If you had invoked me before you began this journey,

So - head home tomorrow. Woot!


I'll admit - this trip has been really good. I've gotten to know the other archivists better (useful, as I'd love to stay here) and had fun. We got off early today, and spent time wandering the Plaza area. I'll admit, I did some shopping - the Spanish food store also stocked North African spices... I now have Ras El Hanout! i apparently was the only one who did any shopping - but i don't much care)

But overall, it's been good. I don't think I've given off the "weirdo" vibe that I do sometimes. *grin* Mind you, I haven't been drinking a ton, but then again, I don't usually. So I don't much care. I have decided to be a bit of a stick-in-the-mud tonight, and opted to not join in the beer-y fun of college football. I just don't like the latter much, and besides - I need sleep I think...


Finally, my phone has started to develop grey lines on the bottom of the screen. Fucker.

DC was squeal. We didn't get much in terms of books (alas) but saw some wonderful stuff. (Also was an idiot with the Metro and wasted some money, but I'm going to happily call it "idiot tax" and not think about it.) I shall upload photos when we get back (and probably not until after Santa Fe). Ryan's family is doing fine, we're staying with his mother, and his sister, brother-in-law, and their kids are alright.

I shall provide a further update/wrap-up at the end of the trip. What's noteworthy now is simply that we will not be getting a specific model of Acura and I am not a massive fan of in-car turn-by-turn directions. Our iPhones do the job just as well, if not better... (they, at least, are unlikely to direct us to make a right turn that would have resulted in a 20 ft drop onto a highway.)

As for New Year's, well...

See - I'm not going to bother with an itemized list of things I want to accomplish. I know myself, and it's pointless. I've tried it, and even if I do it, I still feel like I didn't. Instead, I'm going to just stick down a few things I'd like to accomplish.

A) Continue on my quest to eliminate processed stuff from my diet. Which really is a simplification of "eat better." And I successfully started that this year, domnall being dragged along for the ride. I enjoy cooking, and all that fun stuff. I really do. We've gotten a bunch of new cookbooks, utensils, and such in the past year, and I look forward to using them all in the coming one. I'm not a big believer in "miracle foods" - instead if you eat right, all should be well. Mind you, there's more to it all than that, but i don't mind. I've been reading far too much in the last year in terms of cooking, the SLOW food movement, and so on. I like it all, I really do.

Expect much talk about it on here.

B) Get our SCA stuff, well... better. We have linen and wool, and the goal is new hats, coats, shirts, pants, and underdresses. I want to work on making both of our sets nicer quality, less costume-y, and just overall work on at least our personal illusion of quality. (Yes, we've still got a large nylon tent. The pavilion, while wonderful, will likely come when we get a house. There are various reasons for this, so we'll just ignore it for now. M'kay?) A month ago, I'd have said "be more active" - but as domnall's going to be the new Exchequer (or so it appears *grin*), I don't think that'll be a problem.

C) I thought about putting something like "be less snarky/bitchy/etc" but it wouldn't work. I'm at least going to make an effort to be more... tolerant? Something like that...

Why yes! I have done nothing productive this weekend.

And really, why should I? Classes are done, grades are posted, application for SIRLS is mailed, and oh yes, I called to get my room for Santa Fe.

Called dad, he'll be over on Christmas Eve - there will be dinner and presents that night. Goose, however, was overpriced (at least for the fact we were just going to be feeding the three of us). So we went with duck.

I am exceedingly glad we went to today's event, even if we had to leave early - final tomorrow morning. *sigh* Now, if only Hasaki would post my mid-term grade so I can get my timesheet in... Need to know if I'm going to take the final.

However, I got the fox pelts cut up for hats. (Thanks to raventhourne's instructions - even if I did blank and think she meant a straight razor instead of electric shaver. *headdesk* I'd be clueless and they'd end up totally mangled otherwise. Instead, we shall have hats for Estrella!)

domnall's got his 40k army (as of now) base-coated, and is happily painting them. They look quite nice - not as good as dverning's, but he's just starting. *grin*

I don't think tomorrow's final will end up being all that miserable, answer 64 out of 70 questions multiple choice, and I've got a passable grasp of contemporary Chinese history/civilization. (What? I have had peculiar reading choices over the years.)


Honestly, I'm feeling cheerier than I have for several days. The semester's almost over, and nearly all our Christmas shopping is finished. Unfortunately, my father is exceedingly hard to shop for sometimes, and this was one of them - until I found Paul Theroux's new book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star, which is about taking the same trip he took in The Great Railway Bazaar 30 years ago.

