Took a nap earlier this afternoon (Monday) around 4:30ish.  Set an alarm for close to 6ish.  Finally woke up to my dark bedroom and checked the time as 9:33 on my phone.   Oy gevalt.   Guess it did me good to "catch up" on a bit of sleep. . . 'course now I'm up late again.  Bah. :P    Pretty cozy, though.  Little calico Penny-pie is curled up on the rug by the base of my chair, and fluffer-fluff Abbey is lying face-down on my bed (she's so dang cute when she just buries her nose and has her ears pointing down... ).

Had a late dinner and watched the first half of the "Alice" movie (I guess it's considered a made-for-TV-film) I'd recorded on the Syfy channel.  Hope I recorded the second half tonight... time will tell.  It's a cool spin-off of the original story, and I just adore Alice in Wonderland, so I usually enjoy related stuff anyway.  Kind of weird, though.  In a cool way... but still enough to give me a lingering "weirdness" factor after watching it.  Probably just adds to the somewhat disturbing dreams I had during my long nap.  Dreamt a dear young friend of mine had suddenly died... and in the dream, it was as if I'd either not noticed it or tried to be stoic about it or in denial or something, but then once it hit me, I was so distraught and missed her terribly.  Woke up so relieved that none of that happened in real life... and decided I'd keep her in my prayers.   Another part of the dream involved a taxidermist who specialized in fixing up deceased cats.  Had to check out his house for something, and apparently he'd run out of storage/lab space, 'cause there were all these stiff cats lying around... one not completely dead and that kind of looked like my cat, Abbey, which freaked me out at the time.   Gah!  Why must I have such weird-in-the-disturbing-way dreams?  :\   

In other news, today (still in the sense of Monday for me) was rather great, even though I got about 3 hours of sleep this morning and made it an early day at work for the sake of transportation arrangements.  Worthwhile late-night phone conversation, Starbucks coffee & donuts (thanks to marvelous brother Micah), an awesome friend to pick me up for work (Hollyhontas), and a pleasant workplace all make for a positive early morning experience. :)  

On our drive to work, Holly and I saw a doggie trotting up the sidewalk, going the same direction we were going, with something kind of big dangling from its mouth. As we pulled up closer, Holly said, "What's he carrying?  If it's roadkill, I'm gonna throw up..."  

Friends, that doggie had caught himself a big ol' wild turkey!  A nice-looking one, too!  Big fluffy black and white feathers, yellow feet, and a bright red gobbler.  Yeah, poor turkey... but awesome dog in my book.  Holly and I got quite a kick out of it. ;)

P.S.  Well, now that it's "tomorrow" I can say:  Happy Eight Day!  8)

P.P.S.  Also thanks to marvelous brother Micah (via his facebook status), I now have the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" in my head, which morphs between the original by The Proclaimers and the cover version by Stephen Curtis Chapman.   Good thing I like it!  :)

Ah dear Xanga. . . I have not been so worthy of my "TRUE" badge these past few months, have I? 

Now that I'm signed on, I'm not sure how to begin this severely overdue update. . .  I suppose I'll start with the old news that would've been actual news if I'd kept up my once-habit of typing out my goings-on and thoughts and feelings and such on here. :P

Old news (long story short):  I'd met someone back in May.  He and I got to know each other mostly online, then over the phone, then met in person twice.  We'd both expressed interest in one another and considered being more than friends, but the chemistry just wasn't there.  Living in different states didn't help the element of getting to know and perhaps "like" like someone in person, either.  In the end, he let me know (perhaps a few days later than would've been ideal, but oh well) that it wouldn't be more than friendship for him, and even though I didn't like that things turned out that way, I, too, knew that the feeling was mutual (I'd let my positive, hopeful thinking go just a few notches more ahead than I should have at one point).  Was I sad?  Intially, yes.  Disappointed in the end result?  Rather.  However, he was very considerate, and if I had to have such a conversation as we did about such things, I'm glad it went as well as it did.

Slightly newer-than-old news:  Maybe it took me longer than it'd take other gals in my situation, but after a month since the final "only friendship" discussion, I got over him and the whole deal completely.  Besides having good ol' time to move on, I also realized, via facebook observation, that this friend had a side I'd never seen of him and that I didn't fancy too much.  Never mind he'd entered a relationship with someone else (no hard feelings on that count, just the facts of the matter), at that point, I wasn't sure, even just as friends, that I'd really known what kind of a guy he was.  *sigh*

Another learning experience in the "guy" department.  I prayed a lot.  God helped me through my disappointment and my renewed session of waiting on Him for guidance in the potentially romantic area of my life.   I have learned to chill out with all that guy stuff, delight myself in the Lord, be hopeful and expectant for the new things He'll show me and teach me. . .  and once I started to embrace all that, I was not disappointed. :) 

Newish news:  At the start of November, I had no idea what an incredible month I was in for.  My dear friend (and fellow Xangan who should update her page because she writes super cool stuff), Anna, encouraged me to attend a 1940s-themed swing dance that was being hosted by Kennesaw State University's Museum of History and Holocaust Education (at which she works).  The night before the dance, she, Holly (another dear friend and also fellow Xangan whose page I need to return to soon), and I went out for a girls' night of shopping and decadent cheesecake.  Oh gosh, was it super fantastic!  We spoke in British accents, sang along to Disney music, checked out amazing jewelry and soap thingies at the artists market stalls, and shopped at a couple nice stores, including H&M where I found a surprisingly wonderful black dress that'd work great for the swing dance.

