I like striped socks.

My new job is going splendidly, just as I thought and hoped it would. I do 12-13 hour shifts, three per week, which is super because I get the rest of the days to myself! I love the people I work with so far, and I love the patients. Old people can be genuinely hilarious and a joy to work with. I worked with a 96 year-old man the other day who is sharp as a tack, a true gentleman (except when he gets out of bed and just lets the back of his gown fly open), and has many interesting stories to tell from 1913 to the present. He says that it's really nice to be his age because all the people you know are dead and you can do whatever the hell you want. ;)

I still haven't gotten my tattoo yet. The snow was what messed up my financial situation this time around. I just sit back and laugh now, but it seems that things are turning up. I'm not worried about it. I have my design and I'll get the blasted thing done one of these days.

I joined a group on Flickr called "Project 365," thanks to my friend Kristen B. It's a group to which you add a picture you take on a daily basis; thus, you are forced to get off your ass and be a photographer every day for a year. I really like the challenge of that, because it will help me to be innovative each day.

What else? I'm going on a dinner date with my friend Jason on Thursday. He's a really hot Asian (I know Joey will appreciate that one!), and he loves photography (major points), is a great cuddler, and has a good sense of humor. He's smart, too, which is a must-have trait for me. So, overall, this guy has a good shot....so we'll see how it develops! I'm also emailing with my friend Jonathan, who is a Marine currently on his way back to the States from his second deployment overseas, so we'll probably go on a date or two when he returns. I like this whole single life thing. ;)

Other than that, nothing much else is new. I went for tea and shopping with my mum today, which was grand! Hope you are well.

As the old adage goes...

This must be a little piece of heaven, this beer bread. I baked a loaf of it and just took if from the oven...I can easily say this is my best loaf yet. It's golden brown on top and soft inside, warm and moist. Maybe that sounded a bit too sexual, but I care not! It tastes amazing.

I'm in a strange state this week, with all the wintery weather cancelling things I was supposed to do. I feel like this whole week has been an extension of the weekend, save for yesterday when I went to one day of hospital orientation (this whole week was supposed to be orientation, mind you). It has been nice to be able to relax and do some light cleaning, reading, music listening and the like, but today I'm itching to get outside and do something. Today just happens to have weather that conflicts with those ideals, considering how windy it is and that there is still over two feet of snow on the ground.

I have thus been trying to fill my time with activities that will keep me from going completely stir crazy (hence, the beer bread and writing this entry). It's working fairly well, but I still have much of the day left...we'll see what I come up with!

Here's a picture.

Lovely tree bones

Tonight I took a walk in the freshly fallen snow. This was wet snow tonight, the kind I prefer for its creaky wooden floor sound made under your feet at you tread along.

It is difficult to explain how much I love the quiet, the peace, the serenity, the beauty and stillness that is snow. As I walked, I looked up and amidst the delicate clusters of white falling from the sky were the dark, stiff branches of the trees. On them, perfectly balanced, infinitely still and perfectly held together, were tiny crystal piles of snow. Imagine a warm summer day when you bury your hand in sand at the beach and then gently bring it up so that the only sand left on your hands is that which outlines the hidden surfaces of your bones; this, to me, resembles how the trees appeared tonight. This type of beauty is untouched, like a spider's web freshly-made, symmetrical with the surface it touches, like a perfectly choreographed ballet--only this ballet is between chemistry and physics.

You can hear the snow falling, not like rain...like fluffing sheets on a bed, the sound of one soft object floating down upon another of the same quality. I felt the cool crystals fall against my face, my eyelids, my tongue. I tasted the snow, and smelled it in the air.

Experiencing the snow is such an amazing awakening of the senses and soul. I suggest you get out there and live it yourself.

Ah ha!

I was sleepy most of yesterday because I smoked pot for literally 9 hours on Sunday. It all started around 2:30pm when I went over to Andrew and Jess' apartment, where Jess had already been kind enough to pack me a bong bowl in anticipation of my arrival. She's schooled in being the perfect hostess, clearly.

So we did that for another hour or so and decided we would go out to the grocery store to buy stuff for dinner. Andrew thought that fish and chips, made properly with flounder covered in tempura batter and fried in olive oil, would be perfect and we agreed. They paid for everything, which was awesome of them! We even got some yummy crab dip and crackers. I'll tell you, it's really nice being friends with people who have made their careers in the dining business, because a) they know how to cook and b) they have a wealth of knowledge of what foods go very, very well together from start to finish.

Then we smoked more.

We watched the Pro Bowl, and smoked some more. I snuggled with Bailey, their Boxer/body pillow schmoggie.

Finally, I went home.

It took me two and a half cups of coffee to even get my day started at work-- started.

I think Benjamin Franklin should have added marijuana to the quote about beer being proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.