And now for something completely different.
(Just like that, everything equalized, computers are fixed, and I'm now back to appropriate levels of job dissatisfaction.)

I'm really excited about this winter weather stuff. Everyone I've cared to make mention of this who's a native Minnesotan sort of roll their eyes like I'm the absolute stupidest person ever and then grumble something about "we'll see how that changes in February/when there's three feet of snow out your door." And sure, this may be true, but right now I am going to relish every moment of the novelty.

It makes me excited to be living in Minnesota. The summer here was absolutely dreadful and I really don't think I could stand another, but the little sliver of autumn was gorgeous and thus far winter has yet to disappoint. I will admit that a part of it indeed is because of my native Oregonian breeding that makes snow feel so special since it has occurred so seldom in my life before, but it seems to go deeper than that for me. I feel genuinely happy when I see it. I opened up my curtains last night so as I feel asleep I could peer out over the neighboring rooftops and the trees and the white shimmer that clings to the world outside. It makes the night glow and it's beautiful. It makes me feel like I am meant to be here and really, now that I've been here for six whole months, the homesickness doesn't shake me down anymore.

Sure, my job still sucks, and I still haven't made many friends, but I'm okay with that. I realized that when I was in Portland, the only people I hung out with were Brad, Sam, and occasionally my coworkers. I don't get to hang out with Brad as much as we did because we're both lame (mostly me) and without cars, and his schedule is rather inverted from mine. We do still manage to hang out but less frequently, and it is mostly my fault. But again, I realized that even at home I socialized mostly online (yeah, totally lame). I also realize that I should be better about giving Ben a break. It's hard to pace myself when our relationship started long distance, so in some way I feel like my brain is unconsciously wanting to make up for lost time. And you know, I really enjoy being around him and all that mushy crap. That aside, I need to learn to have time to myself and no, he's probably not going to want to dump me at the first taste of precious precious freeeeedom.

Plus, I've got some projects to work on that are going to require me to do something slightly more productive than help make dinner and watch PBS cooking shows and/or cartoons all night most days out of the week. About two months ago, my friend Ryane approached me about designing her wedding invitations after I sent her a hand-drawn card congratulating her on the engagement. Her wedding is in July, which means by traditional standards I should probably be completely done with the design. Oops. Luckily she's already proven to be a chill bride, so I don't need to really have anything print-ready til January. Still, I'm incredibly stoked and terrified. Stoked because I am honored to do this for her and decided that in order to have any really tangible creative output I need deadlines and this is a real honest-to-goodness deadline kind of project. But terrified because I will absolutely destroy her special day if I don't deliver The Goods.

It's fun because it gets me all in the wedding spirit, this being one of two weddings I will be attending nearly back to back next July. My involvement in the other wedding is just as important, as it will be my first time as a bridesmaid. Oh god, I've finally hit THAT age. I will be a bridesmaid to my longest-running friend of friends, the kind where there are copious blackmail-able photos of us together reveling in the joy of being very young, naked, lumpy (well, at least me) toddlers. And for this, I am also super stoked and super terrified. At least in the case of the invitations, there's a lot of post-production standing between the recipients and my creative output, where in this case I will have to try to not doing anything retarded in person for like, a whoooole freakin' day. And I have to walk down an aisle and follow directions and consciously remind myself to smile because my relaxed face I have been told looks vaguely pissed off and I don't want to be responsible for ruining their magical memories with my default sourpuss popping up in photos. Again, this is something that makes me feel endlessly fuzzy inside because as many of you know I'm shitty at keeping up correspondence unless you're on here, or instant messenger everyday, and for someone I have known for almost all of my life to still like me enough to be her bridesmaid makes me feel like a winner and not so concerned with making friends here or anywhere.

And then there's Christmas! Yeah, there really is very much to be happy about right now. So I'm going to go do that.