yesterday's counterbalance

My too-abstract last post left me feeling unsettled and highly dissatisfied, probably because it was really an awkward love-child spawned by my reactions to Lizzy's most recent "realtalk" post and Bundl's most recent philosophical musings.  I decided to post it anyway because I learned at college that unfinished or unpolished thoughts can be just as valuable as polished ones.  That "choose your own adventure" concept has a lot of potential.  Maybe it will be the key someone -- a later version of myself, perhaps -- was looking for to open a door to adventure, or Pandora's Box, or something.

So I'm going to go in a different direction.  Please enjoy the following numbered list of things I'm excited about right now.  (I love lists, and you secretly do too.)

1. This morning I stumbled across an incredibly cool living-history project: A grad student at Oxford is tweeting WWII in real time over 6 years.  Most likely I will phase it out before the end, but maybe I will get emotionally invested as if I was living through the war myself in 1939-1945.  Either way, I'm impressed at his commitment to six years of what sounds completely exhausting but will most likely prove very personally enriching for him...  And the concept of this project completely titillates me.  On the ground, modern re-created history!

2. I have achieved official Regular status at Bishop's.  I now chat and joke with every person that works there, and half of them know me by name.  #Coffeeshopcrush must remain anonymous until the right moment.  I'm not really sure why, but it seems like an unspoken rule of interaction.  I know, I know, rules are made to be broken, but we all know I like the intrigue.  Yesterday he told me that Adele smokes, which I somehow managed not to know despite loving her music, and which disappoints me; and also that Train once came to Wilmington.  My hope is restored that important things do happen here.

And then he called me "Hon," which is just funny.  I should just legally change my name to Hon in this state.  Because that's pretty much my name now.

3. Christmas is coming.  Well, more importantly, Thanksgiving is coming FIRST, and then my birthday...  For some reason I feel like turning 22 will constitute my admission into REAL adulthood, because when I consort with the over-21 crowd hereafter I will no longer be the "new biddy on the block" since I have obviously been showing my legal ID successfully for over 365 days.  I may very well be deluding myself, since adulthood, like marriage, is probably just a widely-believed urban legend.

What is actually exciting about my birthday, though, is that I'm determined to do something to celebrate it.  I'm afraid to jinx my ideal plan by talking about it until things are set in stone, but I have an ideal plan and I haven't been this jazzed about something in such a long time that the excitement alone is noteworthy.  I'll give you a hint: it involves me actually playing in the 4th Annual Turkey Bowl -- my first EVER.  Happy birthday indeed.

Also, I love stuffing, butternut squash, and pecan pie -- all Thanksgiving dinner staples.  Immmmmpending food coma GO.

4. Christmas is coming.  I'm not looking forward to it in the I-wonder-where-Mom-and-Dad-hid-my-presents kind of way.  I'm looking forward to it because I have some sweet gifts planned out and although it's not yet the last minute I've already started pulling things together!  I'm also feeling ambitiously crafty, and I have a few awesome projects under way.  Most of them must remain a mystery for the time being, but I will say that I might actually finish my big cedar trunk by the end of the year!  Lofty goals, I know.  But I am a woman of action, and I do, in fact, get things done.

Except my NaNoWriMo novel.  But we don't have to talk about it.

5. Holiday says it all.  (I'm a Saggitarius -- what's YOUR sign, boy/girl?)