It never fails to amaze me just how good a bacon, craisin, feta cheese spinach salad with lemon juice/olive oil dressing can be.

A memory from my spring break: one night over supper, conversation wandered into the job market. I said I hated writing resumes because I feel like I am perfecting the art of white lies in writing something that people never really look at. Dad said, "You know what you need to do? You should go in, say 'I'm hearing impaired. If you don't hire me, I'll sue.'"
This is particularly funny because I wonder if that's how some places would see me. Would I only be hired just to boost their employee ratio--you know, that minority, female, disability percentage? Would employers look for any possible excuse to not consider me because of my impairment?

I have this annoying melancholy about me--the kind of "fatigue" that sets in about 1/2 ways through school, when you just want to do absolutely nothing (because when you're doing something not school-related, you somehow feel guilty for not focusing on your schoolwork).
I told Jon the other day I just wanted to go lay beneath a tree and ... listen to the wind, or something. Not out of nature-worship, but because there's something about being outside that allows you to do nothing without turning into a passive slug (i.e. vegetating in front of the TV for 5 hours).

I got a 99 on my Library of Congress Classification test (we had to assign LCC numbers to 10 different books), and my interpreters were impressed: "What a smart girl!" Which led me to thinking: graduate school, in some odd sort of way, has been easier than my undergraduate studies. I think this must be because I am in a field that interests me (and one can assume that you will understand that which interests you), so I have done well in my classes so far. It's been the same for Jon--once you can specialize in your field of interest, you start building on the base of knowledge that you established through all those years of school, instead of starting anew.

Jon will be leaving soon to hike a portion of the AT. He'll be starting at the southern terminus, Springer Mountain, and hiking north about 130 miles to the Nantahala Outdoor Center in North Carolina. I wish I was going with him!

The photo is from the top of Cheoah Bald, near the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Thru-hikers can see how far they've come (not shown), and where they are going next (this is the view north).

Well, it looks like the summer class that I could possibly take conflicts too much with my work schedule. I am going to take 2 classes in the fall, and will probably turn into a hollow shell about half-ways through the semester... But--I just want to be done with it all, so am only thinking of my longterm gain.
Thankfully, each class meets just once a week--Public Libraries on Monday afternoons and Internet technology on Wednesday evenings. Dr. Miller (internet course) is an excellent teacher who can patiently explain anything in a way that even the most technophobic person can understand. A stone-age cavedweller could understand him. Besides, as fearful as I am of the mysterious ways of computers, I am looking forward to learning more about the internet and how to design a webpage.
At the rate I am going, I just might be done after the fall semester of 2007. How about that! Only slightly less than 2 years to go!

"'Whoever heard of cats doing anything useful!'
'Except for staring at one in a supercilious manner,' said Strange. 'That has a sort of moral usefulness, I suppose, in making one feel uncomfortable and encouraging sober reflection upon one's imperfections.'"
-from Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, p. 586-587

My apologies for the silence lately, I was at my parents' house where there is no internet (except in my brother's lair, and no one goes there), and that was quite nice.

Here is an icon of the Anastasis, or "Harrowing of Hell," in which Christ descended into hell and rescued Adam and Eve, and the Old Testament patriarchs, from death. He is shown in triumphal glory, seizing the hands of Adam and Eve, our forebears, and raising them from their coffins, from the darkness of death. The cross that he stands on is symbolic of his breaking the doors of hell, of the tomb. There is a sense of fierce joy about this icon, of the door that has been opened for us, showing the way to a new beginning.

Speaking of new beginnings, spring has a distinct smell that makes you want to go outside and do nothing but enjoy nature. It makes me want to walk into the woods and not return for the duration of the warm-weather season.

I checked this book out from Joseph-Beth:

Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican party)

by Rod Dreher

The title caught my eye, and I now that I have read enough to get a better idea of the author's views, I actually agree with a lot of what he says. Basically, conservatives need to re-learn the idea of "conserving", we need to re-establish the family as the basic unit of society, community is where it's at, we need to take better care of ourselves and the environment, we need to be more responsible about capitalism, we need to make fair trade actually fair, etc. etc.

The author is opinionated without being arrogant, and keeps returning to importance of community, of becoming involved in the place you are in, of actually spending time with your family rather than endlessly zoning out to TV. He even talks about the pleasures of eating organic food, not because it is in rebellion to factory farms, but because the food actually tastes better, and to buy your food locally means that you are supporting your community.

I got my eyes examined on Wednesday. I thought I was blind as a bat with prescriptions of -12 (L) -11 (R), but the doctor told me that prescriptions can go as high as -20. My goodness, I hope I don't go as high as that!
I tried on just about every pair of glasses in Lenscrafter, and they all made me look like a raccoon. My eyes are so huge, they filled the frames! Jon kept cracking up and calling me Dame Edna as I progressed to trying on glasses with larger frames (the granny styles).