left running you said you were flying

I'm back on Last.FM. My page is here, but give it a little time to accurately reflect my recent listening habits. Do feel free to add, by the way. I quite like their new 'scrobbling' tool. Incidentally, I like the term 'scrobbling' even less than the word 'blogging.' So there.

So.Hot. I feel up to very little today, although I wandered around town a bit this morning before it got too muggy. I'm considering starting a photoblog over at Vox, where I was bestowed an account just for being curious. I have a pair of invites, too, so if anyone is interested let me know. Realistically, though, the chances of me bothering with another blog are pretty slim, even in my current state of general boredom.

It's my own fault, though... I've been laying low lately. Mostly because of the heat, partly because of my dwindling funds, and slightly because I've been feeling strange. I have the feeling that I should be 'Figuring Things Out', although I haven't the slightest idea of what those things are. I'll reemerge once I have a job and it's not so damn hot out. As usual, I can't wait for autumn. My knee-high dark brown leather heeled boots are looking at me longingly from within my closet.

Oh, and pilates totally kicked my ass (and back, and abs) yesterday. It was really more like PiYo, actually. I can't wait to go back, but that's certainly not happening today.

Ok, cherry FreezPops beckon.

always thought i was someone, turned out i was wrong

Is there such a thing as a friend crush? That is to say, a platonic but rather giddy desire to befriend someone? Less of a crush than... a smoosh. You have no interest in sleeping with them, yet you find yourself oddly drawn to them.

Anyway, I have a smoosh on Alton Brown. The culinary expertise, the extreme geekiness... faaaantastic. I've been glutting myself on DVR'ed 'Good Eats,' so I'm interested to see what his new show will be like, as food + travel = yes.

I've been feeling a little off this week. Right now, nothing seems satisfactory. Even a small dose of budget retail therapy didn't cheer me up, although these tumblers I found at Target are totally adorable. I have no idea what's causing this malaise. Particularly since I haven't been this optimistic and excited about my future since I graduated college. I have a plan! A good plan! I should be excited and happy and hopeful and giddy! And I am. Moreso once I have a few things (i.e., job, acceptance letters) under my belt.

But maybe it's not the future that's weirding me out; perhaps I've been thinking too much about my past lately. There was something unsettling about the hangover I woke up with on Monday morning... it was almost like 10 years of emotional and personal residue were leeching into my system along with the toxins from the previous evening's ginfest. I don't really want to get into details here, but so many of my memories from the past decade make me feel a little uneasy. That's not to say I look upon my past with regret, nothing of the sort, but I just wish I'd been a little less... silly.

Anyway, I have an early pilates class tomorrow (back at the gym for me! Running in the park was fun, but I started to get nervous about being on my own in such a remote area) so I should be off to bed. I'm actually reading The Stand now, which is Not Bad in a very pulpy way. I've never read any Stephen King before, although my brother was quite a fan when we were growing up. I have a feeling, though, that this might be a bit of a McBook... cheap ($7.99 at the supermarket), filling (1135 pages), but leaves you feeling a little dirty. I'm only 150 pages in, so we'll see.

jens lekman is love

Yes, he is.

Oh, and the show was beautiful. I am thisclose to running away to Gothenburg. No abductions this time, although I hereby give an official huge props to the sizeable and enthusiastic Rochesterian crowd. Clapping and singing along! Well done!

Those of you on either end, I hope you caught or will catch him.

You can find photos of the show at my flickr.

Do note, by the way, that he is possibly the tallest Swedish person I have ever met. I was wearing 3-inch heels, placing me in at a solid 5'11", and he still towers over me by nearly a head. Knowing my MO, I should be in love (hur hur).

Oh you're so darling, Jens.

i feel like going home but at the same time i don't

Unemployment is nowhere near as recuperative and relaxing as I'd thought. In reality I'm just bored, fidgety, and stressed about finding work.

In other news:
*The Family Circus is infuriating. Why is this in the paper? It seriously compels me to do harm.
*It's so nice to be allowed to turn right on red.
*When did they stop making tan M&Ms? Has it been that long since I've had them?
*Jens is coming to town a week from Sunday. I am positively giddy.
*My current Wiki Triumvirate: MuppetWiki, LostWiki, RocWiki. MuppetWiki being the obvious Caesar, if only for this picture of Cookie Monster using an Ernie disguise to steal cookies:

Genius.

oh crumbs, oh carrots!

I should have stayed far, far away from my computer today.

I was bored this afternoon and started uninstalling unused programs, only to uninstall my wireless receiver. "What's this 'lsyswa28'?," I thought. "Surely I don't need that..." and POOF! No internet. The CD to reinstall the drivers was, of course, in one of the many boxes (I knew not which) scattered among my room, the basement, and the garage.

I finally put everything back together only to fiddle around with the settings here and DELETE THE ENTIRE BLOG, as you might have noticed.

*palm meets forehead*

So folks, how's that for a fresh start? I suppose, on the one hand, it was only 7 or so months of entries... but still. Does anyone know of an archiving program for Blogger that backs up entries on your hard drive? I also had to restore all my custom template settings, which took forever, but it did result in an update of my links list, so there you go.

Well, since I've quite thoroughly wiped my slate clean, here's the news I had alluded to in my previous (now non-existant) post:

I'm going back to grad school.

Or, at least, I'm planning on it. Would I that it were so easy! There is always that little hurdle of actually being accepted... Doubly so when the schools I'm applying to are Cornell and Columbia. Why those two? Simply because they are the only schools in the area with a Master's program in Historic Preservation. Cornell is my top choice, Columbia a close second (if I can afford it).

So hey, on the bright side I have finally (after about a decade of consideration) figured out what I want to do with my life. And even though I won't graduate until I'm almost 29, I'm excited to go back. In the meantime (as I have another year before my theoretical matriculation) the plan is to find a job here in Rock City and hoard money. DC will have to wait a few years, but I'm still planning on making the move once I'm properly equipped with my shiny new degree.

In September, after the semester is underway, I'll zip down to Cornell for a visit with admissions and a few faculty members. Until then there's not a whole lot I can do; I've e-mailed my former professors for recommendations, but they don't seem to be answering their school e-mail (and I doubt they will for another month at least). I also have to take the stupid GREs, as I managed to avoid them the last time around.

We shall see. Provided I don't accidentally delete this journal again, I'll keep you all updated as things progress.