"Coldsure" Shock

As I pulled on a pair of fleece socks over my SmartWool socks this morning, I found myself marveling at the fact that only a week ago I was happily pulling a new Hawaiian sundress over my head.  I think it's time to admit I've been in somewhat of a culture/weather shock since coming home, and it's only been softened by the fact that I don't really have to get up and go out anywhere in the mornings, or even all day if I don't want to.  I've been sleeping in till 11:30 or 12 since Wednesday.  (Which is 6:30 or 7 in Hawaii, about when I was waking up there).  Having the radio show and my birthday celebrations and friends inviting me out for coffee has been good at getting me out of the house at all.  

People may be mislead by the fact that I'm happily spamming Facebook pictures with comments into thinking that I'm all fine and dandy, but I'd also be just as happy to curl up in bed with the Stephanie Meyer books I just picked up from the library and not come out till spring.  Except that they wouldn't last me that long and they're due back at the beginning of February anyway.  I haven't started them yet because I know there's a pile of stuff I should be doing and I know that once I start it'll be exceedingly hard for me to put them down.  

When I read, I read hard, fast and intensely.  My friends and family would always try to shake me out of my book comas as a kid.  Quite brave of them to face my snarls at being ripped out of my fantasy worlds.  They could bounce all over the couch I was lying on and I'd totally ignore them, but trying to get me to actually stop was a bad idea.

I'm not that bad anymore, but I've still been known to stay up so late near the end of a story that my eyes water and the book is practically falling out of my hand just to find out how it finishes.  Only problem with that is I tend to forget what actually happened the next morning and end up having to re-read the last 50 pages or so to find out.

Went to see Catie Curtis last night at CSPS.  They are still struggling after the June floods, it was cold enough that everyone pretty much had to wear their coats and hats inside, and one of their toilets doesn't quite work properly yet, but it was a testament to survival that the show went on.  Meg Hutchinson opened for her, really amazing.  I'd found her several months ago on MySpace and kind of forgotten about it, so it was awesome to see her face on the posters and even more awesome to hear her music.  Praise be to YouTube, I was able to find the song she opened with that doesn't seem to be on any of her records yet (tiny ad at the beginning): 

Travel In by Meg Hutchinson.

This is not the best quality video of the song, but the song Fools off Catie's new album was the one of hers that gave me chills:

Well worth the drive up to Cedar Rapids and the cold in the room.  Thank goodness I was wearing warm socks! :)

Half-assed Catch Up

Cuz I don't have time for a proper post, exerpts from a letter to the girls:


Talking about the economy and tenuous jobs
I think a big thing is to be practical and realistic while not buying into the fear and freak out that so many are feeling. I know some people have doubts about Obama being able to fix everything that's gone so wrong, but I think the positive attitude he instills alone is a huge benefit to the country to pull people in the right direction. I also love that it's not just a mood-making attitude, it's a "there's hard work to be done and WE have to do it, but we CAN do it, so let's stop complaining and take action." thing. Seems healthy, grounded and productive. And all the things he has already done seem to show he's walking his talk.

Hawaii was awesome and nourishing. I really wanted to see dolphins but our last two days there the waves were REALLY choppy so we weren't able to go to the places where they usually swim.

Coming home to birthday celebrations, a radio show and to add a mess of suitcases to the mess we left behind (both literally and just a long to-do list) and the jet lag has been overwhelming. I don't actually feel bad or groggy, but my schedule is still somewhat on Hawaii time especially since I don't have a job to get up for in the morning.

As usual, I have some Christmas present ideas that I haven't been able to work on yet. So we'll see how long that takes.

I started taking a 12 week Lyric Writing class online while in Hawaii. It's pretty amazing to learn the techniques, but the class takes a lot of time as we are expected to write something every day (no more than 1/2 of writing) AND our grade is also dependant on reading our classmates work and commenting on it as well. I'm excited to see what comes out of the class though, I feel like it could be really powerful.