I believe...

In hugs. In humor. In God, and in His infinite love. That fiction often holds more truth than reality. In family. In the friends that become family. In traditions. In unconditional love. In working hard, and playing hard. I believe in stay on the couch in your pajama days, and in get up early and accomplish things days. That one person can change a world. In the transformative power of an outfit. In music. In the American Dream. I believe that dogs can grin. In truth. That travel can change you. That people can change you. That ideas can change you. In dreams, and in chasing after them. That everyone is entitled to one irrational fear, but only one, because more than that and you get ridiculous. In art. In silence. In Christmas lights. In Christmas. In dignity. In indignity. I believe in beauty, whether it's a blossom, a child, a word, or a building. In poetry. In having people spoil you when you're sick. In spoiling people when they are sick. In watching and rewatching movies if they make you laugh. I believe in words. I believe that when you tell me something, you mean it. In optimism. In fireworks. In looking for the good in everything. In poetry. In right and wrong. In opportunities. In remaining true to your own beliefs. In acceptance. I believe that watching a kid learn to hit a baseball is one of the greatest joys in life. In siblings. In being friends with your mom. In inside jokes. In counting shooting stars. In warm blankets. I believe in road trips. In girlfriends. In my boys. In education. In understanding. In glamour. In hard work. In laughing it off. In planting flowers. In sunsets. In moments. In planning for the future. In living each day fully. In giving thanks daily. In supporting out troops. In supporting our president. In rereading books until the cover is worn soft. In making people laugh. I believe in my mom's love. In my dad's silly jokes. In my sisters' understanding, and in my brothers' protectiveness. In my friends' loyalty. In God's promises. In noticing new haircuts. In self-reliance. In knowing when to ask for help. I believe in celebrating. In dancing. In living.

Opposites weekend

Friday night and all day Saturday-bad.
Sunday-amazing.

Friday and Saturday-worked the friday night shift, went home and spent the night getting the crap kicked out of me by my doggie nephews who don't know they're too big to share a bed, then worked a double filled with pissy coworkers and hordes of holiday shoppers on top of the usual Saturday craziness. Bad points also include finding out that I couldn't use christmas lights and ornaments when I decorate at work this week, buying snacks and being too tired to eat them by the time I got home, realizing the whole dry-winter-hands thing has started, and spending another night getting kicked, shoved and woken up by my aforesaid doggie nephews. Side note: I love these dogs more than you would believe. I just can't stand sleeping with them.

Sunday: got to church only 3 minutes late (which is 2 minutes early in Glenn time) got to see some of my besties and had one bestie come home with us and hang out this afternoon. Listened to my new cd that Ben made for me- awesome. Both the cd and Ben, I mean. Spent time with Uncle Timmy and Aunt Mel. Had some cheap strawberry wine, eggnog and coffee (not at the same time) and Tate's amazing chocolate cake. Sugar overload, what? Browsed the newspaper and found that a cd I've wanted to find is at target AND on sale. Remembered a favorite version of a Christmas carol, which has now been added to my playlist. By far the best thing about today though, was hanging Christmas lights with my dad. We haven't always hung Christmas lights at this house. I remember at our old house, being little and looking out on this big, primary-colored bulbs. You know those ones that are considered to be a little bit retro now? Those ones. But this house isn't conducive to Christmas lights hanging. This house does not have a straight roof line reachable by stepladder. Nope, to hang lights at this house, you have to use a very tall ladder on very uneven ground, getting poked and scratched by multiple vindicative bushes perhaps getting back at you for the pruning you did this summer. But that's what we did a few years ago, and it's been a tradition ever since. Untangling the white icicle lights and lining them up in neat lines on the driveway, setting up the ladder and getting to work. We make a pretty kickass lights-hanging team, if I do say so myself. Like, if hanging Christmas lights was an art, my dad and I would be the masters. Dad hangs the lights on the really high parts, I hang the lights behind the bushes, and we do the rest together. Slipping the wires around each hook and carefully stretching out each white strand. Making the inevitable run to the store for more Christmas lights. Hanging a giant wreath on the huge oak tree by the windows. Finally stepping back and admiring our work-a bright white glow envelopes the house in perfectly slightly-looped strands, and peeking out from the wreath are those big, bright, colorful bulbs, almost exactly the same as the ones I remember. You know that saying "Some things never change?" I'm glad that Christmas lights are one of those things.
It's not really the lights that makes "lights hanging day" one of my favorite days of the year, though. I do love my Christmas lights, don't get me wrong. I love driving in after work and seeing them light up the yard, and I love looking out at them with a cup of hot tea in my hand and being surrounded by my family and feeling like there's nowhere in the world that I'd rather be. Why I really love lights hanging day is the fact that I get to do them with my dad. With his insanely busy schedule and my mildly crazy one, we don't get to spend a whole lot of time together. When we hang the lights, we get to talk and laugh and listen to Christmas carols. We watch our fingers turn cold-purple together. (Did I mention that ladder is metal? Holding onto it in the interest of self or dad-preservation ensures self and dad-preservation, but it's mighty cold.) We get to catch up on stuff we haven't gotten to say, and we get to spend time together with just him and I. And I wouldn't trade that for anything.

