Glorious, wonderful, unsurpassable SOLITUDE!

Today has been one of those wonderful peaceful days where there's nothing you have to do, so you're just grateful for everything you manage to do anyway. I even went outside and walked today...that's right, I voluntarily exercised. I'm pretty sure that pigs will be soaring by my window pretty soon, so I'm keeping the blinds closed. After a full weekend and with a busy week to come, I'm enjoying the quiet today. No tv this afternoon: just my laptop and then my book. Tommorow and Wednesday will be full of fiction class, writing center, and meetings for Concept. We're almost to the deadline for decisions about what to include in the 2009 issue of Concept, the literary journal at Converse College. All the girls on staff are amazing, and I'm really excited to hear what they have to say about all the submissions we've received.


Of course, there is one upside to being so busy this week: I get to enter all of my appointments into my newfangled phone. I am now completely obssesed with it. Steve and I spent at least an hour, maybe longer, downloading ringtones online the other night. Now, if you should happen to call me, depending on who you are, my phone will either play the theme from Arrested Developement, the opening music for the Hercule Poirot movies, or the killing music from Kill Bill (also known as the theme from Ironsides.) I even found a ringtone that says, "Bueller...Bueller...Bueller?" for whenever I recieve a text message. Everywhere I go, not only will I be able to communicate in short, cryptic burst of text, but I can also celebrate my dedication to the film, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If you were to leave me a voicemail, my phone would quote a line from Monty Python's Flying Circus. (I think I chose that one just to annoy Steve.)


Speaking of Steve, he gave me a great idea for a story last night. Isn't it amazing how things come to you. I spent the summer writing and struggling through my complete lack of ideas, and I came back in the fall to suffer through a list of classes that had little to nothing to do with writing. I'm three weeks into my fiction tutorial, and now my brain is brimming with ideas. Steve and I were in the grocery store parking lot just loading our bags into the trunk of our car. Not exactly the place where you go for inspiration. And so here we have Exhibit One for the argument against writing holed up in isolation. Bummer. Now I have one less excuse to stay home.


As for staying home, well, I'm making an effort to be less of a recluse. Every Sunday night, Steve and I go to Life Group with a bunch young marrieds from our church. I'm even going to a women's Bible study on Thursday night - chock full of a bunch of women I've never met. This does not come naturally to me. I'm quite content to stay at home with Steve and the girls (the cats) and watch tv or a movie, maybe play a little Rock Band. But, I am trying to do better. Just last week, things seemed promising. I found out that the girls in our small group also shared a love for all things HGTV. We loved and hated all the same shows. So this week when they were talking about movies, I thought, I can join in this conversation, too. Guess again. Steve must be right, after all. I am the only woman on the face of the earth who doesn't like Sleepless in Seattle. All the women were oohing and ahhing over their favorite chic flicks, and the most I could manage was "I like movies where things blow up." (At least the guy next to me agreed with me.)

Apropos to nothing in this entry, I also wanted to include a picture of the wonderful bunch of kids who invaded our house Saturday night. They were so much fun, and Abby is still asking when they'll be coming back.