Two books I’d very much like to read: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey and Ragnarok by A.S. Byatt, although there are a bunch of Byatt’s other books that take precedence.

Also, I would like, please, to return this cold to wherever it came from.  No, there’s nothing wrong with it, I just don’t want it.

Also also, cats fantasizing about eating birds on the other side of the window are adorable.

I think there were a bunch of things that I was going to mention, but of course now I can’t remember what they were.  As usual.

Oh, no, wait, I know why I keep watching.  I love to procrastinate.  Case in point: tonight.

Except that I feel like I might finally be succumbing to the cold that’s been trying to get me all week.  I simply refuse to accept it.  No, thank you.

In unrelated news: my new memory foam pillow is super spiffy, although, sadly it’s not going to cure all my ills.  That doesn’t mean it’s not extremely comfortable, though.  I kind of wish everything were made out of memory foam.  When the day inevitably comes that I’m institutionalized, can my padded cell be made out of memory foam?  I can sit in there and make literature handouts.

And to close out the evening, I give you this delightful piece of miscellany: mice sing ultrasonic mating songs!  Turns out those legions of swoopy-haired teenage boys with acoustic guitars aren’t the only ones who figured they’d have a better chance with the ladies if they were “musicians.”

I know some people who’d rather receive something new than something old, and others for whom a used gift has more character and history.  Do you ever worry that a second-hand gift might be an affront to some recipients, almost akin to re-gifting?

I tried to thrift my Christmas presents this year, and I had a few hits — a blue-and-white reproduction Spode plate for my mom, a turquoise lidded teacup for Fala — but sometimes it’s hard to find just the right thing.  Probably it would be easier if I didn’t leave all my shopping until, like, two weeks before Christmas. I suspect that with some foresight and planning, one could easily thrift every gift all year round.  Do you know anyone who exclusively (or almost exclusively) thrifts their holiday/birthday gifts?  If so, what’s their trick?

Oh, and speaking of re-gifting, check out Never Liked It Anyway, a site where people can offload their unwanted romantic trinkets and bridal gear, post-break up.  There’s not a whole lot for sale at the moment, but as a concept, it’s at once genius and kind of horrible.  What’s really interesting is that it gives the jilted (or jilting) party the opportunity to tell the story behind the stuff they’re getting rid of — which is often the most engaging part of second-hand items for me, and which, admittedly, it’s probably a welcome chance to vent in some of these cases.

Well, that and I’m pretty impressed that my home manicure lasted a whole week.  Yes, my life is very small.

No, but seriously: the first day of workshop was good.  All we really did was go over the syllabus, but it’s nice to see everyone again.  Even though this is only my second semester here, I already have that slightly giddy, slightly nostalgic ‘getting the band back together’ feeling.  And there are some new faces, too, which is always good.

Also, this is pretty and disturbing and strangely hypnotic and I love it:

Speaking of new: I watched the “Smash” pilot this evening.  It was solid, and probably one of the more charismatic new shows I’ve seen this season, but that’s not saying a lot, consider a lot of the nonsense out there on TV.  It seems counter-intuitive, but sometimes ‘decent’ is the best you can hope for — because you know you’re not going to get ‘blindingly brilliant,’ and it’s better than ‘painfully stupid.’

In other news, tomorrow’s the first day of my classes (as a student — ugh, I still haven’t figured out how to differentiate those two), and I get to pick up my fancy new memory foam pillow.  Workshop and a night of blissfully comfortable sleep (I hope)!  Tomorrow’s going to be awesome.

I went up to College Park today and hung out with LiAnn and Susan for a while, though, so that was excellent, even if the rest of the evening didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

Now I’m distracting myself with Google image searches.  Lah dee dah.