Update on my life plus a chance to give some feedback

It's been two weeks since my last blog post. I haven't been insanely busy, so I can't blame it on that. I also can't blame it on a lack of things to talk about, because in the last two weeks I have been learning some amazing new things and have made some big changes in my life. I guess the reason I haven't written for two weeks is that I haven't been able to organize all of my thoughts into one cohesive post. Last week I tried to write about what God has been teaching me through my study of Philippians (which, by the way has been awesome), but all that I managed to write ended up sounding like the ravings of a lunatic with no good flow or order to my thoughts. So I have plenty to share, but I just can't explain it all right now. I need more time to process and organize my thoughts before I share them. I've talked them out with a couple of my friends, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I have a feeling this is going to involve a rough-draft.

I never ever ever wrote rough drafts of my papers in high school or college if I could help it. It seemed like such a waste of time. Everything I wanted to say in my paper was already in my head. I had the whole thing organized before I ever wrote a word. And, for the most part, that worked for me. I made good grades on all my papers in my math and science classes and decent grades on my papers for English class. I'm just not a rough-drafter. But I may have to be this time. Yuck. What that probably means is that I'll never get around to writing anything, because I don't want to waste my time on a rough draft, so you'll probably never get to hear about what I've been learning through Philippians unless you and I go out for coffee and we chat about it. Which isn't such a bad idea. Why don't you do that? Give me a call and we'll set up a time to drink coffee and talk about our lives. We may also end up talking about what in the world posessed you to take my advice to call and set up a coffee date that required you to drive 200 miles in the middle of the week. That sounds like a good conversation topic too! Or maybe you can just wait until I come to a city near you and then we can talk.

What else can I tell you? I'm feeling ridiculously optimistic this morning, which is pretty crazy for a Monday morning that already promises to begin a week from... well, you get the picture. This week is going to be very busy in the office, because it's the end of the month (paychecks), the end of the quarter (royalty checks to our authors), and the week before boot camp (I don't know what this will involve yet, but I'm betting on some sort of stress). I'm excited about boot camp and interested to see how this one will play out, as it's pretty different from all the other ones we've done before. But regardless of the stresses the week that lies ahead of me promises to bring, I'm in a pretty darn good mood today. I slept in; made my oatmeal; put in some milk, a few fresh blackberries and some almonds and drank gourmet coffee as I sat on my friend's couch in total silence, meditating on a couple of verses I had chosen for the week.

Well, almost total silence. Every once in awhile I was interrupted by a very friendly and cute chihuahua who wanted to try some of my oatmeal for himself. I never really liked chihuahuas. They always looked a little (ok a lot) weird with their tiny bodies, short hair and bulging eyes. But Chico is a pretty cool dog. He's Joy and Eric's dog, and I don't know what it is about him that I love so much, but I do love him. Maybe it's the fact that I don't get to see real dogs anymore, so anything with four legs that lives inside and doesn't sharpen its claws on the furniture is a welcome sight. Or maybe I just love all dogs with good personalities, regardless of what kind they are. But I like Chico. So Joy and Eric are out of town for a couple of days and I am housesitting for them. I guess it's really more like dogsitting, but those two usually go hand in hand. I like living in other people's houses for a short time. I'm not exactly sure why, but it's kind of fun. Especially when those people have a Keurig coffee maker that makes single servings of coffee in under a minute!

I've been to the farmer's market in Midwest City (just a few miles down the road) twice now. They're open on Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, but I haven't made it to a Tuesday yet. It's a great way to start my day, and I highly recommend it. There's great produce and friendly people. Plus, the farmer's market is right next to a Starbucks, so my Saturday morning ritual now includes supporting the local economy by purchasing home-grown produce, then supporting the billion-dollar industry of overpriced, mediocre coffee drinks. But it is relaxing to sit in the sun and drink coffee while I read. I enjoy it, say what you will about Starbucks.

Reading is another thing I'm doing a lot of. I'm kind of on a quest to be read and watch the classics, whatever that means. There's a lot of books that I've never read through that I feel like I should and a lot of movies I've never watched that I feel like I should, so I figured that this point in my life, when I don't have a boyfriend, husband, family or budding social life to preoccupy my time, is the perfect time for me to catch up on all of those must-reads and must-sees. So thank you Netflix for taking care of the movies, and thank you online shopping addiction for taking care of the books! I just bought 9 more books from Amazon, so that should keep me busy.

So here's what I've read so far this year: A Tale of Two Cities, Catch-22, Farenheit 451, The Lovely Bones, Wuthering Heights, Same Kind of Different as Me, Eating Animals, and I'm currently reading The Hobbit and listening to The Brothers Karamazov on audiobook (not simultaneously...geez...I can't even imagine...). Obviously this isn't an exhaustive list of all the books I've read, just the ones from this year. And I've watched tons of movies in my lifetime, but my most recent ones have been Gone With the Wind, Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Graduate (oh, and not that it's a classic, but I just watched Gone Baby Gone this weekend. I don't really know what to say about that movie other than dang).

So here's my request for those of you who have persevered through several hundred words of mindless rambling in an effort just to make it to the end of my post - what movies or books would you label as classics? What can I not survive without reading or watching? This is your chance to have some influence on the next movie I rent or the next book I buy. I really want to know what you think. What are some of your favorites? Just so you know if you start listing books that involve orcs, magicians, fairies, vampires, werewolves or muscular men who have a penchant for taking their shirts off, rubbing oil on their chests and firmly embracing frightened and/or headstrong women, I will probably ignore your suggestions. I'm looking for classics, people. Not a waste of my time. So go ahead, wow me (the orcs and vampires might be okay in a movie, though. Just as long as you're not going to suggest Bloodrayne)!