my heart fell at your feet.

It's been raining for over twenty-four hours, and only now have the skies really opened up. Thunder is rolling and crashing in great booms. I'm slightly exhausted, slightly anxious, and slightly excited about things to come so I figured now is as good a time as any to give a little update on the personal side of life.

I've gotten a part time job at a store near my house. It's not particularly glamorous (i.e. not at all) and definitely not in an area that I want to pursue for the rest of my life. But it gives me something to do, a little money in the bank, and most importantly it means that I interact with all sorts of different people every day. In my relatively brief stretch of unemployment I discovered that not only does sitting around all day lead to inertia and an overall lack of desire to do much of anything at all, it also makes it unbelievably easy to succumb to selfishness and a rather sullen attitude. 

 
Just before Halloween I went back to my old university stomping grounds, to do some research for a line of thinking that I may or may not incorporate into my graduate studies (if, that is, I get into graduate school!). It was wonderful to see some friends that were still around campus and very nice to be doing something academic again 
. . . but I felt so separate from everything. Like every fiber of me knew that this place is no longer my sanctuary. That I had to move on, whether I want to or not (pretty sure I do). But it's little downtown area still holds a very special place in my heart, and is continuing the renaissance that it began my freshman year. It's become quite the little indie enclave, I'm happy to say!

But despite all of that, what I actually enjoyed most was wandering around by myself. I've started carrying my camera around with me everywhere and am trying to get into the habit of being able to take photos without feeling self-conscious. I'm not sure how it's going . . . it's just a little point and shoot . . . but I am starting to feel more comfortable with it! 

They now have a lovely store for knitting, crocheting, and the like. I tend to just do it for myself, but I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to knitting . . . I picked it up in middle school (my mom taught me) and I haven't really stopped. When I recently bought (my mom bought me) J.Crew's trench coat in dried parsley for my sister's upcoming nuptials, a knit scarf and mittens were clearly in order. The woman allowed me to quietly peruse the store, where I came upon this amazing hand-painted wool that I just fell in love with. I've chosen a moss knitting pattern (I believe). Essentially, you cast on as many stitches as you want in an even number, than do two rows of knit stitch, purl stitch, knit stitch, etc. and then two rows of purl stitch, knit stitch, purl stitch, etc, until you reach the length you want! I find that I prefer the simplest patterns . . . but that's probably because that's all I can do!


Here's a little progress shot . . . and I pseudo-made my bed, just for anyone who might come across this!

Anyway, that's what's going on over here . . . a bit of cooking, a bit of knitting, a bit of studying, a bit of applying myself. A whole lot of waiting for life to start. But that's ok! As long as it doesn't take too long . . .