So!  1940s Swing Dance Extravaganza!  So many people!  So many 1940s dressed up people!  So many amazing dancers!  A live band!  All for free!

Ok, so I felt a bit awkward at the very start of the night when a great couple gave everyone a quick lesson on basic swing moves.  Quite a few more ladies than gents present, so at first I was practicing with another lady... who also happened to be one of my former Professional Writing instructors... heh.   Then everyone had to rotate partners, so I got to dance with an actual guy, who was nice enough....

But then... yes... then... (here comes a great bonus to the evening):
The lights dimmed, the band began to play, people got out there to dance, . . . and someone else had arrived, too, leaning against a wall in the shadows, texting on his cell phone.  Someone who remembered me from years ago (while I'd forgotten), had sent me a friend request on facebook the night before (which I'd thought was completely random), reminded me that his family had attended Beth Hallel years ago (which then astounded me, for how could I forget someone from temple??? :\ ), and (well, like I said, he was there!).

After a few moments of being pretty sure that was him standing there, I walked up to him and said, "Hi.  Are you T.J.?"   Of course, he was.  We became reacquainted, and shortly thereafter, he asked me to dance my first official swing dance ever, yay!  And for three songs!  

And then not again for the rest of the evening, which was a bit unfortunate, but I still got to dance with a couple other fellas, one of whom looked like a WWII sailor, which was pretty awesome.  Knew the piano player of the jazz band, so I conversed with him for a time.  Coincidentally, his wife and parents-in-law were also there (how often to you meet all of those people at once?  at a swing dance?  probably at no other possible time!).  Walked around with Anna to various areas of the ballroom, and also outside to the museum space, and to visit her office. 

By the end of the night, my feet were killing me, but all in all, I had a keen time and became hooked on swing dancing.

Yes, I can honestly say I got hooked on it then, for I've had the opportunity to continue dancing at least once a week since that evening!  How cool is that?  And not only swing dancing but swing dancing with my friend, T.J., again.  :D   I've also since danced with one of his younger brothers, too, who's becoming a great swing dancer.  Got Anna and Holly dancing some more, too (also with T.J.'s help.... in fact, it's very helpful to have a guy as the lead who knows what he's doing, for I'm rather useless so far in trying to teach my gal pals much since I'm so used to following. . . but anyway. . .).   Swing dancing is where it's at.  Went with T.J., his brothers, and their friend (well, I think now she's my friend, too... at least a friendly acquaintance so far :] ) to another dance last Friday night.  Besides swing, they mixed it up with some cha-cha slide, a Scottish-Celtic dance that I gladly observed from the sidelines (but might attempt to learn one day?  we shall see...), annnnnnnd the Virginia Reel!  Oh my gosh!  I love the Virginia Reel!  Such a pleasantly unexpected addition to the evening.   I still don't have a pair of dancing shoes, but thank the Lord (and I really do), my feet were not murderously outraged at me by the end of the night.   Then a group of us went to a Steak 'n Shake for eating and deep theological discussion.  :)

All right, all right. . . all that talk of dancing could've been its own post. ;)

In other news (and speaking of deep theological discussion, in fact):  Micah, Anna, Holly, and I went out to observe the Leonids meteor shower (at some point in the middle of November?  I think?).  Anna had to leave "early," Micah was tired so curled up trying to stay warm, but Holly and I remained bundled up in blankets, staring at the sky, catching a few falling stars, and having intriguing spiritual discussions.   T.J. joined us for a short time, via cell phone, and all three of us saw the same meteor (there were several others, but I was distracted and missed them. . .). 

The Gemenid shower comes soon this month, and I truly hope it's a clear night so a group of us can go out again to star gaze. :) 

Only select friends (and complete strangers) on facebook know this, but I semi-secretly play Castle Age.  So does Holly.  We send each other gifts and curse the dragon eggs that turn out to be frost and emerald when we want gold and ruby and smash to bits the superflous shards #2 and #4 of a shield when we need to collect #1 and #3. . . compare battle notes. . . etc etc.   'Tis one of the very few blatantly nerdy interests I indulge in. . . online, anyway.  And you know what?  So what if it's got that nerdiness to it?  So what if I don't feel like publishing my level advancements, increased gold income, or battle victories to the rest of facebook world?  It's good times.  Hope Holly doesn't mind I've called her out, too.  I mean it as great appreciation, comradery, and revelry. ;) 

Thanksgiving was splendid.  Gathered with long time friends of the family (and their families) at one of their beautiful homes, had amazing delicious food and some wonderful conversation.  I loved it all. :D

Joined Anna and her parents for a hike at Red Top Mountain the other day.  Took the Homestead Trail loop and by chance noticed the old stone chimney (from the old homestead for which the trail is named, I'm assuming) just a few frolicking paces off the trail. ;)  There is so much more to that hike that I would describe, but my creative brain energy is dwindling. . .   'Twas a wonderful hike!

In fact, I know there are events and thoughts I'm leaving out, but since I'm only typing based on a mental list of things to mention, I suppose I'm bound to leave out a few things. 

At least I've updated, right?   Feels so nice to type in a Xanga weblog box again.  Here's hoping I make it a habit again.  Oh. . . I probably ought to put up a new profile photo, too.  *yawn*  A bit too late to delve into that decision-making process, though.  All in good time.  :)