*want a quick fix*

By the time I got home last night, I was covered in blue and purple paint and I was a sweaty mess.
Did I get in a paintball fight with a stealth ninja?
No. I was painting like a madwoman at April's. Meghan's room is now purple. The girl's bathroom is carribbean blue. Amber's room will be pink after today. I am a painting warrior!
Nothing is really going on in Richmond today. I went to a military deployment. Five guys said goodbye to their families and are on their way to Kuwait to serve in the U.S. Army. One of the guys I talked to was 18. I can't imagine being 18 years old and getting on a plane to go the desert for two years and eat sand and miss my family - VOLUNTARILY. Dang I'm glad there's no draft. As much as I harp on women's rights, I'd have to expect to be drafted into that madness if they took things that far.
I got up early this morning and sort of stayed in bed for a while reading. Then I went down to see if Andrea had breakfast yet and I made chocolate chip pancakes for us.
I know, I know. I am the best roommate ever and you all want to live with me. Get in line.
My family is all in Florida right now at Disney. I'm here in Richmond at my desk. Yeah. I hope they are enjoying lovely weather and having a blast going to the beach and being pampered. Then again, at least I'm not at Disneyworld with a 4-year old.
The world makes sense again.
I'm going to act like I'm on vacation for the rest of the day.
For example, I'm leaving now.

* if you can't handle things in your own life, critique someone else *

For those of you interested in the same sorts of music as those of us with excruciatingly wonderful taste, surf on over to http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=littleblackstar9 and check out my other Web site. There's even a pic of me...
current as of this morning. Our photographer snapped one of me as I have decided to take up column writing again and needed a mugshot to go with the one that's on the budget for Sunday. As you can see, I have severely chopped my locks.

It's misty and raining here in Richmond and I'm looking forward to going home. I've been working on a puzzle that I bought shortly after I got back from Italy...it's a pastel of this bridge in Venice that looks just like a spot that I have a picture of. It's pretty challenging...1,000 pieces and they mostly all look the same. I've completed the border (as of last night thanks to the help of my roommate, Amanda) and need to start filling things in. It's going to take a while.

I like working puzzles. It's sort of a rediscovered hobby for me. There's something truly soothing about being able to make pieces fit and then being able to look back at what you have accomplished. It seems so simple, but it so rarely happens in the rest of my life that things turn out that flawlessly that I sort of crave it. I really get a rush when I've been working on a certain section and all of a sudden my mind makes out the arrangement and I am able to stick a bunch of pieces together.

Man, I sound like a nerd.

"If you love only those who love you, what good is that? If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different to anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." - Matthew 5:46-48

Stinkin pagans. Lord, help me be different than them. Help me be nice to people who hurt me and who are unfriendly and hard to deal with. Thank You for loving me even when I fell in that category and encourage me by reminding me of how to live. Set me apart and give me the courage to strive for perfection for Your glory.

*a little time with the ladies*

I was out running some errands today...very important things like getting coffee from Common Grounds and sitting in their window for an hour writing in my journal because the rain was really making me think (and i have a lot on my mind)...and when I got home I found my roommate Andrea all snuggled in bed watching Oprah. I went and got a blanket and came back to occupy the other side of the bed. About 15 minutes later, Amanda got home and so I scooted over and got sandwiched inbetween my two roommates. We watched and giggled and talked for a while and it was so nice. Then we decided to go to the gym together, and then we came home and cooked and ate dinne together. It felt like something out of a sitcom - "Three girls, a house and a quaint townhouse."
I ended up running about 2 miles today and lifting some weights. The gym was full of people working on their new year's resolutions. I expect them to clear out by about Valentine's Day so the gym will get back to normal.
I called my buddy Matt from Louisville today...I've known him for several years and we've had classes together and we seem to have a simliar sense of humor. Anyway, we were talking and decided that we're going to England this summer. I've got friends that will be graduating from Uni that I want to see, I've got a friend at Oxford studying, and I'd love to just be back there for a while. He's really interested in going b/c he's never been before and he thinks I'd make a good tourguide since I lived there. *gulp*
We're hoping to convince our mutual friend, Emily, into going with us as she did a semester abroad in London in the spring of 2004. She'll probably want to get back. We're going to try to reenact "Eurotrip" and just take lots of pictures and be silly. I'm not sure how long we're planning on going or what cities will be on the itenerary, but it sounds like a blast. I can't think of more fun people to travel with. Matt is a very free spirit.
He also insists on calling me a "poser" every time I open my mouth. He's still in college (for the better part of a decade now) and thinks it's really funny to tease me becasuse I have a real job where I have to get up early and all that. I can see where he's coming from. It's not very punk rock. This is the coolest part of the whole England thing -- he promised that if I actually go through with it and go back over there again to settle things that he will NEVER call me a poser again. That alone would be worth the plane ticket.
...by the way, Matt has a leg lamp replica of the one in "A Christmas Story." He owns dozens of guitars, many of them simply because a Beatle (mostly Sir Paul) sneezed on it once or something. He owns the weirdest DVD collection I have ever seen and has a bar in his apartment. What a tool.
I'm just kidding, half pint. You know you're cool. *evil snicker*