It's time to end my lonely holiday

and bid Orlando a hasty farewell...

...I might have left two days ago, but it doesn't feel like I've spent two days here in Gainesville once more.
I woke up around 7 am Thursday and raced up here to beat Fay, and did so comfortably. Unfortunately, she arrived as I was grocery shopping and I had to rush my milk and eggs inside in the driving rain.
Yesterday I intended to walk the routes between my classes, but I took one look at the miserable weather and stayed inside, enjoying the warmth of a cuddly blue bathrobe and my pillows.

Today I bought some textbooks, and will try and get my last one tomorrow. I could go pick up some more groceries and random odds and ends but I feel strangely reluctant to leave.
I'll be seeing Tropic Thunder tonight with a friend and some of his friends...we'll see how that goes. I've heard great reviews, so I'm hoping it'll be funny.

Is it football season yet?
What's that you say?
I must wait until...Thursday?

Damn!

It had to be you

Could I be glad to be sad, thinking of you?

Harry Connick Jr. is a genius. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I haven't found a version of "It Had To Be You" that can even begin to compare with his. And I love his "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" too...

Today was not the brightest of days. I was woken unkindly at 8 am, reminded that I had to drive to the garage to pick up my mother who dropped off my father's car, my father having callously appropriated MY car for the day. When I returned home my mother went off to work, taking my sister with her, and I decided it was naptime. Then there was more delightfully bad football news throughout the day, so despite it being Friday, I have sunk into a gloomy funk, and seem destined to stay here awhile.

In an effort to make the best of things I have put on my favorite "big band" playlist - Nina Simone, Harry Connick Jr., Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Fred Astaire, Billie Holliday, even some Michael Buble as a nod to this generation of revival.
I love Peggy Lee's "Fever" more than ever since Sex and the City the Movie used it in their promo trailers. I remember how my heart thumped when it started playing before whatever movie I'd gone to see...and how it thumped again when I realized it was for Sex and the City. I'm so glad that the movie didn't disappoint - it was fabulous. For no other word could justly be used to describe Sex and the City, now could it?

I think I'll end here, and go to bed. Sleep is the fastest way for Tomorrow to come, and Today has been a cold lover, so I'll leave the known pestilence for an unknown one.

Sorry Hamlet.

Early morning dreams casually wither

- but only in the bright light of day.

I have been abominably plagued with insomnia for weeks now. This coupled with joblessness and writer's block has not made my life particularly pleasant. But today at about 6 a.m., after tossing and turning for at least an hour after a few hours' blessed sleep, I finally decided to make the best of a bad job and just "get up".

And of course, by "get up", I mean fold my duvet in half so that it only covers to my knees, leaving my sheet up where it normally is, getting one of my sham pillows to prop myself on, turning on my bedside lamp, the television and my faithful laptop.

Insomnia - 296,357 Sleep - 0

Originally I was watching Animal Planet, a half-hour "cable in the classroom" documentary on giraffes. It was very interesting, especially when I realized that the Kenyan park they were showing is quite likely the one Professor Palmer works in every summer. I wonder if he's there now? I didn't realize that giraffes' patterns were unique to the animal. The naturalist AP interviewed kept track of them by photographing the left side of their neck, and cataloging them until he had about 240 animals. Twenty years after his original stint in Kenya he came back with his team to see if they could recognize any of the animals (giraffes typically live 25 years) and they found one - Mabel. I'd have thought they'd find more, but the documentary didn't say.

Right now VH1 is on. Every half-hour I flick to Nickelodeon to see if Rugrats is on. If I must suffer from insomnia, I'm going to get something out of it!
Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine" just came on. I like this song, but I'm not sure I like the underlying synth. That and she's much too lovely for her own good.

Yesterday I drove up to UF to watch the football practice. I didn't on Monday because of a doctor's appointment, I can't today because of my last jewelry class of the session, and if anyone thinks I'm driving up to UF for the day twice or thrice in one week to watch football practice is crazier than I am for driving up to UF to sit in the sun for three hours plagued with bugs and jealousy for the beautiful cameras that the media possesses...
I would just like to interject that it is damned unfair that the fans can't use cameras at the practices. What on earth could we photograph that a professional member of the media couldn't? It's not like they practice anything we haven't seen before at the open week!

So it seems that I can write after all. Perhaps this would be a good time to look at my manuscripts again. I miss them, I miss writing. I miss them almost as much as I miss UF when it's the holidays, and how much I miss being on holiday when I'm at UF...