So Natha and I are experiencing a bonus at the moment...

which is of course transpiring in the Bonus room. What an extra surprise! I'm watching Jeopardy! and Natha's playing Crash on the Gameboy. We just ate dinner and we're chillin' now...

Here's a funny joke I got from Maxim the other day:

Q:Why did Snoop carry an umbrella?
A: Fo' drizzle.

I got a nice chuckle out of that one.

I also had a really odd dream this morning - part of the research I work on involves perfusing animals for research purposes - and it involves quite a bit of planning and preparation. One animal takes most of the day, and you'd probably only want to do two at the most in an 8 hour day - there are lots of solutions and other things that have to be made, arranged, picked up, and otherwise paid attention to. My dream (or *nightmare* as it were) was that I had gone into the lab to do a perfusion, but I hadn't set up anything else, and was trying to set up as I go along - which is entirely not possible, as the solutions with which we perfuse have to be made and chilled that morning. Not only that, but I was trying to make everything and I couldn't find any of the supplies I needed, whether it was the powder I put into solution, or a hot plate and stirrer rods to mix them together. It really freaked me out and I even after a while I had to wake myself up because I was so wound up. Yes, I know I'm weird. I guess that's what dreams are like for religious people when they have dreams they hadn't gone to church in a while and then pass on, to try and then get by the rest of the time with everything completely screwed up and finally have to make the madness end by waking up. Since I somewhat pray at the altar of Franklin-Covey, this is my equivalent, I suppose.

I know I haven't spoken much about my religious leanings, and that's for somewhat a good reason as well as out of habit - living in Nashville and being areligious in a Christian, church-going sense means that when someone asks you *where* you go to church as compared to inquiring *if* you go to church, you either tell them what Christian religion you were raised them politely changing the subject, make something up that they want to hear, or you can start asking that person questions on their particular views and prepare yourself for a battle. I prefer the former, of course, and if they're really insistent, I might just make something up if I don't want to deal with it. I know that Ed usually says he's Agnostic Buddhist, and sometimes gets into a more in-depth discussion for which he is very prepared - which is admirable in itself. When I was moving out of my old house a few weeks ago a man came by and asked us where we went to church, to which I replied that we were Agnostic Buddhist. He still gave us a pamphlet/storybook anyways, though. I was surprised with my change in how I answered the question, honestly. I guess having someone who share my spiritual views has made me more comfortable with my answers to the questions of Christians - safety in numbers, I suppose. I hadn't realized before then that I was Buddhist, but after thinking about my automatic answer, it made sense. The fact it came out so naturally is even more indicative of its true presence. That's probably why I feel the way I do about yoga asana practice - I've been feeling at peace with the world for a while, now it fits into a bigger construct. Just like how I used to think I was the only one like me in general, I used to think that I was the only one with my spiritual views, too. Now I've realized there are more like me. Guess that's part of not living in a small town anymore - and meeting more people as you go through life. Not that I've met *that* many more truly like me, but enough to know that they exist. Ed and Erin are two of those people, as is Anne, who has recetly presented herself as one of us. Too bad she's moving to St. Louis soon - but it's even more evidence that they're out there!

I'm sure you're thinking, 'What is she talking about?' - it's not even just 'Top 5%' as Erin says, I think. I'd have to meet someone to determine if they're *it*, whatever *it* is. I'm not sure if it's a way of thinking, a pattern of open-mindedness, a determination to be a good person to everything, or some other intangible quality. All I know is some people have it and some don't. It's not even a shades of grey thing, either. It's one of the few things that can't be measured greyscale gradation...

Ed's in class tonight until somewhat later - he has his lab tonight after his class. So I've got some time to do things. I must say I haven't been motivated to do anything this afternoon - I came home and have been watching TV since. Natha's about to go to bed then I'll put some of the things in our bedroom that are strewn about, which will make the room look better, at least, since it tooks *really* icky. I'll end up having to not go in to school on thursday - so I can do things then. Tommorow I'm teaching mitosis & meiosis, then I'm done for the rest of the week, other than some research on friday. I've got to give my presentation as a practice on friday, then I'll do a bit of research-oriented things, then I'll be done... until I have to study for organic chemistry. Hey, at least I'm not in the organic chem lab anymore.

So, I'm going to watch Will & Grace, then put the kid into the bed. Not sure what time Ed will be back. I'll snuggle with him when he gets home, though. He can't escape the reaches of the pernicious snuggling, I-tell-you-what.

So we've unleashed the Gameboy Advance upon the little boy...

and it's a rousing success. He now carries it everywhere, and he's learning to *evenutally* put it down, although he's not abandoning much yet. He's sitting here right in front of me, as a matter of fact, and he just set it down at the end of a level so he could wipe the sweat off his wet little hands, then he stretched a minute, then picked it back up. See, he's ok with it!