All sorts of random goodness

Today is a miserably gray, cold day. I have a crap ton of homework to do, a shift in the writing lab ahead of me and not enough change for a soda. But I'm in a fantastic mood! Reason for this mood include, but are not limited to-

1. My discovery of an awesome, makes you loud out loud blog at waiterrant.net. A formerly anonymous waiter spills about what serving is like in a upscale restaurant in new york, working as both server and manager. Funny, funny stuff. If you work or have ever worked in a restaurant, it's hilarious. Sit in the comp lab grinning like an idiot at the computer screen funny.

2. Updating my playlist to include Christmas carols! yay!! I know some people think it's too early (read: most people) but I can't wait to put up Christmas lights and make Christmas goodies and see all the decorations at the mall and all that good stuff pertaining to holiday cheer.

3. The fact that I'm quickly catching up on the homework that fell by the wayside over my amazing weekend. Side note: the weekend was worth the catch up time! Hanging out with the whole family, celebrating my dad's last day at his job and a lil bro's birthday, watching my brother in law's fight (who did awesome), having a photo shoot in the christmas decoration aisles of Target with Tate and laughing like idiots...good times and worth every moment of the desperate catch up that I'm playing now. Well, not *right now,* cuz I'm blogging. But the catch up I'm supposed to be doing. That I'm gonna go do now.

A good day.

What a day, huh? Record voter turnouts. A historic election either way. Free coffee from Starbucks.
I voted. I filled in the bubbles and that was it. What's done, is done, right? All that's left to do is pray and keep my fingers crossed that Indiana and Virginia turn red. It's a strange, teetering feeling. This time tomorrow, we'll know who our next president is going to be and our whole world could shift. Wow. Yikes.

On a lighter note-getting up early actually means I accomplish stuff on my all-day days. Tuesdays, I usually get up, go to school, go to work, come home and go to bed. This morning, I got up, voted, went to Starbucks (see: above.) did some birthday shopping, bought and listenened to a Christmas Carols cd all the way to Ankeny and then to school. Working in the writing center listening to someone say she wasn't sure where to vote. (maybe that's something you should've figured out before November 4th, hmm?) Then off to work, then home to watch the election results. So this Tuesdays more than a little fuller and a lot better than most.

Also, I found out Tate did an amazing job on her literature midterm and made her big sister proud, AND she and I came up with an absolutely fabulous, fantastic, wonderful idea that has me excited for the month of November.

Anyway, first-time voting, free coffee and unexpected girl time makes for a pretty awesome Tuesday.

Hello, cold season.

I hate colds. Not as much as I hate the flu, but I hate every runny nosed, foggy headed, tired, achy, irritable minute of having a cold. I hate going to work with a cold. Every minor grievance or petty annoyance, every b-witchy customer or complaining coworker, everything that usually gets brushed away in light of how much I really do like my job-yeah, with a cold, i'm too short tempered to deal with it and end up wanting to scream and/or cry. I'm too foggy headed to be as on top of things as I usually am, and that annoys me too. Mom made me some horrific death-potion that's supposed to cure what all ails you. Lemon, garlic, honey, fresh ginger-it doens't sound too bad, does it? well, it is.
However, the fact that she hand grated and chopped and peeled all these ingredients for me is what makes me feel better. As are the mashed potatoes she made, and the box of teddy grahams she bought me. Little kid, what? :D
Well, I think pajamas, peppermint tea and watching a good dvd are in order....

