good luck topping this next year

Perhaps you have already heard the news (especially if you keep up with the much-more-oft-updated Coster3 blog) – the Boy is back! I can’t even tell you how ecstatic that makes me. Part of me scarcely believes he’s actually Stateside again; it’s all very surreal – kind of like when he left for Uganda in the first place.

The reasons for his leaving the Peace Corps are many and varied and have to do with administration and some personal angst, but you can read about it here (at least the first part so far). It’s probably better to get his perspective instead of hearing my extremely biased speculation. All that really matters to me is that he got himself out of a mentally-damaging situation that would have made him miserable for two years. I’m disappointed that the Peace Corps didn’t turn out to be what he thought it would be, but I can’t really articulate how amazingly happy it makes me that he’s close by now.

down on the farm

This past weekend LotR and I took the train over to IA to visit the Boy’s fam. Well, that was my primary motivation for making the trip. LotR, who wants to be a large-animal vet in the future, wanted to spend some time following Tom around to various farms during calving season. We were both introduced to Tom back in February (during my long IA stint) by the Boy’s G’pa, Howard, who owns and runs, in my opinion, quite a large operation himself, with plenty of cows and pigs and all sorts of other things to see. In any event, Tom primarily (only?) practices large-animal medicine and, as an added bonus, already loves LotR (he has a couple pretty hilarious pictures of her from the last visit – one with her arm inside a cow’s butt and one with the classic double-thumbs-up-silly-enthusiastic-smile pose).

somewhat update

Figured it was about time for a life update, since it’s been a month or so…

First and foremost, I’m back in Chicago! I’m extremely happy about this state-of-being, because the south just doesn’t seem that natural and homey anymore. I mean, why on earth is it eighty-something degrees in March? That just doesn’t make any sense. Give me the good ol’ changing seasons (even the bitterly cold winters about which I will lovingly gripe) anyday. I prefer it to the absurd three month “winter” followed by nine months of ridiculously hot summer. I’ve basically come to the mental conclusion that I’ll ultimately end up settling somewhere in the north.

Thus far Chicago has been fun and welcoming. We had a few slushy/snowy days, but all of the slush/snow melted before it could really annoy anyone. My place is as I remembered it, although it is a bit strange living here by myself now. Stranger still since some of the Boy’s stuff was still here when I got back.

I’m trying to make it so that I don’t have too much time to dwell on that though. I’m TAing four classes this quarter to that end – I’ll be busy, but not crazy busy like I was when I was actually going to school. My schedule is pretty consistent and leaves plenty of time for hanging out with LotR and anyone else who might be around. I imagine there will be a lot of “team building” with MJ and AH too. LotR and Em and I are also making crazy ambitious weekly dinner plans. So we’ll see about all that…

In addition to a roaring social life (haha), I have pretty high aspirations this quarter. I want to try to brush up on my Russian and Spanish, as well as pick up some French. And practice piano. And probably a whole host of other things. We’ll see how many things actually get done, but I certainly can’t complain of boredom or not having enough to do since I’m giving myself so many options. Theoretically, at least.

No word yet from the med schools. I have no idea what’s going on there, but it reassures me a lot to have so many wonderful people on my side providing plenty of emotional and professional support. It also helps that I have a pretty solid back-up plan in place – I don’t necessarily want it to come to that, but it’s always nice to know it’s there.

And finally, to round out this huge and rambling update, I wish I could say it was getting easier. But it’s not.

I’ll try to make an honest effort to update a little more regularly. My previous efforts, while not mendacious in nature, were pretty half-assed. So this time, it’ll be honest and full moon (snrk). Or something like that.

how’s this for irony?

So… It is quite possible that I have broken my ankle.

But let’s start a little earlier. During my first year at Chicago, I walked to class regularly with my SGBF (straight gay best friend). In the fall, this was always a lovely time for a chat or a rant about life, classes, and the like. Then winter hit, my Texan bones froze, and I wondered how anyone could enjoy being cold for five months out of the year. While I love snow and all, I don’t particularly like slogging through a mile of it to get to school (I lived in an off campus dorm first year). I like picking my way over and around patches of (oft times invisible) ice even less. SGBF, being a Chicago native, laughed at my intolerance to cold. A lot. Almost everyday. But I remember one day in particular.

