3 January

School starts tomorrow.
(How brilliantly effusive and cohesive I am today!)

Most Notable Christmas Presents:
(in no particular order)

from Emmett, a "Reading is Sexy!" shirt from American Apparel;
from Kathell, a set of those refrigerator magnets (which Mum and I have not ceased to play with; the favorite phrase so far being "I need cake, perhaps men. Crap.");
from my Great Aunt Vera Cate, a pink bottle of Mace;
from Matt, a Regina Spektor poster (!!!);

from Christ my Savior, a terribly transforming "Valley" experience which has and shall continue to refine my heart by fire; also on that front, the birth and death of God to save my soul.
(I think that might just be the best one so far.)

Top Three Things I've Learned This Year:

1. Life is so much easier and more fulfilling when one loses one's sense of entitlement;
2. The Ideal Scenario is for one to love indiscriminately, and err on the side of trust; and
3. Love, by nature, is neither selfish nor manipulative. It is gentle and merciful and yielding, and it wants to give. (If it is selfish and manipulative it is not love; if it is gentle and merciful and yielding, it is most likely love.)

"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture; it's a really stupid thing to want to do."
-Elvis Costello
(The origins of this quote are highly disputed. Lynne Truss quotes it in Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Why do I like this quote so much?)

Currently reading: Sailing Alone Accross the Room by Billy Collins, and a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. I have a vague premonition that things are about to get messy.