~Sickie

Optimism

Reasons to be happy today include, but are not limited to,
The beautiful weather. Bright blue sunshine and a temperature so perfect I didn't mind the walk from Elings to Rasmussen, even with my ginormous bag hitting my knees and attempting to cripple me.
Happy memories. In philosophy class today, instead of thinking about Descartes, my mind inexplicably picked up on a memory that made me smile. For the life of me, I don't remember what it was-just that it had Tate and I in it and we were laughing.
Good music. Melodies wrapping around you, blocking out the world when you want to simply by turning the music up. Plus, you look cool with headphones in and you know it.
My favorite clothes-my sister jeans, my striped lightweight sweater and my yellow converse. That's like pulling on a smile and a hug at the same time.
The fact that Tate's gonna be here in 30 minutes so we can go get soda and chill in the writing lab before I have to tutor.
The fact that after *that*, i'm going to go celebrate one of the coolest girls in the world's birthday, at my favorite restaurant in the world, with some of my favorite people in the world.
and then after THAT, I'm going to go to a cooking club with my big sister, who also happens to be one of the coolest girls in the world, and also happens to be on the short list of my favorite people in the world.
Lists. Not many things can perk me up than making lists of reasons to be happy, or keep me organized like lists of all the crap I have to do, or make me feel guilty when I ignore them than lists do. I still like them.
That I just found the absolutely-perfect-Christmas-gift for some of my people, and perfect bday presents for Tytom and Richard.
That the $50 purse I've been coveting is now $12.50 on Target.com/clearance. Yippee. Good things DO come to those who wait.
That I've been blessed to be able to go to school. Even though I whine about homework, and heaven help you if you speak to me on Friday between 7 a.m and 12:50, I do love this place and everything I get to do. Keep your eye out for the new issue of Bifrost, GVC's literary mag, coming out in the spring-guess whose name is gonna be under the "Editor" slot? This girl.
Opportunities. Whenever I see something cool or artistic or beautiful or admirable, I think "I wish I had gotten to do that." Then I realize I've got all the time God's given me to do just that. I could learn to play the violin, I can watch those films and read those books, I can write that story, and I can travel wherever the heck I want. I can volunteer my time, I can learn to quilt, I can rescue a puppy. The world is pretty much a limitless possibility at this point, and I still have my family to come back to to ground me. How many people can say that?
Grape soda. This one needs no explanation.
Good hair days. Neither does this one.
Trick-or-treating. I can't wait to take the sibs out to hear them tell lame jokes and giggle and get handfuls of candy, especially since I've placed dibs on all the Snickers.
Getting homework done ahead of time. I am thisclose to having all my homework done that's due between now and Monday morning. Two response papers and one journal entry to go, and this girl is a free bird.
Thanksgiving. Can I put this one on here when I've just put down trick-or-treating? Actually, it's my list, so I'm gonna go ahead and put the day before Thanksgiving on here too. There isn't another day in the year that I'm as happy and secure as when I'm standing in the kitchen with my mom and sisters the day before Thanksgiving, baking up goodness and listening to christmas carols. Then comes Thanksgiving itself, which is full of cinnamon rolls, parade watching, more food, Day-after-Thanksgiving ads, and the best part-being surrounded by family and friends. And it's *justaroundthecorner.*
The fact that I'm 2/3rds of the way through the semester, and after that, only one semester left til I graduate. I love what I've learned and gotten to do, but I am ready to see what comes next. Real life? Grad school? Homeless-with-an-English-degree? who knows, but I can't wait to find out.
The fact that we get to vote next Tuesday. When you think about how few the years between now and when some of us didn't get to vote, it makes me that much more thankful for the opportunities we have now. No matter who's elected in 6 days, I'm still going to be proud of this country.
The fact that Brandon and Ty are coming home from IA city for the weekend in 1.5 weeks.

Well, I guess I should get back to that whole homework thing. But I'm keeping the headphones in, cuz even though I'm not blogging anymore, I still want to look cool.

Awkward Turtle

So I realized today-my life tends to be a series of awkward moments. Pretty much whatever I do, I realize at some point that some aspect of whatever I did could have been done better. Then there's always that period of decision-should I go back and explain myself, or try to subtly bring it up in conversation so they'd know what it is that I really meant, etc, etc. Maybe I should just drop it. Maybe I should blog about it in the hopes that people will read it, and the next time I do something stupid, they'll be like "Oh yeah...Bri said she often does stupid, awkward things. That's just her. I'm sure she didn't mean to blow me off or belittle me." That's really my hope of what happens.

