One of Us

"If I wasn't one of us I would be so annoyed by us."
"I know! Because we're young, we're smart, we're beautiful..."
"Actually I meant because we are making so much noise in the library."

I spent about 12 hrs in the postgrad reading room yesterday working on my paper. Its a building that is architecturally brilliant from the outside and bloody awful on the inside- the carpet is puke green, the shelves are old and dusty, and there are horrible neon lights. Its saving grace is a mini rotunda, that during the day lets just the right amount of sunlight in... clearly I have been working VERY hard on my research.

It was a semi-productive day, really just what I needed to get back into the swing of things. Mom and the girls left Tuesday after spending a week tearing through this beautiful country, leaving me with 5 days to write another 10 pages. Now 4 days an counting... I met Laura and Erin N in the reading room- a wonderful and horrible idea. Wonderful because I had my girls to take coffee breaks with, horrible because by the end of the day when we were all getting a bit punchy, there was absolutely no work getting done. Just lots and lots of giggling.

When I wasn't working, I bought my ticket home (finally) and caught up with some of my closest friends- Katie, Coll, and Ryan, to be exact- and my heart ACHED for them. It literally groaned. I am more excited for this Holiday than I've been in years. I want to see my Dad, I want to decorate the house and listen to Christmas carols, I want to go to the movies with Jared, I want to party with the Masque kids, and I want to go out on the town with my Girls. I want to go shopping with Katie and drink cocktails, I want to play with my dogs, I want to see my family and hang out at home, and eat my Mom's vegetarian food. I just cannot wait to go home.

But first.... ughhhh.... this bloody essay.