A few truths for a Thursday (NOT in order of priority):

1) I do *not* want to teach tonight. Not. One. Bit.
2) I am freaking out about finding a place to live in Ann Arbor for the fall.
3) The word of the day is Pete, and that makes all things substantially better.

Re: the first item....I'm kind of sleepy and definitely not in the mood for the Herculean labor it takes to get the Thursday kids to understand things. Maybe I'll let them out early.

Re: the second item...I know this is totally doable, really. I'm going to let myself have a little flip out time today and that will be the end of it. Sheesh, this take-responsibility-for-your-own-life crap is a lot simpler when you start a decent-paying job in the city where you went to undergrad and everything just sort of falls into place. Ah, well...people do cross-country moves every day, and so can I.

Re: the third item...how lucky am I? Very. How happy am I? More than I know how to describe intelligently. During a delightful conversation this morning over eggs, bacon, bagels, and espresso, I thought to myself "how is this possible? How did I find myself looking across the table at someone so amazingly awesome?" I don't know, but I it's been the best surprise to come my way in a looooong time. Life is awesome, stressors and all.

In addition to the awesomeness that is Pete, there's nothing like a chocolate chip cookie the size of your head to make things seem a little bit incredible. Damn, those are some good cookies.

I used leverage as a verb yesterday, and now I feel unclean. Ewwww....how could I?

In the April 20, 2003 list of Things I Don't Like, I discussed my dislike for Eminem and made a few derogatory comments about the nonexistent levels of his genius. The time has come for me to amend such statements. It's not that I particularly like his stuff, but I have a new appreciation for him and his brethren of flow. Recently, I attempted to write my own rap as part of a battle rap mishmash of sorts on the UCB. Whoa, dude, waaaaay harder than it looks. Both the rhymes and the flow were extremely tough to eek out. It took me about an hour to write, like, 25 lines, and they weren't very good. Funny, but not so good. Mr. Mathers, I find your attitude relatively distasteful but marvel at your skill. Sir, my hat is off to you.

It's a cliche and a half, but I will attest once again that sometimes the coolest things happen to you when you aren't looking. I mean, one day you're coming home from a run and accept a last-minute invite to join a group for dinner...and end up meeting someone really and truly awesome. I don't know what I did to deserve the past weekend, but it was off the charts. Thanks, universe, I needed that.

Sometimes I watch The West Wing to get excited about my own job. In a sad, sad stretch of my overexuberant imagination, I like to think that the staffers on that show are in some way similar to me in my day job. I’m wrong, of course, but sometimes it helps me feel charged about being a handler.

Then again, sometimes it just depresses me. Why can’t I work for Martin Sheen? My mom saw him in the airport once. She was heading back to Billings whence…I don’t remember. Martin Sheen was at a neighboring gate, checking in. Mom just sat there, but another passenger from her flight went running up to get an autograph. It was this woman who works in a consignment shop in Billings, and we’ve always thought she was weird beyond words. She always call my mom and me “girls” when we shop there, which just pisses me off. Dude, my mom has been 49 for the last 6 years…she’s not a girl. And quite frankly, neither am I. Whatev. Anyway, Crazy Consignment Lady runs up to Martin Sheen to get an autograph, but doesn’t have any paper (aren’t we in an airport? I love that the Delta people just stood there and didn’t offer anything to write on) so she pulls out a book and has him autograph inside the front cover. Except it’s not just any book, it’s her Bible. From now through the end of time, her progeny will cherish the Martin Sheen Bible.

Remember when you thought you could get pregnant from kissing? Thank heavens that was totally wrong.