evens odds

today I went shopping at h&m. I spent entirely too much, but it was so fun, by far the funnest shopping trip I've ever had. me and claire were just being hilarious and ridiculous. we spent 6 HOURS at h&m. and we weren't even tired until probably the last hour. it was so freezing out today, painful to walk the single block back to the metro. we watched jurassic park and then toasted the new year and blew out my eardrums with fake kazoos. jurassic park was kind of ... cheesy. I can see how it was epic in its time, but still.

I have these awful aches in my shoulder and elbow. I think it's from carrying my bag all day and holding the weight of many hangers. shopping injuries. now that is what I call ridiculous. even more ridiculous than injured wrists from babyfoot (foosball).

monday we drove to blacksburg to visit the boys. we visited and ate at bookbinder's, john's restaurant. I always love going to see charles and john. I gave them two books apiece for christmas: charles got walking on the land by farley mowat and the wind-up bird chronicle by haruki murakami, john got interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri and the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by mark haddon. I recommend them all. mowat is stirring, murakami is unsettling, lahiri is reality and haddon is complexity. I love books.

tuesday we went to see carolyn and john and drop off carolyn's car. they are now officially engaged!! as of the day after christmas, at the rockefeller center christmas tree, with my grammie's wedding ring. hooray :) then we went to the holocaust museum, second time for me, and later to the temple.

and today is wednesday. well really it's early thursday morning. and it's 2009. finally, back to an odd-numbered year. once we're well into it and I'm used to writing the date I guess I don't really think of it much, but I much prefer odd years to even ones. they just seem to settle aesthetically with the details of my existence. maybe I will find greater harmony in myself through an understanding of the identity of the year. maybe I will find greater harmony by making it. this involves meditating often and singing mantras and finding occasional solitude. self-awareness. also self-discipline. and exercise. and a dedication to peace. which only comes through an aversion to political debate. wish me luck.

looking forward to what this year holds:
aaaaaand perhaps this ... maybe: