Hibernation

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Aside from needing some reinforcements for the gravy and turkey-carving, I pulled it off. It seems so long ago (which I suppose it was)...

Winter around here means heavy duty hibernation. Between me being off work and the cold thwarting our otherwise-overwhelming outdoor work schedule, the couch sees a lot of action. Last winter we simply re-watched Arrested Development, and I had a day or two that I had rental movie marathons.

I did some reading and writing this break, but we dedicated ourselves to loftier goals--watching every season of Dexter and Breaking Bad. We were victorious.

Dexter isn't the best show I've ever seen, but it is the most addictive. We would watch hours on end, and still not be satisfied. We went through withdrawals. Seriously.

Breaking Bad, on the other hand, is just excellent storytelling and artfully done. It's no surprise after watching it that Bryan Cranston has won numerous Emmy awards. I miss the suspense of Dexter, but I miss all of the characters in Breaking Bad.

We've started Mad Men now. At first, I kept waiting for meth deals and horrific murder scenes, but I'm really getting swept into the intricate story lines and the obviously feminist writing and storytelling. Good stuff.

(The last few paragraphs were brought to you by "Welcome to 2007, Leigh. Way to catch up with the rest of us.")

I also read Giants in the Earth for book club and loved it, and did some much-needed writing (including a scathing commentary on reviewers'/audiences' misguided reactions to Black Swan that will never get published because I was too late because St. Louis never gets movies soon enough and and and I'm really whiny about all of this).

And now I'm back in school. I love my schedule this semester so much I want to make out with it (not so much overload and well-placed office hours), and I'm trying to reclaim myself in general. In clearing out our office (see, we're trying to do something productive this winter), I found some old pictures. Between our wedding day and our one-year anniversary (2006 and 2007, respectively), I look like a totally different person. I have lots to say about this mess of things, but I know this: I've not had myself and my needs as a priority in the last five years. That's not to say I'm not proud and excited about everything I've done (professionally, nonprofit work, homesteading stuff), but I need to find a better balance. I'm striving to do that right now.

I'll work on that between what's coming up in 2011: college journalism convention in Minneapolis in February, directing The Vagina Monologues in March, Habitat Music Fest in June, and our 10-year class reunion in September (not to mention a sizable home to-do list, garden, and goats--or just fantasizing about the goats in our future). And if things go as planned, the possibility of a livestock addition of the human variety.