We were strolling (okay, I was trudging) towards campus, and SGBF started teasing me about how I was most definitely going to fall on my ass during the course of my first real winter and he was going to laugh uproariously at me. Then he promptly slipped and fell ass-first into a huge puddle. And then I proceeded to laugh at him about that incident for the rest of college.

The point of all this being, don’t jinx yourself because the universe has a dark sense of humor.

Fast forward four years. I’ve now lived in Chicago for a while, and I’ve managed to not fall at all during all of these slippery winters. I went to school, I graduated, and now I’m moving on. For the past week or so, the Boy and I have been slowly packing up the condo so that we can progress to the next stages of our lives. Then, on Saturday, while the Boy and the Boy’s Mother and I were walking back towards the condo, I mentioned (in the course of conversation, not randomly) that I had never broken any of my bones before. Cue the ominous music here.

And then, Sunday morning (essentially our last day in Chicago), on our way to get our last Istria coffee before we headed to our respective homes in Texas and Iowa, I have a spectacularly amazing fall (5.6 for dismount according to tB’sM). My right ankle and knee twist one way and my body falls the other. And then I immediately start crying because I was in shock (and because I am a huge pansy). My ankle swells up grotesquely and immediately, and I can’t walk on it at all. But, I figure, that’s okay. I’ll get to be wheeled around in a wheelchair at the airport. And it’s probably just a bad sprain in any event.

Today I went in to the hospital to get x-rays taken, and it turns out that I’ve probably broken the damn thing.

How’s that for ironic?

return home

I’m back in Chicago now, rather unexpectedly I might add. The original travel plans included another short little stint in Houston with my family, but Ike threw a big, windy wrench into those plans. The Boy and I arrived safely yesterday afternoon. I didn’t really realize how much I missed being home until I stepped across the threshold and felt my stress level drop about sixty stories; it was very, very nice.

I am mildly disappointed that I don’t get to spend more time with my family, but this week is probably not best for a visit. Too bad though – it was the mid-autumn festival and we were going to have hotpot and mooncakes and the whole nine yards. Made stuffed tomatoes last night instead.

So this week is going to be super-relaxed, and then the Boy and I are off to IA to stay with his fam for a week before school starts.

And in case you didn’t know yet, I got and interview at Duke! Which is actually coming up quite soon. Yikes.

knitknitknit

Recently, I decided to take up knitting again. Domestic Partner (DP) taught this craft to me a while back and gifted me with a pair of circular needles and some red yarn. We sat in a car, either on the way to or from Iowa, for about five hours, so I had plenty of time to practice. I managed to learn the knit stitch and the purl stitch, but ultimately I lost patience and dropped the whole thing once I was on my own again. Other things just took precedence.

Anyway, I don’t remember what exactly inspired me to take it up again. Maybe it was the bag of supplies sitting on the bookshelf, guilting me by gathering dust. Maybe it was watching Bex work on various projects. I really don’t remember. But about a week ago, I picked up my needles again and watched a couple YouTube videos about casting on, the knit stitch (continental), and the purl stitch (continental). I didn’t (and still don’t) have a project in mind; I just began making practice squares. The first couple nights were very frustrating, and I had to rip apart several rows repeatedly (I really need to figure out how to fix mistakes). But I’ve hit a little groove now, although I still don’t have an actual project.

So I ordered two books on Amazon: Stitch ‘N Bitch and Domiknitrix. I’ve read through the first couple chapters in each, and my next step is to go out and gather up some more supplies. My first project is going to (surprise, surprise) a scarf. Maybe two. I think I’ll make a ribbed one (knit two, purl two) for the Boy, and then maybe a stripey one for myself to practice changing yarns and knitting in ends and edging and whatnot.

I’m excited about starting this up, although I am having some trouble figuring out where to find knitting stuff in Chi-town. I might have to order everything online.

Any recommendations from people with more experience?