Erin's back over here - she's come back. We've had a slow yet destructive lack of communication on all three of our parts, but we've identified it now - and identifying it is more than half the battle. So we put the bonus/living room away (Ed moved all of his stuff yesterday) and Natha and I are half-watching Pirates of the Carribean while Ed & Erin are off talking about something in another part of the house... We're finally learning that we don't have to be right by each other all the time - Ed and I especially have drastically different perceptions of how to unwind and get ready to go to bed - he watches the Daily Show and reads stuff on the internets, while I read and have quiet time after Natha goes to sleep before I go to bed. I also need to have more sleep than he - so I'm usually in bed before he is. It doesn't bother me at all that he comes in later, after I'm settled in most of the time. I actually prefer it - I get my 'Leigh' time and then I'm refreshed to be around him again. I also started doing yoga again saturday - I'm going to try and fit in a few sun salutations before I get in the shower in the morning, then a longer routine at night before I go to bed. I've got a really good place to do yoga in our bedroom, which is nice. That's where I prefer to do such things, really.

I've got a big week in the preparation department this week - next week I've got a bunch of stuff to to prepare for the week after. I've also realized that I'm going to a conference in Florida in 3 weeks - I've done a bunch of reading in preparation so I know who I'm going to be meeting and their work. *Then* I get to brown-nose appropriately.

Ed and I went to the mall this morning so he could get his hair cut after we ate breakfast at IHOP - when we were on the escalator, I saw him differently than I had before - it was completely obvious for us to be together, meaning together was the default. Let me explain a bit more - before when we didn't live together, the default was for it to be me by myself of me with Natha. Anyone else's presence was an addition to my presence - not bad, just an additional person or persons. This morning on the escalator, I looked at him and we were one presence. He even looked like a different person to me - our relationship is obviously different than it was even 2 weeks ago. Now when he's not here it's a deletion of the previously whole presence that was the two of us. Not a bad deletion, just a deletion.

Well, I'm about to lose this since I'm not plugged in - I almost exclusively use laptops now... It's also about time to cook dinner and it's time to change the laundry over. I'm not sure when I'm going to clean the house - I mught start here in a minute, if they'll occupy the kid...

TTYL!

So I'm very proud of my students in my general biology lab...

they've done a great job recently (and yes, I told them today in the lab, so they know directly...) with studying and being prepared for class. They also seem to be really interested in what's going on, once I get them going. The first quiz 11 of them failed miserably, and on the second quiz only 4 did, and they didn't fail by much...

I'm also wondering what's going on with Erin... I know she's had a lot going on lately, and for various reasons I haven't been there (physically and mentally) for her - we don't live right by each other plus there's a lot going on right now in both of our lives. Yesterday, however, I was surprised when she seemed kind of irrational-angry towards me (as compared to the rational-angry that I still have rarely seen from her - I could understand rational-angry in this instance, even.) Mind you I'm not at all irrational-angry back, that's not like me - I'm sure there's other things going on which made her respond to that which I told her in the manner in which she did. I'm just confused as to what I should do now - I'm not sure whether I should call her and ask her what's going on (other than the housing thing not working), call her and pretend like that didn't happen, or just wait for her to come back. I kind of feel like she should in some way communicate her preference to me, but that would defeat the nature of the situation. I don't know if this is a sign of some larger natural rift that's going on in our relationship because of me moving to a different place or even because we're doing drastically different things than before... Should I remember the days when we sat around talking and eating Pizza Hut on a friday night with great fondness and not try and find some suitable equivalent now that the sitch is different? Or should I help this relationship evolve? It's hard to know when to acknowlege that a relationship won't be as close as it previously was, or when it's a temporary dip in synchronicity that is mended with a bit of time. I feel like I can't say things like they are anymore, both because I'm not around as much & don't know enough of the story to give good thoughts and because I'm not around enough know whether the brute truth is what I should tell her to help her the most. I have a lot of frank thoughts on her situations that a year ago would come out on friday night in an mutual air of relaxation & self-discovery, and I don't feel that there's an outlet equivalent to that anymore. So, Erin, if you read this, please come back, unless you're truly and naturally inclined to drift to other outlets in which case a simple acknowledgement will do and we'll continue to be as we have been more recently - good friends, but not the best of. I know I've done some slacking and could be more pro-active, too - so this isn't all on you, dear... I understand that people drift in and drift out, and good times remain good times in memory regardless of the drifting. I'm just not sure if the drifting is going to continue, or if we've been out on a lot of slack in opposite directions and will pull the rafts together again...

