Wow, it's been several days since I last updated. What's happened recently:

Went on a three hour trail ride on Saturday morning with Yussanne and Andrea S. I'm still a little stiff from it - I always thought being saddle-sore was a joke or for 'old people', but now I believe it. Unfortunately, Western saddles just don't agree with me anymore, 'cause the stirrups put stress on my knees and twist them... when I was younger, that wasn't a problem, but when you dismount and nearly sit down because your knees buckle... yeah, that's not good. Yup, I've definitely become what Connie (really old and really awesome camp riding instructor) jokingly called an "English brat". ;) Besides, you can do more interesting things in English, like jumping, dressage, combined training... all sorts o' good stuff. And I can always switch back to neck reining and an Australian saddle for polocrosse, if I decide to be a camp counselor or wrangler over a summer.

I slept so much this weekend, I felt like a cat. After 7 hours' sleep on Friday night, I went riding with Yussanne and Andrea, had lunch with them, got back to tech around 4:30, and promptly fell asleep again, intending to wake up around 7. Instead, I slept till 9 (4.5 hours sleep), did some more reading, played the LOTR board game, and went to sleep again at 2 AM. I then woke up at 11:30 (9.5 hours sleep) Sunday morning - as a frosh said, "That's almost 3 nights' worth of sleep!!" -grins- Yup, sure is. Damn, it's good to be a history major. ;)

After sleeping for oodles of time, I then spent Sunday afternoon with a gaggle of girls at the LA fabric mart (Katie, Kaisa, Maki, Sandy, Lucie, Merc) looking at cloak materials and pricing some for friends. There's nothing like fabric shopping with a group of girls - it's like being in the middle of a flock of magpies. "Ooooh, look! Shiny!!" and there they go... ;) No, really, it was fun. And I found some lovely dark green wool cloth for a *useful* full-circle cloak for me - I have the half-circle dark blue one from the stack last year, but it's just not warm enough for real winter use (Kat, you may end up with this one... that, or it's going to Mom). This one'll be pretty (for costumes), as well as durable *and* functional as protection against the elements (wool's warm, and fairly waterproof). In any case, Katie and I managed to knock down the seller's price by almost 2 dollars/yd and convinced him to knock off tax too. Wow, haggling is fun. :) We also found some cheap, soft linen cloth for lining... Ah, this'll be fun. Looks like I'll be doing some sewing over Thanksgiving break - and even better, Grandmom's a great seamstress, so I can spend time with her doing this. :) I'm planning on having it ready for when I go back home over winter break - I'll be using it for warmth at home, as it's a chilly 30 degrees on average there... and the Two Towers is coming out on Dec. 19th. :) :) Three guesses who's going as Eowyn. ;) I'll get Mom or Dad to take pictures, might even scan and post them later.

Add to all this the fact that I'm going home (HOME!! :) for Thanksgiving for the first time in 3 years... definitely cause for celebration. The only problem is that Kat managed to catch the flu over the weekend, and I haven't had a flu shot yet... guess this means I'm stopping by the health center tomorrow for one. hooray?

Eh well, at least I get to go home, even if I'll be doing a lot of work too... I'll have the 110 set (due tuesday), plus the 3000 word core 1a paper (due monday), plus the 3000 word h 142 paper (due friday) to work on, without counting the 10 page h 161 paper I'll have to write before the end of finals week. But I think it'll be just fine... I'll just have the 110 final and the 161 paper to worry about during finals week, which should be a piece of cake compared to previous terms' "4 finals, a paper, and maybe another paper..." frenzy. This 37 units thing is awfully nice.

Honestly, ever since I dropped the biology major, I've been much happier. Funny, it's made this much difference so quickly. I feel like I did during frosh year - maybe even before, because I feel *confident* in my abilities again. I'm finally doing something that I know for certain I can do well. And for (perhaps) the first time in my life, I don't care what anyone else thinks about this decision - *I* feel that it's the right decision for me, and it's worth the sacrifices I've made and will make. I never realized before now that I don't have to live up to anyone's expectations but my own (yeah, so I've been really slow to realize this. I admit, I should've listened to Adam on this point frosh year, because he was right on). My parents are behind me no matter what, and (amazingly) even my former bio advisor was encouraging - "It sounds like a well-thought-out decision and I fully support you. The most important thing to do is to keep yourself interested and excited about your field of study! I am glad that you have figured this out early enough to still have options ahead." Considering that I expected a diatribe on how I was letting her down, it was a nice surprise... and of course, Professor Brown was thrilled when he found out. It'll be funny to see the expressions of the frosh next year, though - "History?! You're only a history major? I didn't know that was possible here!" I've actually gotten that question a lot recently... it's amusing.

Oh yeah - I got the most impressive compliment of my writing career this afternoon from my core 1a editor. We were discussing weak points of my introduction (looks like I'll be doing major renovations over break), but she was quick to say that I wrote quite well, and "Well, don't take this as an insult... but you had absolutely no major grammatical errors, and that's just *nectar* to me!" Hahaha... I've now been praised for not having grammatical errors in my paper. As Sam said, it's a new low in standards for this place - honestly, do people really write *that* badly here!? Good god, that's sad. It's not hard to write a paper without grammatical errors. If that's the kind of standard they hold for students here, well, no wonder this place requires the written scientific communication course. Kind of a waste of time, really, but it is letting me explore a couple more areas in history in depth, so it's not so painful. I *am* glad I didn't write it on developmental bio, or I'd be going nuts by now.

Hm. Can't think of anything else really outstanding that's happened - I think regaining my confidence is a big step forward and worthy of mention. I'm finally feeling emotionally steady again - no problems at all, no mood swings, no little depression episodes since I dropped the bio major. Still don't feel like anything more than friendship, but that's normal - I'm really enjoying my independence again, feeling uninhibited about being whimsical and mischievous, and unconcerned about being solitary when I need my personal quiet downtime. I've got great friends, supportive friends who care about me (again, I love you guys - you're the best), and I can't imagine needing anything more. Life's fantastic just as it is... I'm no longer looking back to the past, recalling memories from frosh year to get me through the day like I was last year. For the first time in a couple years, I can honestly say that my life is worthwhile, I love what I'm doing, and I like who I am.

Gaining self-worth back is certainly worth a biology major, no? ;)

Aight, I've gotta get back to reading. Finishing the Grapes of Wrath (ah, I love Steinbeck) and then reading the Tortilla Curtain (??) for H 142 tomorrow. See you guys around, and I'll probably update from home at least once over the break.