*groan*

Ok. Saturday is officially over. And I can't sleep. There's someone in my building who has a somewhat inconsiderate affinity to playing Arabic music loudly after midnight. This usually happens around once a week, so it is tolerable, I suppose (subtle P&P innuendo there). BUT STILL.

I need to get up early(ish) tomorrow to take a shower and head off to church, but there are so many things in my head at the moment that I have to let some of 'em out.

Looking through that previous YT vid again (adorable kid!), I found out something more I'd like to have in a future bf/partner-for-life (note that I didn't write "partner-in-crime" here -- I'm not a criminal (duh)). He has to have a great laugh. I remember I'd gotten for one of my English assignments in Senior High to describe someone in my family, so I chose to describe Dad. I remember describing his laugh like a "high-pitched machine gun laugh". I'd like to have something like that as one of the top features of a future bf/partner-for-life. He has to have a contagious and memorable kind of laugh.

In other news, while the rest of mah peeps are studying for their semester finals, I've ostracized myself from that level of stress, if you get my drift. I'm not going to have any exams before spring (!), so I'm not really feeling the kind of nerves others of my acquaintance are feeling. Nonetheless, this means that the culmination of my classes will be postponed -- which can also be a bad thing. In addition, we've been given the task of writing 3 essays in the course of the next few months, so there'll probably be a lot of IB tendencies lurking about this Christmas... :-S Vacation is going to be somewhat short for me this year, I believe/fear... The first draft of one of my essays is going to be handed in January 4, so I'd better put the pedal to the metal and get started with it. Ugh. I feel really torn between letting myself work a little this Christmas and concentrating as much as possible on these essay drafts, but I fear that I'll just have to let work take a back seat this Christmas. I must admit I do feel guilty for doing so, but considering the fact that I don't have that much time to write my drafts, I don't think there's much for me to do about it.

Ugh (#2). I feel I'm letting people down by doing this, but ultimately uni has a higher priority than work. Still... The guilt factor is sky high.

This sucks. SUCKS, I tell you. SUCKS.

Meanwhile, besides this semi-killjoy attitude of uni with respect to essay writing (bah, humbug), I'm slowly but surely getting into the Christmas mood. At the soccer stadium they've started decorating the adjacent shopping street (it's really not that long/extravagant) with lights and tiny plastic Christmas trees. Purdy. Real purdy. They've also started decorating on campus, albeit just a little. This week there was this huge crane at the southern end of campus, ready to set up Christmas lights in the trees. You should really see those trees when it's dark outside (or after dark). Nothing short of beautiful!

Bought myself a bag of Christmas marzipan today as well. Lord knows marzipan is one of the best things ever created. I didn't really like it when I was a kid, but it's sorta' grown on me over the years. Just like licorice, mustard, brown cheese and raw/unprocessed tomatoes. (I adored spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and ketchup when I was a kid, but ironically enough I couldn't stand raw tomatoes. In case you didn't know, I was weird back then. Heck, I'm still weird in many ways!)

So what's missing now to make the picture complete is SNOW. That and reading by a lit fireplace snuggled inside a blanket in your jammies and favorite slippers sipping gløgg (approx. the same as mulled wine) while huge cotton-like wads of snow quietly fall to the ground. With the sweet and spicy smell of gløgg gradually filling the air and the sporadic crackling from the fireplace in reach. Oh yeah. Bliss. ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...")

*snaps out of trance* Hokai. Enough for now. I'd better hit the sack and get my beauty sleep. Going to church with dark bags underneath your eyes isn't exactly ideal. Besides, Sir Play-It-Loud seems to have surrendered to the increasing levels of serotonin in his body. Finally. I should do the same.

'Till next time!



Signing off (zzz...),
Elise

There.

After having emigrated (to another flat/room - just down the hall) I feel I can take things a little easier now. Furthermore, my discontent of having accidentally DELETED that endlessly long POST has receded; I've bought most of the course material for the semester (these courses are ridiculous in terms of the number of lectures!); and I've managed to settle in somewhat. Well, I still need to get fully accustomed to this novel territory of mine (cf. new flat/room), but so far so good.

So, what I was aiming to write here before "the Great Delete" (ARGH), was that Christmas was basically more or less same ol' same ol'. Just a nice quiet celebration with heaps of good food that I need to sweat off these next couple of months - and maintain that pace. Besides, Christmas this year had for me an aura of relief. I guess I still had last Christmas in my mind and was so thankful that Mom was physically here this time.

New Year's Eve was also quite nice. Not as quiet this time as in other years, since my cousin (who's now fully established in SVG) paid us a visit. Needless to say, we had an awesome time.

Resolutions? I'm not a really great fan of New Year's resolutions, although after all that food I sense the need to actually make some either way. The most important one being working out - and sticking to it. But in summing up, what's there to say about last year, then?

In summing up 2008, I have...

• Laughed more than I've cried (I think I only cried once this year; with no other apparent reason than the mere acting like a stress reliever)
• Gained friends
• Recovered acquaintances
• Been really bad at keeping in touch with people abroad (my fault - I try, but ultimately I suck at this)
• Worked hard
• Earned pretty good grades
• Missed doing yoga
• Been melancholic
• Been neurotic (oh yes...)
• Traveled
• Stressed out (there's no way out of this one)
• Taken responsibility for own actions
• Breathed (you usually don't realize this, but breathing is not only one of the most essential things you do as a human being (!), but also is one of the quickest ways of functioning as a stress reliever... In my case, that and crying! *lol*)
• Argued against people
• Been proven wrong
• Been proven right
• Eaten good food
• Worked out (note to self: Continue doing this!)
• Gone to church
• Traveled
• Practiced Spanish (should do a little more of this this year)
• Drunk Spanish hot chocolate (once you've tried it, there's no way back!)
• Gotten hooked on ginger candies (*swoon*)
• Been consulted on various matters
• Been in need of consultation on various matters
• Been weak
• Been strong
• Used circumlocutions too much (often leading in others looking at me bewilderedly, muttering the occasional "Huh?" and/or them thinking that "she could have said it so much easier!" Who needs Occam's razor, eh?)
• Stated my opinion
• Wondered
• Learnt
• Taught (not exceedingly much, but still)
• Given
• Taken
• Been too honest at times
• Been vain (sadly)
• Concentrated on more things than needed
• Multitasked (with varying degrees of success *lol*)
• Had quiet moments with God
• Meditated
• Felt at one with everything
• Wanted to keep a pet in my flat (oh well, I'll just have to save that 'till later)
• Felt annoyed (Little Drummer Boy, anyone?)
• Felt frustrated
• Felt happy
• Felt energetic
• Felt relieved
• Felt content
• Felt utterly shallow and "Kinder egg"-like (you have to compensate for the deep part of your personality, don't you?)
• Given me time to myself
• Visited people
• Participated in heated discussions about various topics
• Started and completed projects
• Enjoyed the silence when the snow fell outside
• Enjoyed a good book (actually many good books)
• Expanded my vocabulary (especially in Spanish)
• Seized the opportunity
• Cut my hair
• Lived

Ok. So generally speaking, this is roughly what the year turned out to be. Pretty good compared to last year, I have to say. An excellent year's progress. All the best for 2009 to all!

Starting off the new year, here's a gem of a vid:



And in addition, another vid (which cannot be embedded... *tear*):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MatUG_xTMg


Signing off,

Elise