Ed's home now - I think we're supposed to go do something, but I know it's not get his hair cut (unfortunately)... We don't have the kid until later tonight, so we'll do some chillin' real quick before we need to eat dinner of some sort. Speaking of which, this playing house thing is wearing my butt out - the cooking and stuff, plus the getting up early is throwing me for a loop... Once we're more settled I'm sure I'll catch up, though.

Here's a list I've been meaning to make...
Words that thoroughly amuse me but don't get to be said nearly enough:
poot
sesquipedalian
acquiesce
square
quagmire
icky
super-cool
peccadillo
splendiferous

Jeez - I can't remember the rest of the list of them. Aw shucks. I should have started writing them down in my moleskine journal, but I guess that has since become Natha's outlet for writing & playing tic-tac-toe whenever he wants to since it's kept in my purse... When I think of them they'll be added...

Time to go watch Ed play Contra. I might convince him to play Super Mario, though, since I can play too then. I might even post again later tonight, depending on how late da kid goes beddie-bye...

So I'm about to teach my last lab for the week...

which should go pretty well, I hope. I'll drop more info at-cha later, dudes. There's been a lot going on lately, so I know I'm a slacker, but I'm back now, and that's what counts!!

Laterz!

So life has settled down a little bit...

if you can call having a completely different schedule 'settled down'... We finally got the internet here at the new house, after all my stuff moved this weekend. Almost all of my things are put away, but most of Ed's things are awaiting my mega-ninja-packing skills at this apartment. I'm adjusting to cooking/fixing meals often, which is new for me... I like to cook, I just wish I wasn't so hungry when I first got home so I could unwind a bit first - cooking right when I get in the door is spacing me out a bit, I think. I'll see what I can do to adjust that one. I think I'll have to start either eating lunch later or having a snack - when I eat breakfast at 7:30 it sets me up to eat lunch at 11:30, which makes me ravishingly hungry at 4:30. I'm eating a lot healthier, though, which is a much-needed change my body had forgotten to even prod me toward. I'm a *big* fan of that-there junk food, like taco bell & burger king, but now that I've got the freedom to buy the food I want to buy since I'm feeding people other than myself but that's the big use of my money, I can buy the good bread instead of the cheap kroger kind, and have a couple different kinds of bread. Before I couldn't finish a loaf before there was a fungus among us, now I can have more variety. Cooking dinner's fun when you have the freedom to produce what it is you want to instead of scrounging up junk food to put together as a quasi-meal, like 10 pieces of cheese, two handfuls of cashews, and orange juice.

I had a really freaky dream last night. Hell, it wasn't even freaky - it was downright upsetting. I dreamt I was hanging out at a movie theatre with one of Ed's friends, and the military called me to tell me that Ed had been killed while they were testing missles, but they didn't find *all* of him, and they wanted to know if they could declare him as dead. I told them of course they couldn't, and that I would come down to the testing field to see what they had to show me. But when I tried to leave the theatre, I couldn't because I just kept crying, and at this point I was crying out loud. It upset me to the point that I woke myself up and I was still crying. Thankfully he was there to prove the dream wrong - as Erin said, if he hadn't been there it would have been much more difficult to convince myself that it wasn't true - it seemed very true when I was dreaming it. I don't usually have such emotional dreams - and I rarely even have sexual dreams, but I do dream. Mostly about weird stuff like a house knee-deep in weiner dogs where I can't seem to get in the door without them spilling out and I have to pick them back up and try to put them back in. Stuff like that. The last time I had a dream that made me cry was about 6 or 7 years ago, I think. That's how long it's been.

The way to a man's heart *is* through his stomach - Ed's been really happy with my wifely skills, namely making breakfast, lunch, & dinner, plus the occasional snack. He keeps asking me why I'm doing it, and it's because it's my duty to take care of him - just like he's taking care of me in other ways. It's all a trade-off, really, a division of labor to accomplish the important things and not worrying about the things that aren't important to each of us...

He just called me Pookie - that's Garfield's bear! :)

I think I should send Natha to Abu Dhabi, just like Garfield did to Nermal. It would do him some good.

Time for sleep - I have to take Natha to school in the morning and I'm still adjusting to the drive, then I'm taking advantage of my spring break to get some more research done the rest of the week... not to mention I need to finish packing Ed's apartment up into random boxes of all sizes. BTW, I think there's a direct correlation between how much skill/like one has for packing things into a given space and their aptitude for playing Tetris. It's like I've been playing tetris for the last 4 days and I've beaten it! Ha-ha! You can't lick me, even on level 9! (Oh, and is it weird I have a favorite Tetris piece?)

Ttfn, dudes!

