the anathema that is the weather, and other things in my life meant to "grow my character..."

i. am. going. nuts.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not even CLOSE to spring yet, but I am still a serious sufferer of spring fever. Spring semester is such a challenge...by February I am ready to mentally check out of classes, and by March I'm ready to kill the first person who has the nerve to tell me they are loving school.

So we watched the first half of the film Pride & Prejudice (Keira Knightley and Matthew Mcfayden) in my Jane Austen lit class this afternoon...that is one of the movies that every time I view it, I love it even more. Usually film adaptations of my favorite books bother me to no end, but in this case I feel like they did such a superb job of capturing the tone, flavor and voice of the novel. And wonder of wonders, I actually think Keira Knightley more appropriately captures the personality of Elizabeth Bennett than any of the previous actresses who've tried the same. To me this movie is Knightley's saving grace; the one film I've seen of hers that convinces me she has at least some acting chops.

Moving beyond movies...(which, after all, is rather hard to do when one is desperate for escape!!) I've decided my friend Samantha wins the game of "who had the weirdest Valentine's Day weekend," which, considering the stories I've heard, is a pretty major feat. She spent the weekend with her grandparents who not only fought the whole weekend, but preceded to drag her to a strip club thinly veiled as a bar, on Saturday night. Apparently they decided their 21-year-old granddaughter is too "straight-laced," and needed her horizons broadened. It sounds like, by FAR, one of the most painful experiences I've ever heard of. I felt so bad for Samantha this afternoon as she was relating this to me that I took her out for cheap coffee afterward. Never have I been more thankful for the relative saneness of my family... :)

So I went to the library last night, and realized after about ten minutes of browsing that I was being tailed. By a five/six-year-old boy. With a lot of hair. I eventually caught him staring at me from behind a bookshelf and gave him a little wave, which just about sent him into hyperventilation. He ran off in a panic, careening into shelves and chairs like a crazed ping-pong ball. I discreetly followed, and watched as he recovered himself in a quiet corner before setting off. He then targeted a new stranger (an older man this time) and began his little spy mission anew. This whole incident left me laughing to myself for the rest of my library visit. Sometimes I think I haven't yet lost this fear and awe of the world around me...or my instinct to play "spy" with it.

So Kody has become my one saving grace in my Post-Modern lit class. Every morning we meet up before class and convince each other not to bail. Tomorrow we get our first in-class essays back, and I don't remember being this unnerved about a test since my first semester of college. This prof is simply impossible to predict, and therefore incredibly frustrating to write an essay for. I can't wait until tomorrow is over...

So I've stuck with my whole goal of finding one thing to focus on that makes me happy...it's incredible how much easier it makes staying cheerful. Yesterday I was thankful for my car. One of my classmates told me about what it's like to take the bus ever day, and it made me want to run out to the parking lot and literally hug my wheels. Despite how claustrophobic I occasionally feel in Ypsi, I am not stuck like many are. I have freedom of a sort (even if I don't have money to really drive anywhere...) :)