...and the sagas continue

I know this is my second post today, but I'm expecting to be somewhat off the grid this weekend, so I wanted to leave you all with some nice fluffy updates.  You might want to ration yourselves ;)

So I'm battling myself over this dumb issue: Coffee.  Unlike most other coffee drinkers, my issue is not being addicted to it, but not being addicted to it.  I want to drink it, because it's really my most legitimate reason to visit Bishop's and Coffeeshopcrush, and also it's so delicious there; but it tends to make me jittery and anxious and sweaty and just in general throws a wrench in my normal physiological and psychological functioning.  (Can I just point out how precariously similar those two words are?  ...OK, moving on.)

While I intend to never stop visiting Bishop's, I have decided to cut down on my caffeine consumption.  This means that I'll have to step up my game on the Coffeeshopcrush front proportionally, if I want to keep getting a return on my investment.  So this afternoon I went in "to buy Christmas gifts" and we talked about books.

This is excellent, because I can talk about books for years and years and years.  I spent the first 14 years of my life, roughly, reading, so I've got a lot of material.  Some amusing facts:

- Somehow both of us somehow missed reading The Catcher in the Rye during our high school English careers, and when he brought this up we both felt suddenly compelled to read it now.

- He has at least 3 copies of Tuesdays With Morrie, which I already mentioned, but I was pumped, because I LOVE that book.  He said it's because he lent it to someone, and then bought another copy thinking he would never get the first one back, and then lent that one to someone else, and got another one to lend to another person, and then eventually got all three of them back.

- I said my version of that book is The Princess Bride, and he cut me off: "That's a BOOK?!  Because seriously, that's my favorite movie of all time."

...Could I be more ecstatic about all of this?

You already know the answer.

The latest episode from the Cricket Saga closely follows the weather.  Now, I feel no remorse for rubbing our 60-degree days in your faces, dear Minnesota and New York readers!  Granted, they have been pretty soggy 60-degree days, but I don't mind that much, especially if I don't have to go anywhere.  Unrealistic, I know.  But still.  And today a cold breeze bit at my neck, but the sun was gloriously golden.

Anyway, I have noticed that the crickets start to emerge at the end of a warm, wet streak.  They are still lethargic and have not been singing much, and I can squash them fairly easily--but I'd better not get overconfident because I missed one the other day that should have been such a sure shot.  I got cocky, that's all.

As the cold streaks get longer and colder, though, the black wasps suddenly appear in my living space.  They seem to be really struggling to stay alive, and a few of them just died on their own, but anyone who has been outside with me knows that I am the wasp's smallest fan.  So I am actually quite pleased with the fact that I have not lost my head over a wasp intrusion, at least in the past month.

Incidentally, months seem to be just flying by lately.  The weeks just fall after each other and everything kind of blurs together...  And as college semesters are finishing up (I ran into a post-finals UD bar crawl this evening in Newark) I'm realizing that nobody really breaks my schedule now but me.  I mean, I could pretty much go on indefinitely in this routine.  For the most part.  At least theoretically.  (See me getting nervous about falling into a rut?  It's a trigger.)  I'm not going to graduate or pass a course or have to go back to school in September ever again, if I don't want to.  That thought simultaneously saddens and liberates me.

The Christmas/Scrooge Saga seems to have hipstered and meta-hipstered its way into conundrum status, as I spent most of my afternoon listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra and trying to decide who sings the best version of Baby, It's Cold Outside.  Meanwhile, I roll my eyes and toast to the other Scrooges and Grinches, pretending like it's not eggnog in our mugs.  (So far, this is merely imagery.  Just to clear that up.)

I'm excited because tonight I met some really cool ladies, an extension of the "That's What She Said" crew from last time--Craig, you've got yourself and the crew blog-dubbed for good now!  I'm thinking we're going to get along and have some good solid fun together, and I couldn't be more pumped.

And speaking of cool ladies, Audrey will arrive by bus from New Haven tomorrow night and isn't leaving until Sunday afternoon!  It's been too long since I've seen her, partly because my last drive that direction was such a shitshow, but also I'm thinking we're both settling in a little more where before our lives were marked by some degree of desperation.  I can't say for sure, having not really talked with her in months (see, there they go again), but that's my hunch.  So this weekend I'm looking forward to just doing whatever with my good friend.  And next time, in the promising throes of 2012, I'm pulling for another CAK reunion.  Queens is calling to me: Come, my love, my faithful subject!  (Get it?  Queens?  "Subject"?)  But I'm not ambitious enough to tackle NYC at Christmastime, even if I could get enough time off work to get up there.

So I leave you, dear readers, hanging from a cliff on the Mount of Saga.  But only for the time being.  I'll be back soon enough to save you from your fate of uncertainty.  Until then, get your own adventure ;)

This might be a good time to mention that I've been considering a new feature on this blog: Guest bloggers.  Believe it or not, I know at least 700 or 800 other people who are also now taking some kind of baby steps, and thinking about them and what they have to do with the rest of their lives.  It would probably just mean an extra post every couple of weeks, depending on how many people get involved.  So keep an eye out for that coming up, and please let me know if you'd like to contribute!  There is nothing too mundane :)