More RBOC

• Yes, I'm posting yet another list of bullets. I know I've been a crappy blogger this year - I promise the next post will contain actual paragraphs! And transitions! Maybe even some continuity!
  
  
• I bought tickets to see Morrissey in April. Can I just tell you how bloody excited I am about this?!? Although it isn't his best and it was highly overplayed in the late '90s, this is one of my favorite songs ever. I love everything about it - the music, the lyrics, his voice, the serious hotness of Morrissey. There's nothing better than a sexually ambiguous, slightly surly British boy. :)
  
  
• I also love this song. He's totally still hot. :)
  
  
• I've been eating obscene amounts of edamame. I constantly crave it - does that mean something or am I just on a major edamame kick? (and no, I'm not pregnant)
  
  
• I had to shell out $180 for old parking tickets (city sticker related) I didn't even know I had until a few months ago (thanks to the incompetence of some clerk who entered an incorrect plate number & address). I would have just let them sit there (they were from 2001), but the boot number is about to drop from three to two and I'm definitely not interested in having my car booted.
  
  
• I've had a horrible headache for the last three days. Perhaps it's due to my unfortunate clumsiness - on Saturday, I accidentally banged my head against a very sharp table corner (and yes, I have a bruise on my forehead). Or maybe it's due to the detox I'm doing. It's nothing extreme (I'm following most of this plan), but my body may be in shock from the lack of sugar and caffeine.
  
  
• Despite the pounding headache, my classes are still going well. I absolutely love my Critical Thinking class - almost all of my favorite students are in it and I've now discovered the students I didn't previously know are also awesome. It's always such a rush when you have a group of students who are really into the class and make great contributions. I wish all of my classes could be like this!
  
  
• Apparently, our neighbors have decided our shared back area is a great place for them to store their garbage/recyclables (because it's just too hard to take them downstairs)... despite the fact that it explicitly states in the lease that this is prohibited. Being greeted by a mound of garbage every time we open the door is a great way to start the day. Sigh. Here's the view from our back door:

1/20/09

I spent most of the morning in the student lounge watching the inaugural activities with a group of crying college students and clapping children (brought in by the daycare teachers). I didn't think I would feel so emotional, but the combination of Obama's speech and the overwhelming intensity in the room got to me and I cried and cheered along with the students. I've never seen such diverse group so charged up and emotional on Inauguration Day as the one I joined today.

As I said the day of the election: I am moved, I am excited, and I am optimistic about our future in a way that I've never felt before. This is a change I firmly believe is for the better.

Happy Obama Day! :)

I can't help myself...

Yay! It's too cold in Canada anyway! :)

RBO Catching Up!

• I really didn't mean to take a blogging break, but between being sick, feeling sorry for myself, digging my car out of the knee-high snow, spending too much time on facebook, and prepping for the new semester, my blog was unintentionally shoved to the side.
  

• Today is our ninth anniversary. I told the story of our first date last year... perhaps one day I'll tell the story of our second date, in which I discovered M owned a waterbed (which freaked me out a little because my parents had one... yuck).
  
  
• I know everyone is already saying it, but I'm still going to put it out there - it's freeeeezing! The news proclaimed it to be "the coldest day in Chicago in ten years." I was planning to go to the movies today, but it's just too cold to go outside. Brrrrrrrr!
  
  
• Speaking of movies, I was finally able to see another on my list: Doubt is seriously awesome! I also watched P.S. I Love You when M went out with some friends - kind of cheesy, definitely predictable, but I still sobbed through most of it. :P
  
  
• Classes started on Monday - thus far, it seems like it's going to be a great semester. Two of my classes were canceled, so I'm only teaching three (yay!!) and I have many of my favorite students in those classes. I have an excellent schedule that does not include any night classes (this is the first time since 2004 that I haven't taught at least one night class), awesome students, and enough time to put in some hours at my second job (more money!) without sacrificing my nights or Fridays (we don't have classes on Fridays).
  
  
• Although I only worked two days this week, I am exhausted. I know it's partially because I'm still sick (it's at the end, but it's lingering), but it's mostly due to those two days of classes. What is it about the first week of the semester that is so draining? It always kicks my ass!
  

Still alive (barely)

Our apartment has turned into a giant germ factory. Both M & I are still sick and wallowing in misery. You know it's bad when M calls into work because he's actually sick (not a mental health day) - I can count the number of times on one hand that M has been sick since I met him nine years ago (he has one of those freakishly strong immune systems). He got out of bed at 8:00 this morning to call in and crawled back into bed afterward - I haven't see him since.

This is not how I envisioned spending my last week of break (classes start on Monday). I was supposed to hang out with various friends and was also planning to see a few movies. I've only managed to see one of the five movies I wanted to see over break (Milk is definitely worth seeing BTW).

On the positive side, I have lost four lbs in the last week, thanks to my diet of chicken noodle soup and clementines (the only things I've felt like eating). There has to be something good come out of this hell, right? :P

Insomnia > NyQuil

My insomnia issue decided to return right after Christmas and hasn't left since then... I haven't slept for more than three hours a night for the last week and a half. On top of that, I woke up with a sore throat/earache combination on Saturday, which quickly morphed into a full-blown cold by Sunday morning. I took NyQuil last night and hoped it would knock me out. Yeah, not even close. So, I'm now sleep-deprived, sick, and feeling hazy from the NyQuil. Yippee.