Sexy, right? Any way.

I enlisted the help of a very friendly sales associate who helped me pick out some new stuff that worked, and halfway through, our conversation turns in this direction:

Sales Associate: Now, I notice you’ve got some really dark under eye circles–I don’t want to point it out to be rude, don’t worry!!! You’ve just got such pretty fair skin that any darkness under there will show right up. Just bringing it up, since I’m a momma too, and I know how it shows when you’re tired.

Me: Ok, cool! Thanks!

It wasn’t until I was standing in the bathroom after my shower, prodding at my puffy, dark under eye circles, running this particular conversation through my head that I actually realized what exactly was said.

Oh. My. GOSH.

Do I really look so tired, frazzled and old that people think I have children?!? Do I?

I don’t have kids, obviously. But I am pretty exhausted all the time.

Does a thesis count as a sort of baby?

Yeah, this is how I feel during the spring semester. Thanks, Hyperbole and a Half.

But we all know that’s unlikely to happen. Once I finish the semester and have a nice long summer break, I’ll be ready to start my final year and begin applying to some other graduate programs so I can be a student until I’m 30.

I think part of the reason I’m feeling this way is because I already know I’m going to have a much larger amount of work to do this semester for all of my courses compared to last semester. Plus, this spring I have to develop a thesis proposal and defend it.

It also doesn’t help that Knoxville weather has been extremely disgusting ever since we’ve arrived back from Texas. There have been a very tiny amount of bright, sunny days with vibrantly blue skies, but mostly it’s been cold, rainy, gray, and just very, very blah. I’m pretty sure that once things start clearing up weather-wise, I’ll stop being so sulky and melodramatic all the time.

Once again, thanks Hyperbole and a Half for these awesome and crudely drawn pictures that exhibit my feelings.

Anyway, that’s that. In other news I:

• Lost my camera. It is probably buried somewhere beneath piles of crap.
• Have already failed at working out everyday, but I am playing catch up. There were days I was feeling crummy, just didn’t fit into the schedule, etc. So, once I catch up (which means I have to work out twice a day for the next two days) I’ll be well on my way to obtaining some lady weightlifting shoes.
• Started my second semester of grad school! I got off pretty easy last semester as class difficulty goes. The lineup for this semester is Research Methods, Forensic Science and Human Rights, and Advanced Criminology. Plus, this semester I get to figure out what I want to write about for my thesis, whether I want to stay in criminology or try for a PhD in anthropology, or if I want to take the Master’s and get the hell out of school and get a job.
• Got to watch over Sampson while Kaitlyn was at the AIA conference. He is such a sweet kitty! It makes me wish we were in a house so we could have another cat…or maybe a dog? I’ve been wanting a corgi for so long.

Get Healthier

Usually if I make a health-related resolution, it’s the vague and ambiguous “lose weight”.  While this is definitely something that needs to happen, it really isn’t going to get done unless I make some other changes first, such as:

• Drink more water. A hell of a lot more water. I used to rarely drink soda or sweet tea, but now those are my downfalls. Curse you, empty calories! I will be thwarted by you no longer!
• Cardio. Every. Single. Day. Something that absolutely needs to happen.
• More fruit+more veggies= awesomeness. This will start off by making sure I start every meal with a salad.

Reinstate Old Habits

Not everything I did in high school was awesome. In fact, I made a lot of stupid decisions. Most of them fashion related (anyone remember the rainbow knee-high socks paired with Chuck Taylors, old lady capris, and a Pirates of the Caribbean shirt? I DO.), but anyway. I did some good stuff. Stuff I would like to start doing again.

• Working out everyday, sometimes more than once. I would usually start off with Pilates, and then do about 45 minutes of cardio. This was often a workout video, since you really didn’t want to take a jog outside because people let their semi-aggressive dogs roam the roads. Anyway, working out everyday needs to make a comeback.
• Waking up early. In high school, I woke up everyday at 6 AM. Now, I’m up about 3-4 hours later. Holy crap! Imagine how much could get done if I woke up that much earlier. The days would probably seem infinite.
• Spending less time on the computer and watching television. Back when I lived with my parents, this wasn’t difficult to accomplish. Satellite internet only came along for us shortly before I left for A&M, so for much of my life at home we were stuck with dial-up. Since it took a couple minutes for a webpage to load, not much time was wasted on the internet. We didn’t have cable tv either, so we only had the 5 basic channels available in our area. Because I didn’t spend time on these things, I spent my days doing other stuff–studying, reading for funsies, writing bits of fiction, making all sorts of assorted crafts, riding my bike, working out, and so on.

