Turkey

Back again from the abyss, although my unfinished final papers are calling sadly from the innards of my computer.
I hosted my first ever holiday meal at my own place... it was nothing too fancy - just mom, sister, and me. We did eat a lot of great food. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of our feast. Fortunately, they left me with ALL of the leftovers (and YES, I actually eat leftovers!)
The family left early Friday, and I've been hanging out here by myself since then. Both roommates are gone, celebrating with various relatives. I'm attempting to get homework done here, but mostly I have succeeded in putting off that homework by feeding my vacationing landlord's fish and deranged cat, staring at my mini fiber-optic Christmas tree (just put it up today), and playing LOUD music and singing at the top of my lungs (which I rarely get to do anymore since I'm rarely home alone).
Songs of choice for this music festival include "Next to you, Next to me" by Shenandoah and "How Long" by the Eagles. Shhhhhhh. I'm awesome. Currently listening to some Grateful Dead (not singing, because let's face it, I just can't sing like Jerry Garcia).

Getting excited for Christmas. I blame commercials I saw during the football game on Thursday, and of course, the all-Christmas music radio station that I came across yesterday. "Jingle Bell Rock" will be in my head once again this year, like every year, until January.
No money for gifts this year. Not with my graduate student salary. Also wondering how I will survive the California trip without funds, but looking forward to it anyway.

Nothing too interesting has happened since I was last wrote here. Oh, we're out of butter, and I keep forgetting to buy some. That's something...

OOH! I downloaded the "Stumble!" browser application from Firefox, and it's really neat! I recommend it, with a warning that it will increase your time spent procrastinating on the computer (but so does minesweeper... and Stumble! is much more interesting).

That said, I'm off... Happy Holidays.

Okay, so I'm not quitting grad school...

Somehow, it is November. Don't ask me how that happened. If I had my say, it'd still be July. But since I don't have my say, I guess we'll all have to deal with November... the cold weather and gigantic pile of work looming in the future (for me, at least). I = busy... and this semester, my definition of "busy" has changed drastically. I'm sure I could be busier, but that level of busyness is hard to imagine. I love school. I never thought I'd be so bogged down with something and still be able to say that I *love* it. But I do.

Oh, and I have a thesis topic. And an adviser. This is so real, it's terrifying. If anyone wants to know about the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, the importance of the doctor-patient trust relationship, and the connections between the two... just let me know. I'll talk your ear off, I promise.

I solidified my status as a graduate student today when, before noon, I had written an entire paper from start to finish (it's Saturday, by the way). I'm fairly certain that it's a decent paper, too. This feat of productivity left me with a lot of time this afternoon that I should have used to finish my statistics assignment, start reading for my health policy class, and continue researching for my three final papers. Instead I... actually, I'm not quite sure what I did instead. I know I watched Steve re-pot some spider plants, and I put up some decorative mirrors in my bedroom. But it's past 4pm now, and I know those two activities did not take five hours.

By the way, I ordered Tom Petty's documentary from Best Buy a few weeks ago. It arrived a week after it was shown in theaters. I happily popped it into the DVD player and proceeded to watch the entire thing one night after stats... only to get yelled at by my landlord for playing music too loud (my first offense). Really though, LOUD is the only way one should listen to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I feel no remorse.

Life goes on.