Things that are obnoxious at 8:50 in the morning
Let's try the guy that is using a leaf blower directly under my window. For the love, people, it's 8:50 in the a.m. I'm already up, so it's not like the leaf blower sucked precious minutes of slumber from me, but all the same, I believe mornings should be quiet.
For real.
Other Obnoxious Things
The fact that I have two tests today -bleh!
The fact that I don't care how mountains form, I just want to get the test over with!
The fact that I got about three hours of sleep due to studying for aforementioned Geology test, and have yet to study for my J 200 test!
And the most obnoxious thing:
I've been drinking instant coffee -- this is not the answer. There may be a hint that it is meant to be coffee, but in the end, instant is just an imposter. It's like buying Dr. Thunder instead of Dr. Pepper -- it just doesn't make the grade. But I will probably continue drinking it, which is the most shameful thing of all.

You ever get to feeling restless?
I've been feeling that way for a couple days now -- not restless like, "Gee, wish I was going somewhere tonight", more like "It's time to be moving on".
Certainly, living in a dorm contributes to this. A tiny room, in a tiny building, with a community bathroom, and a plaque on your door that proclaims you "responsible, University chosen, quasi-adult". You'd be amazed at what that plaque on the door does -- people knock at any hour day or night, will sit down and make themselves comfortable when you're clearly doing something else, i.e. studying, or getting ready for bed, etc.
It's my third year in a tiny room, with institutional furniture, and community bathrooms -- and it's starting to feel a little closed in.

The Pick-Me-Up
I was feeling restless this evening until my parents called. There are many things that my family does well, but I think that laughing is our expertise. It always has been -- my memories are filled with images of my family gathered around the kitchen laughing hysterically. Just talking with my parents cheered me up, and I'm in a considerably better frame of mind.
They've had a quiet weekend in Dallas. Apparently Mom has been trying out new recipes, and this week they've sampled fish and chicken amandine to great success. When I lived at home the only recipes Mom tried out were casseroles -- what's the deal?
Anyway, I'm thankful for the conversation tonight, and the laughter.

Definitions
Omnium-gatherum: a miscellaneous collection, persons or things
Farrago: confused mixture; hodgepodge

My Dad brought these words to my attention, and I hope to use them this week in conversation.

Last but not least
The Missouri Tigers triumphed over the Red Raiders today, 62-31. It was a great game of football, and it's nice to actually have a decent football team to watch.
So this goes out to Clint, deep in Lubbock (aka "the armpit of Texas") -- Nana-nana-boo-boo, we won, nana-nana-boo-boo! (Please imagine annoying sing-song voice)

Things that are currently rockin' my socks off!!!
~My brother, boy genius, once again wins the "coolest big brother ever" prize for commenting on my blog. He's just about the best brother around, and I probably wouldn't trade him in -- maybe. Thanks for always taking time for me, yo!

~Quiet places to study such as 309 D -- a more hospitable abode you will not find, and it has such character with the slanting floors.

~Operation Walkie-Talkie -- Sorry, can't say more than that -- it's top secret, but it's super cool!

~My friends calling me to watch a movie this afternoon -- I can't imagine a lovelier way to spend a Monday evening than watching "Down with Love" (I recommend it) and eating Chinese food with some of my absolute favorite people.

~My Mom sending me a Norah Jones CD -- it was just what I needed today.

~Encouraging e-mails from the Burr, who let me tell you, is an amazing Spanish teacher, and one amazing woman, that I'm unbelivably blessed to know.

Who needs a box?
I tend to live in a box. I like things that are safe, reliable and predictable. You have to admit, stability has a lot going for it.
On the other hand, if you live in a box, never pushing at the walls around you, life tends to be, well, safe, reliable and predictable. You have to admit, never moving beyond your expectations can be boring.
I've always had friends who loved to danced, and I've always been slightly envious of them. It's certainly more comfortable to stand at the edges of the dance floor making snide and cynical comments. Comfortable, but drearly dismal.
It was rainy and cold last night, and Joanna asked me to go dancing. So, last night, I tried something that I'd never done before. The music was loud, and the club was smokey, and I probably looked like the biggest, silliest goof on the face of the planet. I smiled the entire time we were there.
The great thing about my friends is that they never stop pushing me. Gracious knows I never would have gotten the idea to go dancing on my own. So my thanks goes out to Dylan who asked me to go in the first place, Joanna who talked me into going, and Scott who looks oh-so GQ model-esque on the dance floor. When are we going again?

3:07 a.m.So I danced -- ain't that something. I'll write more tomorrow, but suffice to say:
My life astounds me -- I'm so beyond blessed in the people I know. My friends teach me things everyday, more than than they even realize. It's 3:07 a.m., and I've just had a great day, full of laughter, and music, and ear-to-ear grins.

It is a rainy Thursday night, and I am fixing to go dancing with Dylan and Joanna -- I have never been dancing -- Here's to adventures!!

As my dad would say...
When anyone in my family is in a grumpy mood, we refer to them as a "grumpy dog", for example "Sara is a grumpy dog today". As with most of my family quirks, I suspect that this one started with my Dad.
All that to say that I was kind of a "grumpy dog" today. I sat on hold with the people at McGraw-Hill publishing trying to get my Geology textbook, I engaged in an e-mail conversation attempting to make an appointment with my advisor and finally ended up getting a slightly snotty e-mail and a meeting after my registration date, and to top it all off, I was not nearly productive today as I needed to be. Plus the food at Twain was, as usual, mediocre.

Not a complete loss
Despite being in a semi-grumpy mood, today was in the long run pretty decent. I finished reading A Prayer For Owen Meany today, and was pleasantly surprised by a book I didn't expect to like. I ran into my friend Mel and had a pleasant lunch with her. I ate chips and salsa with Corina, Jenn, and John, and we all just about peed our pants we got to laughing so much. I also played hackey-sack in the hallway with Anna, which I think was a nice diversion for both of us.

Speaking of Hackey-Sack
I own a hackey-sack (I don't know if I'm spelling that right) -- at any rate, it used to belong to Jacob Greenan, but I absconded with it, and now use it for juggling. Note: I've never been adept at actually playing hackey -- so of course, yesterday, Anna, Erin, and I decided to kick the hackey-sack around. We're all pretty terrible at it, but we had fun, and I fell on my butt which gave us all a good laugh. We played again today, and I think we might be improving -- but not by much. But we did succeed in collapsing in fits of giggles.

On the cusp of coolness
I've been thinking about starting a blog for sometime, I figure it'll be an interesting experience if nothing else. But once again I find myself way behind all of my friends, who seem to all have blogs. I highly suspect that by the time I post a couple of entries, the fad that is blogging will have passed me by completely. Such is life.

But why this day to start a blog -- that's simple, I'm obviously avoiding the reading for J 200.

Who needs ambition?
Ambition is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. Well mostly the fact that I feel like I have no ambition. I told a couple of friends last night that my life goals were to write, play my saxophone, and speak Spanish. I have no idea how those activities are going to put food on my non-existent kitchen table.
But seriously, I had to fill out yet another of those "get to know you" sheets for reslife the other day, and under the question "what to you want to do after school" I paused and thought for a second. My eyes wandered to the sheet of the girl next to me who was busily writing in pink pen, "After I graduate, I want to go to NYC, become editor-in-chief of a magazine, or be a super-freelancer". I looked back to my paper, and wrote, "write, move to Alaska, teach - maybe". Shoot.