2. this past week was the last week of classes at my school. this really makes me happy. next week, i only have four finals to worry about: two on monday, one on tuesday, and one on wednesday. after those four puppies, i’ll be done for the year. i won’t have to work about school again until late april next year when spring semester finals are coming around. after school lets out, though, the administrative offices stay open for an additional two(ish?) weeks and i’ll still be working. this is pretty awesome. if i wasn’t, i’d be totally smagotally broke. i mean, i could go work at my grandma’s place for extra cash, but eh. i’m looking for the winter break either way!

3. speaking of winter break. in the third week of december, there is a very special day that happens. lots of people celebrate and it never fails to bring a warm, happy feeling in the pit of my stomach. the day that i’m talking about and that you should already know??? my birthday! this year, i shall be celebrating my 22nd birthday on the 22nd of december. i think people call that the Golden Birthday. whatever that means. i’m pretty excited about my birthday, because i always am. it’s a great day. i’m just worried that it will be an anticlimactic after last year’s The Big Two-One, the real golden birthday where i was finally legally able to buy alcohol and go to most alcohol-serving establishments. i mean, twenty-one is a big deal for lots of people, myself included. but what exactly does twenty-two entitle? i don’t know. i’m looking forward to it anyway. it will be fun.

4. today while i was at work, i was doing the very tedious task of going through packets of faculty evaluation forms, making sure that all fields had been addressed and that all the bubbles had been penciled in completely. exciting, i know. on a serious note, though, i much prefer doing this task than finding myself task-less. i hate sitting around idly in my office with nothing to do. after a few hours of this, i started feeling my writing (right) hand cramping up and the callous on the left side of my middle finger where a writing utensil has rested for the past eighteen years was feeling particularly rough. i wanted to let my hand rest, but i didn’t want to look like i was slacking off. instead, i picked up a pencil with my left hand and started filling circles. i realized that this wasn’t too hard of a task and a thought occurred to me: i should try being able to write ambidextrously! so, something that i’ll be working on during the winter break will be my left hand handwriting. i can write. it just looks like a child’s handwriting.

5. so it’s the first week of december here and it’s finally getting cold here. i’m happy! there were lots of rumors of snow in the south texas area last night. i didn’t believe it (i was right, no snow), but i’m just happy that it’s getting to be under fifty degrees. it’s so friggin hot here the rest of the year, that i just shiver with excitement at the thought of cooler temperatures. people here are really sensitive to the cold. as soon as it gets under sixty degrees, they break out their delta vega/hoth-parkas, crank up the settings on their heaters, and lace up their fur-trimmed snow boots. it’s a little ridiculous. i like to enjoy it a bit more. yesterday, all i wore was a v-neck with a cotton vest that serves only for fashion statement purposes. i did get a bit cold, so today i wore a hoodie. at one point i started getting a little warm, so i just walked around in a tshirt for a while. it was awesome. i love the cold!