OK. I sat down with my notebook and my grad school binder (here’s a photo) and started making notes and outlining my paper. About 10 minutes into that, I decided what kind of research I needed to do and found two really great articles - one from Publisher’s Weekly and one from the American Library Association website - that deal quite directly with the issue I have to discuss in my paper and which also provide almost perfect-to-the-letter support for my recommendation/suggestion for this issue.

Yay yay yay! I am most excited about this.

I have to write my paper this weekend. It’s not due until Thursday, but I’d rather get it done NOW so that I don’t have additional cause for worry when I get home at night during the week.

Also, next weekend I am working a trade show at the Javits Center in New York for work. While I’ll get comp days, this week is going to be a tough one. So I’d rather not have homework upon arriving home in the evenings.

I’m signing off now. If I sit at my computer, there’s far too much opportunity for temptation and distraction.

RAIN.
TOMORROW.
RAIN.
THUNDERSTORMS.
RAIN.

This means I can baptize my new umbrella!!!

It also inspires me to make a mix CD - which I won’t do tonight - of songs about and including rain:

“I’m Only Happy When It Rains” - Garbage
“Red Rain” - Peter Gabriel
“Here Comes the Rain Again” - The Eurythmics
“Rain Song” - Enigma feat. Deep Forest
“Africa” - Toto (”the rains down in Africa…”)
“Man in a Shed” - Nick Drake (”For his shed was rotten, let in the rain…”)
“Purple Rain” - Prince
“Who’ll Stop the Rain?” - Creedence Clearwater Revival
“Let It Rain” - Tilly and the Wall
“The Rain [Supa Dupa Fly]” - Missy Elliot
“Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” - Travis
“After the Rain Has Fallen” - Sting
“Here’s That Rainy Day” - Ella Fitzgerald
“I Love a Rainy Night” - Eddie Rabbit
“I Wish It Would Rain Down” - Phil Collins
“Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” - Burt Bacharach

I’m sure there are more, but I can’t think of the rest off the top of my head. I’m listening to Benedictine monks chanting, too, so it’s sort of hard to think of other songs while they do their whole Latin thing.

No, it’s not that “Chant” CD that was popular all those years ago, but it’s basically the same thing and it’s relaxing and I have a tough enough time sleeping as it stands and this WORKS to help me fall asleep so leave me the hell ALONE!!!

Oh. Sorry. I’m cranky. Must be tired.

And since class is online, it’s not really a big deal. The discussion board is up in a separate browser window so I can watch what is going on while I type away.

We’re talking about the Freedom of Information Act.

While we were discussing our paper requirements, I decided I needed to floss. I try to floss every night, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. Also, when it’s late and I want to sleep, I have been known to do a half-assed job of flossing. However, since I was just sitting here anyway, I pulled out the floss (Oral-B Satin Floss - minty!) and went to town.

Sometimes you just KNOW you’ve done a good job… and you get that “just left the dentist’s office” feeling. I did and I do. It’s refreshing and nice. I want to go brush my teeth right now, but I have to wait until 10:00 when class ends… though technically I could leave since attendance is not required. I want to stay since this is the class I feel is a little more difficult than the other.

I ordered the iPod.

And I got the names of a couple of orthopedic surgeons to check out my carpal tunnel hand. I’m ALWAYS wearing the brace at this point. It’s constantly a sharp pain. Not good. So tomorrow morning, I will take a few minutes out of my work day to call the doctor and see when I can get an appointment.

Now… back to class. I just wanted to share my flossing success.

I’ve been feeling exceedingly guilty lately. With my tax return about to show up in my bank account any day now, I am already planning what to do with a quarter of it - $300. That’s what I’m allowing myself as “fun” money to get myself a treat. I could go shopping for clothing, but I’ve already promised myself a miniature clothing shopping spree when I lost a certain amount of weight. So that’s out.

I considered the whole “pamper myself” routine - manicure, pedicure, massage - but, honestly, the only thing I’d really want is the massage because the other two aren’t worth it for a chick with nails as weak and active as mine. I’m just not meant to have a pretty manicure. I’ve had them before and I’ll get them in the future, but I’m honestly better off doing it at home. As for the massage, I’m loathe to visit a masseur about whom I haven’t heard good things from trusted sources. I’ve got to do some research into that one before I do anything.

The thought that keeps creeping up is: “New iPod!” While I love my iPod, Minky Billups, her battery has seen better days. I can replace the battery and she’d be fine… but I am lusting after another. The sleek black iPod. Check it out. How could I not WANT this thing? BADLY??

But I feel guilty. Like I’m abandoning Minky… which I wouldn’t. I’d still get her a new battery and pass her along into a good new home… since my friend Theresa hinted that she wouldn’t mind adopting Minky.

