Thanks a lot

I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving break since the beginning of the semester. As soon as I found out that I was teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays, and that all the people who taught on Monday got Labor Day off, I couldn't wait to get my revenge on Thanksgiving week, the glorious week when there are no Tuesday/Thursday classes at all. Teaching a class for the first time has been extremely time-consuming and exhausting, particularly near the end of the semester when I have SO MANY OTHER THINGS I need to do. It takes me several hours to prepare my PowerPoints, clips, and notes, and then I still have to grade their work and show up to class and all that. If I was taking one more class (like most of my friends are), I would be an absolute mess.

So this week, I will be taking a long relaxing break from school, studying, reading, grading, writing, and thinking of any kind.... Ha ha, who am I kidding? I will be writing a paper, probably around 15-20 pages, on the function and power of humor in Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. I've been planning to write about this subject all semester, but planning and doing are unfortunately not the same thing. The way I write papers is a little bit like getting into a war. The waiting and planning and strategical moves are the most agonizing parts and take the longest; when I actually start the hand-to-keyboard combat, I turn into a frenzied maniac, losing track of all time and obligations like eating, sleeping, taking showers, doing housework, etc., just so I can LIVE TO WRITE ANOTHER PARAGRAPH. If I get enough momentum, I can go all day and all night. Time never goes by quicker than when I'm working on a paper and have nothing else to do that day.

There are a few other things that I will be doing over Thanksgiving break, of course. Like reading American Psycho and Child of God, bemoaning the pitiful amount of Christmas presents I have managed to collect over this year for my family, and planning our three Christmas pieces with the ward choir.

Now, to cap it off, here are some things I am thankful for:

1. I'm thankful the paper cut on my left pointer finger has FINALLY healed to the point where I can type without having to wear a band-aid or be in excruciating pain. I'm pretty sure I know now which is the most important finger on both of my hands.

2. I'm thankful for the round of awesome movies I checked out last week at the library. Especially motivational and entertaining was the one about the first modern Olympic games in 1896. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed it.

3. I'm thankful for baked potatoes with chili, cheese, sour cream, and cabbage. This is seriously the easiest meal ever to prepare and I could probably eat it every night.

4. I'm thankful for the privacy of our apartment. I really do prefer having a small place to myself (and Matthew, of course) than a large place with other people. It's sort of ridiculous how drunk I get with the power and independence of it all. Who turned the couch around? I DID. Whose books are those in piles on the floor? MINE. That kind of thing.

5. I'm thankful for the good TV shows that give me something to look forward to on Mondays (I suppose now is as good a time as any to admit my undying love for Revenge and Once Upon a Time).

6. I'm thankful I got to ride a horse this semester. If only that could happen more often.

7. I'm also thankful for Matthew. I will never get over how sweet and cute and good a person he is and how lucky/blessed I am to be his wife.

More in love than Twilight...