I turned 25 and survived! Wow! Awesome :).

Thanks to everyone who so kindly remembered my day (despite the fact that it's squished in there along with Thanksgiving). I really enjoyed my birthday...and a big factor in that was that I didn't do any school work AND didn't feel guilty about not doing any school work.

I actually got up at 8 in the morning on my birthday, despite it being a day off from work, and enjoyed the WHOLE day. So, my philosophy, I suppose, at least for birthdays, is: early to rise, stay up late, it's the perfect way to celebrate your birthdate...uhm, yeah, I'm quite the poet.

This year....well....

This year, I will firmly embrace the notion that if it looks to good to be true it probably is. This year, I'll ask myself, "Will I regret NOT doing this?" and then jump in and have fun :).

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend filled with turkey, other yummy food, shopping, movies, family, friends, warm blankets, purring cats, happy dogs and anything else that makes the holidays wonderful.

If I'm going to procrastinate (which we all know that I am), then I might as well do it well and talk about some of the things I'm Thankful for (this may seem cliche, but seeing as how it's also my b-day tomorrow, I get to do what I want :p so there).

Things I am thankful for (in no particular order):
*Four days off of work in a row.
*Time spent with my little family and no one has yelled at anyone (this is the beauty of not having a big Thanksgiving)
*The fact that when my grandma called this morning, she said, "I'm going to go get Grandpa and take him over to Aunt Shelly's and see if he recognizes anyone."
*My fabulous friends who love me and still talk to me even though I'm terrible at returning phone calls.
*That it's almost the end of the semester, and I'm not nearly as close to drowning in work as I was last week
*That the fed ex box DIDN'T contain flowers
*That the vet has developed a particular affinity for my cat Timmy and so is making sure that he gets the best care (for once someone in MY family gets to be the favorite! yeah!)
* That I don't have to go back to work until Monday

And always, of course, for M & D, JJ, Bailey, Marley, Timmy....and the whole crew of folks tied all up in the Catholic culture thing!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hopefully, today will be a lot less weird than yesterday...

Between bizarro dreams and strange e-mails from people who should seriously know better, I'm ready for some turkey, pie and movies ;).

Bring on the stuffing!

I have had my only allowed pre-birthday "oh my gosh, I'm getting older...I haven't accomplished blah blah blah" freak-out. So, everyone can breathe easy...that's passed for this year, and there were no injuries (unless you count my poor dad sitting next to me in the car trying to calm me down by telling me that I will indeed have everything I want in life - like that'll work on me! -...I think he's been emotionally scarred).

Now, it's on to the good stuff, like turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, birthday cake....oh, and eventually a night of revelry with my friends :).

I need to learn how to keep my mouth shut.

Or is that I need to learn to think before I speak.

You'd think I'd have learned by now, but now, I really haven't. Thoughts pop into my head, and I just say them, as if what I have to say is the MOST important thing in all the world, other people's feelings be darned...

I was thinking all of this one the way home from a weekend filled with me saying things and immediately wishing I hadn't set them.

Then I read my Glamour magazine, which happens this month to have a profile of my astrological sign, Sagitarrius, and it gave the very same advice...

Can I really blame this on my birthday? If not that, can I blame it on my grandma? Because, really, she's the champion of the quick insult.

No matter who's (or what's) to blame, I'm the one who can make it better by realizing that people don't always want to hear what I have to say and that what I have to say isn't always nice.

It's not quite my birthday and it's a few weeks away from the new year, but what the hay, here's a resolution:

I resolve to think before I speak and to say nice things when I do speak.

p.s. If I have inadvertently hurt anyone with my sometimes snide, often cynical comments, please do forgive me. The words slip away from me before I have the chance to catch them, but I'm going to make an effort to make sure that doesn't happen anymore. I promise.

For those of you who enjoy reading about the strange life and times of library school students, have a look at the latest issue of the SLIS Descriptor. Enjoy :).

In recent days, I've talked to a lot of people about sharing personal business via blog. As I've talked about it, I've had doubts about whether or not it's a good idea to write about such personal things as my relationship "issues," and, yeah, well, really this has been the place to vent about romance (or a lack thereof).

I've thought about it. Then I thought about it some more.

I decided that I want to keep blogging. I do keep some things private, and I enjoy pretending like I have a "column" to write and readers to please. It's fun for me...and this is all about me, isn't it?

So, relationship issues? Well, I have none at the moment. But that's probably because I don't have a relationship or anything even remotely resembling one, and you know what? That's perfect for me right now (and I'm not saying that in that creepy way that the Molly Shannon character on SNL says, "I'm single and LOVING IT!"). Having actually realized the amount of energy that goes into making a relationship work, I do not want one right at this very moment.

You know what else?

Aside from my "panic list," which includes a list of items that must be completed before December 8 but just don't seem to get done, I'm happier than I've been in a REALLY long time.

I have wonderful friends with whom I really enjoy spending time.
My parents and I have a strong relationship, and they're getting more used to me having a life (it's good for everyone).
I DON'T hate my job.
School will be done for the semester on December 8.

In addition to all of this, I've been pondering a realization that I came to after saying "No, thank you" to a couple of guys and then immediately feeling guilty about it (like that I was being too superficial)...that realization: I am young enough to be picky. Yes, I'm coming up on that quarter century mark (next week!), but I give myself permission to be young and choosy (at least for a little while longer).