Of course, there’s the issue of naming a new iPod. Could it be Minky 2? Could it be Minky reincarnated and take the same name? I’m attached to the name quite a bit. My second choice would be Pippa, but that’s not very iPod-esque.

Perhaps I need to perform some research on other names for a sleek black iPod. While I thought it was somewhat clever, I won’t do what someone I know did - got a black cat and named her Moesha since, she stated, “a black cat needs a black name.” I did give my white iPod a very white name… Minky. It’s in the same class as “Buffy” and “Bambi” and “Tipper.” Sort of WASPy.

Actually, the way I came up with Minky’s name was from watching movie credits… for “Bend it Like Beckham.” Perhaps I should visit imdb.com and search through the credits of some movies and see what I come up with. Field trip time!

I could go with Miette, the name of the main character in “City of Lost Children.” It starts with an “M” and so does Minky, and it’s French, which goes with the whole look of the black iPod. Vianney is the name of one of members of the sound crew. It’s not nearly as cute though.

(Have we noticed that this was never really a debate about whether or not I should get the new iPod? Yeah. I noticed that too.)

Nika? Pippa? Tammo van Hoorn was the first assistant camera person on “Shaun of the Dead.” That’s a pretty cool name. I could also just name it a letter - like “M” or “Q” in the James Bond movies, or “J” and “K” in Men in Black.

I have almost forgotten to mention that my brother is moving into his new apartment today/tomorrow/this weekend. He’s going to be so much happier and more relaxed there… and I think the household will be, too. Less arguing. Less stress and tension. This is not to say I won’t miss his humorous outbursts at times, but it’s a very good thing overall. I started looking at apartment listings last night to see what I’d need to save/earn/etc. to afford a place on my own… sans roommate.

The long and short of it is that if I want to live alone - in a two bedroom (one room for books and computer, bedroom separate) - I need to be earning more money and paying off my debt. If I am content with a one bedroom, I still need to be paying off my debt and just saving some more cash. I will get a raise in April since that’s my 6-month mark. Depending on whether I get a raise AND promotion or just a raise… we’ll see where life leads me. I would like to be somewhere along the train line I take, or within walking distance of a PATH train so I can get into work with relative ease.

But this is not something I am going to jump into. As badly as I want to be on my own again, I have to be smart about it and not jump ahead of what I can realistically handle in terms of money. I have to be financially solid… not rich, just solid. Having more than a few bucks in my checking account between paychecks would be a start… and as debts are paid off and less money is coming out of my bank account for those every month, there will be more money to put into savings or paying off other debts… and achieving my goals.

For now, though, I have to do some more reading for school and post something to the class discussion board. It’s too late to eat dinner, but I can have a yogurt or some cereal so I don’t go to bed hungry.

I’m not loving the IRS right now. Their website’s “where’s my refund?” feature tells me my refund was deposited on Feb. 10, but it wasn’t. Their site also says that if I haven’t received it by the 17th, I should call my bank to see if it was ever received or processed. If it hasn’t been, I can only contact the IRS AFTER the 17th… which is technically the 21st since the 20th is President’s Day. They bought themselves an extra weekend, huh?

Tomorrow is payday, so I’m OK. But it would be nice to have that refund in my account as a little reward for getting my shit together so early and filing my taxes the first week of February.

I wasn’t able to do my traditional “love is a battlefield” camouflage t-shirt thing today since my camo t-shirt is a little too battle-worn to be work appropriate. I looked around half-heartedly for a new one, but had no luck. But it’s OK. I basically ignored this faux holiday entirely.

My mother got me a Happy Valentine’s Day balloon. My little sister got me earrings. I didn’t get anyone anything and now I feel guilty. But I explained to my mother that I refuse to celebrate this “holiday” with gifts. She just said I was saying that because I don’t love her (she’s been brainwashed) or because I didn’t think to get anyone anything (true, but not for the reasons she was implying.)

I got myself some new nail polish and just did my nails. They are pale pink opal. Very pearly. Not very pink. But I like it. The best thing about these sheer opalescent nail polish colors is that they don’t show chips until they’re REALLY pathetically worn.

Since I missed the earlier train, I got home an hour into my class tonight. I’ll just print the transcript tomorrow and tonight I will read the information for next week and then watch Jean-Luc Godard’s “Alphaville” which has been sitting next to my TV for over a week, waiting until I was in the mood to watch an unconventional French surrealist masterpiece. Netflix says:

Alphaville (1965) (Alphaville, une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution)

Intergalactic hero Lemmy Caution is assigned to kill the inventor of a fascist computer. A cockeyed fusion of science fiction, pulp characters and surrealist poetry, this movie is one of the least conventional films of all time.

