Rain Rambling

Caveat: this post contains a major amount of rambling and slightly jumbled thoughts.

So remember my last post where I talked about getting some kind of weird virus? Well, I passed it to Lance last week. And then we were both healthy again, and I managed to develop a sore throat that I'm increasingly suspecting is the result of the weird weather and vigorous Arkansas vegetation growth. Thus, I've been taking it easy yesterday and today, sipping on Masala Chai* and reading.

Speaking of rain, I ran a race in the rain on Saturday, while I was still well. It was an interesting experience, since usually the rain deters any exercise attempts or causes me to head to the HPER instead. I actually found the experience fun, although the stream of water into my right eye was a little annoying. I see why runners often wear hats.

The rain also brings me to a link I'd like to share with you: Robin McKinley's blog**. I love Robin McKinley; she's a fabulous writer and is responsible for several of my favorite books. Her blog is entertaining and quirky, and I'm enjoying reading about the personal life of a favorite author. Of course, now I remember that I wrote about this last time. Duh. Oh well, I'll just leave it.***

So now on to my reading. I've finished three, no, four books in rapid succession (man, I love the start of the summer, when I can gulp down novels that have been tempting me all semester). I started off by reading The Jane Austen Book Club, followed by The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, which led me to polish off In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. I then moved on to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is a YA book, so it read REALLY fast. Yum. I promise to talk about each of these books individually for the rest of the week.

Well, I'm off to do some more reading. A trip to the library brought me Lady of the Snakes, Lost and Found, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and Bee Season. And yes, I do realize I need to do thesis reading. Soon, I tell myself.

*Thanks to this guy. It's almost all gone, so I'm trying to savor the last few cups.
**She's been complaining about the rain. She's also the reason I'm using lots of footnotes lately.
***See caveat.

In Which Jenn Gets Sick (and Knits)

Some of my fellow knitters (and readers of this blog) will notice a sudden increase of posts on the Kniterati group blog. Apparently I can post there a lot and ignore this blog. I'll try to swing that a different direction--more posts in both places, perhaps?

My semester finished out nicely (still sporting a proud GPA, yay!). The weekend after the end of classes was crazy and full of activity, including seeing my parents*, seeing Lance's parents**, attending parties, and trying to sleep a little more. Fun times.

Then Wednesday, I got sick. Really sick. I ran a fever for a day and a half and lay on the couch and watched Gilmore Girls. It was great fun, really.

This week, I'm back at work. I took last week off from schoolwork, read a book for fun (The Jane Austen Book Club), and knit a lot and got sick. This week, I planned to start thesis reading, but I'm still feeling like I want to enjoy more of a work-free summer. I just got over feeling guilty for doing fun stuff instead of doing homework. Lance and I went and saw Prince Caspian last night, which was a lot of fun. We'll probably go see the new Indiana Jones next week.

So that's what I've been up to! (Basically a whole lot of nothing). I started reading Robin McKinley's blog, who happens to be one of my favorite writers ever, so it's been loads of fun.*** Time for me to go outside and play in the sunshine...

*After some arguing and cursing because they refused to tell me WHAT WAS GOING ON. We ended up meeting at a Denny's^, where the waitress looked at me funny for ordering a veggie burger (she didn't know what it was) and wanting to substitute fruit for fries^^. Then then "forgot" to tell me that my brother was in town this past weekend and that they were having the family over for a barbecue. Argh, family. Mine is terrible about communication.

^Gross. And in the armpit of NWA, no less!
^^Because apparently the usual patron of Denny's would sniff suspiciously at anything not made of beef or chicken or pork, then demand a bucket of meat and eggs. And forget substituting fruit--bring on the fried potatoes!

**And grandparents and brother and uncle. After seeing my family, I headed over to Lance's grandparents' house, where I received a warm welcome and many proclamations about how I was missed at church and lunch. Why is it that seeing Lance's family is less dramatic than seeing my own? I want to steal them.

***And has inspired me to make use of copious footnotes, just for the hell of it.