Well, I'm currently not at home, as you can see from the title of the post.  And it's been awhile since I've last updated.  Whoops.  It'll also be a while til I update again because in a few hours, I will be in a plane headed for Florida!

I'm visiting my grandparents for a week and I will also get to meet my newest little cousin, who's four months old.  And I'll get to see the other five of them as well . . . and it's been a long time since I've seen any of them.  So that will be nice.  The cousins are going away for the weekend, so I'll get to babysit the four month old.  Hudson.  I can't wait!  It'll be fun.  Four month olds have just hit that stage where everything they do is cute. 

So far since my last post . . . I have gotten a job (at least, I don't think that was in my last post)!  I'm working at a law office, scanning files into the computer.  It's at night, when mostly everyone else has left, and I don't mind it too much.  The work is actually kind of soothing and I don't mind being alone. 

I've been playing lots of dominoes and cribbage online over the past week or so.  I'd never known how to play those and I still don't know how to play them well, but I'm learning. 

I went antiquing on Thursday and Friday.  I've decided to start collecting whimsical salt and pepper shakers.  My first two sets happen to both be ducks.  But I started that and I also found some cool games, which I pounced on instantly.  I bought Rack-o and Stump.  The Racko I was very pleased with because the booth had two copies and the first copy was $8.  I decided that was wayyy too much, but the second game was only $2!!!!    I also bought this game called Two for the Money based on a television game from the 50's.  It's quiz-style, and a little tough.  The 15-second timer is really weird looking.  You have to name as many things in the category as possible in the time-limit.  Like famous bridges in the US or heavyweight boxing champions.

I'll write more later when I get back from Florida.

After a long absence, and by that I mean I haven't even really thought about posting for the past two months, I figured I'm finally past the thinking-of-posting-makes-me-bored-and-sick stage and feel more like sure-why-not. 

Summer was better than I thought it was going to be.  I managed to keep busy even though there isn't much to do.  I've read tons and tons.  At first, reading as much as I was felt wonderful.  My parents couldn't pull me out of books.  Now, as I stare at the thirty books in my room that need to go back to the library soon, I realize that some of them haven't been that good.  Actually, a fair number haven't been that good.  I can't decide whether I'm becoming too picky or whether publishing has just gone that far down hill.  So I'm beginning to be bored by the whole 15 books a week deal. 

I've been putt-putting and gambling and whined about how there's nothing to do.  I've also been slightly irritated by an issue I think might be better kept off of here. 

For some weird reason, I do believe that it is the board game I played last night that triggered my change in feelings toward posting (hey, Kathleen, see, I AM posting!!!).  I played Wildcatter last night with A and it was great fun.  Wildcatter, for those who don't know, is an oil version of Monopoly.  In the end, I was making almost $15M per month (go-around the board)!!!  I also discovered one of the casino's has a game called Texas Tea where you can end up drilling for oil!  The game was good to me, on the second trip, and I made almost $3 (on penny slots, I hasten to add)!

Well, it's been a long post so I'll stop writing for now.

Well, I've haven't been terribly busy, but I have been doing enough to make me not want to sit at the computer and type.  Mostly, though, I've been playing miniature golf.  I'd always known I was horrible at the game (averaging a score of 200, 300, 400, however many five or six times par happens to be).  But last night, in two games, I managed to get SIX (yes, SIX!) holes-in-one.  However, I still managed to lose both games, because I still made 5's on all the other holes . . .

There's been no Scrabble games because Kathleen won't even respond to my emails, let alone get online.  Hit REPLY! It's not that difficult.  Hmph, and I mailed a package.

Still looking for a job . . . anything, anywhere, but within specifications.

Otherwise, I've bean reading.  Reading a lot.  It's been wonderful.  I've been averaging about two books a day.  I was on a sci-fi kick for a week, but the books I got turned out to be irritating and not enjoyable, so I returned to murder mysteries.

And that's about all.

Well, I made it back to Kansas.  The trip was fairly easy - hardly any traffic besides us.  We stayed at our usual hotel, whose continental breakfast includes waffles!! 

My diploma was much fun.  I memorized the English translation, although I think their translation is "interesting."  Here, the word interesting means "don't quite think it says exactly what you claim, but it might perhaps be an extremely verbose and fanciful derivation."  My parents were surprised to learn I was "well-born," but I was even more surprised that I was "ordered to enjoy and rejoice!"

There's a robin's nest out back.  I'll be writing more on that when I'm not so bored with typing already.

