Wow, apparently my world stopped between October and January...it's the only explanation I can have for no thoughts, stories, or concerns. Actually I've had more than my share of all those - life has come at me rather fast lately. And so much to tell, and no good place to begin. Perhaps that's my New Year's resolution - write in my paper and world wide journals more consistently (and more often - I recognize that consistence alone could mean every 5 months...). Maybe for once my resolution will actually be something I mean to do!
But to sum up the last four months...
October-January: Apply for Graduate School. I originally had about 6-8 schools in mind, but with little desire to go to half of them, and even less desire to pay $75 a pop for schools I didn't much care about, I whittled it down to 4 schools. Then one school whittled my selection down even more by having an unnecessarily early application deadline (and no wiggle room - at all), so I actually applied to 3 schools for their English programs - SUNY Stony Brook in New York, American University in D.C., and Arizona State University in, yup, Arizona. My main intention is to make my way East, whether its to New York, DC, or Boston, or something like that. But of course, it's difficult to not find ASU extremely attractive in the middle of winter when you wish you were hibernating with the bears and skunks (Bambi, anyone?). I should hear back about acceptances/rejections in February/March. I'm optimistic, but I'm certainly not holding my breath. Either way, come September, I'll be somewhere other than Utah. That's my big goal of the year - move.
December: Visit Abby and family in Arkansas. I spent Christmas and New Years with Abby and Devn and their two awesome kids, Ellee and Will. We had dance parties almost every night before dinner, tackling parties after to work off the meal, and great snuggles during the day while we watched such quality programming as Phineas and Ferb, the Backyardigans, and Little Einsteins, compliments of the Disney Channel. Can I just say, Phineas and Ferb is a treasure I've just learned of and am unashamed to say I've watched on my own since coming home, though I'm currently trying to kick the habit. Abby and I battled daily at Dr. Mario and quickly became obsessed with NBC's show Chuck. I wasn't huge into many tv shows before visitng Abby, but I've come home a changed woman. Monday: Chuck. Tuesday: White Collar (USA show recommended by Abby and my brother Chris). Wednesday: Psych (just got pushed up from a late Friday time, so excited!). Three weekly shows is a big deal for me, I don't know how I'm going to keep up with it all, but others can handle more, so I am determined to give what it takes.
January: Watch Ellee and Will whilst Abby goes to the hospital and have baby #3, eventually named Greg Brian. I got to go to the hospital about 2 hours later and meet the little guy - CUTE. We bonded, and I'm officially his favorite Aunt for life, being the first to meet him and all. If only he'd be able to remember that...
January: Get back to work and try to survive. This is an ongoing, monthly project. It's always a little shaky, but so far, so good. Come back for updates on that front.
I think that not-so-short short recap might catch me up for now. No fun bus stories - I must be getting used to public transportation, because there doesn't seem to be as many weirdos. Not quite sure what that says about me, and frankly, I'm a little nervous about the lack of strange people, but I'm going to chalk it up to riding during the peak travel times and having lots of corporate people with me. It makes me feel better to believe that.
