I'm Thirsty Anyway

Today tried to get to me.  Oh, how it tried.  I woke up feeling yucky, sad, blech.  No reason, just blech.  Coptic was good, but not especially exciting.  Then problems started.  Nothing major, just lots of little drops of annoyance.  There's a problem with my apartment.  They don't have the documents they need.  There's a problem with my bank account.  They never gave me my pin number, they never gave me my online banking information.  There's a problem with my University.  I'm not registered.  I was told it would be taken care of for me.  It wasn't.  So now I have no internet access (outside of my apartment) and I have no access to Blackboard.  Argh!  Jammer!  

It's almost like the hard times circle round

A single drop and they all start coming down

Yeah, I might feel defeated

And I might hang my head

I might be barely breathing

But I'm not dead

But tomorrow's another day

And I am not afraid

So bring on the rain

--Jo Dee Messina (Bring on the Rain)

So, I strapped on my trusty iPod, armed with country music, Zen lectures, and Neil Gaiman audio books, and I hit the street.  Took control.  I haven't gotten it all sorted out yet, but by 2pm I was feeling pretty good.  It helped that I ran into Filippo on the way to the bank.  :-)  

I managed to finally get Weni translated! Woo!  I sat down in the Plexus and turned on the Tao Te Ching, and when that was over, I turned on M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman.  I'm not really sure how this works, but if I have something to listen to going in the background, I can really focus on my translating.  You'd think it would be impossible, but I suppose there must be two little parts of my brain working.  One side wants to be distracted, the other wants to work.  If I try to sit in silence and let the second part do its thing, that first part just runs wild.  If one side is focused, it's like the other has to find something to focus on, too.  Hm, this is probably something I should try to tame.  I'd like to be able to have a still mind, even when working.  Ah well, whatever gets the job done, is good for me right now.

I love Neil Gaiman.  Love.  His stories are just so beautiful, so intense, so true.  Listening to his short stories has really inspired me to write again.  I'm not sure where I'll find the time (though I do manage to find a few minutes a day to sort my thoughts here, why not on paper too?) but I want to write again.  I've tried off and on through the past months, but I always fall back out of it again.  I have good ideas though, and I'm sort of afraid of stories that go untold.  They get mean, I think, untold stories.

So, in the end, the day turned out to be pretty great.  Filled with sunshine, new friends, inspiration, and successful efforts.  I walked home tonight in the dark, and it was cool, but not cold, and just gorgeous.  

In other news:  Monkeys!