I love the feeling of real ground under my feet. None of this pavement, man-made junk. Just the squish of the mud, the give of the earth, the cool dampness of the dew, the scratches and scraping and roughness of the grass and branches and pine cones and dirt. Walking on the real earth beats walking on the sidewalk any day. Through the snow you get that light, fluffy feeling around your ankles, brushing your legs, enveloping your feet. Through the grass you get that grounded, deep seeded feeling that comes only from being connected to this big sphere we live on. I get tired of hovering over the Earth on this fabricated layer above the ground. We sit on chairs, we sleep on beds, we walk on pavement, we stand on floors. What about the ground? Sit on it, lay on it, jump up and down and feel it move with you. Feed off of the earth beneath your feet, and feel Spring growing up through every fiber of you. Try it, take off those rubber and canvas walls between your feet and the reality of nature and experience.

You know those times when the whole world seems to come down on your head? Nothing in particular is going all that wrong, but nothing seems to be going right either. No relationships are right, no situation is good, no way seems any better than any other. All you want to do is pout and cry and sleep. Nothing makes you feel better, no amount of being told it'll be okay or remembering that at some point things usually round themselves out or praying for answers or comfort.
Then something little happens, and you can smile again. Like talking to someone you thought didn't even remember your name. And having them seriously want your advice on something, and a favor. Like they had actually thought of you before this chance meeting, and finally gotten a chance to ask what they had planned. The refreshing taste of unexpected care brings a smile and a laugh, carrying a little light into the dark room your day had been.
The people who knew you were down and tried their hardest don't mean any less because this random person happened to have the magic potion. To put in a cliche, "God works in mysterious ways." You place all your happiness on one thing, and that, for one reason or another, isn't helping you get out of your funk. Then Jesus winks and some random kid and a piece of pizza put your world back together again.

Last night was awesome. For the first time since I can remember, Kathleen Jennica and I just hung out all night. Granted, Kath fell asleep at like 9 and all we did was watch Trading Spaces, Iron Chef, and do math homework during commercials. But it was still awesome to have the three girls back together again. It smacked of last year (bad tv and homework in Kath and Paula's room), but with better seating. Beds not 6 feet in the air and a nice chair work much better than the three of us on the floor. Plus, I haven't watched Iron Chef in what seems like forever, so that was just great. Sakai totally rocked this French guy, it was sweet.
Then today, the sun came out. It was my favorite weather ever, about 70 degrees, sunny with a nice breeze. We spent the entire afternoon in the Pine Grove, and I swear there wasn't a break in the frisbee golfers the entire time. Just plain glorious outside. And Jennica approved of my choices for her blanket which is in the works. Hopefully she'll like the finished product as much as she likes the yarn and the pattern thus far.
I really hate Madison, they are taking forever to get back to me on course requirements. And I really don't want to end up having to take a zoology course this summer, that would suck.
I agreed to dance at some church on Easter morning, and I'm all anxious because I dont' so much know the piece I told them I'd do. So little time to get it together...

Alright, I guess I should go back to my reading of Aristotle. Just to let you know, if you're short, ugly, a woman, or poor, you simply don't have the capacity to be happy. Sucks to be you, I guess. Oh wait....

"Do you think it's hitting the mean to wear your hair half up?"

"The power of spit"

"If you're ever called upon to make an ester..."

"soapification"

"A protien takes a certain time to do its moves"

"It's always good to finish with a Van Gogh picture."

My mom sent me this email today about suggestions on how to make a sermon in church more enjoyable. They were very funny. My favorite:
Slap your neighbor. See if they turn the other cheek. If not, raise your hand and tell the preacher.
Some other funny ones:
Try to indicate to the minister that his fly is undone.
Choose a different song than was announced and begin singing it as loud as you can.

I was very amused.

"In the beginning, God created hydrogen and helium..."
Ah chemistry class, how you screw up my worldview.

Things I learned on my Spring Break:

Babies are great toys. They are funny and fun and cute and cuddly, they laugh, they are soft and nice, they make great teddy bears, even when they are squirmy. They keep you warm and make you feel like somebody needs you. And my nephew is one of the best babies like ever.

Being spoiled by seeing my boyfriend for almost two straight weeks makes me anything but eager to be back at school without knowing when I'm going to see him again.

Reading Aristotle is nearly guaranteed to put me to sleep, regardless of how many hours of sleep I've already gotten that day.

There is nothing on tv in the daytime. After about 4, then it's okay. After about 5, tolerable. But from about 10am until then, just crap.

I get a headache after forgetting my medicine for 3 days. If I ever need a headache for any reason, I'll be sure to stop taking my meds 3 days prior. Like clockwork.

I crave Cadbury Cream Eggs during Lent. Can't get enough of them. Bought 8 the other day, they were gone in 2 days. Any other time of the year, though, and they are only okay. But before Easter, and a couple weeks after, they are all I want.

Buy yarn at stores that sell other things too. It's about 10 times less expensive.

Shopping with the Pauks is actually fun. I hate shopping, but those girls made it enjoyable. I can hardly believe I spent 3 hours in a mall and didn't want to strangle anyone afterwards.

Hope's campus with no one in it is beautiful. Makes me never want to have to go to class, but just to sit around and enjoy how nice it is. Essentially, I just don't want to go back to class.

Since last time:

Recovering, sleeping, hanging with my boyfriend, studying for two exams (one passed, one failed as expected), not eating in the caffeteria, not doing anything too stressful. That's about it.

This week:

Time with the nephew, sister, and brother in law, more time with the boy, more sleeping and nothingness. Sounds dang good to me.

Injuries sustained in the last 2 weeks:

Bruised knees: at least 4 bruises on each knee from kneeling and standing and kneeling and standing repeatedly; one nice big one on my right knee from landing face down out of a split-leg tour jete

Bruised hip: also from the botched tour jete

Bruised tops of feet: both my pointe shoes and my ballet shoes are giving me bruises from the drawstrings; the repeated kneeling and standing is taking its toll on my feet too

Cut toes: pointe shoes = no fun for feet

Overstretched ankle: yet another injury from that tour jete to the face

Bruised ribs: Jeremy is an okay partner, but he holds on so tight I'm afraid he's going to snap something, namely my floating ribs on the left side; also, that tour jete fall landed me right on the front of my left ribs, so I'm nicely bruised all the way around

Back issues: who knows what part of my back will be hurting at any point during the day, nor how many times it will crack from doing anything from sitting in a chair to flopping back in a backbend pose at the end of Amanda's piece

There are probably more, any movement is at least a little painful at this point, but I can't exactly pinpoint them. Just a couple more days of this.

My life right now:

Dance 30 ~ in 2 pieces, really lots of work and time and soreness, and long hours, but getting to the fun part (the actual show)

School ~ I cannot pass anything to save my life, already dreading finals week

Dance 30 ~ see above

Work ~ my girls were good last time I was there, but I'm missing out on 2 weeks of class this month because of the show and spring break so I'm losing a lot of money that I really could use, and it's harsh to leave my students with someone else

Lent ~ the sprintime of the soul, I've given up eating when I don't have time to sit down, I really wanted to give up homework, but if you see above you'll see that that would only make life worse

Dance 30 ~ see above

Labs ~ I don't have to touch my cat for a whole 3 weeks, darn amazing, and chem lab is over!!!!

Rich ~ he's cool, and coming to visit, and I want him to be here already

Dance 30 ~ you get the point

Just gotta make it to spring break.