Join the 500 Pound Club

Because if I can do that, I’ll be well on my way to becoming the fattest lady in the world!!

Just kidding, just kidding. That is totally not what I’m trying to do. The 500 pound club is a weightlifting thing, and it refers to the total of your bench, squat and deadlift equaling 500 pound or more. Here are my current stats:

Bench press: 90 pounds

Squat 110 pounds

Deadlift: 170 pounds

Total: 370

So, while I may not be too super far away from the total goal of 500 pounds, it will definitely take me awhile.

Now, if Kit gets me these shoes, I could make some serious progress on my lifting…

Good luck to everyone working on their own resolutions!

UPDATE: Kit said that if I work out everyday for the month of January, no skips, then I’ll have earned the weightlifting shoes. Whoo!

UPDATE AGAAAIN: So, working out everyday didn’t happen, mainly because school started and it took me a few weeks to establish a rhythm. But…once I reach the 425 pound club, then I’ll be picking up some of those bad boys (or girls!). That’ll definitely take me awhile.

• I graduated from Texas A&M University with a BA in Anthropology and History. A double major, and I still managed to graduate in 4 years! For my entire senior year, I was so ready to get out of College Station. Now that I’m gone, I do find myself missing BCS sometimes.
• I married my best friend in an awesome and gorgeous wedding at Surfside Beach.
• After aforementioned awesome wedding, Kit and I went on a Carnival cruise out of Galveston. It was a first cruise for both of us, and the Conquest took us to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. All of our expeditions were chosen blindly, and we had a totally amazing time on all of them. Another cruise in the future is a must!
• At the end of June, Kit and I packed up the cats and the tortoises and made the move to Knoxville.
• After enjoying lazing about for a month and a half (seriously, this was the first summer in about five years that I haven’t taken classes and/or worked) I started a Master’s program.
• I met some really cool people and made some really amazing friends this semester.
• I found that grad school is a totally different game, learned a ton of new and interesting things, and finished up my first semester with what I think are pretty decent grades considering this was my first semester of grad school and I don’t even have a BA in sociology.
• About a week and a half ago, we packed everything up and headed to Texas to visit my family. Seeing everyone was definitely the highlight of the trip, but seeing the King Tutankhamen exhibit at MFAH was absolutely fantastic. I always wanted to be an Egyptologist, so that was absolutely thrilling.

———-

Typically with a New Year’s Eve post there’s a section on resolutions, but I haven’t gotten around to hammering mine for 2012 out yet. So, you can expect a post lining those out in the next few days or so. As far as my 2011 resolution of not worrying so much, I think it went pretty great. It may have affected my grades for my last semester of undergrad (quite a few B’s), but I think overall I became much for laid back. For instance, I opened a new bank account, but information that was supposed to come a few weeks ago still hasn’t arrived. Instead of stressing out over it, I just told myself that I can call them next week and everything will be fine.

Anyway, resolutions will come later. Currently, I’m busy watching Adventure Time with Kit. We decided to stay in, since the downtown option involved dealing with lots of kids and Old City will be filled with drunken douches. Plus, we were still pretty tired after all of the traveling we’ve been doing.

For now my friends, I leave you with this. A very happy New Year to you and yours!

• We visited Kit’s family last weekend. All in all, a fun time. While we were there, we checked out a Rembrandt exhibit at the North Carolina museum of art and celebrated his little sister’s 19th birthday.
• I successfully finished up my first semester of grad school! I got two As, and one B+. The B+ came from my reserved nature during class discussions, but hey- I still think I did pretty well with the amount that I did contribute considering I’ve been an exceptionally quiet person my whole life.
• Kit and I got into the show Community, which is amazing. Amazing! Clever humor and lots and lots of pop culture references.
• We saw The Civil Wars in concert. I bought the tickets off of stubhub so I definitely paid a bit too much for them, but it was worth every penny. They are so exceptionally talented.

I think those are the most exciting things that have happened. I’m sure there’s other stuff that happened and would be worth sharing, but honestly…I can’t remember anything else. So that’s all you get.

• I woke up sick, and I stayed sick all day. Gross.
• This afternoon, a weird red blotch that burned magically appeared on my hand. Unable to think clearly and unsure of what to do, I decided to lick it. So I did. Then my tongue started burning.
• Not getting any work done. At all. Now this means I have a ton to do tomorrow. See kids, being sick and staying home from school really isn’t all that great.

• Season 2 of Modern Family arriving in the mail. Thanks mom!
• Not having to drive up to campus. I guess being sick saved me a little bit of gas?
• Kit getting home from work early. Yay!
• An early birthday present, a super cozy sweatshirt with the cover of George Orwell’s 1984 on it, arriving from my awesome brother Ben. Pictures will come.