I also realized that my reading list has grown and grown and grown, but I'm not knocking stuff off very fast. So I'm going to write it down and possibly add to it, and just maybe actually get reading.

1.Winesburg,Ohio-Sherwood Anderson
2.A Farewell to Arms-Hemigway
3.The Old Man and The Sea-also Hemingway!
4.In Our Time-Hemingway again.
5.The Sun Also Rises-the last of my Hemingway list.
6.Maggie-Stephen Crane
7.The Red Badge of Courage-Stephen Crane
8.The Natural-Malamud
9.Anna Karenina-Tolstoy
10. The Grapes of Wrath-Steinbeck
11.Tortilla Flat-Steinbeck
12. Collected works by Flanner O'Connor. (Note: I have bought copies of most of 1-12, using my prize money from my poem. That was about two years ago. I have not read them.)
13. Not My Will. The book from Katie that I borrowed probably a year ago and haven't read yet.
14. Brisinger. 170 pages in to a 700 page book. Read in the 30 minute intervals that I'm doing, I might have it done by Christmas. Thankfully, my friends thath have read it understand the importance of NOT SPOILING THE ENDING.
15. Mere Christianity-C.S. Lewis.
16. The Year of Magic Thinking- Joan Didion
17. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure-Can't remember the author
18. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius-Dave Eggers
19. Of Mice and Men-Steinbeck
20. Secret Life of Bees-Too lazy to look up the author
21. The LOTR trilogy- J.R. R. Tolkien
22. Something, ANYTHING, by James Joyce, basically so I can say I read him.
23. Something by Salman Rushdie, for the same reason as 22. And because I think I can name-drop and sound pretty pretentious.
24. Pere Goriot- Honore de Balzac
25. Moby Dick
26. The Great Gatsby
27. To Kill a Mockingbird
28. Slaughterhouse-5
29. Love In the Time of Cholera
30. Water for Elephants (just because I'm behind on reading the NY Times bestsellers that were hip and cool to have read and talk about a year ago (example-20,29,30...) doesn't mean I don't want to read them and be hip and cool TOO.)
31. Lolita
32. Animal Farm
33.One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
34. Reading Lolita in Tehran
35. The KJV Bible, all the way through
36. Most of Shakespeare's major works
37. One Hundred Years of Solitude
I think that's where I'll stop for now. Yes, I am an English senior, and I have not read those books on that list. That was basically a 37-point admission of guilt right there.

I shall also start a list of books I want to add to my collection. This is not a hint for birthday presents, it's more just a reminder to myself so I can keep track of the books I'm coveting. Pretty much, anyway.
1. The Chronicles of Narnia
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. The Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson collections of fairy tales. Notably, the ones at Borders that are beautifully bound and presented, at $19.99 each. I have coveted these for a while. I would not mind these ones as a birthday gift.

I guess that's really it for now. I'll wait to add to this one after I've read the ones on my other list and decided if it's worth owning.

What a strange tangent this post took.

...

...I am so tired today. My wonderful, crazy-filled weekend has caught up to me. Blech. On the plus side, I did just finish a Spanish quiz in 15 minutes, because I'm awesome. AND i'm fairly caught up on homework so I don't really have to do any homework today, also because I'm awesome.
The girl next to me is looking at photos on the computer, and unexplicably, I keep looking over there. I think I'm weirding her out.
Has anyone seen the lineup for movies this fall? all i can say is Yippee!! or i guess I could also say YAYYY!! "Holla!" might also be appropriate. There are some truly fantastic looking movies coming out, AND i just found out that Leatherheads came out on DVD last month! So much goodness, I don't know what to do with myself! Except maybe stop by the movie store tonight!
Oh, and I hope everyone notices that I added new music to my playlist, and I finally uploaded the 500 pictures on my camera, so yesterday was productive. Yes, I do qualify doing these things as actually accomplishing something.
I think it's time to go get some caffeine. at least i ALMOST made it to noon without it.

I wanna know...have you ever seen the rain?

