Dirty Snow And Sushi

This winter has been abnormally warm here, and there's been a definite lack of precipitation. (This is not a complaint.) Last winter they had blizzards and horrible weather and the whole shebang, and somehow we have yet to get out of fall weather. I like this.

Last night I went out for sushi for the first time ever with everyone from school. It was in the 40s or so, which was wonderful, and it was almost enough to get rid of all the dirty black and grey snow. The nine of us racked up a $242 bill on sushi, and then went to Boston Beer Works, across from Yawkey Way, and I had a Fenway Pale Ale just because of the name.

I caught the T home and got off with a truckload of very drunk people. Watching them try to navigate escalators was kinda funny. At home Dan called and wanted to know why I said I hated Boston. (I'd had up an away message saying something like, Today is kind of sunny and warm and niceish, and all I can think about is that I hate Boston because it's still all concrete.) I'd been feeling up and down like a rollercoaster all day, and that just made me feel horrible, sitting there on the phone.

Can you help it if you don't like a place? Hate is a strong word; I don't hate Boston. I don't even dislike it, really . . . I just don't like it nearly as much as other places.

I think Dan is still surprised every time I get homesick.

The sushi was largely ok, but I'm not sure it's something I'd ever crave. I woke up in the middle of the night with my stomach feeling really, really bad.

I'm generally moody and discontent. School is fine, and I'm working hard at not procrastinating too much and putting a lot of time into the gym. But when I get to the apartment, I don't want to be here. It feels stale. If I leave and go elsewhere, I feel as though I'm just avoiding something.

Megan comes home on Tuesday, and I'm so glad.

And there's a ticket back to Fort Worth for two weeks from now, for which I'm even more glad.

Things will be better. Things aren't bad. It's just me.

Dirty Jobs

Dan got offered a semi-editorial spot for the sports department of a Star-T owned paper.

Emily got offered a reporting job out in California.

Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel is perpetually entertaining.

And I'm still worried about internships for the summer. If I don't get the Star-T or Newsweek internship, I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't want to work for a magazine or a corporation or lab or institution. But I will if I have to. I just don't want to be forced into a position where I have to apply to something like that.

A woman on the street asked me for spare change. I gave her all the single bills I had in my wallet, and when I was inside the store picking up dinner, I realized I should have asked her if she wanted anything to eat. I told myself that if she were still there when I got out, I'd buy her dinner too. But she was gone.

I think this semester I'm going to try to buy a homeless person food if they ask me for change. I know there's some out there who would rather just have the cash, in which case I'll give it to them if I have it (I have to admit today was a fluke that I actually had money), but I figure it's worth a try.

Besides, it should be interesting.

I need something to distract me from schoolwork and how much I miss being home.

I Like Pain

Today was the first day of classes for the spring semester and my first day at the gym since before Thanksgiving, when I was gone, then came back, got sick, was swamped with finals, and left again for winter break. The stair-thingy hurt a bit today, but it was great, and I hope I'm sore tomorrow. Being sore is a great feeling. The gym made me happy. This is the exercise I've had since last time I was there:
— One leisurely hour-long bike ride on flat ground without Dan
— One miserable panic-attack ridden ride in the dark with Dan before I figured out how to shift correctly
— Two painful but triumphant rides on the loop including The Hill
— Playing lacrosse with the wall on the raquetball court in Florida
— Fending off tackles from Dan, and tackling him in return
— Fighting for covers against The Otter
— Poker (it's on ESPN, so therefore counts as a sport and hence exercise)
— Attending Stars hockey games
— Ordering margaritas

All in all, I guess I did a lot of work over break.

Dan's got a very exact training schedule to prepare for the Ride for a Dream over the summer. He has a chart and for every single day he's calculated how many miles he has to go. What blows me away isn't to much that he did it or that he'll stick to it pretty faithfully, but that he seems willing to take off an entire week of training for spring break and coming up here. I hope everything works out. If he could come up, Boston would be so much better.

And my mom wants to come up later in the month on her spring break, which would be equally kick-ass. I don't mind going back to Fort Worth all the time, because I'd say about 80% of my life is there, but it's good to know people can come see the other bit. I just hope the weather is semi-ok, because I've heard March is about the worst month.

What little tolerance I had for the cold I lost because Fort Worth was abnormally warm. Here it's abnormally . . . well, nothing. It's just abnormal to me, I guess. And I'm abnormal, because I'm always cold anyhow.

And I'm out of books again. I've read some really good ones lately, so now I'm hungry for more.

Speaking of hungry, I think I'm going to find food. I want chocolate. Besides, I'm going to the gym again.