This little guy is awesome! You fill the basket with loose tea leaves, and then pop him in a mug of hot water, and he’ll float around and make tea.

• Not being able to do laundry because of the rain. We have a clothesline, which is awesome sometimes, but at the moment, it isn’t. I’m running out of pants.
• Getting all depressed at the end of Captain America.
• This weird knot in my back, which is causing pain not only in my back, but in my right arm as well.
• Putting off all of my schoolwork…again. Ok, this might actually be kind of awesome since I got to enjoy a nice, lazy Sunday.

• RAIN! It’s been so hot and dry lately, and we’ve had quite a few rainy days recently that have brought a nice drop in the temperature.
• Homemade chili for dinner. Super tasty.
• Spending some of our morning at a new flea/farmer’s/craft market that just opened up a few weeks ago. We came home with some homemade orange cream fudge and sourdough bread. Delish!

At the Chattanooga Aquarium, they have one building that’s called the River Adventure. This is the floor of that section. It’s one giant pool with walkways running over it. Pretty cool.

Awkward

• Waking up this morning to find that the AC is broken, and coming home to find that it’s 81 degrees in our townhome. Not cool. (har har har)
• Being totally, utterly lost during my sociological theory class, because nearly all of the examples given used various science fiction films, and I am not very well acquainted with that genre. At all.
• Spending my entire day on campus, sitting in a very uncomfortable plastic chair, hunched over the desk in my study carrel. I have the back of an 80 year old, so that just about killed me.

-Start wearing clothes that are more adult-ish. Which means no more yoga pants. No more t-shirts with cats on them.

-Wake up at a decent hour. And by decent, I meant before 9. Or 10. Or 11.

-Stop waiting until the last minute to do everything.

-Keep working out everyday. If I can find the time to nap, I can definitely find the time to work out.

-Oh, yeah. Stop napping so much. I’m not in kindergarten.

-Get the most out of this experience. I’ve been presented with a really amazing opportunity, and I definitely need to make the most of it.

Hopefully grad school will be an enriching, fulfilling experience. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go hide my Hello Kitty Vans and online shop for some fancy grown up clothes at Ann Taylor.

I don’t remember everything, but here’s the basic rundown:
I was with Karen and Travis on some sort of trip in a giant castle. We were unpacking our suitcases and we found that somehow our teacher’s copy of Sonic the Hedgehog: Porno edition had found its way into our bags (don’t ask. I don’t even know.). So, like anyone else who discovers that they snatched their teacher’s copy of naked sonic, we panicked: we knew that if we didn’t return it before he noticed it was gone, we were dead. DEAD.

In order to return the game we had to go through the game. Not just play it, in my dream we had to physically go through the game, which was surprisingly free of nude people. Misleading title. Basically, it involved us climbing up ladders and running through tubes and chutes like little rats.

Well, in the middle of our journey to return the bizarrely disappointed Sonic game, I was kidnapped.

By Bill Murray, who then informed me that I was going to marry him. He told me that he controlled ghosts and spiders that did his bidding, and they would make me sorry if I resisted. I hate spiders and I’m terrified of them, so I didn’t argue.

We then went back to my hotel room, where he told me to pack up my crap, and only take what I needed. Awfully nice of my kidnapper dream husband to let me pack up, right? Right. Being a girl, I understood “take only what you need” as permission to pack everything I owned. I was taking too long, so he made his spiders and ghosts pack up all of the junk that I was very slowly attempting to pack away. They finished it up much more quickly than I would have.

By this time Travis and Karen had realized that I was missing, so they brought the police back to our hotel room, and Bill Murray’s team of spiders and ghosts turned us invisible while they looked around for us. They left after a very short search, and they assumed I was dead, gobbled up forever by the horrors of the nudie Sonic game. Bill Murray and I were then spirited away by his ghosts and spiders, and I’m assuming that we lived happily ever after. I don’t really know, because I had to pee at this point, and that woke me up.

Remarkably throughout this whole kidnapping and forced marriage deal, I seemed pretty ok with the whole thing. Instead of being furious and trying to escape (not that I could have anyway… curse you, magic ghosts and spiders!), I seemed merely irritated at the inconvenience of the situation. Right now? What? Your ghosts and spiders will make me? Ok, fine. At least let me pack up my crap.

I was probably irritated because Bill Murray didn’t even ask me one very, very important question:

At least it was young Bill Murray in my dream, so it wasn’t as odd. Still, I would have preferred Nathan Fillion.