So I've been spreading my weirdness *again*...

last night when I went up to Cave City to meet my parents to exchange the kid, I stopped at Wendy's to eat. I went inside and there was a bus-full of kids, 11-12 years old. I didn't know why they were there but they seemed to be having a really good time, in only the way that your first overnight fild trip with your friends and without parents can be. I got my food and picked up a straw, only to took at the straw and wonder, 'Should I show them how to make a musical instrument out of this?'. I sat there for a quick second and thought about it. Sure, it makes me look weird, but what doesn't? I quickly decided that if I didn't show them, I would regret it - so I walked up to a table of girls in their nike tennis shoes and brightly-colored Old Navy fleeces and told them I had something cool to show them. I made the instrument real quick and showed one of the other girls how to make it too. Then they all started going after straws and bringing them up to me for me to show them.. I showed about 5 people how to make them, then I had to leave in the middle of the frenzy just to bask a little bit before driving home. I learned to make the straw kazoo, I guess it's called, on a similar trip when I was their age and I've been making it ever since.

Today's moving day for me, at least. I'm about to go get the truck, then load it up and take it over to the new house... Natha will be back later today but he'll stay with Kazu tonight... He keeps asking when I'm going to take things over there, and I told him when he gets back today, the stuff will be there...

ttfn!

So I'm *better* now...

whatever that means. I've turned in my mid-term grades and I've only got one test to finish before next monday. Oh, and moving, too. Let's not forget about that! :)

I forgot the satisfaction one gets from running into someone you used to date, them making a suggestion that you go and do something, and you replying that you've been busy lately and that any time you have you've been spending with your boyfriend. It's even better when it's someone you chased and they didn't pay attention to you back in the day. That made me smile my big, cheezy smile :)

I told everyone in my Organic chemistry class that I wasn't going to be in lab (it probably came across as bragging, but I don't care!) and they were all scrambling to get hold of my lab notebook... I found that to be quite funny - like there's some secret in there that I write before *every* lab, even before I do them that will make them finish in half the time of the average bear. Hey, if it helps someone, I'm all for it. I don't see what was to be had from that book, though... Bless their hearts.

Natha's excited about moving - we finally told him, and I took him to the new house on tuesday so he could see it. We don't have the heat turned up yet, so all he could remark about was that it was really cold there. He seems happy with his room placement, though. I also told him that he would be getting a little TV in his room to play his games on (but nothing else) and that received the most reaction yet. He woke up this morning and asked me if I was going to move any of the stuff over to the new house today. Guess he's more antsy than I thought to get out of this house... He also saw the box in his room that I'm going to use to pack his books and he started putting books in there before he went to bed so he could help. Every time we've moved and he knew what we were doing he's helped me. When he was 2 1/2 he started carrying bags of books down the stairs of the apartment without me even asking him to. I can understand why he's wanted to help me - we've moved into bigger, nicer houses each time... with the biggest difference being this time. It's still not quite real. When we went by the house it wasn't like I was going to live there. It's as nice as my parent's house, and about the same size. It's also in a much nicer neighborhood... compared to the quasi-ghetto under the guise of gentrification that is East Nashville. It's odd to move into a house that's as nice as your parents' house, especially when everything you've been living in up to that point has been a crappy apartment. It's even further compounded by the fact that I relinquished my right to a semi-extravagant life when I decided to go back to school and live off of loans. I wasn't expecting to travel, have a boyfriend willing to come over when I had my son there, and especially not to become a Brentwood trophy wife-of-sorts. There's a lot that goes along with that - taking care of the house is somewhat of an addition because I am just now going to have a house worth taking care of. People think I'm messy, which isn't true entirely. I just do a thorough cost-benefit analysis before cleaning anything, and there are a lot of things that don't end up on the 'clean me!' side of the equation as far as I'm concerned. There are going to be a lot of other things that will be easier, though - like taking care of Natha, paying bills, and making sure everything's safe & secure. I think that I'm on the winning end of the deal, as is Ed, for various reasons - we're both taking over the parts of 'the household' that we're better at/more capable to preside over. Not to mention that we're hyper-compatible plus we entertain the heck out of ourselves as well as each other - and there isn't an end in sight - I can't imagine what would happen to make us be apart.

So now I get to spend one of the last nights apart from him before all our stuff is in the same place and we don't have to decide whether he's staying here in this horribly incomfortable bed (it was uncomfortable before we had the *space bed* but now it's just downright obscene) or if we're just going to miss each other that night. Lots of stuff will be *so* much easier. I forgot how hard it is to do everything by myself since I didn't have a choice in the matter - if it was going to get done, I had to do it myself, so why think it's hard? I think I'll be an even better girlfriend and trophy after everything's in place since I'll be the happiest person possible because all of the pieces have fit into place. Mighty big change from a year ago, if you know me well - and even if you don't. ;)

Time for bed - It's dropping 10 degrees per second and I need to get under some covers pronto. (not Tonto)

Kewl Beanz! Stay Sweet & Don't ever change!