It all comes back to light bulbs

Um, so I'm sitting in the relative dark which makes it feel like it's late at night when I usually post but it's actually mid-morning. Why am I sitting in the dark then? Well, my light fixture went kaput this morning, with fanfare no less . . . the light bulbs went out with a bang (well not quite a bang but definitely a "sss-sshh-sping-POP" that was disturbing enough for groggy ol' me). And I can't find any spare light bulbs, poop!

I also suspect that today is the day I'm getting my not-so-wonderful exam back from previous post, ick. It all makes me want to crawl under my desk with some ice cream and sulk for a bit. Moments like this makes me feel oh so disgruntled . . . and agree most wholeheartedly with this lovely caricature that my cousin Lindsey sent me.

Same old antics

Yet again it is late at night and I am studying madly for an exam that I have tomorrow. I haven't entirely done all the readings for the class and I'm not entirely sure what quality of work my professor is expecting from us all. Under these circumstances you would think that I would take this a little more seriously, but no. All I can think about is the bag of yarn that I got at work today. New projects - that's all that fills my head. For those who are curious, I got some lovely sock yarn and some other colorful yarn to make gloves, one pair as a gift and one pair for myself. I should probably rename this blog Confessions of a Procrastinating Grad Student, it would be much more on the mark. In the meantime though, I'll wait as my poor printer is printing its little heart out and daydream about knitting tomorrow after my exam is done. For now though back to studying for that exam . . .

Chocolate, oh chocolate wherefore art thou so sweet and delicious?

Keeping with the theme of chocolate goodness, I was skimming through some of my favorite on-line spots and saw this little number on Chow. A top ten list of retro candy bars across America?! Yes, it's true. I'm sad to say (and slightly surprised) that I've only had one of these confectionery delights - the Idaho Spud. The one I ate was a gift from Bethany who had visited Idaho but they can also be purchased at the local drugstore (after all Idaho is a neighboring state). I quite enjoyed the spud. Everyone else had issues with it, a dislike of marshmallow, a dislike of coconut, etc., but I thought it was . . . well, special in its very own way. The only thing to take away from the joy of my spud was Bethany telling us that she had debated between the Idaho Spuds and t-shirts that said Darth Tater . . . need I say more?

Does Michigan have a retro candy bar? For that matter does it have t-shirts with witty word play referencing Star Wars? All I can think of as strictly Michigan is Vernors (which isn't entirely true anymore), Faygo, Superman ice cream (which I'm not even sure about), and Cake Batter ice cream. Two types of soda pop and ice cream, can they really compare to a candy bar? I don't know.

Bunny!

Today, I finally broke down and started to eat the chocolate bunny I got for Easter. Perhaps "finally broke down" is slightly misleading since it's only been a couple of days since Easter but you have to understand how much self restrain I had to exercise in order to not eat it right away. As a rule I eat chocolate bunnies head first. I've stuck to this pattern since I was a child. My mother once told me the story of how when I was five or six she gave me a chocolate bunny and I immediately bit off its head. She was a little shocked, I guess she thought I would have some qualms about eating the cute bunny. Apparently when she asked me how I could be so cruel as to just bight off the bunny's head, I said, "Mommy, its not real," and gave her a look equivalent to, "Don't you know anything?" and complacently continued to eat the bunny. Very telling, isn't it?

Anna got me a Lindt milk chocolate bunny, so delectably delicious! I was going to just eat the ears but I ended up eating its whole head. Now there's a decapitated bunny sitting on my shelf. It looks a little forlorn. But look at the picture, isn't it just saying, "Eat me! Eat me!" Just like the cakes in Alice in Wonderland.

Easter, weddings, old friends, and old flames

Let's start with Easter. It is a holiday I enjoy mostly for the candy. However, it's a little tainted for me compared to other candy based holidays because of the presence of the Peep. That's right, as some of you may know, I have strong objections to Peeps (if you missed my rantings on this topic they can be found here). However, this is their holiday of origination, if you will, and therefore I feel like I should give them a break. For that matter I will even direct you to this story that I heard on Weekend America which was both revolting and intriguing - listen to the story it's amusing.

Now on to weddings, there are several that I am planning on attending this summer. They come in clusters I've noticed. The thing that is troubling is that the majority of them are people who are younger than myself. It's not an envy thing, I haven't the slightest inclination to get married at this point in time, but it is a little disturbing to one's sense of balance and order. These certainly weren't the weddings that I had anticipated on attending at this point, I thought I would be seeing people my own age getting married first. It just seems like a natural progression, at the very least I expected a variety in the age range but not so. Strange and curious.

Finally, old friends and old flames. This evening I reconnected with an old friend (an old friend who is incidentally younger than myself and getting married soon) and that is always a pleasure. In our conversation we fill in the blanks since we last saw one another. And even with the passage of time, it is so easy to fall into the same pace of conversation. I like that. Along those lines, she asked me after an old flame of mine who also happened to be a mutual friend of ours. He is another person with whom I fall easily into conversation after long intermissions. It's funny since I haven't talked about him or thought of him in those terms, as an old flame (a lovely almost antiquated turn of phrase that I find rather charming), in a long time. He has since become a good friend, as he always was, but now he is that both in reference and in actuality. And perhaps I don't talk to him as often as I should but I know he will not bear a grudge, just as I know that we'll fall so easily into conversation when we do talk again.

Growing up, much like breaking up, is hard to do

When I was eight and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up the question didn't seem quite as menacing as it does now. And even though I hate it when people ask me that question, I can't help asking other people. Does that make me a terrible person? Perhaps it's only terrible because I myself don't have an answer to that question. I grow more and more confused as to the answer as the years go by. Although one thing I have realized, it's not really what I want to be but who I want to be that's important. Jobs and careers may come and go but I will always be myself. I'm not too worried though (although perhaps I should be), I believe in serendipity, or if we want to be oh so practical we could say that I usually manage to iron things out.

When all else fails turn to music, and there's nothing like cheesy music from another decade to describe ones thoughts. I don't know why I thought of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" perhaps because it was on a mixed CD of oldies that I had as a kid. I'd forgotten how truly cheesy the lyrics were until I looked them up online. It was perhaps an era when music was just . . . well, simpler, for lack of a better word. So I shall leave you at that . . .

Don't take your love away from me
Don't you leave my heart in misery
If you go then I'll be blue
'Cause breaking up his hard to do

And the last verse, just for kicks . . .

I beg of you, don't say goodbye
Can't we give our love another try
Come on baby, let's start anew
'Cause breaking up is hard to do