How many times do we go through our day without stopping to consider all the fantastic things going on? Entire hours-days-weeks (!!) go by and I don't remember anything that happened. I woke up. Went to school. Went to the lab. Went to work. Went to bed. Repeated it all over again...but I didn't take time to take joy, and that's what we remember. When all I can remember about the week is the episode of The Office, I know something's wrong. Even though The Office is really, really funny. Example: Monday was an almost-perfect afternoon. We got to test-drive a Mini, go shopping and go to dinner with my sisters, mom and aunt. The Good-new clothes, girl time, pizza, zipping down the freeway... The Bad- Courtney couldn't make it, and they wouldn't just give me the car. Something about "profit" or some such nonsense. Anyway, long story short-it was a fantastic day. So how come when I think about this week, that seems so far away and yesterday's mad dash of fruitlessness seems much clearer?
Today, I saw a small white dog, dressed in a black and red plain jacket, running in mad circles around a tree. But the tree base spread so wide and his legs were so short that he was running on the lower part of the tree, seemingly avoiding gravity. Every so often, he'd stop and leap impossibly high, as if this time, this time, THIS TIME, he'd get high enough to catch the squirrel. I stopped and watched and wished my sisters could see it with me, because I knew it'd make them laugh too.
Today, I drove to a gas station to get a drink. I figured, Hey, I've got time, so I took the longer way around. I twisted through tree-lined streets and tidy houses with my window open and the beautiful fall breeze coming in and it made me relax just a little. I could have gone to the cafeteria to get a drink, but why pass up the opportunity for a drive when the weather's this nice? Also, I would have missed hearing one of my fave Third Eye Blind songs on the radio and a new song that I decided I loved. I would have also missed seeing a fantastic representation of East Des Moines in the form of a short, curly haired white she-mullet. And who'd wanna miss that?
Today, I finished the draft of a paper not due for days. Me, the great procrastinator. Now all I have to do is polish it up, and I can enjoy a Saturday off from work to the fullest without it hanging over my head all weekend. I could think about the fact that I still have to study for a American Literature midterm, or my Spanish test on Monday, but right now, I'm just looking forward to my fantastic Saturday plans.
And I wonder why I'm so content today. Nothing has happened that makes it different from any other Wednesday spent balancing school and work. I got up just as early. I missed breakfast again. I went to all my classes and had to listen to the same stupid student that I always do. I think the reason I'm so happy today is that I've looked up and noticed my world around me, and it's pretty frickin beautiful.
In this season of change and uncertainty, nobody knows what's going to happen next. We can read the polls, we can watch the weather, we can wonder...it's still all up in the air. So if we can't predict the future, why not enjoy today? Go notice something funny, or clever, or beautiful. Give someone a hug, or tell someone you like their necklace. Read something. Watch The Office. Ignore the headlines for just a day. Pull on a hoodie. Take time to take joy, and see what you remember. That's what I'm gonna do.

hurumph.

Today, the sky can't decide if it wants to be a gorgeous brilliant blue Autumn-in-Iowa fall sky that makes you want to run and breathe it all in, or the white-gray Autumn-in-Iowa sky that occurs when there's just enough chill in the air to make you wear a hoodie and drink some tea or hot chocolate and curl up with a book or music or a dog or all three. It's a weird in-between stage, like it can't decide what it's gonna be. Which, naturally, means we don't get the best of either of the two scenarios. Which, just as naturally, means I'm slightly bummed and very tired and sitting here listening to depressing music which, although beautiful and melodic, isn't helping matters any. So I thought I'd make a list of things that tend to contribute to the bummed-out feeling, or just outright torque me off.

1. Slanted journalism. This one's been on my mind for a few days, ever since I read a NY Times article about Palin. Obviously, journalism is *rarely* completely unbiased. But when you're the New York Times, shouldn't the fact that you've reached the pinnacle of your profession mean that you're good enough to write the straight up facts like you're supposed to? I don't care which way it's slanted- if I want an opinion, I'll read the Opinion section. Not the front page.

2. People that expect me to think they're funny when they're really, really not.

3. Bashing on law enforcement. Maybe this should be a subdivision of slanted journalism, but it's outside the world of media too. Where do these people get off thinking that they can judge what our police officers do? Have they done it? Oh right, you've watched Cops. That does make you qualified. I forgot.

4. The fact that I never tell people to shut the heck up when that's all I really want to do.

5. The fact that I found out that I didn't have my first class AFTER I got up early and got there.

6. Being tired pretty much all the time. Nobody ever told me that was part of the whole "being a grown up" package. I think I'd prefer my childhood vision of adulthood, which consisted of having a dream job and making like, THOUSANDS of dollars, and having lots of time to go do cool grownup things with friends.

7. Homework. I know, everybody has to deal with it. But that means everyone knows what I'm talking about, and it sucks, right?

8. Knowing there was something you were thinking about and it was important and all of the sudden,you can't remember what it was in the first place.

