) and all of Serenity. And I bought the collector's edition of Serenity. And I am learning it all by heart. Okay, maybe I am a sci-fi fan after all. (Which reminds me, I think I'm going to ditch the book list idea and add an all-consuming box to my blog...the only thing is, I suck at keeping up with any of that stuff.)

My birthday was lovely :) I spent the night at Rick's - we had dinner at the stir fry place and did birthday and Christmas at the same time. Becky and the kids came down for Christmas and we cooked ridiculous amounts of really, really, really good food. I am wishing now that I had taken pictures. We also drew our own Christmas tree, since I was lazy and poor and did not even get to Walgreen's to pick up a tabletop fiberoptic one this year. It was fun, though - the kids enjoyed doing it (but they are such perfectionists).

I did a few things as gifts and also a frame for Will's graduation picture that he sent me - they are up on the site, which is also redesigned, by the way :) I am also planning to get back into IF - I want to do a collage for this week as soon as I recover some from my epidural this morning and get some sleep. This is the second shot in two weeks and it has made me way more sore than the last one did. The happy meds were fun, though (for the short time they lasted).

Hopefully tonight Mike and Sarah will be coming over. I'm not going to get too wild and crazy, but it's nice to be doing something for New Year's, anyway. I wrote resolutions last night while I couldn't sleep. Linsey has also been inspiring me to read the Qur'an - and I picked up a book on Sufism with my Christmas bookstore money (Rick cannot be persuaded to buy handmade - he's totally commercial - but bookstore money is always appreciated nonetheless). I also picked up some of the thinner, light-cardboard bound Moleskine journals. I am going to try and journal every day. I know I always say that, but this is my year. AND I am taking a knitting class next Saturday and the Saturday after at Wooly Bully!

A single star is shining across the evening sky...

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

So, it has been forever since I have posted here. I have been slacking. I know. ;) But good things are happening!

The semester is over! It's both a blessing and a curse. I got straight As for the first time in awhile - maybe my doctors are onto something with this whole giving myself time and not overdoing it thing! I am really looking forward to next semester - I'll be taking Public Speaking (my last lib. studies class), Women in Buddhism, East and West: Images of Self and Other in Literature and Film, and Women in Africa. I'll also be taking Tibetan and sitting in on Sanskrit and Tibetan and Himalayan Religions. I'm really looking forward to everything.

I finally got in with the pain management people over at the new hospital, and it was just amazing. The doctor there explained some things to me that no doctor has bothered telling me the last 15 years I have been struggling with this back injury - including that there is actually a way to help me. So I will be getting two big huge injections into my back (scary, I know) and maybe one more depending on how that goes, and hopefully that will relieve some of my pain in the short term. I am so excited! Rick is taking me for my first injection tomorrow morning. He has been really supportive. The second one will be on New Year's Eve. Hopefully by this time Thursday morning I will be feeling much better, though!

I am hoping to have some time to work more on my art over the holidays. I did a watercolor last night for my cousin Kerin - I'm at the library now but I'll post a picture of it later. I would also like to get back into doing IF. I found out you can do a financial aid deferment on art supplies at the school bookstore, so I bought tons of canvas - I am planning to put it to good use over the next couple of weeks! I also got some more oil pastels...I really like working with them and I am much more adept with those than I am with painting. I want to do more painting, but I feel like I can express myself much better through pastel, at least for now. My Tibetan class has been mostly about learning Tibetan through calligraphy, so I'd really like to take those skills and do some things with calligraphy over the break or early next semester.

I am also excited because I'm thinking about getting one or two more tattoos next month! I will also be switching out the jewelry on some of my piercings. So yes, good things are happening. Pain-wise things have been really difficult lately - it was getting hard to walk last week. But I am so hopeful and so lucky for the support I've received from my friends online and my friends here. I am also happy because my sister might visit for Christmas and we are thinking about cooking Christmas dinner...which reminds me, I have to come up with a menu!