bachelorette

This weekend I was privileged to throw a bachelorette party (with several other awesome ladies) for my best friend from high school, and it went awesomely.

Now, most people, when they picture bachelorette parties, they picture a load of screaming girls in pink wigs with a half-naked dude dancing around them. Confetti and glitter falls from the sky around them. Appletinis and Cosmos are splashed around incessantly. Most likely, in the background of this scene you’ll hear the song, “Shots” by Lil Jon and LMFAO, or maybe possibly “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.

For us, this was not the case.

My bride wanted nothing more than a super chill party with good friends, and that’s exactly what we organized. We stayed in a beautiful hotel, ate delicious food, and explored Portland as a group.

I love that my group of friends (and in this case, their extended friend network) can party and have fun without having to fit into any certain trope. (Of course, nothing is wrong with tropes. Tropes are hella fun.) We people-watched, ate blueberries and elephant ears, discussed bad romance novels, got to know acquaintances, watched a dorky movie, and shared desserts with style.

I can’t help but be thankful it went off so awesomely and stress-free! Even the part where some of us had to split a dozen doughnuts at Voodoo!

I kind of feel like I’ve passed some sort of Life Achievement with this weekend.

Welp.

Even though I called and cancelled my wrong registration, these still came in the mail this week.

Well, dangit. Now I have something to stare at longingly while I wait for the money to come from wrok to re-register for the correct grad-school-application etc test. I guess I will learn from this mistake? But knowing me, I totally won’t, so I am trying very hard not to care about it at all.

I did manage to get a test-booklet at Powell’s the other day, so I can study in the mean time, hooray… so fun.

the effect of clutter

Because I took the time today to re-examine my grad school requirements, I discovered that I registered for the wrong GRE exam. D’oh! I can’t believe I did that, and I’m INCREDIBLY embarrassed about it. I guess it only serves, right, that I think I’m incredibly smart and applying to grad school, and here I go register for an expensive test and pick the wrong one.

Oh wells.

Today I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

The book was beautifully written: Green manages to write from the point of view of a dying teenage girl with grace and style. As I was reading it, I felt like I was reading a blog or a real-time diary of someone who actually existed. It’s rare that I (as a reader) ever doubt the reality of a well-written novel, but Hazel’s witty comments and sometimes honest-or-defeatist opinions really came across as completely genuine.

It might just be because I choose to spend my time reading books about talking magic unicorns, of course, but Green’s novel struck me in a way that words haven’t in a very long time. As I finished the book on the bus, I cried. I couldn’t help myself, and could barely get myself to put the book down (even though I could no longer see the words on the page through my eyelashes) to wipe my face, clear my contacts, and continue reading. This is only the second time I have ever cried from reading a book (The first time was a selection from “World Without End” by Helen Thomas), and good lord, now I have to read Green’s other works. And I’m the person who avoids sappy/romantic novels and films. What on earth have I gotten myself into?

I hope they don’t make me cry. But I kind of do.

clutter

Today I re-arranged my bookshelves, which turned into re-arranging the tops of my bookshelves, which turned into going through my papers and then consolidating my sketchbook and then organizing my financial records and then looking through pages of handwritten notes from high school and ended with my room covered in paper.

I’m still not done.

The thing I have realized, as I consolidated my bookshelves so that I can actually find my books, is that I have too many books. I think I own a pile of at least 10 books that I’d like to read or re-read, and then I have 2 bags of books lent to me, and then on top of that I have another 12 books out at the library.

On top of that, studying for the GRE. Huzzah! I guess I am not that bored with my life right now, as spirally and unproductive I feel, sometimes.

grad school, part 1

Yesterday I registered for the GRE (English Subject test), and today I bought a study guide for that test.

I read the first thirty pages and promptly had a panic attack.

It can’t be all that bad, I’m sure, but I’ve heard that it’s both like having the entirety of your brain scooped out and replaced and also that it’s not like that at all, more like having needles shoved up your toenails while you recite “The Old Man and the Sea”. I’m absolutely sure that in the next three months I’ll completely regret my lack of interest and avoidance of general English Subject matter during the course of my B.A. … but whatever.

I have until October 13 to figure this stuff out.

And then, I guess, we’ll see. Or something.