I’m feeling a little less than on top of my game lately. Not stressed, just a little more unfocused than usual. Distracted, but not so much that I can’t concentrate on the tasks at hand. I just feel like I am perhaps forgetting to tie up some loose ends, though review of my desk and notebooks at work, as well as my homework and school stuff has not yielded results to support this gut feeling. Judging by all things going on, I am keeping up with it all.

And I MUST have lost some weight - I put my hands in my pants pockets before when I was stretching backwards and yawning, and pushed down on my pockets as I was leaning back. I pulled my pants down over my ass and almost down over my hips… there was that much “wiggle” room. No pun intended. I’m not a skinny-minny, and I won’t be buying a new wardrobe yet, but it’s pretty gratifying to feel this little success.

I’m listening to Jay and the Americans’ “Cara Mia.” It’s such cheesy fun. But I love it.

Shoveling and sweeping and scraping was not a good thing to do to my carpal tunnel wrist. The pain is worse than it’s been in many many moons and I am back to wearing the brace. Suck.

Well… at least I don’t have to be up as the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow to clean off my car since that’s already done. I can wake up normal time and just get to the car 5 minutes earlier to warm it up.

I’m tired, though. Oh-boya.

Overnight, we got over a foot of snow, and it continues. The final amounts are supposed to be 2 feet and over. Right now, it’s uncertain whether the trains and busses will be running tomorrow. Drifts of 4 and 5 feet are expected. Woo-hoo! Pretty snow. I took some pictures.

I’m watching “Death on the Nile” (1978) based on the Agatha Christie novel of the same name, featuring Hercule Poirot.

Angela Lansbury is in the movie as a famous naughty romance novel author of the early 1900s. She’s just horribly entertaining dancing the tango. And everything else she does in this movie. She was also great in “Nanny McPhee” (2006) and I loved her in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” (1971) and “The Court Jester” (1956) with Danny Kaye. And, obviously, “Murder, She Wrote.” And as Mrs. Potts in “Beauty and the Beast” (1991) and the voice of Mommy Fortuna in “The Last Unicorn” (1982) - which, incidentally, features the voice talents of Mia Farrow who is also in “Death on the Nile.”

Anyway - she’s just great and I thought I’d mention it.

Last night was really great. My friend Janice’s husband threw her a surprise birthday party and my friends and I were her distraction while he got the house set up and guests arrived. He called her home to watch the kids while he ran out to take care of something, and then we followed her about 10 minutes later. She was totally surprised and there were tons of people at her house who wanted to be there to celebrate the wonderfulness of her! I spent a good portion of the evening talking to her 10 year-old daughter since she remembered me as “that girl! The one at my birthday last year!” since I helped with her birthday sleepover then. We talked about the haunted locker rooms at her elementary school. It was entertaining.

Anyway, I got home at 12:30 or so and woke up early this morning to go to breakfast with Theresa, Kofi and Elizabeth. We had a great time eating breakfast and talking and laughing and then listening to a cover of the Beatles’ “Michelle” by an old Jewish man named Sam Chalpin. It’s horrible, but it’s meant to be… I HOPE. Probably not. Oh, well. We laughed even more.

While the weather was still nice (because this evening, the entire New York metro area is in a state of blizzard watch/winter storm warning) we went to a few stores and Theresa got some new winter boots and I set aside my new spring jacket. Which has now been purchased. It’s pretty sweet - I will take photos later.

Otherwise, I’m just sitting here, watching a movie, burning my pomegranate candle for a change (since I’ve been burning the fig one lately) and thinking about whether I should watch another movie after this or read “Nurse Matilda”, the stories upon which “Nanny McPhee” is based.

Oh - and my little brother’s girlfriend has a fever and is not feeling well, so I’ve been helping him nurse her back to health a bit by making soup and tea and reading up on WebMD to make sure it’s not the flu.

I wonder if we’ll get this major snow event they’re predicting. It’s snowing, but it’s not nearly heavy enough at this point to amount to a major snow event, even overnight. OK. I just checked my Weather Channel toolbar and it says light snow tonight, blizzard tomorrow a.m. OK. We’ll just see about that. If we do have blizzard conditions, there will be photographic evidence right here.

Dude. Mia Farrow plays a crazy crazy bitch in this movie, but not without good reason. She falls in love with a guy and they plan to marry, gets him a job being a caretaker for her rich friend’s property, and this friend promptly snatches him away from her and marries him. They go on their honeymoon to Egypt and wherever they go, there she is. They go to the temples at Carnac, and she just shows up and starts announcing the measurements of the statues. They go to the Great Pyramid, and she shows up and starts announcing the measurements of the pyramids. They accuse her of stalking them, and she just laughs. Someone’s going to die soon… maybe it’s her.

Mmm. I think I will go curl up in bed and watch the movie then read.