And people wonder why grammar is important for communication:

Palestinian state will need crack, $7.7 billion security system

Sigh.  I'm supposed to be sleeping.  I've been going nonstop since 7 am.  But I got an email from Lisa just now wanting me to have all the dishes of hers I've used ready for her to pick up tomorrow.  So I'm washing dishes.  I hate this place.

I hope my mom's prepared for the credit card bill, because no dishes means I'm definitely eating out the rest of my time here.  Two full days, really, before my dad arrives (and that can't come too soon!), but with only four plastic plates, I won't be making mashed potatoes or finishing off any of the cooking-required food.  Good-bye steaks.  She better not take all of those.  I paid good money for them.

Important lesson learned?  If roommate says "Gee, I've got pots, pans, cooking sheets, etc, let me bring them all for us to use all year, BUY YOUR OWN so she can't move out early and take everything -- and let you know by discovering missing things or emailing you the night before.

I thought graduation was supposed to be fun?

Sorry for the crankiness of the post, but I've had a very long day involving laundry, cleaning, paying bills, exams, travel, walking, movies, and more cleaning.  So help me if I can't sleep in tomorrow someone WILL get screamed at and since I won't ever see that someone again after, well, probably tomorrow, I DON'T CARE IF I SCREAM!

And Kathleen?  For love of all that is good on the earth, will you please be online tomorrow (today?) so I can talk and play Scrabble?

I'm getting ready to take my LAST undergraduate exam!  At 11:30 am, I will be finished with my undergraduate career.  At least, I'm fairly certain.  See, the exam block is at 8:30 am.  My professor told us twice in lecture he was moving it to 10 am, and we would only have an hour and half to complete it.  I've it written down in my notes.  Yet I still have an irrational fear that when I arrive at 10 am, nobody will be there because the exam started at 8:30 am and ended at 10 am.  I hate it when professors switch times around and such.  I can know that I have the correct information and yet still spend an hour worrying it's somehow wrong.

But then I'm free!  To eat my last meal at the College's dining services (in a tent!  A tent masquerading as a cafeteria!  A huge "indoor" tent!) and then off to spend the day away from Williamsburg.

Added benefit?  Not having to oven-bake and microwave-meals!

So I'm still kind of tired and although I know there's a lot I could be doing - cleaning, packing, reading - I'm just not motivated to do anything.  My cell phone just fell onto the floor and I'm still debating whether to pick it up.  I'm yawning, I have music playing, and my bottle of water isn't quite finished . . . meaning I'm content to sit here for another half hour, most likely. 

I'm listening to the song "Honeysuckle Sweet" by Jessie Alexander.  When I ditch my Napster service in a week (what's the point in paying for it if it usually doesn't have anything I want), this will most likely be one of the songs I purchase.  Anyways, I really enjoy the song, and I think it must have been part of the soundtrack for my childhood, at least until we moved from Texas to Washington.  I remember going out to the racetrack on the weekend to meet up with another family.  Nancy's dad drag-raced and we'd wander around, pulling apart the honeysuckle flowers to get at the drop of honey.  But really, I lived in West Texas.  We didn't have any rivers to wade into.  Not that I would have anyways.  I don't step into water I can't see through, which is why Virginia Beach doesn't quite ever seem like a real beach.  Beaches are in Tonga - 50 meter visibility - not brown half-meter visibility.

Anyways, I think I'm gonna switch fonts.  Maybe this?  Yeah, I think I like this better.  More separated, I guess, somehow.  Speaking of Virginia Beach, that's where I'll be tomorrow afternoon, with Cheryl and Lindsay.  Then on to half-price Riesling and then (hopefully) watching a movie in an academic building.  That means relaxing in a room I used to attend lectures in and watching a movie on a 10x10 foot screen . . . an appropriate way to end my college days, I think.

Okay, time for me to get up and do something.  Maybe I'll start Covenant or The Source.  I will definitely like them more than the just-finished Caribbean, which was tiring.  I just wanted to go more than a page without someone getting murdered or whining about the class system.  There's the summary:  People have always been killed in the Caribbean, due to a variety of reasons, mostly because others want to own the island, make the most money possible, and make everyone else obey them.  For 800 pages.

I'm still planning on reading and owning all books written by James Michener.  It's just that what I thought would be one of my favorites may end up much much much lower on the list than previously thought.  But I've made a dent into the whole owning his works thing: Caribbean, The Source, Covenant, Chesapeake, Hawaii, Alaska, Space, Poland, and Texas (of course!).  I've only read half of those so far, though.  I can't wait to read this summer.

And so I'm just gonna end this post, which has been random and long and definitely has no title.  And it's been 20 minutes since I started.  So I'm going to go pick up my cell phone, make sure it still works, debate doing laundry, and get myself more water and another book.