February update, and other creative descriptors

Well, I got my first grad school rejection.  Duke took very little time in weeding me out.  Six months ago they were my top-choice school -- I'm very glad I've shifted gears since then, or it would've been crushing.  No rejection is fun, but it hasn't been too bad.  Plus, less than half an hour after I found out (last Friday), I also found out that my cousin is having another baby!  Nothing like joyful, important news to put things in perspective.

It's sunny this afternoon, which has been wonderful.  Last I heard, it was supposed to snow all day.  I took my lunch break at a deli that has big, south-facing windows, and sat in the sunshine and read and ate delicious cheddar-smothered roast beef deliciousness, then picked up a coffee on my way back to work.

Tomorrow, I'm having one of my parents' old love-seats delivered.  They didn't have room for it anymore, and I've been wanting a place in my room to curl up and read or whatever.  I'm pretty excited.  Plus, it's the fold-out I slept on as a child, so it's nostalgic.  Woot!  So excited!  Operation Snugglenest: all systems go.

I am having a lot of trouble getting back into the swing with running after my December break to fill out applications.  After I got sick in October, I just sprang right back, so I wasn't expecting it to be quite this hard. :/  I don't know whether it's the weather, what I'm eating, or just that I really did lose that much more ground with a month off than with three weeks being sick, but there's definitely a difference.  Must! Picture! Ryan! Gosling! At! The finish line!  .....With kittens!!!!  Urgh.  Alternately, I could imagine I'm Starbuck, jogging through the halls of the Galactica -- that'll help, right?  Maybe I could get Kim to re-draw that tattoo on my arm.  At any rate, I miss feeling good, and I miss feeling like I'm a ~*~runner~*~.  Y'know?

I've been thinking about giving up my various social media outlets for lent again this year.  It went pretty well last year, and it's functional: around this time of year, the negativity, critical attitude, focus on the negative and shallow, and general douchebaggery that you see on the internet really start to get to me.  Plus, it drives me nuts how little time I have for the things I really care about, and maybe this will help.  I haven't actually been spending much time outside of work online, but maybe it will occupy less headspace so I can think about other things.  Plus, I'll probably be a bit more efficient at work. ;)  I'll keep up with blogs, though.  :)