I am sooooooo euphoric right now.

My a cappella group, The Desperate Measures *pause for groan here*, had their debut concert tonight to a wildly enthusiastic full house. I am extremely proud of everyone and thrilled that it all went so well.

Yay me!!!

Once again, I amaze myself with my ability to get tons of stuff done except for the thing i need to get done.

I have a final paper due this coming Monday for Elements of Style. I have a very rough draft of that paper that needs quite a bit of revision. I have tons to do over the weekend, and not much free time to work.

So, instead of revising my paper during my five-hour work shift, I compiled the set list and starting tones for my a cappella group's debut concert tomorrow night, finalized plans for New Year's Eve with Laura, sent in a status report to my boss, and started toying with programming in CGI.

The final still needs work. Now I just need something ELSE I can procrastinate on so I can get the final done while I'm avoiding the other thing.

What should a young student do when facing his grammar final?

Have an identity crisis, of course.

I am thankful for a wonderful, stress-free day.

I am thankful for the opportunity to spend that day with people who have become my family.

I am thankful for casual evenings and long, late chats with the aforementioned family.

I am only slightly bitter that there's STILL no snow on the ground.

I have my voice back. I'm quite pleased about that particular turn of events, as I have precisely one week left to get my a cappella group in fit shape for our debut concert next Thursday. Not being able to speak for a couple of days left me to explore other various means of communication, some of which worked better than others, such as writing my words by hand (trying to explain what i needed to the guy at Radio Shack without knowing the proper terms such as 12-gauge wire and banana plugs made that one tricky), miming (always a bad idea, although good practice for charades, I suppose), and even making my computer speak for me (which worked surprisingly well, and there were many good opportunities for playful banter a la Hal).

School is officially on break for Thanksgiving, and both of my roommates have gone home for the holiday. I went out for dinner with some friends that are still around, but the evening has primarily consisted of my being alone in the room. I've worked on my grammar final that's due far too soon, let the music of the Indigo Girls soothe me and the witty banter of the Gilmore Girls make me smile (in context, that title is far less scandalous than it sounds, isn't it?). This kind of relaxed downtime is a badly needed breather for me, and I think I'm going to enjoy it, even if the room does feel kind of empty.

This weekend, full of assignments and Queer Homecoming, the best party of the year, I have lost my voice. It mas made me very self-aware about voice as a means of communication and as a way of life. More to follow.

It's getting to that time of term when all the classes and activities and commitments all build pressure at once, which of course is why I'm posting instead of my grammar homework. The following is a remnant from a project I worked on a while ago that never really took off. I'm not really sure who the narrator is and why (s)he is relating this, but I like this paragraph/verse/whatever and hope to explore the character more. The character definitely has some issues with the world that need to be addressed, and the backstory, scenario, and future possibilities intrigue me.

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There's a dusting of snow on the ground.
Everything is covered in glitter,
Like a first-grade art project.
It brings back bitter, cynical memories,
Of a time when innocence didn't mean ignorance
And having fun didn't mean getting drunk.
When being lonely meant being alone
And death was scarier than life.

So... I'm back. Not really sure why, but here I am. It'll be interesting to see how many people notice at first.

To get the update stuff out of the way, school proceeds apace. It's looking more and more like I'm going to be able to pull some strings and pull off the tutorial I want to set up, albeit with different faculty sponsoring me. The tutorial in question addresses the place of song lyrics in the context of poetry, and how (or if) they can be placed in that category. Right now, this tutorial seems to be the springboard for whatever my Plan ends up being, so the fact that it might work is a happy thing.

I'm still changing in a number of ways that are hard to define. I look pretty much the same, and as far as I can tell my mannerisms are still at least similar to what they've been (although I've been infected with the Southern Vermont slang term "sketch," which indicates something out of place, suspicious, creepy, or otherwise, well, sketchy). I don't know how different I appear and seem from the outside; I feel different, though, and it will be interesting to see how that affects other aspects of my life.

So, anyway, it looks like I'm back. Updates will follow; I don't know how frequently, but I will write up here from time to time.