Happiness Is Part III

lounging about in one's nightgown all day Saturday, with a good book at hand and nowhere else to be!

The Leaf is Still New

Nearly three weeks later, my soda consumption is still down. Instead, I'm drinking Postum, bush tea, and licorice spice tea.

Now if I could only cut my sugar and fat consumption by similar degrees...

Here's to No Regrets, Or, Do You YouTube?

Have you ever made a decision or purchased an item that turned out to be a complete mistake? Sometimes, a costly mistake? Well, it's always satisfying when that doesn't happen. So let me tell you about a few decisions that I'm still happy about after the fact.

1. My red trash can. It was an extravagant purchase at Target when I moved into the apartment in Tennessee. I still love it, and do not regret a penny spent.

2. Selecting the person we did to be our new distance education graduate assistant. I had a few reservations, but they have nearly all evaporated after just four days. Check out the first tutorial he produced, with nearly no input from me (besides providing my account information). The quality on YouTube isn't as high as it will be on our own Web site, but you get the idea. This sort of thing is on my workplan to be doing, but I'm lucky to still sleep and eat, so it has never happened.

This brings me to another neat library video on YouTube. You have to stick with it for about a minute before you get to the really cool stuff. Maybe some of you veteran YouTubers have seen it, but I can count on one hand the YouTube videos I've watched.

No, make that two hands, now that I watched the fabulous Betty Glover Library Workout Tape Ad.

Stranded

Have you heard about A&E's new reality show, Parking Wars, which follows Philadelphia Parking Authority employees on their daily rounds? A&E notes that the car is part of the American way of life, and "one of the most tangible expressions of a person's freedom and identity."

My car doesn't have a pet name, I don't talk to it or attribute human emotions to it. But I was completely carless for 24 hours today, and it was unsettling.

While my car was at the shop waiting for its new clutch (thank you for the help, Dad!), I got a ride home from work yesterday. It was beautiful out, and I had been stuck inside all day, so I decided to walk to Kroger on the corner (to look for Postum). Not too bad--I took my mp3 player and listened to Jodi Picoult all the way there and back. Negotiating the parking lot between Kroger and Subway on foot in the dark was a little dicey, but I arrived home unscathed.

Standing on the curb at 5:45 this morning waiting for my ride to Seminary felt a little weird. And then at work, I was completely "off"--anxious, unfocused, talking in incomplete sentences, etc. I thought it had something to do with only getting 2.5 hours of sleep, being stressed out about writing interview questions for this week's employment interviews, and facing the prospect of phoning back a bunch of other unsuccessful job applicants. But once I was in my own car, driving to (a different) Kroger, I suddenly felt much more like myself. I'm getting more tired by the minute, the questions still aren't written, and I haven't broken the bad news to everyone yet, but my very own all wheel drive station wagon, complete with new clutch, is waiting faithfully in the parking lot, ready to deliver me home as soon as I say the word. Just a minute, Bessie--I'll be right there.

A New Leaf?

Or maybe just an anomaly. Either way, I'm sure my mother will be happy to hear I have drunk only about 22 ounces of diet soda in the past 36 hours. For anyone who knows my habit, you'll know that's quite an accomplishment.

The immediate reason for the dry spell is not newfound will, but the simple fact that cold drinks don't mix well with a head cold. Instead of soda, I've been guzzling wassail, Postum, and even bush tea. Incidentally, a Hot Shot sure comes in handy at times like this. See Mom, I do use it after all!