bunny girl

Last night i couldn't sleep. I don't know why, aside from drinking a bottle of diet coke in the afternoon. I guess that did it. Anyway, i was up way too late on the internet reading about various topics, then i finally turned it off and tried to fall asleep, but before i knew it it was getting light out. I ate a melon pan and fell asleep around 7:00. Lulu called at 8 or 8:30 and i finally got up at 9:00, super confused for a while but i made it to Hannah's in fine time. I just didn't look very pretty. And that was okay, really, since i was about to spend the day sweating in the sun covered in dirt in a backyard in Garden City. I remembered to wear sunscreen and deodorant, and i think that's all that really mattered in this case.

Here are some things i learned about, instead of sleeping:

Freezing Dairy Products (i was particularly interested in heavy whipping cream)
The history of the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, and here for a little more cultural commentary.
The differences between the original 1930s Nancy Drew and the Nancy of later revisions

And, although i'm typically not a goal-oriented person, i played around on 43 things for a while. This site keeps coming up when i google various things, so i decided to investigate. These goals, some rather... what's the word? There's a word... like spontaneous, not very thought out, sudden, random. Whatever that word is. Some are things i'd been thinking about lately (like writing mysteries and learning to sew), but others are more along the lines of "sure, why not learn French?"

Anyway, these goals greatly influenced my afternoon. Because i thought it'd benefit me to take on this rather ambitious reading list, i skipped the shower i needed and went to the library before they closed to get a few of these books. Despite my college degree in ENGLISH, i've only completed 5% of this list. I could inch that up a little, if for example i checked off books i think i read but don't remember anything about, or "read" for class but never actually looked at. For example i know we read Beowulf in Brit Lit I, but i'm not so sure i did. And we read Lolita in American Lit II, but i never even had a copy (i figured i could get it from the library but apparently didn't quite get around to it that term).

It's odd...but i think i remember the books i didn't read that i was supposed to better than many of the ones i did read... guilt perhaps?

But i also left unchecked books i have read -- like most of the Jane Austen ones on there and Alice in Wonderland -- that i figured i should read again and don't mind too much. I did however check off Lakota Woman, which i read in 8th grade at the suggestion of my 25 year old sister. I don't think i quite got to the end, but i did do a book report on it.

So true to character i checked out way more books than i can read in the time allotted, but i was having a good time finding them. I've discovered (just today...) that the difference between me hating certain public libraries and me loving them might come down to knowing what i'm looking for. Anyway that's not really interesting to anyone but me so i won't continue to elaborate.

There are two other goals on that list of mine that shaped my day, and putting those into action led to the unexpected completion of a third, separate goal.

I ended up in the extra bedroom, where all of my stuff i want but don't need for my daily life ever has sat in boxes since before i lived here. I started going through these boxes for things i could live without, or things someone else might pay me for. I ended with a few bags of things that are mostly too small to bother much about, but we'll see. And naturally, old diaries and the like surfaced during the search. I embarrass myself, but they also made me think that i should really keep a diary. I'm inconsistent and most of them are left blank after the first half or so, when i obviously got a new one i couldn't resist starting. But i wish i would write regularly... i should add that to my 43 things. It can be a double; i'll practice my penmanship while i write. They were always sort of that anyway.

I also decided to get out my record player! I tried to set it up in my room when i first started living here, but the plug was not compatible. When i got my printer i bought an adaptor, which came in a two-pack, so now i can have records as well as printed documents♥

Now, lately i keep coming across bags or boxes of clothes that i put away at some point, like winter clothes or clothes i wanted to keep but didn't want to take to Alaska, etc. I came across such a box today, and found many delightful things i'd occasionally wondered about, like my Holiday Music hoodie and another Japanese English t-shirt, a lot of pajamas, a coat i got a thrift store once and have never worn (it's shiny!), and...................................... a sweater with a red hood. Who knew i already had one? It has black and white stripes on the inside of the hood and i can't recall at the moment how it fastens -- a zipper, i think -- but i was not asking for anything specific beyond "red hood" so voila. That's not to say that i might not try and purchase other red hoods i come across, such as hooded red capes or red hooded sweatshirts like Tomoko Kawase's, etc. Wait. I just remembered a red hooded sweatshirt... it's not mine but i bet i'd be allowed to wear it...

Once i was quite done with that task and had put everything basically back in order, i ate a boiled egg and then sat down to my fruit danish from Pastry House Hippo. This time, i remembered to take a photo! I look weird and extra pale and as if i hadn't slept, so i let RB model this time. He's cuter anyway, being a teddy bear and all.

As you can see, in the rush to leave this morning, i did not make my bed.