Okay, I think that's pretty much it for now. However, to counterbalance the whole negativity bit, there ARE things I'm very happy about. I'm off to a cooking club with my sister tonight, where we'll get to share food and stories and fun. The Office starts up again tomorrow-more pam and jim goodness and dwight ridiculousness to laugh about. Class was cancelled this morning. I still have a third of a strawberry soda and an entire package of dark chocolate peanut m&m's to get me through my shift in the writing lab. (sugar crash, what?) homemade macaroni & cheese! My sweet playlist at the bottom of this blog. I'm almost caught up on homework. Knowing I'll be with my favorite people ever in 1.5 hours. The fact that the clouds are pulling apart-looks like the sky decided to be sunny after all.

Perfect, or as close as it gets...

I don't think too many people will say their life can't get any better. I mean, I know I would say my life could get better if I published a novel within the next three years and was able to travel the world and got accepted into the Workshop without hardly trying and did all the millions of things I WANT to do. But then again, I'm pretty sure I don't need any of that. Actually, I am positive I don't *need* any of that. It might be nice. It *would* be nice. But I'm sitting here today in the math lab at school and thinking about how many things/people/experiences/days make me happy. Like the fact that my Pepsi came out from the machine really really cold instead of the lukewarmish it usually is. Or the fact that my mock interview/final is over and I aced it and now I have one less class to juggle this semester. Or yesterday, when my sisters and aunt and I took my mom out to dinner for her birthday at a awesome little spot downtown, and then walked next door to starbucks and sat outside drinking our lattes and laughing. That's pretty much nirvana right there. Even work, which sometimes gives me a headache or the sudden urge to cause bodily harm to someone, right now? I'm actually looking forward to working tonight so I can hang out with my coworkers before I get the next two days off. Weird, right? And then there's all these opportunities for me to follow up on. Even if it's just researching the opportunities right now, the fact that I can follow up on them and explore all the paths before me is pretty frickin sweet.
So I'm going to try to remember these things on the days when the only thing that makes me happy when I get up is that I get to go back to bed that night. The days when my soda comes out warm when all I really, really needed was a cold caffeine/sugar jolt to get me through the next class. Or the days when a coworker or customer makes me want to scream and/or cry and/or quit.
I'm going to try to remember this feeling of being absolutely happy, because my life is absolutely perfect. Or at least as close as it gets.

And to further the procrastination...

Alrighty here, folks. If I can just push this for 36 more minutes, I will have successfully avoided reading my American Literature homework in the time slot I had allotted for myself. Why would I give myself an alloted time slot if I wasn't going to use it, you ask? Well, my answer would be to not ask stupid questions. There is no rhyme or reason to my procrastination. In fact, I'm well aware of the fact that if I only did my homework when I told myself I was going to do it, I'd be more likely to have time to do fun stuff like see my family and friends, watch movies, and sleep. Instead, I like to stretch a one page response paper over the course of four hours, interspersed with lots and lots of facebook checking,(note: not much changes in four hours. In fact, I don't think anything happened in those four hours, but I still kept checking just in case.) getting up for snacks, sitting back down, getting up to take care of the snack plate, taking off with my brother in law to go look at a car for sale, etc. You get the idea. At my little sister's nagging, I finally finish the first response, and promptly write the next two page response paper in twenty minutes cuz I was tired of sitting around "writing." So I'm capable of turning out papers. Actually, I'll be honest (read: full of myself) and say I'm more than capable; I'm really good at turning out papers when I want to sit down and do the work. Unfortunately, I usually don't "want" to do my homework. It's gonna be a long semester. And a long 27 minutes while I find something else to do to avoid that homework.

Joining the 21st Century, folks!

Reasons I finally decided to join the masses and start a blog.

1. Everybody and their brother has one. And by everyone and their brother, I really mean two of my sisters and my brother in law, so I thought I'd join them.

2. I want to share the inner workings of my extraordinarily creative, on-par-with-Plato-philosophically brilliant mind with the world. I'm pretty sure that this will be the start of a future filled with many award-winning works and quite possibly saving the world. I'm looking forward to it.

3. This is one more tool to further my efforts at becoming the worst homework-procrastinator in the world. By the worst, I really mean the best.

4. Really, though, I like to write. I like people to read what I write. I like people to like what they read when they read what I write. So I'm hoping that blogging will allow me to freely write what I want, and for you to read what I write and then tell me nice things about it. :D