Deciding factor? *skims* "Hrmmm... I think I may need to borrow this!"

For some reason - this week has dragged like a... screw it, I can't think of a good analogy.

At least after Tuesday, the immediate academic work was finished. But that doesn't mean that everything hasn't still been damned slow. The last two days it's felt like I'm dead on my feet. At least next brings little, and I'm only looking to sit one final. (If it's optional, and the only way to raise my grade by a letter is score something physically impossible: I'll save my sanity.)

I tend to happily forget about the Abbey's (my high school) Annual Fund until my class rep pesters me. I'll have to get back to her as it was someone I got along with and she seemed at least interested in what's going on.

Mmmm - domnall's cooking dinner.

Let's see what's going on in Willa's world...

A) Semester is rapidly coming to an end. Grades are a mixed bag, as usual. *sigh and shrug*

B) Have started the application process for grad school. Have asked both teachers who I want to write me letters - and both have agreed. Need now to ask my boss. Even though I only need two letters, I think having that third will help. I'm putting archiving as one of my interests and it shouldn't hurt.

C) Extra time in Santa Fe! Also, if I get into grad school - they're going to look into keeping me.

D) Thanksgiving plans are puttering along. I have, in my finite wisdom, decided to cook everything myself. well, domnall is certainly helping. Granted, this is probably actually less work than it sounds like. It's also serving as a jump-start for general cooking. I cleaned the fridge - a depressing thing, as I should have done it a week ago - and now need to re-fill it.

E) I have wool and linen. Since domnall and I both need new SCA stuff, I decided to bite the bullet and order a better-quality of fabric. Viking-era, here we come! (Also - where in particular do you lot go for leg-wraps...?)

Also - budgetscadian

F) Also, there shall be sewing of pj-pants. Need to get some fleece though...

G) Damn it - I may not be a total period-perfectionist, but I'll admit, the troll over on you-know-where really annoyed me. Yes, yes, I know, troll... Shouldn't grouse... It did remind me, again, that I really need to make sure I have appropriate head-coverings for Estrella.

Thus far, Estrella purchase plans are more along the lines of supplies for various things. (and trying not to drool over any of this stuff, namely the first set of brooches...)


And finally - damn this illness going around. My dad had it at one point (he told me over the phone), domnall had it, and now I do. Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of being able to take sick days - namely because I'm running a bit short on cash right now - and so have been drugging myself up and going to work.

It's nice - in the week or so since Southern, domnall and I have been much more social than in the month or so beforehand.

I intend on keeping this up.

Granted, this weekend we were mostly solitary - cleaning, some stuff that was long overdue, and school-work I really needed to do meant we didn't hit the Demo today. Doubt that tomorrow will be hit either due to other stuff. *le sigh* So be it.

Plans this week involve dinner and goofing off with several people. There shall be WoW, but not nearly as much as one might expect. Woot!

GRE is finally over, thank the gods.

The nice thing about taking it as a computer-based test was that I got my grades immediately. And the result was satisfying - not abysmal, but respectable. I am quite pleased.

Mind you, the cost of this was that we did not go to Coronation. While I am rather sad about this fact, at the same time, the call of getting stuff together for grad school was a wee bit more important.


As an aside - looking like it may be just domnall and I again this year at Southern. The other parties have all had things come up recently, in some cases very, very not good, and so there's a good chance they'll be unable to make it... *shrug* So be it.

Well, had dad over for dinner. This occurs every few weeks - there is food, discussion of politics, books, cooking, and the end of the world as we know it. Oh yes, and watch whatever - previously it was Weeds and currently it's Californication.

Tonight was no different. However, I tried cooking duck for the first time. Good lord was it tasty. And duck fat? It truly is the stuff of legend. Yes, I am praising an animal fat here. But the potatoes, which I just tossed into the roasting pan, got saturated with the stuff. With rosemary? The result was rich, smooth, and subtle.


What? I like food...


That said - I didn't get my list completely done this weekend. However, I did get cleaning done, and also ordered a bunch of wool and linen for projects. (Including a lovely dark brown wool for a coat... I even ordered extra.) I shall be kept happily occupied in the lead-up to Estrella. And domnall and I shall be nice and warm there.

1. Study for GRE.
2. Redo CV.
3. Come up with rough draft of paper for my professions class.
4. Essay for Chinese Civ.
5. Write 19th cent midterm.
6 and 7. Start on Goya paper(s).
8. Work on art project - sanding and sketching on design for carving.


I should point out - by this point, my Chinese Civ class has fallen to the bottom of "classes I care about" list.